The No. 116 recruit nationally for this Class of 2022, according to rivals, is Tyler Martin, and he and his mother flew into Lincoln today from Cambridge, Massachusetts to do a self-guided tour of Nebraska's campus and facilities.
The Michigan decommit will still be in Lincoln through Thursday morning, but he gave HuskerOnline.com some thoughts and impressions of what he has seen and experienced thus far.
"We will be here for the rest of today and into tomorrow morning, and then we will head to the Airport in late morning for an early afternoon flight," Martin relayed. "So far, we've walked around campus, and we've been able to walk into some of the buildings just with the students on campus.
"We've been able to see some stuff and get let into the academic buildings just to look around a little bit. We also walked around some of the football facilities, obviously not being able to speak to anybody with the dead period still happening. But it's been a good trip so far, and we're just going to sort of see it at night tonight. See how everything goes, and then, get some dinner downtown.
"And then, tomorrow, just hopefully walk around again and maybe try to see a little bit more of the academic stuff that we didn't see fully today; and maybe some more of the football stuff."
Martin explained why he wanted to see Nebraska on his own:
"It's just a school that I have been recruited by for quite awhile, so once I decommitted from Michigan it was a school that I stayed in touch with a bunch. I was just really excited to see it, just in terms of the Big Ten because I am a big fan of the Big Ten. I've grown up watching it, so it's definitely a school I wanted to look at. They have a lot of history here as well."
Linebackers coaches Barrett Ruud and Mike Dawson have been primarily handling Martin's recruitment for the Huskers, and Coach Dawson has a personal connection with Martin's mother.
"Coach Dawson is a Massachusetts guy, and he actually has connections with my mom. They were both, at one point, athletic directors at different high schools in Massachusetts, so they have known each other."
Martin has also been speaking with NU head coach Scott Frost, defensive coordinator Erik Chinander , and staff member Sean Dillon.
Virginia Tech, Virginia and Arizona are also colleges Martin is seriously interested in, and he's hoping to get noticed by some other college programs during his COVID-delayed high school season which will start in a couple weeks.
"I will be playing this spring, so unfortunately, I won't be able to take any visits until maybe the beginning of June. I'm hoping this summer to get out to a couple more schools and different things like that. Our first game is going to be the last weekend of April, and then we go until the first or second week of June. So, I'm looking forward to playing because it's been 18 months since I put the pads on. I'm definitely looking forward to it!"
There's a good chance that Martin will make a return trip to Lincoln later in the summer.
"There's definitely a possibility we will get something worked out when I get back home. But I would say it's a definite possibility, and actually very likely."
Asked for his first impressions of Lincoln and Nebraska, Martin replied:
"It's a great college town, that's one thing I've definitely gotten from it. Just from talking to some of the people on the street in terms of Nebraska football and the university in general, it seems like a great place to go to school at."
