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Nebraska high school players in the NFL

artguy68

Junior
Nov 3, 2008
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In another thread, people were arguing that we need to focus on in-state talent more, with consternation over Shaq Barrett. It got me wondering how many in-state talents get to the NFL and where they played college ball. Here is what I found:
This got me thinking about how many current NFL players there are who went high school in Nebraska. They are:
Shaquil Barrett (Boys Town and UNO and Colorado State)
Andy Janovich (Gretna and Nebraska)
Sam Koch (York and Nebraska)
Greg Zuerlein (Pius X and Missouri Western St)
Kyle Emanuel (Schuyler Central and North Dakota St)*
Harrison Phillips (Millard West and Stanford)
Brandin Bryant (Omaha North and Florida Atlantic)
Noah Fant (Omaha South and Iowa)
Luke Gifford (Lincoln Southeast and Nebraska)

*Emanuel was retired, then not, then on IR, then not. Not sure what his status is anymore.

So only three of the nine played for NU. However, I know the Huskers recruited Fant and Phillips hard. Bryant and Emanuel most likely won't make a team next year. So really, only two players who are active in the NFL from Nebraska were not recruited by the Huskers-- Barrett and Zuerlein.

Am I missing any? Spencer Long officially retired before the 2020 season.
 
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Shaq Barrett has had an incredible career, and he wasn't even heavily recruited at the D2 level before originally signing with UNO.
 
Shaq Barrett has had an incredible career, and he wasn't even heavily recruited at the D2 level before originally signing with UNO.
I can understand Bo whiffing on him the first time. The second time, after UNO dropped its program, was a pretty bad miss. If the guy can go to CSU and be Mountain West Defensive POY, you would think NU would have at least picked up the phone.
 
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Brett Maher bounced around the league this year and is with the Cardinals right now.
True, but I would also give him an asterisk because he is just on the practice squad and probably won't be on the team next year.
 
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