While the Nebraska football team landed quite a haul in the transfer portal, former Ohio State safety Cody Haddad officially counts as the one who got away.
Haddad was one of the later portal entries, deciding to leave the Buckeyes just ahead of the deadline to enter. Once he became available, the Huskers showed interest, but considering they did have 17 commits already, it's possible they couldn't spend the time or attention needed in order to land the defensive back.
Unfortunately, Nebraska's loss is Iowa's gain as Cody Haddad selected the Iowa Hawkeyes on Wednesday evening.
Cody Haddad commitment highlights late portal miss for Nebraska
The 3-star prospect in the 2025 high school recruiting class had a long list of offers coming out of high school, including Ohio State, Missouri, Michigan State, Indiana, Texas A&M, Nebraska, Wisconsin, and Iowa. The interest from both Nebraska and Iowa was an attempt to right a wrong back when he was first going to college.
This time around, it was the Hawkeyes who got the second chance at the ex-Ohio State player who didn't appear in a game for the Buckeyes this past season.
While neither the Huskers nor the Hawkeyes have put together extremely impressive Transfer Portal classes according to the team rankings, one can argue that Iowa needed Haddad more than NU did.
According to 247Sports, Kirk Ferentz's latest transfer class was ranked No. 65 before the addition of the former Buckeye. Nebraska is ranked as No. 36 in those same rankings. That ranking might not be blowing people away, but head coach Matt Rhule has said repeatedly that he and his staff pursued players who were more about fit than stars.