Is Nebraska Football trending down for Brandon Baker? Plus an RB update

Nebraska football doesn’t seem to be a contender for Brandon Baker, plus an update on 2024 running back targets.

At one time, it seemed like there was a real chance that Nebraska football would be a serious contender for Brandon Baker, the No. 1 offensive tackle in the 2024 class.

However, when Baker said he was planning to take an official visit to Nebraska in the fall, I warned that it might be too late for the Huskers and that’s looking true after a recent update by Baker.

Baker talked to On3.com regarding his recruitment. The No. 1 offensive tackle out of Mater Dei said at one time, he wanted to until possibly Early Signing Day to make a commitment. Now, after Oregon has grabbed the momentum in his recruitment, there is talk of an earlier timeline.

Ohio State and Georgia have official visits locked in. Oregon, Florida State, and Texas could also get official visits. There wasn’t any mention of Nebraska football at all in the interview and if Baker is deciding sooner, the Huskers have to get him on campus in June or July, or they might as well stop recruiting him altogether.

It’s not like anyone really expected the Huskers to land Baker. He did say he was going to take an official visit and maybe he will. But it’s not looking good and looking at the five schools or so ahead of the Huskers, Nebraska football has its work cut out for it.

Why Nebraska needs other elite targets on campus in June

I said it with Baker and I’ll say it with Gatlin Bair, as well as running back Nathaniel Frazier — you can’t go six months without having a kid on campus and expect to win a commitment, especially when it’s an elite recruit.

It’s good to have Bair, Baker, and Frazier wanting to come back for games in the fall. But that needs to be trip No. 3, not the second trip (Baker did visit twice but you get the point).

Even if the Huskers don’t get Baker, Frazier, or Bair on campus for official visits this summer, they need to get them back for unofficial visits. That’s not easy to do, especially if other schools are hosting them for official visits, but I just don’t see that big time gap as helping the Huskers land top recruits from the West Coast.

The way the running back board is shaping up, with some new offers, also shows that the Huskers don’t have much confidence in landing Frazier either. I’ll be worried about Bair too if he doesn’t visit this summer at some point. Hunter Andrews is a new offer at running back and he’ll be visiting in the fall. He’s not ranked currently.

Running back thoughts

The Huskers do have top targets visiting on June 23rd in Kewan Lacy and Micah Ka’apana. Yet, Miami and Michigan have taken over as the leaders in those recruitments. Caden Durham is another running back to know but he’s also a high-level recruit and won’t be an easy pull, especially since he hasn’t visited yet.

Every recruitment is different. But all of these elite recruits will be visiting other schools next month and those schools will try to accelerate those timelines, just as some are doing with Baker.

It doesn’t always work and it favors Nebraska to have some of these decisions happen in the fall after Matt Rhule can show people what the on-field product looks like.

The key for the Huskers is staying alive in these recruitments until September. And with Baker and Frazier at least, maybe even Bair, it feels like that might be a struggle.

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