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3 thoughts on commitment of Donovan Jones to Nebraska Football

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Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

Nebraska football landed another in-state commitment on Thursday and here are three thoughts on Donovan Jones.

The momentum of Nebraska football on the recruiting trail keeps building as the Huskers landed three-star defensive back Donovan Jones on Thursday.

It’s the sixth commitment for the Huskers in the past week and the 15th overall. Jones is also the third in-state commitment of this cycle for Nebraska football, although that number should grow on Friday with Dae’vonn Hall and Isaiah McMorris expected to pledge (they are both announcing Friday morning).

Jones is a three-star in 247 Sports’ own rankings. He’s ranked 11th in the state. The 6-foot-1, 185-pounder is ranked 1,248 via the On3 Industry rankings, which also have him 10th in the state of Nebraska for 2024.

Here are three thoughts on his commitment.

A perfect fit for the 3-3-5

Nebraska football is going to recruit more defensive backs while using a 3-3-5 defense and Jones is the sixth defensive back committed in the 2024 class already.

Some of the positions will work themselves out. Braylen Prude could move to linebacker, but Jones is a unique player to me in that he’s perfect for the slot corner position.

Jones spent plenty of time on the boundary during his highlights, but he also excelled in the box and in the slot. That’s going to be valuable for the Huskers.

On3 lists Jones as a safety. 247 Sports has him as an athlete, but I think he’ll play some cornerback and safety for Nebraska football. Nickel and dime defenders are very valuable in today’s game. Nebraska football didn’t have enough of those players under Scott Frost.

So I love this addition and if you have watched Jones tackle, you will too. Yet, the kid is a playmaker, and broke up seven passes last season, as well as notching two interceptions.

Another Rhule kind of athlete

This commitment showed once again that Rhule and the Huskers take the camp circuit seriously. Jones stood out in the camp, ran a 4.5 in the 40, and left with an offer.

Jones took an official visit earlier this week and boom he’s committed. This is another instance of Rhule and the staff trusting their evaluation.

Nebraska football seems to be getting ahead of teams and the recruiting services with some of these players. That’s probably because they are making more of an effort to evaluate them.

The fact that Nebraska has gotten commitments and offered so many recruits from camps will open some doors in the future. Jones is a big, fast, athlete who has on-field production. He’s basically a consensus top-10 player in the state, so it all makes taking him a no-brainer.

What’s next?

Rex Guthrie, another three-star defensive back according to the On3 rankings, was also on an official visit to Nebraska football. There haven’t been any expert projections yet, but the Huskers have a 96-percent chance of winning his commitment via the On3 prediction machine.

If the Huskers push, it feels like they will have a good shot and it doesn’t seem like Matt Rhule brings in recruits for official visits unless he is serious about taking them.

I still have questions about Caleb Benning. He was supposed to visit this weekend and as of right now, there aren’t any visits scheduled. It sounds like he could make it in for an unofficial visit this weekend or at some point in July. But the dead period starts Monday.

Would Nebraska take eight defensive backs? Frankly, I’d take Benning as an athlete and just figure it out later. Either way, the number of commitments should grow to 17 on Friday, and hopefully that leads to some positive momentum with Carter Nelson this weekend.

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Nebraska Football lands athletic playmaker in JD Crisp

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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.

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 24th 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.

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BASKETBALL

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

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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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.

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.

 

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