FB RECRUITING

3 thoughts on Carter Nelson commitment to Nebraska Football

Published

3 months ago

June 28, 2023

Chris Peterson

Carter Nelson/Twitter

Nebraska football landed the commitment of Carter Nelson on Wednesday and here are three thoughts on what it means for the Huskers.

The commitment of Carter Nelson to Nebraska football was fully expected since last Saturday. However, it became official on Wednesday as the four-star tight end from Ainsworth pledged to Matt Rhule and the Cornhuskers.

It was a stellar recruiting win for Rhule. It started when he first took the job. Carter was one of the first recruits he visited and Nebraska football never took the foot off the gas.

The 6-foot-4, 205-pound tight end is elite in every sense of the word. He’s the No. 1 player in the state via the 247 Sports composite rankings and a top-100 recruit overall. 247 Sports has him ranked even higher — No. 2 among tight ends and 40th overall in their own rankings.

Yes, there will be an adjustment from 8-man football. But that’s not a reason to temper the excitement on Nelson. There’s a reason Georgia wanted him badly. Notre Dame too. Frankly, if he wasn’t from Nebraska, he’d probably be ranked as a five-star prospect, and with all that in mind, here are three thoughts.

Nelson’s adjustment won’t be that difficult

Some people are saying it’s going to take Nelson two full years before he’s ready to play D-1 college football, but that’s hogwash. He’s already got a D-1 body, skill set, and athleticism.

Sure, he’s going to have some different roles. In 8-man football, Nelson basically does it all. He plays quarterback at times, receiver, tight end, and running back. That’s just the way it works — you get the ball to your best players as much as you possibly can.

Once he’s able to focus on tight end, the sky is the limit. He’s got all the raw ability of Thomas Fidone and he’ll be developed by a coaching staff that knows what it’s doing, especially Bob Wager at tight ends.

I expect Nelson to have an impact right away and by the time 2025 rolls around, I have no doubt that Carter Nelson will be Nebraska football’s starting tight end.

The biggest recruiting win for Rhule at Nebraska

Matt Rhule has only been the Nebraska football head coach for a short time, but Nelson is the biggest commitment he’s landed just because of the competition.

Malachi Coleman was the key recruit in the 2023 class and Rhule got him. That’s the other commitment that is the contender for that top spot. The difference is that Colorado was the main contender.

When it comes to Nelson, Georgia wanted him badly. So did Notre Dame and Penn State. The Huskers held off challenges from all of those programs as Nelson took official visits.

Coleman was also committed to Nebraska before Rhule even got there. He re-opened his recruitment sure, but there were some built-in advantages. Plus, Colorado is more of a rebuild than Nebraska.

Georgia isn’t a rebuild. The Bulldogs have proven they can develop NFL tight ends and the weekend Nelson was on campus, five of the top 10 players in the entire 2024 class were also visiting.

The fact that Rhule was still able to seal the deal tells me all I need to know about his recruiting abilities. The dude is elite and this commitment is the best example yet.

Persistence pays off

This recruitment was all about effort for the Huskers. From the day Rhule took over the job, he made Nelson a top priority. The Nebraska football head coach took a visit there days after he was hired.

Rhule and others took in Nelson’s basketball games and got him on campus as many times as possible. Once Daniel Kaelin, Isaiah McMorris, and Dae’vonn Hall committed, it really seemed to build some momentum.

But you have to give Rhule credit. He played it all perfectly. It was smart to get Kaelin to visit on the same weekend and enlist him as your top recruiter. Hall and McMorris did the same and you could see once Carter was re-tweeting their announcements that things were trending in the right direction.

Rhule said when he was hired that he wasn’t going to let good players leave the state and so far, he’s lived up to that promise.

Yet, the staff is putting their money where their mouth is and they aren’t taking in-state kids for granted which is leading to a stellar 2024 recruiting haul.

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FB RECRUITING

Nebraska Football lands athletic playmaker in JD Crisp

Published

22 hours ago

September 20, 2023

Danny Jaillet

Mandatory Credit: Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports

Nebraska football continues to recruit for the 2024 class. They picked up a commitment from 2024 wide receiver JD Crisp on Wednesday afternoon. Crisp played both sides of the football in high school, playing both defensive back and wide receiver for Second Baptist High School.

