The Nebraska football and baseball programs are both retooling their staffs in order to deal with the new reality of recruiting in 2025 and beyond.
As it turns out, Matt Rhule and company managed to raid Michigan for one of its stop staffers in that retooling. The Huskers named Anthony Johnson, who has been serving as a recruiting analyst in Ann Arbor since May, as its new recruiting coordinator, according to Football Scoop.
Nebraska football hires Anthony Johnson as new recruiting coordinator to boost 2025 efforts
At the same time that the Nebraska football team is stealing a staffer away from an increasingly bitter Big Ten rival, Will Bolt's staff has added Kyle Nicholson as the Huskers' new director of player development, according to the Hastings Tribune.
Nicholson has previously coached for Indiana University-Pennsylvania and Mercyhurst University. He was also an All-American at Texas A&M and was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in 2007.
This move makes it unclear if Derek Roy, previously listed as Nebraska's director of player development, is still on the staff in a new role or has been let go.
Johnson has been well-traveled in a short period. He joined the Michigan staff just a few months ago after spending six months on staff at Pitt. During his relatively brief stay on Pat Narduzzi's staff, Johnson served as a personnel and operations assistant.
What's clear is that both hires are yet another sign that the Nebraska football and Nebraska Cornhuskers athletic department is making moves that recognize how important dedicated recruiting staffers are in this era of college sports. So far, neither has been officially announced, though they're both in positions that aren't consistently recognized publicly by universities.