Trev Alberts departure was a blessing for Nebraska football

When Trev Alberts left the Nebraska Cornhuskers to be the athletic director of Texas A&M, many Nebraska football fans were concerned about what that would mean for the program.

However, less than a year later, it’s clear that Alberts leaving for Texas A&M was one of the best things that could have happened to Nebraska football.

Alberts hindered NIL — mostly because he wanted his stadium project done. Alberts cared more about his legacy and accomplishments than winning. Flat out.

Troy Dannen was a massive upgrade. Dannen has supported and empowered NIL through 1890. Alberts hindered it for some weird reason, even supporting another collective at one point. There was even talk that he didn’t like having to pay Dylan Raiola over $1 million to sign with the Huskers.

Now, there is clear leadership and Nebraska football has benefited in a major way. The Nebraska Cornhuskers signed the No. 1 transfer portal class in the Big Ten according to 247 Sports. Nebraska also signed a top-25 recruiting class for the third straight year, something that would be much more difficult without NIL support.

“Nebraska is a school that has spent”

In an interview with On3.com, an anonymous staffer said this about the Huskers: “Nebraska is a school that has spent. They were somebody that we competed with a bunch of guys.”

The Huskers didn’t win every recruitment in the 2025 class, but they signed 12 composite four-star recruits. Dawson Merritt was flipped from Alabama. Cortez Mills, the dynamic wide receiver, flipped from Oklahoma. Isaiah Mozee flipped from Oregon and the Huskers did a stellar job of holding off Missouri from flipping Jeremiah Jones.

Not to mention Christian Jones had legit interest from SEC schools like Oklahoma and the Huskers were still able to land his commitment. Texas was pushing to flip defensive lineman Malcolm Simpson and Kade Pietrzak is another that was wanted badly by some in the SEC.

Jamarion Parker should have been. I still don’t know how the St. Louis, Missouri running back wasn’t more heavily pursued. At any rate, all of those commitments happen due to NIL. Nebraska finished with a blue-chip percentage of 60 percent, which is exactly the kind of recruiting you need to do to make the playoff consistently.

Nebraska isn’t quite on the level of Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, USC, and Michigan. Those are the four juggernauts of Big Ten recruiting. But they are getting closer and are closer than any other Big Ten program.

And the way the 1890 is willing to aggressively spend money, like in the recruitment of Rocco Spindler, Nebraska football should be here to stay as a recruiting power in college football.

Just imagine what happens when they start winning, and getting guys drafted consistently. That’s when a top-25 class can start pushing toward the top 10 and that’s all possible because of Troy Dannen.

So as it turns out, Nebraska was fortunate that A&M took Alberts. Otherwise, this recruiting class and transfer portal haul might not have happened.

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