It’s time for theater camp again. The past two summers, I’ve used a three-act structure as a way to offer quick previews of the teams on Nebraska’s schedule. I think it continues to work well because a 12-game regular season is divisible by three, but mostly because the Huskers keep playing the same character despite holding different scripts each season.

For the most part they’ve done fine in Act I, offering exciting-ish starts that get the narrative moving. Act IIs have been complicated, as they usually are, but not so difficult that a heroic Act III couldn’t deliver a happy ending for our main character. And that’s where things fell into tragedy territory in 2024 and 2025 with NU going 1-3 each year over the final four games.

On paper, the 2026 schedule differs a bit from the previous two in that there are serious challenges in Act II—Indiana and Oregon, plus the hinge for the entire season, a Halloween visit from Washington—while Act III seems custom built to find out just what this team is made of with back-to-back road trips followed by Ohio State and Iowa.

But before that, Act I: Ohio, Bowling Green, North Dakota, at Michigan State. At face value, this is the least alluring act. It might also be the most important in context. If our newest Nebraska football story is to come anywhere close to being satisfying, Act I has to play out by the book.

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Nebraska is not the center of this story. That is probably the most important place to start.

The Brendan Sorsby ruling is about Texas Tech, it is about the NCAA and it is about a Texas judge granting a temporary injunction that makes Sorsby, Texas Tech’s quarterback, eligible after the NCAA had ruled him ineligible for gambling violations.

On Monday, Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen made it a Nebraska story too.

A message sent within the Nebraska athletic department directed coaches not to schedule Texas Tech in any sport. If a future contest with Texas Tech was already on the calendar, coaches were told to connect with Dannen immediately.

Schools do not casually tell an entire athletic department to avoid scheduling another Power Four program. They especially do not do it across all sports. This was not a football-only stance, after all. It was instead a department-wide line in the sand.

So, how did we get here?

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Nebraska hosted its first big visit weekend of June and came away with five new commits. That put the Huskers at 15 commits*1 for 2027. On3 and 247Sports had the class ranked 18^th nationally as of Sunday night.

Not a bad number given NU’s traditional recruiting range, but that still had the Huskers behind nine Big Ten teams. The On3 scoring system was a little more generous, placing the Huskers sixth in the league.

It is all of course still fluid until December and signing day, but let’s take a quick look at who NU added.

CB Bryce Williams | Western (Fla.) HS | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

By recruit rating, the 6-2, 175-pound corner is the headliner from the weekend haul. With a 0.9037 rating from 247, Williams ranks as the 36^th-best corner nationally and he’s the fifth highest-rated commit in NU’s class so far. It’s another Florida win for secondary coach Addison Williams, and there’s a lot of potential here to like given Williams’ long frame. He was scheduled to visit North Carolina next weekend, took an official to Oklahoma the week before stopping in Lincoln and had offers from most of the heavy hitters.

DL Errol Demontagnac | Armwood (Fla.) HS | ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The first of two commits on the d-line, Demontagnac2 got the recruiting ball rolling with a pledge on Thursday. His offer list was interesting, not in that it had Georgia, Ohio State, et al, on it, but in that it had Pittsburgh and North Carolina State on it with Demontagnac unofficially visiting NCSU in March. Those are two schools that traditionally punch above their weight on the defensive line, so that’s intriguing. At 6-3, 290, Demontagnac is already decently sized for an interior lineman.

EDGE Ma’atoe Moe | Timpview (Utah) HS | ⭐️⭐️⭐️

A week after committing to Minnesota on an official visit, Moe flipped to Nebraska. Do with that what you will, even if it’s nothing more than enjoying swiping an edge rusher from the team that sacked NU nine times last season and blew up the season. Moe (6-3, 240) is the lowest-rated commit in the class so far—somebody’s gotta be—but he did have some real interest from BYU in addition to the Gophers.

The 2027 class now includes three defensive linemen, which might be one of the key areas for any future gains for Nebraska football. Doing research for another project I’m working on—will be out soon—I’ve been reminded recently of just how good the great Husker teams were on the defensive line.

Well, both lines, actually. Nebraska has had 16 consensus All-Americans at offensive tackle and 12 at center, the most of any individual position groups. Next on the list, however, are 11 defensive tackles and 10 ends. It’s oversimplified, sure, but if Nebraska wants to win “like Nebraska again,” I’d probably start with that information. The Huskers haven’t produced an All-American on the defensive line since Ndamukong Suh in 2009.3

TE Joey Hunter | Grayson (Ga.) HS | ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Nebraska has a tight end for the 2027 class. Is it the tight end? There was no major news on Ahmed Hudson, the 5-star football-and-hoops star who committed to LSU a month ago but still made a surprise visit to Lincoln this weekend. Given the option, Nebraska would obviously take both, but Hunter (6-6, 255) is a long prospect who offers some intrigue on his own. He was most closely pursued by Syracuse and was scheduled to visit the Orange as well as Pittsburgh and North Carolina4 later this month.

