Husker Big Red Daily: Nebraska lands historic hoops commitment, Carter Nelson injury, more

Welcome to Husker Big Red Daily, your daily stop for the latest Nebraska football news, recruiting buzz, transfer portal updates, and Huskers headlines. Here’s a quick look at the latest storylines surrounding Nebraska athletics.

It might be Nebraska football season, but Fred Hoiberg stole some headlines on Monday, landing the highest-ranked commitment in Huskers history.

Dawson Battie, who took an official visit to Nebraska recently and was on campus for the Nebraska football game against North Dakota, announced his commitment to the Huskers on Monday.

It was something you could see coming from a mile away. The 6-foot-8 forward out of Texas is ranked No. 26 overall, making him a five-star recruit via the 247 Sports composite rankings.

Here is a look at his scouting report: 

“Battie is one of the more versatile forwards in the national class. At 6-foot-8 with a 6-foot-11 wingspan, he’s a mismatch problem who can operate at various spots on the floor and within different types of actions. He may not have a single overwhelming skill or dominant trait, but he provides optionality, particularly at the next level when there will be increased offensive structure, with some passing potential to match. He’s also a high-volume rebounder on both ends of the floor, who averaged nearly 10 boards per game during the Pro16 season.”

This is a double-double guy. Or at least that’s the ceiling: a consistent double-double threat who can potentially stretch the floor with his jumper. Surely, he will become a better shooter under Fred Hoiberg.

Battie can be prone to turnovers, but he’s also a playmaker. He’s a good free-throw shooter, about 70 percent, which means he can be a solid 3-point shooter. At the very least, an occasional pick-and-pop guy.

Battie can sign with Nebraska in November.

Nebraska football will be without Carter Nelson

Matt Rhule met with the media on Monday. He said that the Huskers are mostly healthy, but ruled out Carter Nelson for Nebraska’s game against Michigan State.

Rhule said it wasn’t an ACL injury, but that he didn’t know how long Nelson would be out. As far as the replacement, that will be Janiran Bonner. He was listed on the depth chart as the No. 2 tight end this week. There’s an OR next to his name with Nelson next, but Bonner makes perfect sense.

In the win over Bowling Green, he made a perfect block on a split zone that went for a touchdown. He’s always been a good blocker. He’s an underrated receiver, too.

It’s unfortunate for Nelson, who might never realize his potential in Lincoln. Injuries have been a big factor in that.

Matt Rhule previews Michigan State

The Nebraska football head coach talked about how Michigan State was going to present a different challenge, in terms of the scheme, than North Dakota.

“These guys are challenging in a different way,” Rhule said. “They know everything they’re going to get. You run a route on them, you know what they’re going to get to be quarters. They’re off DB’s; they’re turning to the route before you even break. They just know their defense so well. That’s very similar to Iowa and Minnesota and all these guys that are quarter-based defense guys. They all have their own slight variation on it, but they all do the same thing. Rob Aurich is kind of from that family. That’s why we hired him. We felt like in these games, we didn’t want to reinvent the wheel, we wanted to do the same stuff, so we’ve seen it all spring and all summer. It’s going to come down to making blocks and, for them, getting off blocks. For us, making people miss and then making people miss and getting off tackles, so it’ll just be a physical, physical game. It won’t be a schematic game; this will be an execution game.”

When asked about the mood of his team, Rhule said this team was expected to be where it is, 3-0.

“I’m not that dumb,” he said. “I can tell you when they’re good.”

Nebraska can prove it this weekend with a 1-0 start in the Big Ten Conference.

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