He is not ranked in the 247Sports regular or Composite Rankings. However, he does have a solid offer sheet. Crisp had seven offers in total, including one from Minnesota. He was officially offered by the program on September 16 and quickly made his decision.

It’s also worth noting that his recruitment was active throughout the summer. He attended Texas A&M Aggies camp on June 14. At the very least, he garnered interest from a prominent Texas school. That is notable in of itself.

#Nebraska has picked up commitment No. 25 in the 2024 recruiting class from DB/WR recruit JD Crisp from Cypress (Texas) Second Baptist. Crisp recently visited Nebraska and committed to the #Huskers on Sunday following his visit. pic.twitter.com/IDzfYCw64e

— Bryan Munson (@BryanMunson_) September 20, 2023

What could he bring to Nebraska football?

It’s interesting that he is a two-way player. He played both the receiver and safety positions in high school. As far as Nebraska is concerned, I could certainly see him playing at receiver. He has as a tremendous amount of athleticism, and played mostly on the outside and high school. Crisp was very good at catching in space, and making contested catches and tight windows.

Playing receiver would make sense for him, given Nebraska’s lack of depth at the position moving forward. He has the agility and ability to become a solid piece if developed properly.

Nevertheless, he has overall qualities that could make him a good safety as well. This coaching staff loves the opportunity to work with athletes and molding them as they see fit. His ability to fire off the football and read a play certainly stands out.

The commitment of Crisp adds to a 2024 recruiting class that ranks 24^th overall nationally. The class itself is stacked with talent. It currently has 25 commitments in total.

It will be interesting to see what Crisp can do for Nebraska football. He is definitely more of a project player. Nevertheless, his athleticism and speed is intriguing. One of this coaching staff’s strengths is identifying how players fit into the program. They will have to do that with Crisp.

BASKETBALL

Nebraska Cornhuskers news: Jeff Sims still not 100 percent, a flip attempt, and more

Published

1 day ago

September 20, 2023

Chris Peterson

Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports

Nebraska football QB Jeff Sims still isn’t 100 percent, plus more Nebraska Cornhuskers news.

One thing we know for sure about the Nebraska football quarterback situation is that we won’t know anything until kickoff on Saturday against Louisiana Tech.

Matt Rhule said that he won’t be making any announcements prior to the game, similar to last week, about the starting quarterback. Marcus Satterfield told reporters on Tuesday that Sims took “50-55 percent of the snaps” so he’s improving, but according to Rhule, he’s still not 100 percent.

Matt Rhule said on Huskers Radio Network that QB Jeff Sims is not yet at 100 percent with QB draws, running the option or scrambling after his ankle injury.

He thought Heinrich Haarberg did a "great" job managing the game vs. NIU, including running the huddle, subs, reads etc.

— Abby Barmore (@Abby_Barmore) September 19, 2023

Rhule indicated that Sims is throwing the ball well. The Nebraska Cornhuskers just want to see some more movement skills out of their starting quarterback. One of the starting quarterbacks I should say since Sims and Heinrich Haarberg were listed as co-starters this week on the depth chart.

We’ll see how it plays out. If Sims is healthy, I expect that he will get the start or at least play, but with how thin Nebraska football is at running back, both quarterbacks will probably be needed, especially with their prowess for pounding the rock.

Nebraska Cornhuskers aiming to flip Michigan State 4-star

Andrew Dennis is a 6-foot-5, 275-pound offensive lineman rated as a four-star prospect by the 247 Sports composite rankings. He’s out of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, and has been committed to Michigan State since April but Nebraska football is one of many programs to throw out a recent offer.

After an amazing conversation with @s_kwilli32 I am blessed and honored to receive an offer to play football at the University of Nebraska!!!! @CoachMattRhule @AllenTrieu @Rivals_Clint @ESPNRittenberg @TheD_Zone @samspiegs @JimLahde @BernreuterHugh @SamAliSports @BGreenReports pic.twitter.com/9eDm7JkjBW

— Andrew (AJ) Dennis (@andrewdennis_08) September 19, 2023

We don’t know if Dennis has any plans to visit Nebraska football. He’s been offered by Auburn, Stanford, Penn State, and Purdue just since Monday. I wouldn’t get too serious worrying about Dennis until he takes a visit to Nebraska, but if that happens, watch out.