LB Eli Harris | Grayson (Ga.) HS | ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Harris beat Hunter to the punch by a few hours, but their commitments together with previous pledges from offensive linemen Jordan Agbanoma* and KD Jones gave the Huskers four commitments from the same, powerful high school program. I’m calling them The Grayson Group, which sounds serious and official, like a football think tank. I’m probably going to have to get down to Loganville this fall to watch this team, and Harris gives me a reason to pay attention on defense. He had forthcoming visits set up with Pittsburgh and Texas A&M

Can NU land a top-15 class?

I saw this as a poll question a few weeks ago and my almost-instant reaction was, “no.” Why? Because Nebraska almost never does. It isn’t about momentum or the current commits or the players who could commit.

Recruiting is consistently range bound. There are occasional surges and crashes, but they’re almost always temporary. For the most part, teams recruit like they recruit. Nebraska has had one top-15 class this century, which is basically the start date of modern team rankings. That was Bill Callahan’s famed class of 2005, which 247 had ranked eight. Nebraska was also close in 2000 (17^th), 2011 (16^th) and 2019 (18^th).

Maybe the best way to understand this is just to look at the highs and lows of recruiting for each Big Ten team over the past decade:

With the sixth-best average class rating over the past decade, Nebraska’s in a decent place relative to the teams it plays for nine games every year. More notable, however, might be how comparatively tight the Huskers’ line is. No surprise, Ohio State and Penn State have had the least variance in recruiting rankings over the last 10 years, but after that it’s the Huskers alongside Iowa, Minnesota, Rutgers, Indiana and Illinois for stability. Lot of old Big Ten West teams in that group.

Maybe that says something about location and access to talent. Maybe it only says something about how recruit ratings and team rankings are calculated.

If the question is “will NU have a top-15 class,” I’m still comfortable with my instant answer—probably not. But the class as it currently stands is at the top of the range from the past decade, and that’s something.

Stick there through signing day, and that’s a win.

Nebraska softball is going to look different the next time we see it. That was probably always going to be true after the season the Huskers just had but Tuesday’s news made that shift feel much more real.

Lori Sippel is retiring after 41 seasons with Nebraska softball as a player and coach, closing one of the most significant careers in the history of the program. Add in Jordy Frahm’s announcement this week, plus some national recognition still coming in for Nebraska baseball, a Canadian title for men’s gymnastics and a December basketball matchup with Missouri, and there was plenty to sort through.

Let’s get to it.

Lori Sippel’s Nebraska legacy is hard to overstate

Sippel played at Nebraska from 1985-88, then spent 37 seasons on staff from 1990-2026, including the final 23 as associate head coach. Across her 41 seasons as a Husker player and coach, she helped Nebraska to 1,449 wins, 18 conference titles, 26 NCAA Tournament appearances and six trips to the Women’s College World Series.

Sippel was a two-time All-America pitcher herself, then coached six Husker pitchers to a combined eight All-America awards. Every All-America pitching honor in program history connects back to her in some way.

Her final season made for a fitting close. Nebraska went 52-8, swept the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles, finished fifth nationally and had two pitchers earn All-America recognition in the same season for the first time in program history. Frahm was the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year and Big Ten Pitcher of the Year. Alexis Jensen was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and an All-American.

“I am humbled to have had the privilege to be a member of this great athletic department and university for the past 41 years,” Sippel said. “I am grateful to Dr. Barbara Hibner for extending the opportunity to me and to Rhonda, who allowed me to continue on with her when she took over the program. Working alongside Rhonda in this program has been one of the greatest privileges of my life, and I will always be grateful for the friendships, support and memories we have made and shared over the years.

“To all who have touched this program, you have also touched me. Thank you for your kindness, encouragement and partnership throughout the years. I leave with a deep appreciation of the many wonderful memories and accomplishments shared with this department and most certainly the Red Team.”

Sippel and coach Rhonda Revelle worked together for 34 years.

“Lori is the epitome of everything good and true about being a Husker,” Revelle said. “She gave her entire playing career and coaching career to the University of Nebraska. I couldn’t love, respect, or trust her more than I do. While I feel my heart breaking with this news as I have coached every day at Nebraska alongside her, I am equally filled with gratitude for the memories made, the lives touched and the journey we have taken together for the last 34 years. I love you my dear friend. You have earned this time to thrive in your next chapter of life.”

Sippel leaves with hall of fame honors, a retired jersey and 12 pitching records. More than that, she leaves as one of the people who helped define what Nebraska softball has been for decades.

Jordy Frahm’s season gets another layer

Frahm shared her own news this week, announcing Monday night on Instagram that she is pregnant.

“Baby Frahm coming December 2026,” she wrote.

