Nebraska football: Grad transfer target Nick Watkins commits to Houston
The Nebraska football team’s recruiting hot streak hits a bump.
Scott Frost and the Nebraska football team likely saw this coming. On Thursday night, Notre Dame grad transfer Nick Watkins announced he was headed to Houston.
Watkins had been a target of the Cornhuskers in recent weeks. There was even talk that Watkins like what he heard about the program.
Despite loving what the Huskers could offer, he picked the Cougars. We’ll likely never know exactly what made him change his mind.
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It seems that the coaches might at least have had an inkling Watkins was feeling the pull to another school. The timing of JUCO commit Will Jackson doesn’t seem like a coincidence.
The two actions certainly don’t seem to exist in vacuums when you consider how close together they occurred. It seems like a safe bet that the coaches knew Watkins wasn’t going to be a Husker and went with Plan B.
That doesn’t mean Jackson isn’t going to be a heck of a player in his own right. It’s just hard to turn down a grad transfer from a school like Notre Dame if one comes along.
Watkins was a highly touted prospect out of high school, having been the number 17 cornerback in the 2014 class. Schools like Alabama and Ohio State had gone after him hard.
He had a bit of an up and down career for the Fighting Irish. After battling through injuries, the cornerback player in 12 games last year and record eight pass breakups and one interception.
Watkins played his high school ball at Dallas Bishop Dunne. It’s entirely possible that in the end, being able to go back to Texas was too big a pull.
While the Nebraska football team would have liked to have added the talented defensive back to its roster, it appears plans were already underway if Nick Watkins did indeed decide not to become a Cornhusker.