As the early signing period came and went last week, let's look at the grades and where we stand for each position group/coach. At the end i'll try to speculate with what we still need.
1 - Ryan Held (A)
Dedrick Mills - 4 star Rivals (JUCO)
Rahmir Johnson - 4 star Rivals
Ronald Thompkins - 4 star 247
Wandale Robinson - composite 4 star
Summary - Pretty tough to find a better position recruiting class out there, and certainly not in Nebraska's class, which is why we have him at #1 on early signing day. We are still waiting on Mills to get cleared academically, even without him, you still have 3 four stars coming in. He would be the fourth. Crazy to me how good Held is on the recruiting trail, and not just in his position group. He helped reel in others as well. We lack experience coming back with Ozigbo leaving and Wilbon, but we gained a ton of talent. If Mills can't make it, I believe Bivens out of Ohio is our "plan B" there who sat out his senior year to get healthy. With needing 4 RBs this class, and roughly 30 kids total, a guy like Ronald Thompkins is intriguing, as he had schools like Alabama sniffing around since he was so talented. When he hurt his knee, they went away. That's the kind of "risk" you can take when you need so many. Robinson was Mr Gatorade in Kentucky who was stolen from an SEC team. And Rahmir Johnson is equally as good. Four stars like Miles Jones have to get healthy in a hurry, or Ryan Held is going to recruit over you in a year.
2 - Barrett Ruud (A-)
Garrett Snodgrass - 3 star
Jackson Hannah - 4 star Rivals
Nick Henrich - composite 4 star
Summary - Barrett Ruud had to replace a starter in Dedrick Young, and while some people may not have been that sad to see him leave, you are replacing nearly 50 starts. That is not easy. You have Mo Barry returning, and after that a bunch of unknowns. Weinmaster had to retire from football. Will Honas who was poised to start in 2019 now has to recover from a blown knee. Miller couldn't stay consistent enough on the field. So what does Ruud go out and do? Signs what looks like the second best position class with 2 four stars and another in-state kid. He also flips a kid committed to South Dakota State and getting a full ride to an FCS power and convinced him to walk on. One of these guys are going to need to play, and if Hannah stays inside, he may be your best bet due to having the size already and being healthy. Henrich will be recovering from a knee injury and will need to put on weight if he wants to help in the B1G, but his film was stated to me as "the best LB film i've ever seen" from one of his recruiters. While Ruud isn't much of a presence on social media or other outlets, he is proving his worth. I will be interested to see how he does in 2020 without an ILB in-state ranked as high as Henrich, but he sealed his class up before the fall even started.
3 - Troy Walters (B+)
Jamie Nance - 4 star Rivals
Darien Chase - composite 4 star
Summary - Two "bigger" bodied WRs to go along with a guy like Wandale Robinson in the slot, and that's a heck of a job. Walters needs to replace Stanley Morgan, and the two guys we have committed have the ability to get that done for outside receiving threats. We still have one more spot to fill, and we have a couple four stars in Njoku and Houston. Pull in one of those guys and he may leap-frog Ruud for the spot behind Held. Walters will always get his slot WRs with help from Held, it's up to him to reel these guys in.
4 - Mario Verduzco (B)
Luke McCaffrey - 4 star 247
Summary - Tough to be too mad at Coach V here, got who he wanted early and it's a name that has some great bloodlines. His grade is hurt due to quantity, but I wouldn't let that bother anyone too much. He's a bit quirky, but all you have to do is get one kid in per year, and we have appeared to get another good one.
5 - Sean Beckton (B-)
Chris Hickman - 3 star
Summary - With a wealth of TEs returning, we had one spot to fill, and Beckton got it done with an in-state kid that had the athleticism to do everything Frost wants. A 3 sport athlete, before he gave up baseball it was rumored that was his best sport. He has the frame to be an absolute stud in this offense and our returning players will give him the opportunity to put on weight and be ready to go for 2020. It is still up in the air a bit if he stays on offense, but I like that we got an in-state kid signed up.
6 - Mike Dawson (B-)
Ethan Piper - 3 star
Mosai Newson - 3 star
Ty Robinson - composite 4 star
Brant Banks - 3 star
Darrion Daniels - grad transfer
Summary - Ty Robinson was a must for Mike Dawson with him sitting at a couple 3 star recruits that were going to need some time. A kid like Robinson could come in and be valuable immediately, but it will be interesting to see if we redshirt him with plenty of DE depth coming back, or get him ready for 2020 with some snaps. The 4 game redshirt rule will help a ton here. I really like Mosai Newsoms film, I think he could turn into a good one for us. The recent addition of Brant Banks on the DL has me scratching my head. I like his film as an OL, really dislike it as a DL. I will be watching this development closely, as this is a perfect example of our staff identifying what they usually look for. But there are about a dozen kids in Nebraska with better defensive film on the line than Banks, they just aren't 6'7". We still have one more spot out there and that could be filled by four star Mathew Pola-Mao. We are missing a NG in this class (if Piper doesn't grow into it) with us letting go of Fair in favor of Daniels, so that would be a huge win. If we can get a kid like Robinson (2019) and Wildeman (2018) every year for DE, then developmental guys, I like where our DL recruiting is going. Mao would be a huge homerun for the interior DL. I didn't include Nelson here, even tho I am thinking he grows into DE. Hopefully get can grow another inch or two as well.
