Betts could play a larger role for Nebraska football.
When you look at the future of the Nebraska football program, you can bet that peer recruiting is going to be a big part of how the program lands recruits moving forward. Especially in the 2021 class, there are some valuable peer recruiters within the program.
Brian Christopherson of 247Sports did a nice piece on this on Friday. His top player in terms of good recruiters on the Nebraska football team was Zavier Betts.
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Let me just say that I agree with that. When you look at the factors that Betts has brought to the program, there is a lot working in Nebraska’s favor here. For one, he is an alumni of Bellevue West. Secondly, he has a real chance to break out this year. When you look at how many freshmen did not play for the Nebraska football program last year, Betts was an anomaly. That is a very good thing.
The importance of him playing at a high level, combined with the fact that he got snaps as a freshman year are two critical factors in terms of him being a major recruiter. I agree with Christopherson, especially when you consider the Dae’Vonn Hall- Bellevue West connection. Could the play of Betts be a factor in how Nebraska football lands future recruits? It’s a lot to put on one particular player, however I certainly see that as a potential scenario.
Because Betts could be thrown into the spotlight next year, you can bet that several Nebraska-area kids will be watching. If the wide receiver performs well, that could bode well for the program in recruiting. If for some reason he doesn’t get playing time or does not play well, that will not be a good thing for recruiting future Nebraska athletes. Full disclosure, I do not expect the latter situation to happen.
Nevertheless, it certainly makes for an interesting subplot to the 2021 season. Betts will undoubtedly have a large amount of pressure on him to succeed both for Nebraska and for the state of Nebraska. I have no doubt that he will succeed, as we already saw a bit of what he can do last year. Now, hopefully results on and off the field will follow.