3 thoughts on Nebraska football’s 2026 recruiting class

One thing you can say about Early Signing Day for Nebraska football is that there was no drama. The class was signed, sealed, and wrapped up by mid-morning.

That’s how you want signing day to go. However, Nebraska’s recruiting class, which includes 10 signees, ranked 17th in the Big Ten, ahead of only Penn State, a team without a head coach. Nebraska football also ranks outside the top 100.

As Husker fans know, this was always going to be a smaller class. Nebraska took a ton of recruits in 2024 and 2025. Yet, the Huskers worked hard down to the stretch to add to it. They hosted recruits committed to other programs, and even got some JUCOs on campus, yet weren’t able to close.

Nebraska could still add some recruits, but the focus should be on the portal. First, though, let’s look back at the 2026 class with three final thoughts.

The quantity is fine, the quality is the issue

The numbers are one thing. But if we replace the bottom three recruits with blue-chip prospects, via the 247 Sports rankings calculator, Nebraska jumps about 30 spots.

Nebraska signed more players ranked outside the top 1,000 than it did four-star prospects. That’s concerning, and it has nothing to do with the size of the class.

Adding players from the portal is fine. Yet, the most successful programs are successful in high school recruiting. And now that everyone can pay players about the same, it’s hard to ensure that there will be the same amount of talent in the future.

Nebraska did well to add Danny Odem and Claude Mpouma. Jamal Rule feels like a sleeper to me. Larry Miles and Nalin Scott have high upside. Luke Sorensen is definitely underrated.

Hayden Aisnworth and Rex Waterman are lowly ranked, but Matt Rhule talked about the importance of developmental talent. Both of those guys have the chance to play inside in the future if offensive tackle doesn’t work out.

Still, Nebraska can’t afford another class this light or a class with a 22-percent blue-chip percentage, even taking out the new kicker.

Two cornerstones

As a whole, the 2026 class is a little disappointing. Some players can out-play their ranking, and it could turn out much better than it looks now. Not even recruiting Jett Thomalla feels like a mistake. I’ve said that since before Dayton Raiola committed.

Nebraska football also missed on Darion Jones. That’s two blue-chip prospects from the state of Nebraska. The Huskers didn’t offer one and offered the other, the younger brother of a current Nebraska player, too late.

The point is, mistakes were made.

That being said, Danny Odem is a five-star via 247 Sports. He’s also a 6-foot-2 corner, who might be among the best man-coverage corners in this class. Mpouma could be the future at left tackle. They have one season to get him ready.

You’d like to see more than just a couple of impact players, but at least the Huskers nailed it at two of the most important positions on the field.

There isn’t much depth, but there is that.

One glaring issue

Every Nebraska football fan knows the defensive line needs to improve. The Huskers didn’t even register 20 sacks this season. The run defense allowed six teams to rush for 186 yards or more.

It was a disaster. Unfortunately, there isn’t a single defensive line or pass rusher in this class. Terry Bradden was put in a tough spot based on the timing of when he was hired, but how many other classes don’t have a single defensive lineman?

Nebraska needs to address it in the portal, and it needs to start adding talent to the defensive line on the recruiting trail again, or that will continue to be an issue.

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