Frahm, who married former Nebraska pitcher Trey Frahm in the summer of 2025, is coming off one of the most decorated seasons in Nebraska softball history. She helped lead the Huskers back to the Women’s College World Series and became the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year.

Now add this: Frahm played part of the Big Ten season and all of Nebraska’s postseason while pregnant. That is pretty remarkable.

Dylan Carey and J’Shawn Unger are still in the awards mix

Nebraska baseball’s season is over, but Dylan Carey and J’Shawn Unger still have national awards in play.

Carey is one of five finalists for the Brooks Wallace Award, which honors the nation’s top shortstop. He hit .353 as a senior with 16 doubles, two triples, 15 home runs, 65 RBI and 53 runs scored. He also became Nebraska’s career doubles leader and the ninth Husker to reach 200 career hits, 150 runs and 150 RBI.

On the defensive side of things, Carey committed just four errors in 216 chances, finished with a .981 fielding percentage and helped turn 29 double plays.

Unger is also among 14 finalists for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award. He finished fifth nationally with 13 saves, tied for third-most in a season by a Nebraska pitcher. He went 6-1 with a 4.05 ERA in 25 relief appearances, striking out 39 in 40 innings while holding opponents to a .203 batting average.

The Stopper of the Year will be announced June 12 at the College World Series in Omaha. The Brooks Wallace Award will be announced June 13.

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Sam Rakita wins a Canadian all-around title

Nebraska men’s gymnastics freshman Sam Rakita had a strong week at the 2026 Canadian Championships.

Rakita won the all-around title in the 19-20 senior division on May 27 with a score of 75.964. Two days later, he added a rings title with a 13.166 in event finals. He also finished runner-up on parallel bars and high bar and added a sixth-place finish on pommel horse.

Graduate Yanni Chronopoulos also competed in the 21+ senior division, finishing seventh in the all-around. He later placed fifth on parallel bars and seventh on rings in event finals.

For Rakita, it is a nice offseason result after wrapping up his freshman season at Nebraska in April.

Nebraska and Missouri will meet again

Nebraska men’s basketball added a familiar name to its schedule.

The Huskers will face Missouri on Saturday, Dec. 12, at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. Ticket information is expected in July, with tipoff time and broadcast details still to come.

The series dates back to 1908, and Missouri leads it 126-95. The teams have not played since March 1, 2011, when Nebraska beat the Tigers 69-58 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

“This is a matchup our fans will be excited about because of the history between the two programs over the years,” coach Fred Hoiberg said. “Coach (Dennis) Gates has a team that could challenge in the SEC this season, and this will provide us a strong test right after we finish our Big Ten December schedule. Playing this matchup in Kansas City brings back a lot of memories of old conference matchups, and I believe our fans will make this a great neutral-site environment.”

Missouri has reached the NCAA Tournament in three of Gates’ four seasons and is showing up in preseason top-25 conversations. Nebraska is coming off a school-record 28 wins and a Sweet 16 appearance, with Pryce Sandfort, Braden Frager and Connor Essegian among the notable returners.

The Missouri game joins neutral-site matchups with Providence and Boise State, plus the road trip to Creighton.

Nebraska’s offense made gains last year in its first full season under the direction of OC Dana Holgorsen. They weren’t always easy to see and they weren’t enough to overcome a bigger step back than NU could afford from the defense, but they were there.

If points are how games are determined and yards are the most consistent path to points, it stands to reason that the teams that can most efficiently translate yards to points have the edge. The top three offenses in this regard last year were Notre Dame (10.9), Iowa1 (11.0) and Indiana (11.1).2

Nebraska ranked a respectable 45^th here at 13.6 yards per point in 2025. That was 2 yards improved from 15.6 (95^th) in 2024. While the record for both seasons was the same, the 2024 offense would’ve needed to gain about 750 more total yards to score the same points the 2025 offense did. That’s progress.

The Equation is an annual offseason series essentially about reverse engineering. I don’t start with the best-reasonable outcome for Nebraska as the goal but rather the record that results in the fewest people thinking “we need to fire everyone.” It’s an attempt to be reasonable, and this year I think that record is 8-4, which, against this schedule, might require the Huskers to be “playoff good.”

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Nebraska does not need a perfect June on the recruiting trail.

Recruiting rarely works that cleanly, especially once official visits begin. Boards shift, timelines move and other programs make their own pushes. A player who looks like a lean one week can look a lot less certain the next.

Instead, what Nebraska does need in June is movement.

The Huskers enter the summer with a 2027 class that already has real substance, especially on offense. They have their quarterback, they have an offensive line group that has quickly become one of the defining pieces of the class and they have several committed players expected back in Lincoln this weekend. They also have a first official visit weekend that could tell us plenty about where this class is headed next.

