Nebraska Football Recruiting: Long Shot Signing Day Surprises
By Matt Koeppe
National Signing Day is just a week away and Nebraska football fans are in full speculation mode on who the Big Red can get to commit.
During a somewhat tense time, let’s lighten the mood a little. How about some long shot, maybe even impossible, scenarios for the Huskers on February 1?
Wide Receiver Overload
The Huskers have had commits from Keyshawn Johnson Jr. and Jaevon McQuitty for a while now, and both have actually already enrolled. However, Nebraska keeps the momentum gained from four-star Tyjon Lindsey‘s pledge and carries it all the way to Signing Day.
Position coach Keith Williams gets commits like he is collecting trading cards and building the ultimate rookie wide receiver deck.
The Big Red grabs Joseph Lewis, catches Oregon State de-commit Jamire Calvin and snatches Bryan Thompson. Coach Williams still isn’t done. With his convincing, Gavin Holmes decides he just cannot “bear” going to Baylor, so he’s all “N” as well.
This scenario might be a little unlikely due to the fact that Nebraska would like to finish out its class with more than just a bevy of wideouts.
Also, players that commit this late in the process, like Holmes, are not that easy to flip. Furthermore, adding this much talent at the receiver spot would put a lot of pressure on Nebraska to throw the ball every down for the next four to five years.
Run the Ball Guy would not be happy.
A Double Down on Defensive Backs
The Huskers are looking to close out the class with some new members of the secondary. How about two high-profile ones?
Deommodore Lenoir decides there is just too many negative things going on at the University of Oregon right now and instead picks the Huskers. Nebraska fans, in unison, agree, “That’s Quacktastic” in their best Billy Madison voices.
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Elijah Blades, a current Florida commit, finds he would rather be a part of Lockdown U and goes all “N”. New secondary coach Donte Williams shows why he is considered such a strong recruiter. He closes out the class with two four-star commits and Nebraska football fans get even more optimistic about the future of the young coach.
STUDY UP: Better Know a Prospect – Elijah Blades
This might be a long shot, but it is not totally unlikely. There is still a possibility the two defensive backs could commit to the Big Red. The coaches are definitely putting in the work to make this happen.
A Top Three Recruiting Class in the Big Ten
Nebraska is currently leading the Big Ten West in the recruiting standings according to 247Sports. The Big Red sits fifth in the entire conference, but Maryland (fourth) has more quantity than quality with 28 commits.
Nebraska’s average recruit ranking is actually higher already than the Terrapins’. Jumping up to fourth is not that unrealistic, but it’s quite a leap to third.
Picture this: Nebraska gets commits from the aforementioned Blades, Calvin and Thompson while adding Greg Johnson, Michael Onyemaobi, Damion Daniels, and Kurt Rafdal. This would give them a team score of 238.01. Penn State (third) is at 228.22.
While seeing all of those players commit may be a stretch, no movement on Penn State’s part would also mean that the Nittany Lions would have to turn into de-clawed kitties and not get any new commits.
That said, I’m sure there are still some guys the Lions are still trying to “pounce” on.