7 - Greg Austin (C)
Desmond Bland - 4 star Rivals
Matthew Anderson - 3 star
Michael Lynn - 3 star
Bryce Benhart - composite 4 star
Jimmy Fritzsche - 3 star
Summary - This is an interesting position group. Before the Benhart commit, we were sitting at an unqualified Desmond Bland and then two developmental guys. Luckily, Bryce commits, and we take Jimmy Fritzcshe from Clemson to help things out. I have said before that OL is my worst position group to evaluate, and this staff is upping the stakes with that. They are going after kids with good frames that they are hoping Duval can do work on. They are recruiting length which makes it even more difficult to find those wrestler types like Tanner Farmer. Four stars like Jalin Barnett are a thing of the past. This staff wants tall and athletic guys, not squatty bowling balls. This group could fluctuate a little bit with what happens with Bland.
8 - Travis Fisher (C-)
Quinton Newsome - 3 star
Javin Wright - 3 star
Myles Farmer - 3 star
Summary - Just not a ton of "pop" when it comes to rankings, but I don't hate this class. Guys like Newsome and Farmer have some pretty good film despite "only being 3 stars" and Wright is a kid that could go a ton of different ways depending on where his body takes him. Fisher still has a couple fish out there in 4 star Pola-Gates and 3 stars Starks, Mayo, and James. We are needing some help as Jackson and Bootle will be graduated before you know it, and we lost our top 3 safeties. Fisher pulled in a top 5 safety class nationally last year and deserves credit there, can he finish well on 1 or 2 more prospects down the stretch? Hoping so as we need more of "his guys" in that room. As with Coach Austin, how February ends up will determine the outcome. Little early to be down or up on what we have right now, and if we land Pola-Gates, things will certainly be looking up.
9 - Jovan Dewitt (D)
Garrett Nelson - 3 star
Jamin Graham - 3 star
Summary - Don't be too alarmed yet. We looked dead in the water last year before we grabbed Caleb Tannor and Javonte Jean-Baptiste (who a snow day had him flip to Ohio State on us) at the end of the cycle. We have a couple more offers out to some people, but we are missing that elite guy on the edge. Guys like Luke Gifford, Tyrin Ferguson, they are all serviceable, but imagine if we reel in that highly sought after guy to help us? Brandon Mack has decommitted from Pitt and is an option, we also have Larry Asante's brother sitting there. That will also be an interesting one to watch in regard to who our staff is targeting. Asante looks more explosive to me, but isn't as long. Mack however has the better frame, and has other attributes catching our attention. See who we let visit first and go from there to understand who our plan B is. Long story short is we could get bailed out here too due to Jackson Hannah possibly moving here, Javin Wright could grow into the spot, and we have a jUCO option or two still available.
Where do we go from here?
Let's just call it five spots left even tho we don't know what's going to happen with Bland and Mills. Here's who we are looking at:
-Noa Pola-Gates is a DB we are taking no matter what. He would be #1 for us
-Matthew Pola-Mao is a DL we are taking no matter what and can probably fill that NG spot
-We still need a LB... Asante or Mack is who we are going after, heck we may take both depending on how things shape up, things look fluid. As I stated in the summary, check how we handle the visits.
-A big bodied WR is a must still, and we are in on two pretty good ones. Heck, we may take both if numbers play out the way they could. Keep an eye on Houston and Njoku.
-And we still need a corner. We have Mayo, Starks, and James sitting out there. No idea where we stand on any of them. The thing to watch here is where these guys commit to and who we get. The final death blow to Hank Hughes was losing guys to Iowa State visits.
-From there, you have some fluidity based on what happens with guys like Mills. If he doesn't qualify, we probably put the full court press on Bivens.
-If we don't get Pola-Mao or an OLB, do we go hard after Fonua?
Time for the staff to regroup and close hard at DB and OLB. Other people like Held and Ruud can start looking at 2020 tape and get a head start there, which is a huge advantage.
Last edited: Yesterday at 12:27 PM
ShortSideOption, Yesterday at 12:23 PM
#1
ChicagoB1GRed, HuskersReign, Brandywine Bugeater and 18 others like this.