Nebraska is expected to host a large group of official visitors over the next three weeks, with the first wave arriving this weekend. The headliner is five-star offensive lineman Albert Simien, a 6-foot-3, 295-pound interior lineman from Lake Charles, Louisiana. Simien is one of the best players in the 2027 cycle, and Nebraska has already gotten him to Lincoln multiple times.

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The margins are so thin, even when you’re maybe the best player in the game.

Playing a win-or-the-end game against 2-seed Texas at the Women’s College World Series Sunday, here’s all Jordy Frahm did for No. 4 Nebraska. She led off the game with a solo home run. Then she made the 1-0 lead she created stick by taking the circle and no-hitting Texas for 5 innings. She wasn’t doing it alone, of course, but this was Frahm’s game.

Even though we’ve come to expect this from her, it was still ridiculous to watch the standard being met yet again. A former Sooner who became one of the greatest Huskers over two seasons was delivering an emphatic Horns Down.

Frahm coaxed a groundout to start the 6^th and got to a 3-2 count on the next batter. Jaycie Nichols drilled a hard grounder deep in the hole at short for an infield single. Back at the top of the order, Frahm got the important first strike on the next at bat, but Kayden Henry slapped a single to right field to put runners at first and second. Frahm got the advantage again with a first-pitch strike to Katie Stewart. Hard grounder to second or short and the Huskers could be out of this.

Instead, a riseball needed to rise maybe a few centimeters more. Where it was, Stewart smoked it for a 250-foot, three-run home run. They were the only three hits and runs Texas would need.

“As a pitcher you put in a ton of work to execute the perfect pitch every single time, and that just doesn’t happen, unfortunately,” Frahm said.

What often strikes me in moments exactly like this is that the players and coaches involved are often the only ones who truly understand this. You have to live it to truly get it, maybe. Doesn’t make it easy. Imagine knowing—truly knowing—that a few centimeters more may have been all it was? Compared to some of the other aces at the WCWS, Frahm isn’t the biggest pitcher, generating more velocity through simple physics. She doesn’t throw the fastest. You could argue she was who she was as a college player because she could execute the perfect pitch more often than some others who had better physical tools.

But you can’t do it every time. “That just doesn’t happen, unfortunately.”

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Nebraska baseball also had its season end Sunday. While the stakes were slightly lower, they were still plenty high. The Huskers earned the right to host a Regional for the first time since 2008, achieving a program goal Will Bolt set after being hired.

The Huskers got the home games, but they also got Ole Miss and Arizona State, two traditional college baseball powers that just happen to mash the ball in 2026.

For the first 14 innings of NU’s regional, Bolt looked like a maestro. He made the much-debated1 decision to start Nebraska’s ace, Carson Jasa, in the Friday opener against South Dakota State, a surprise tournament team with a losing record. It looked like the right call as the Huskers ground out a 4-1 win, using only Jasa and closer J’Shawn Unger.

Bolt’s decision to play the early game Friday looked prescient when Mississippi and Arizona State went 14 innings in the nightcap. The Rebels, 7-6 winners, would have a shorter turnaround in the winner’s bracket Saturday, but Nebraska was going to need something special from day-two starter Ty Horn against this Ole Miss lineup.

It got it. Horn, 3-2 entering the game, struck out nine through 5.2 innings, including two of the first three batters in the 6^th. With Nebraska leading 1-0, Horn was ahead in the count 0-2 on Hayden Federico. One more pitch, and the Huskers would be out of this.

Federico singled. A double on the next at bat put Ole Miss ahead 2-1—Horn’s brilliant day was done—and they’d push three across in the inning. Nebraska loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the 6^th but couldn’t claw anything back. The game was suspended in the top of the 9^th due to weather with Mississippi up 6-3, and a 13-hour reset period wasn’t the magic ingredient for a win.

A few hours after losing to Ole Miss, Nebraska’s season ended with an 11-8 loss to Arizona State. The Sun Devils led the game 11-1 entering the top of the 7^th, so at least the Huskers went down swinging.

Maybe Nebraska baseball and softball were capable of more than having their seasons—great seasons—end on the same day. You could make that argument with some decent evidence that is readily available.

Maybe they were only a pitch away from that “more.” You could also make that argument.2 The margins are so thin, particularly the higher you go.

Nebraska softball is playing as this newsletter is being written, which is both exciting and slightly unnerving for someone trying to deliver the latest to your morning inboxes.

The Huskers opened Women’s College World Series play against Arkansas on Thursday night, their first appearance on that stage since 2013, and needed 10 innings to finish it. Ava Kuszak took care of that part, launching a 253-foot walk-off home run to center field in the bottom of the 10th to give Nebraska a 5-3 win.

So, yes, Nebraska is back in OKC and now it is 1-0 there. The Huskers will next face Alabama on Saturday night.

That leads us into this week’s Friday Five, which starts with the Husker who has helped shape so much of it.

