Latest Nebraska football commit signals kicker competition coming

One day after landing a quarterback that significantly improves the Nebraska football team’s depth at that position, the Huskers upgraded the depth on their special teams unit as well. Like the addition of Jalyn Gramstad, the addition begs the question whether it’s really about depth, or whether NU feels like it got someone who can compete for a starting job.

On Friday morning, placekicker John Hohl announced he’d committed to the Cornhuskers. While he might be a player that is a bit under  the radar for most NU fans, it turns out Hohl could be a very big get.

The home-grown Nebraska football commit had been committed to Coastal Carolina but decided to stay closer to home after all. One has to wonder if that decision wasn’t at least somewhat due to the fact that last year’s starting kicker, Tristan Alvano has struggled so far in his early college career.

Nebraska football could have kicker competition this fall

It feels like it’s been decades since the Huskers had a kicker that anyone could expect to be anywhere near automatic. Special teams has especially been a thorn in NU’s side over the last five or six years.

While head coach Matt Rhule expects Ed Foley to fix that, it didn’t really happen in 2023. Alvano also had some issues kicking in the spring game. That might have led the Cornhuskers staff to go harder after Hohl than outsiders might have expected.

https://x.com/JohnHohl5/status/1804112146109993211

John Hohl still mostly a mystery

It’s hard to know exactly what the newest kicker has to offer, considering he hasn’t kicked in a college football game. He spent last year as a true freshman at Iowa Western C.C. but didn’t get into a game. 

Before that, he played his high school ball at Lincoln Southwest. 

It’s likely that the Nebraska football team based much of its recruiting of John Hohl on his performance at the Kohl’s kicking camp, where he was rated a 5-star kicker and the number one transfer kicker for the class.