While Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule recently said that he believes transfer cornerback Blye Hill will be back for at least part of the 2024 season, it appears the Huskers are perusing the portal for a possible replacement. At least for a stand-in until Blye is back and someone who could add depth to an already solid secondary.
As an added bonus, the Nebraska football team is hoping the replacement/stand-in is someone who knows plenty about playing in the Big Ten.
The first step towards getting former Michigan State standout Jaden Mangham to become a Husker is to get him to campus. Nebraska now has a checkmark in that box.
Mangham, who tallied 53 tackles and four interceptions in 2023 is coming to Lincoln early next week. That's the good news. The bad news is that Nebraska is going to have a big job ahead of it in convincing the defensive back he should pick them over Ohio State and Michigan. He's visiting those schools before he comes to the Huskers' campus.
Nebraska does have a few things going for it, in addition to the fact that they suddenly have an opening for a starting corner. Mangham also considered the Cornhuskers out of high school as a 4-star prospect.
While he picked the Spartans over the Huskers at the time, Matt Rhule now has another chance to win him over. If he does join the squad he could come over either as a safety— allowing Malcolm Hartzog to rotate back to cornerback — or as a corner himself.
Nebraska football does have spot that could win over former Michigan State star
When it comes to beating out Michigan and Ohio State, it looks lke the Huskers at least have a bit of an edge over the Buckeyes. OSU is bringing in Alabama transfer Caleb Downs to most likely take the one open spot on the starting defense.
Michigan, on the other hand has some openings where Langham could slide in. It is of course possible that Nebraska football could win the former Michigan State star over because despite coming off a national championship, there's quite a bit of question marks around the new staff.
That Langham is taking so many visits in a short period of time would seem to indicate that he's looking to make a decision soon. That could mean Nebraska football is about to pull off quite the recruiting coup.