Jordy Frahm earns the big one

Jordy Frahm was named USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year on Tuesday, adding the sport’s top individual honor to a season that already had plenty attached to it.

Let’s briefly revisit the résumé—at least pre-WCWS—shall we?1 The senior and team captain has helped lead Nebraska to the Big Ten regular-season title, the Big Ten Tournament title and the program’s eighth Women’s College World Series appearance. At the plate, Frahm leads the Huskers with a .416 batting average and 19 home runs. One more homer would make her the first Husker with multiple 20-home run seasons. She has also driven in 50 runs, scored 59 and carries a 1.338 OPS.

In the circle, Frahm is 20-4 with a 1.14 ERA and 12 saves, which ties the Big Ten single-season record. She has struck out 234 batters and walked only 30. Her 16-strikeout performance against Grand Canyon during regionals tied her career high and marked the most by a Husker in an NCAA Tournament game since 2005.

She was already the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year and a First-Team All-American by both Softball America and D1 Softball. If the NFCA follows that path, Frahm would become just the 14th player ever to earn four NFCA First-Team All-America honors.

Nebraska has had stars before but this is different. Frahm has been the hitter opponents cannot pitch around forever and the pitcher who can finish games. She has been the steadying presence, the power source and, at times, the reason Nebraska’s margin for error felt bigger than it probably was.

That is what player-of-the-year seasons usually look like. They do more than just make the stat sheet better. They change what a team can become.

Volleyball’s 2026 schedule is here

Nebraska volleyball’s 2026 schedule is officially here and the Huskers won’t be easing into anything to start the season.

The Huskers will play 28 regular-season matches, including 17 against Big Ten opponents and 11 in nonconference play. Nine of those matches will come against teams that finished in the top 25 of the 2025 AVCA Coaches Poll.

Before the official season even begins, Nebraska heads to Arlington, Texas, for the Spikes Under the Lights exhibition event at AT&T Stadium on Aug. 27. From there, the Huskers go to Las Vegas for the Players Era Showcase, opening the regular season against UNLV on Aug. 29 before facing Texas on Aug. 30 at T-Mobile Arena.

The early travel continues with South Dakota State in Brookings on Sept. 2, then two matches in Chicago: DePaul at Wintrust Arena on Sept. 4 and Missouri at Wrigley Field on Sept. 6 as part of the Big Ten/SEC Challenge.

Nebraska finally opens at home Sept. 10 against New Mexico in the Ameritas Players Challenge, with Baylor and Georgia Tech also coming to Lincoln that weekend. Creighton visits Pinnacle Bank Arena on Sept. 16 for the lone regular-season match at Pinnacle Bank Arena, and the Huskers close nonconference play against North Carolina and Florida Gulf Coast.

Big Ten play opens at home against Rutgers and Ohio State before a three-match road stretch at Penn State, Maryland and Indiana. Later, Nebraska gets Wisconsin, Purdue, UCLA and USC at home in October, then takes a four-match road swing through Michigan, Michigan State, Oregon and Washington before closing the regular season at home against Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota.

The first Big Ten Tournament will be held Nov. 20-25 in Fishers, Indiana.

It is a lot, yes, but that is kind of the point. Nebraska volleyball is being scheduled like a team expected to carry big expectations and deliver on them.

Football gets two early night games

Nebraska football now has a few more kickoff times on the calendar, including two September night games at Memorial Stadium.

The Huskers will open the 2026 season on Sept. 5 against Ohio at 11 a.m. CT on FS1. The next two weeks move under the lights, with Bowling Green visiting Sept. 12 for a 6 p.m. kickoff on FS1 and North Dakota coming to Lincoln on Sept. 19 for a 6:15 p.m. kickoff on BTN.

There is also a Black Friday update. Nebraska’s annual game against Iowa will kick at 11 a.m. CT on CBS in Iowa City. Nebraska’s Homecoming game against Maryland on Oct. 3 will start no later than 4 p.m. CT.

Earlier this month, Nebraska’s road game at Illinois was set for Friday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. CT on FOX. The rest of the kickoff times will come later, in the usual six-to-12-day window.

Hoiberg adds a new strength coach

Fred Hoiberg added another staff piece this week, hiring Michael Chatman as Nebraska men’s basketball’s Director of Strength and Conditioning.

Chatman replaces Kurt Joseph, who recently became Director of Strength and Conditioning for the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans. He comes to Lincoln after spending the past two seasons as the head men’s basketball strength and conditioning coach at LSU.

“Michael will be a tremendous addition to our staff,” Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg said in a statement. “He comes highly recommended from coaches around the country and has a proven track record of player development and preparing players for the NBA.”

Chatman brings more than 15 years of Division I experience, with stops at programs in the Big Ten, SEC and Pac-12. He has worked with 10 future NBA players, including five first-round picks, and has been part of three NCAA Tournament programs.