1 - Ryan Held (A)
Dedrick Mills - 4 star Rivals (JUCO)
Rahmir Johnson - 4 star Rivals
Ronald Thompkins - 4 star 247
Wandale Robinson - composite 4 star
Summary - Pretty tough to find a better position recruiting class out there, and certainly not in Nebraska's class, which is why we have him at #1 on early signing day. We are still waiting on Mills to get cleared academically, even without him, you still have 3 four stars coming in. He would be the fourth. Crazy to me how good Held is on the recruiting trail, and not just in his position group. He helped reel in others as well. We lack experience coming back with Ozigbo leaving and Wilbon, but we gained a ton of talent. If Mills can't make it, I believe Bivens out of Ohio is our "plan B" there who sat out his senior year to get healthy. With needing 4 RBs this class, and roughly 30 kids total, a guy like Ronald Thompkins is intriguing, as he had schools like Alabama sniffing around since he was so talented. When he hurt his knee, they went away. That's the kind of "risk" you can take when you need so many. Robinson was Mr Gatorade in Kentucky who was stolen from an SEC team. And Rahmir Johnson is equally as good. Four stars like Miles Jones have to get healthy in a hurry, or Ryan Held is going to recruit over you in a year.
2 - Barrett Ruud (A-)
Garrett Snodgrass - 3 star
Jackson Hannah - 4 star Rivals
Nick Henrich - composite 4 star
Summary - Barrett Ruud had to replace a starter in Dedrick Young, and while some people may not have been that sad to see him leave, you are replacing nearly 50 starts. That is not easy. You have Mo Barry returning, and after that a bunch of unknowns. Weinmaster had to retire from football. Will Honas who was poised to start in 2019 now has to recover from a blown knee. Miller couldn't stay consistent enough on the field. So what does Ruud go out and do? Signs what looks like the second best position class with 2 four stars and another in-state kid. He also flips a kid committed to South Dakota State and getting a full ride to an FCS power and convinced him to walk on. One of these guys are going to need to play, and if Hannah stays inside, he may be your best bet due to having the size already and being healthy. Henrich will be recovering from a knee injury and will need to put on weight if he wants to help in the B1G, but his film was stated to me as "the best LB film i've ever seen" from one of his recruiters. While Ruud isn't much of a presence on social media or other outlets, he is proving his worth. I will be interested to see how he does in 2020 without an ILB in-state ranked as high as Henrich, but he sealed his class up before the fall even started.
3 - Troy Walters (B+)
Jamie Nance - 4 star Rivals
Darien Chase - composite 4 star
Summary - Two "bigger" bodied WRs to go along with a guy like Wandale Robinson in the slot, and that's a heck of a job. Walters needs to replace Stanley Morgan, and the two guys we have committed have the ability to get that done for outside receiving threats. We still have one more spot to fill, and we have a couple four stars in Njoku and Houston. Pull in one of those guys and he may leap-frog Ruud for the spot behind Held. Walters will always get his slot WRs with help from Held, it's up to him to reel these guys in.
4 - Mario Verduzco (B)
Luke McCaffrey - 4 star 247
Summary - Tough to be too mad at Coach V here, got who he wanted early and it's a name that has some great bloodlines. His grade is hurt due to quantity, but I wouldn't let that bother anyone too much. He's a bit quirky, but all you have to do is get one kid in per year, and we have appeared to get another good one.
5 - Sean Beckton (B-)
Chris Hickman - 3 star
Summary - With a wealth of TEs returning, we had one spot to fill, and Beckton got it done with an in-state kid that had the athleticism to do everything Frost wants. A 3 sport athlete, before he gave up baseball it was rumored that was his best sport. He has the frame to be an absolute stud in this offense and our returning players will give him the opportunity to put on weight and be ready to go for 2020. It is still up in the air a bit if he stays on offense, but I like that we got an in-state kid signed up.
6 - Mike Dawson (B-)
Ethan Piper - 3 star
Mosai Newson - 3 star
Ty Robinson - composite 4 star
Brant Banks - 3 star
Darrion Daniels - grad transfer
Summary - Ty Robinson was a must for Mike Dawson with him sitting at a couple 3 star recruits that were going to need some time. A kid like Robinson could come in and be valuable immediately, but it will be interesting to see if we redshirt him with plenty of DE depth coming back, or get him ready for 2020 with some snaps. The 4 game redshirt rule will help a ton here. I really like Mosai Newsoms film, I think he could turn into a good one for us. The recent addition of Brant Banks on the DL has me scratching my head. I like his film as an OL, really dislike it as a DL. I will be watching this development closely, as this is a perfect example of our staff identifying what they usually look for. But there are about a dozen kids in Nebraska with better defensive film on the line than Banks, they just aren't 6'7". We still have one more spot out there and that could be filled by four star Mathew Pola-Mao. We are missing a NG in this class (if Piper doesn't grow into it) with us letting go of Fair in favor of Daniels, so that would be a huge win. If we can get a kid like Robinson (2019) and Wildeman (2018) every year for DE, then developmental guys, I like where our DL recruiting is going. Mao would be a huge homerun for the interior DL. I didn't include Nelson here, even tho I am thinking he grows into DE. Hopefully get can grow another inch or two as well.
