Thoughts on recent misses and Nebraska football 2025 class

Recruiting is a fickle game and that’s something Nebraska football fans have learned this month. It certainly didn’t resemble June of 2023 for the Huskers.

Some recent misses for Nebraska football recruiting

But that’s how the way recruiting works. Nebraska football has missed out on some key targets lately. In-state tight end Chase Loftin, the No. 2 ranked player in Nebraska in the 2025 class and a four-star recruit, chose Florida State over the Huskers.

For those of us still bitter about the 1993 national championship game, that made it a tough pill to swallow. Yes, Nebraska has a solid tight end room moving forward, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that the Huskers have had a run of recent misses on the recruiting trail.

Dawson Merritt is one, although Alabama is hard to beat in any recruitment, especially for a program like Nebraska, which hasn’t even played in a bowl game since 2016.

David Sanders enjoyed his visit but didn’t seem to consider Nebraska and despite the Huskers being co-leaders with four-star offensive tackle Broderick Shull, Auburn was able to land his commitment.

At least the Huskers were able to flip three-star offensive tackle Brian Tapu from Oregon State. Nebraska football was projected to land him before he visited the Beavers. He committed on the spot and flipped to Nebraska a few days later.

Nebraska’s 2025 class is just fine

Tapu is Nebraska’s fourth highest-rated commitment according to the 247 Sports composite rankings and considering the need to land an offensive tackle, it was a big get.

Nebraska football has 12 commitments total and three of them are four-star prospects (blue chips). They are TJ Lateef (QB), Malcolm Simpson (DL), and running back Jamarion Parker. It felt like Loftin and Christian Jones would be added to that list to give the Huskers at least five blue-chip prospects in the 2025 class.

Bryson Webber is ranked 289th overall in the 2025 class and the 6-foot-2, 175-pound cornerback out of Missouri City, Texas, has picked up three crystal balls in favor of Nebraska. The Huskers are the crystal ball leader for Jones but it’s not clear when a decision will be made — maybe not until fall.

Cortez Mills is another top target in 2025 but Nebraska feels on the outside of the top teams. Nicholas Clayton is another — an EDGE — who took an official visit. The Huskers were in a solid spot and he committed to Wisconsin after a recent visit.

The 2025 class should be smaller anyway

Despite some of these misses, Nebraska is just fine. This class was likely always going to be smaller. Nebraska has like 80 freshman/redshirt freshmen and some 2024 signees joined as walk-ons with the promise of a scholarship down the road.

Nebraska will need to expand the board at some positions. But as long as they can close with Jones, Shawn Hammerbeck (3-star offensive tackle), and some others such as three-star LB Will Hawthorne, the class will be just fine.

However, the Huskers have missed out on a few of their top priorities already in the 2025 class, and you get the feeling that the lack of winning is still holding the Huskers back as much as anything.

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