The job matters more than it usually gets talked about. Nebraska is coming off a Sweet 16 season and trying to sustain what it built. That requires roster construction but it also requires coaching, development and scouting. Beyond that, it requires getting players physically ready for the kind of season Nebraska wants to play.

Chatman’s background points to that. At LSU, he oversaw performance programming, sports science, recovery and return-to-play work. Before that, he spent five seasons at Stanford working with men’s basketball and men’s golf. He has also had stops at Southeastern Louisiana, Southern, Penn State, Texas, Michigan, Southern Miss and Towson.

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Women’s golf adds head coaching experience

Nebraska women’s golf added to its staff this week, with head coach Breanne Hall hiring former Bradley head coach Halley Morell for the 2026-27 season.

Morell spent seven seasons leading Bradley and is coming off one of the best years in that program’s recent history. The Braves finished second at the 2026 Missouri Valley Conference Championship and earned a spot in the National Golf Invitational, the program’s first postseason bid since 2006.

“We are thrilled to welcome Halley Morell to our program,” Hall said in a statement. “She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, and having coached against her in the Missouri Valley Conference, I’ve seen firsthand the impact she has on developing her players and building competitive, disciplined teams. Her ability to build relationships, foster growth and bring out the best in her student-athletes truly sets her apart.

“Halley’s passion for the game, strong leadership and commitment to excellence align seamlessly with the standards and culture we are continuing to build within our program. I’m looking forward to this partnership and the direction we’re heading together as we continue to grow and elevate our program.”

For Nebraska, the hire adds someone who has run a program, developed all-conference golfers and understands what it takes to build competitive habits over time. Morell also served on the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Committee for the past three seasons, giving the Huskers another staff member with national-level experience in the sport.

Bonus: A World Cup watch party in Lincoln

While it’s the Friday Five, this felt like a worthwhile bonus to include this week.

Nebraska soccer is hosting a World Cup watch party on Friday, June 12, for Team USA’s match against Paraguay. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. CT, with pre-match activities including street soccer, games and family-friendly events.

The Nebraska soccer team will also be there to interact with fans and promote its upcoming 2026 season. Not a bad way to spend a Friday evening in Nebraska.

Despite a defensive disaster over the back half of last season that resulted in multiple coaching changes, you can select some stats for the 2025 Blackshirts that make it look like things weren’t so bad. The Huskers ranked 30^th in total defense, third in pass defense by yards allowed and 17^th by opponent passer rating.

Of course, there are other stats you could choose that better explain the 7-6 record and probably tell us more about what needs to happen in 2026. Nebraska looked OK in some of the yardage stats because Nebraska’s defense faced the sixth-fewest plays of any team playing at least 13 games. The problem was just how much productivity opponents packed into those comparatively few plays. They scored on 37-of-38 red zone trips (135^th) against the 2025 Blackshirts. They averaged 4.4 points per trip on drives that crossed the NU 40-yard line (130^th).

In short, John Butler’s first and only defense at Nebraska offered a very favorable yards-to-points exchange rate. The Huskers allowed a point for every 13.2 yards gained (103^rd), the same average as 2-10 Purdue. From a big-picture perspective, this exchange rate is the thing new defensive coordinator Rob Aurich has to tackle in 2026.

The Equation I’ve created for Nebraska this season sets the target on defense at 20 points per game, an improvement of about a touchdown per game. Simple enough, now how do you get there? That’s the hard part.

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Nebraska baseball has waited a long time for this weekend.

For the first time since 2008, postseason baseball is coming back to Haymarket Park. The Huskers earned the No. 13 national seed in the NCAA Tournament and will host South Dakota State, Ole Miss and Arizona State in the Lincoln Regional beginning Friday.

That’s a big deal for Will Bolt’s program, but it’s not the only postseason stage Nebraska fans are watching this week. Nebraska softball is also back in Oklahoma City for the first time since 2013 after sweeping Oklahoma State in the Lincoln Super Regional. The Huskers open the Women’s College World Series on Thursday night against Arkansas.

We’ll start in Lincoln.

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After metaphorically ending last season stranded on third, two runs short of the Women’s College World Series in a 1-0 loss at Tennessee, Nebraska softball is really headed to Oklahoma City this time. The only shocking thing was how easy the 4^th-overall-seed Huskers made it look with 8-1 and 9-1 wins over 13-seed Oklahoma State in Lincoln, a team it split two games with during the regular season.

Thursday’s opening game was halted due to severe weather in the bottom of the first, but Nebraska came out swinging when the game resumed, scoring three in an opening frame that ended nearly 24 hours after it began. Jordy Frahm went the distance, scattering five hits over seven innings while striking out seven for her 20^th win of the season.

