Nebraska football becomes first Big Ten team to offer touted Utah linebacker

The Nebraska football team continues to be the first B1G school to get their foot in the door on recruits. The latest is a Utah linebacker.

Nebraska football is officially making a habit out of being the first Big Ten team to offer talented prospects. On late Friday morning, the Cornhuskers did it again with an official scholarship offer to Utah linebacker Junior Tafuna.

Unlike some of the other 3-star prospects that have gotten Husker offers recently, Tafuna is one that is not exactly flying under the radar. While the linebacker doesn’t have a ton of schools officially offering him yet, he does have plenty of Power Five interest.

In addition to Nebraska, BYU, Oregon and Utah have all offered him a spot. So has Utah State.

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Therein lies the rub when it comes to Scott Frost and company. Tafuna is getting quite a bit of attention from his home region.

It’s unclear just how much of a shot the Huskers would have in getting him to Lincoln. If he is looking to get outside the Pac 12 region, Nebraska could get some special attention because they really were the first team to offer from the Big Ten and the rest of the Midwest.

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For now, 247Sports has him as a heavy Utah Ute lean. On the other hand, the big schools are starting to notice the talented outside linebacker more and more.

Just four days before the Huskers made their offer, Oregon had issued theirs. As is the case with quite a few of the Cornhuskers’ targets, their offer is likely going to draw some quick competition.

While he might be rated as a 3-star prospect at the moment, he’s considered the 40th best outside linebacker in the entire 2019 class by 247Sports. Tafuna is also the 5th best player in the state of Utah.

A look at his highlight reel shows a linebacker that certainly fits the mold of a Nebraska football defender. The next step will be trying to get him into Lincoln for a visit.