Nebraska football has unexpected recruiting rival for homegrown talent

The Nebraska football team has grown accustomed to recruiting against Iowa, Minnesota, and the like, but there’s a surprise team trying to mine the state.

As the focus for Nebraksa football changes from trying to win on the field to trying to win in the living rooms of top recruits, it appears there is a new, unexpected rival that badly wants to pluck away some of Nebraska’s top talent.

Matt Rhule and company have seen more teams come into the state and grab top players in the last few years. Notre Dame has been especially successful with kids like Xavier Watts and Teddy Rezac. 

However, it’s a safe bet that the current staff never thought it would be talking about having to fend off Coastal Carolina when it came to recruiting Nebraska high schoolers. It appears a battle is brewing with the Sun Belt team, even if the programs haven’t gone head to head on any premiere athletes just yet.

Scott Hansen of nebhsfb.com, a website devoted to tracking Nebraska high school football recruiting is seeing and hearing the Chanticleers making a push into the Cornhusker State.

"“Yes, Coastal Carolina is recruiting the state. Why would Coastal Carolina recruit the state? Recruiting coordinator Matt Pearce was on Nebraska’s recruiting staff from 2014-18 and obviously knows this is a very underevaluated landscape. Noticed the word is getting out.”"

Nebraska football has new recruiting rival on the horizon

That a Sun Belt team located in Conway, South Carolina would be making a push for Nebraska football prospects makes even more sense when you take into account who its head coach is these days.

Tim Beck was an assistant coach with the Huskers from 2008-2014 before being shown the door alongside Bo Pelini. There are few active head coaches anywhere outside Nebraska that would have a better idea what kind of talent the state’s high schools are starting to produce. Let alone what places might offer an entry for a school that doesn’t share a border with the Huskers.

To be clear, the concern at the moment isn’t Nebraska football losing out to Coastal Carolina on recruits like Caleb Benning. It’s losing out on those that might go under the radar, or offered preferred walk-on status like Alex Bullock. Guys who weren’t heavily recruited out of high school, who have turned into solid performers at the college level.