NU made it look even easier Saturday. The Cowgirls scratched out a run in the first off Alexis Jensen, but the Huskers retook control with two in the third and then exploded for seven in the fifth to run-rule their way to OKC. Jensen improved to 25-2 with the win, striking out seven and allowing two hits over 4 innings pitched.

Nebraska will face 5-seed Arkansas Thursday in Oklahoma City with game time yet to be announced.

Despite a tough draw against the toughest team the Huskers could’ve faced based on seeding, Nebraska will head to the WCWS among the favorites to lift the trophy. Prior to this weekend’s Super Regional round, Draft Kings put out title odds that had Oklahoma at +250 (implied chance of winning: 29%), UCLA and Texas each at +550 (15%) and Nebraska and Alabama at +600 (14%).

But a funny thing happened on Oklahoma’s way to the stadium just up the road from Norman—the Sooners didn’t make it, getting upset by Mississippi State. Assuming no major shakeup in the odds—and new ones hadn’t been released as of Sunday night—that would make UCLA and Texas1 the new, slighter co-favorites with Nebraska and Alabama being close to third-choice. The absence of Oklahoma, which had title odds twice as good as the next two teams, is a significant development. The Huskers’ national title odds very likely improved over the past three days.

Don’t take it from me. Take it from Oklahoma State head coach Kenny Gajewski.

“I voted them No. 1 the last couple weeks. I think they are that,” he said. “They’ve been doing everything that they’ve been asked. They’ve played as tough a schedule as anybody. I know their league may not be the highest-rated league, but they walked through that league, and they played the schedule in the beginning and came [to Stillwater] when they didn’t have to.”

Gajewski said that before his team was outscored 17-2 over two games in Lincoln.

Husker baseball is hosting

Nebraska baseball did not take home its third-straight Big Ten Tournament title, falling 8-0 to Oregon Saturday night. This might be a blessing in at least one regard. The Twitter-bots—and I suppose some actual users—were active through weather delays Friday wondering why this tournament couldn’t be played in always-perfect California. Had the Huskers won the tournament for a third-consecutive time, it only would’ve gotten louder.

No need to worry about that after the Huskers were shut out by the Ducks, and no need to worry about any potential damage to NU’s chances to host a Regional as the NCAA released that information Sunday night, though it was a bit nervy in the hours after Saturday’s loss.

Warren Nolan’s real-time RPI had Nebraska third among Big Ten teams Sunday night, trailing No. 1 Oregon and No. 9 USC. Oregon was 15^th. The Bruins, Ducks and Huskers will all get to host while the Trojans are likely going to be a tough 2-seed somewhere. Kansas, 18^th in real-time RPI but 2-0 against Nebraska this season, had faded a bit down the stretch but still earned the right to host.

Not a bad development for Midwest pride if you include West Coast teams that play in a Midwest conference. The SEC took seven of the top-16 seeds, the ACC and Big Ten three, the Big 12 two and Southern Miss represented the non-power field.

The full NCAA Baseball Tournament bracket will be released today at 11 a.m. CT.

Odds & Ends

• If you were wondering if most of what you heard about the end of the Dylan Raiola era at Nebraska resembled reality, CBS Sports put a little bit of reporting to it. I kind of had a shoulder shrug to all this as I did with that Anonymous Coach Quote about NU’s former quarterback that had everyone talking last week. I tend to love those quotes, though I do worry they’re losing their utility. Last year’s collection was extremely bullish on Nebraska. Now that the Year 3 breakthrough didn’t happen, they’re all trending down. What I want from this is the people who know more about football than I ever will giving me insight that matches that level of expertise. Instead, the (often useful) veil of anonymity gives these coaches the chances to just spitball like regular old media members, a group they often decry for “creating narratives.”2 If you’re just going to give me the same take I could get from a morning host on Oregon sports talk radio, I don’t really need or want that.

• Happy Memorial Day. If you’re into firing up the grill (which I very much am at any opportunity), I hope the weather wherever you are cooperates. If we all lived in California, I am led to believe, this would never be an issue.

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It was supposed to be a big night at Bowlin Stadium.

Nebraska softball is hosting the first NCAA Super Regional in program history this weekend, with No. 15 Oklahoma State in Lincoln and a trip to the Women’s College World Series on the line. Game 1 was scheduled for Thursday night at 8 p.m. CT, but lightning and rain forced its suspension until Friday.1

In Omaha, baseball also learned its Friday assignment. The Huskers will face Michigan at 5 p.m. CT in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal round. The Wolverines advanced Thursday evening with a win over Ohio State.

Let’s get into it.

Jordy Frahm and Alexis Jensen keep adding to Nebraska softball’s season

Before Nebraska even got to its Super Regional matchup with Oklahoma State, the national recognition kept coming.

Jordy Frahm was named one of three finalists for USA Softball’s Collegiate Player of the Year on Monday, joining UCLA’s Megan Grant and Florida State’s Isa Torres. It is the second straight season Frahm has made the top three.