7 - Greg Austin (C)
Desmond Bland - 4 star Rivals
Matthew Anderson - 3 star
Michael Lynn - 3 star
Bryce Benhart - composite 4 star
Jimmy Fritzsche - 3 star
Summary - This is an interesting position group. Before the Benhart commit, we were sitting at an unqualified Desmond Bland and then two developmental guys. Luckily, Bryce commits, and we take Jimmy Fritzcshe from Clemson to help things out. I have said before that OL is my worst position group to evaluate, and this staff is upping the stakes with that. They are going after kids with good frames that they are hoping Duval can do work on. They are recruiting length which makes it even more difficult to find those wrestler types like Tanner Farmer. Four stars like Jalin Barnett are a thing of the past. This staff wants tall and athletic guys, not squatty bowling balls. This group could fluctuate a little bit with what happens with Bland.
8 - Travis Fisher (C-)
Quinton Newsome - 3 star
Javin Wright - 3 star
Myles Farmer - 3 star
Summary - Just not a ton of "pop" when it comes to rankings, but I don't hate this class. Guys like Newsome and Farmer have some pretty good film despite "only being 3 stars" and Wright is a kid that could go a ton of different ways depending on where his body takes him. Fisher still has a couple fish out there in 4 star Pola-Gates and 3 stars Starks, Mayo, and James. We are needing some help as Jackson and Bootle will be graduated before you know it, and we lost our top 3 safeties. Fisher pulled in a top 5 safety class nationally last year and deserves credit there, can he finish well on 1 or 2 more prospects down the stretch? Hoping so as we need more of "his guys" in that room. As with Coach Austin, how February ends up will determine the outcome. Little early to be down or up on what we have right now, and if we land Pola-Gates, things will certainly be looking up.
9 - Jovan Dewitt (D)
Garrett Nelson - 3 star
Jamin Graham - 3 star
Summary - Don't be too alarmed yet. We looked dead in the water last year before we grabbed Caleb Tannor and Javonte Jean-Baptiste (who a snow day had him flip to Ohio State on us) at the end of the cycle. We have a couple more offers out to some people, but we are missing that elite guy on the edge. Guys like Luke Gifford, Tyrin Ferguson, they are all serviceable, but imagine if we reel in that highly sought after guy to help us? Brandon Mack has decommitted from Pitt and is an option, we also have Larry Asante's brother sitting there. That will also be an interesting one to watch in regard to who our staff is targeting. Asante looks more explosive to me, but isn't as long. Mack however has the better frame, and has other attributes catching our attention. See who we let visit first and go from there to understand who our plan B is. Long story short is we could get bailed out here too due to Jackson Hannah possibly moving here, Javin Wright could grow into the spot, and we have a jUCO option or two still available.
Where do we go from here?
Let's just call it five spots left even tho we don't know what's going to happen with Bland and Mills. Here's who we are looking at:
-Noa Pola-Gates is a DB we are taking no matter what. He would be #1 for us
-Matthew Pola-Mao is a DL we are taking no matter what and can probably fill that NG spot
-We still need a LB... Asante or Mack is who we are going after, heck we may take both depending on how things shape up, things look fluid. As I stated in the summary, check how we handle the visits.
-A big bodied WR is a must still, and we are in on two pretty good ones. Heck, we may take both if numbers play out the way they could. Keep an eye on Houston and Njoku.
-And we still need a corner. We have Mayo, Starks, and James sitting out there. No idea where we stand on any of them. The thing to watch here is where these guys commit to and who we get. The final death blow to Hank Hughes was losing guys to Iowa State visits.
-From there, you have some fluidity based on what happens with guys like Mills. If he doesn't qualify, we probably put the full court press on Bivens.
-If we don't get Pola-Mao or an OLB, do we go hard after Fonua?
Time for the staff to regroup and close hard at DB and OLB. Other people like Held and Ruud can start looking at 2020 tape and get a head start there, which is a huge advantage.
Last edited: Yesterday at 12:27 PM
ShortSideOption, Yesterday at 12:23 PM
#1
ChicagoB1GRed, HuskersReign, Brandywine Bugeater and 18 others like this.