It’s at least a name to keep on the radar and a decommitment definitely seems possible with the situation going on at Michigan State with Mel Tucker getting fired.

Nebraska Cornhuskers Big Ten basketball schedule released

We knew which teams Nebraska basketball would play in the 2023-24 Big Ten season but got the official schedule on Tuesday. The Huskers released it on their official Twitter account.

Go B1G Red.

🗓️ https://t.co/ustbApU7Yc | #GBR pic.twitter.com/7s42V3pCZe

— Nebraska Men's Basketball (@HuskerMBB) September 19, 2023

Nebraska basketball will open Big Ten on December 6th against Minnesota on the road. Fred Hoiberg’s first conference home game will be against Michigan State on December 10th.

The schedule is fairly balanced in terms of the home and road games. The Huskers have consecutive home games twice on the conference schedule. Nebraska has also back-to-back road games twice.

My first impressions though, are that Nebraska basketball is capable of a winning season in Big Ten play, which would definitely keep Fred Hoiberg in place and likely, would give the Huskers a realistic shot at making their first NCAA tournament since the 2014 season.

For More Nebraska content, follow us on Twitter, like our Facebook Page, and Subscribe to the Husker Big Red YouTube Channel. You can also find our podcast on Apple or Spotify.

FB RECRUITING

Nebraska football is trending for a priority target, plus more Cornhuskers news

Published

3 days ago

September 18, 2023

Chris Peterson

Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports

Nebraska football seems to be closing in on the commitment of three-star athlete Caleb Benning, plus another win for volleyball.

For the first time this season, Nebraska football fans are enjoying a victory Monday following the Huskers’ 35-11 win over Northern Illinois on Saturday.

It was an important win for plenty of reasons. But Matt Rhule’s team needed some momentum. The Huskers got it with that win and now, they are picking up momentum with top recruiting target Caleb Benning.

Benning has been one of the top high school players in the state this fall. He was injured last year, which slowed down his recruitment, but the Huskers have been putting on the full-court press and hosted him for a visit during the game on Saturday.

After that, Benning told reporters how much he wanted to play in the Nebraska football defense. He also said that a decision could be “pretty soon” which sounds like great news for the Huskers.

Decision is coming soon for Caleb Benning. He's impressed by the defense:

“Seeing that defense, it really makes me want to play. You can tell they play for each other. They enjoy their coaches; the coaches enjoy coaching them."

More @NebraskaRivals: https://t.co/iWUnYRyNtL pic.twitter.com/9hI2u6HSRj

— Greg Smith (@GregSmithRivals) September 17, 2023

Over the weekend, Nebraska football also picked up a new expert projection to land Benning from Bryan Munson of Husker Online. This was after another recent crystal ball from 247 Sports.

The On3 prediction machine now gives the Huskers a 91-percent chance to win the commitment of Benning, while all of the crystal ball projections agree. Even Greg Smith, a former Nebraska insider who covers Midwest recruiting for rivals, also projected Benning to Nebraska.

The 5-foot-10, 183-pounder is one of the top targets left on the board along with the likes of Grant Brix, Brandon Baker, and Jayshawn Ross. His addition to the 2024 class would be huge and regardless of his ranking, Benning is a player the Huskers need on their roster in the future.

Nebraska volleyball notches another top-25 win

The Cornhuskers were back in the Bob Devaney Center on Sunday and scored another win over a top-25 opponent, their second of the week with a 3-1 win over Kentucky by the scores of 25-14, 25-22, 23-25, and 25-21.

Merritt Beason was on fire for Nebraska volleyball as she had a team-high 17 kills, a total that was matched by freshman standout Harper Murray. Beason also added three blocks, as did Murrary, but Beason hit .438 compared to .308 for Murrary.

Nebraska had 62 kills compared to 53 for Kentucky, which was limited to just a .243 hitting percentage. The Huskers only had four service aces but Bergen Reilly had 32 assists in the win, while Lexi Rodriguez pitched in with 18 digs and had a perfect serve-receive percentage.

The Cornhuskers (9-0) open Big Ten play this week against Ohio State on Friday at 8 PM CST.

For More Nebraska content, follow us on Twitter, like our Facebook Page, and Subscribe to the Husker Big Red YouTube Channel. You can also find our podcast on Apple or Spotify.