Nebraska football's Xander Ruggeroli gain and Jaxon Lee loss

The 2024 Nebraska football recruiting cycle giveth and it taketh away. Over the last few days, the roller coaster ride toward early signing day has been even crazier than usual. On Wednesday night, that meant a second time since Thanksgiving that the Huskers got a commit and suffered a decommit on the same evening.

Last time around it was Grant Brix giving his pledge to Matt Rhule and company and Carlon Jones announcing he was headed elsewhere. On Wednesday, the Huskers landed the commitment of 3-star Bishop Gorman offensive lineman Xander Ruggeroli. Even better is that the commitment doesn't require Nebraska football to use a scholarship as Ruggeroli is walking on.

Just a few hours after the celebrating over Ruggeroli started, the news broke that Texas edge rusher Jaxon Lee not only decommitted from the Huskers but was already moving on to another squad. Lee said he'll sign with the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes come early signing day on December 20.

There's a couple of interesting notes about the Huskers losing out on this particular defender. The first is that both he and Jones hail from the same state that Matt Rhule and his staff have targeted hard. They've made no bones about wanting to get guys from Texas. But they've lost two in the last couple of weeks.

Nebraska football gains a commit and loses another

Lee heading to Tulsa also seemed to underline that his departure was less about him wanting to be somewhere else and more about the Nebraska football staff shuffling the deck with their 2024 class. When Jones left, he made a comment in his announcement that hinted it wasn't entirely his decision.

There's also a very strategic way the whole thing went down on Wednesday night. With Lee out and Ruggeroli coming in as a walk-on, that opens up a scholarship spot. The Nebraska football team has made no secret of wanting to add a quarterback to the mix. Here's hoping it's another sign a Dylan Raiola commit is coming soon.