Frahm has been one of the best two-way players in the country for a Nebraska team that won the Big Ten regular-season title, the Big Ten Tournament title, a 10th NCAA Regional title and a second straight trip to Super Regionals. At the plate, she leads Nebraska with a .421 batting average and 19 home runs. One more homer would make her the first Husker with multiple 20-home run seasons. She has also driven in 50 runs, scored 57 and carries a 1.364 OPS.

In the circle, she is 19-4 with a 1.15 ERA and 12 saves, tying the Big Ten single-season record. She has struck out 225 batters and walked only 28. Her 16-strikeout performance against Grand Canyon tied her career high and was the most by a Husker in an NCAA Tournament game since 2005.

And she is not the only one getting national attention.

Freshman pitcher Alexis Jensen was named one of three finalists for the NFCA Freshman of the Year Award on Thursday, joining Oklahoma’s Kai Minor and Kendall Wells. The winner will be announced Tuesday, May 26.

Jensen has been asked to grow up quickly this season, and she has. The Gretna native leads all freshmen nationally with 210 strikeouts and 24 wins, both of which also tie Nebraska freshman records. She is 24-2 with a 2.45 ERA and has held opponents to a .205 batting average.

Men’s basketball adds Saint Louis to the preseason

Nebraska men’s basketball added another piece to its 2026-27 schedule this week, announcing a preseason exhibition against Saint Louis on Friday, Oct. 9, at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Tipoff will be announced later, and the game will be included in season-ticket and student-ticket packages. Single-game ticket details will come later this summer.

This is one of three exhibition games now allowed before the regular season begins Nov. 2, and it fits the approach coach Fred Hoiberg has leaned into: use the preseason for something more useful than a warmup.

“We want to use our exhibition games to prepare us for the start of the season, and I think the BYU exhibition last season helped our team in many ways,” Hoiberg said. “I think this matchup against Saint Louis will be a similar learning experience because of the challenges they present. They ranked in (the) top five in the country in both effective field goal percentage and field goal defense last year and will be one of the favorites again in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Coming off last season, I know Husker fans are excited, and this exhibition matchup will be a good opportunity to be back at PBA in front of our fans.”

Nebraska is coming off a school-record 28 wins and a Sweet 16 run, and the next step is not easing back in. It is figuring out what this team looks like with expectations attached.

Saint Louis should help with that. The Billikens went 29-6 last season, shared the Atlantic 10 regular-season title and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament before losing to eventual national champion Michigan. They return nine players, including three starters.

Nebraska, meanwhile, brings back two of its top three scorers and six letterwinners. Pryce Sandfort returns after averaging 18.1 points and 4.9 rebounds while earning first-team All-Big Ten honors. Braden Frager is also back after winning Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year as a freshman.

Nebraska previously announced a home-and-home exhibition series with BYU, with the Huskers set to make the return trip to Provo on Oct. 16.

And for anyone wanting to spend a little more time with last season, Nebraska will premiere its 2025-26 season documentary, Watch and Dream, on Monday, June 15, at the Rococo Theatre in Lincoln. The event includes player autographs, the documentary premiere and a live Q&A hosted by Kent Pavelka. The documentary will be released on YouTube on June 22.

Rudy Sautron closes a record-setting season

Nebraska men’s golfer Rudy Sautron wrapped up his season Wednesday with one more strong round at the NCAA Marana Regional. Sautron shot a final-round 69, finishing the tournament at 3-under and tied for 25th. That is Nebraska’s best individual finish at an NCAA Regional since Brandon Crick tied for eighth in 2010.

It also capped a season that already belonged in the Nebraska record book.

Sautron, a junior from Reunion Island, France, became the first Husker men’s golfer to earn first-team All-Big Ten honors. He finished the year with a school-record 70.27 stroke average over 41 rounds and closed with 12 consecutive top-25 finishes.

Sautron did not advance to the NCAA Championship, but his season still felt like a clear step forward for Nebraska men’s golf. Not every postseason story has to end with a trophy to be worth noting.

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Dyson Wicker adds another Big Ten honor

Nebraska track and field sophomore Dyson Wicker was named the Big Ten Men’s Outdoor Field Athlete of the Championships on Wednesday. Wicker earned the honor after winning the pole vault title at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships with a clearance of 5.72 meters, or 18 feet, 9 1/4 inches. It was his second career Big Ten pole vault title and completed a season sweep after he also won the indoor title earlier this year.

That indoor title came with a school-record mark of 5.79 meters, or 19 feet.

Nebraska also had Donna Douglas named its women’s sportsmanship honoree, while Michael Buchanan earned the honor on the men’s side.

Nebraska soccer sets its 2026 schedule

Nebraska soccer released its 2026 schedule this week, with 19 matches total: 10 at home and nine away.

The Huskers open Aug. 5 at Colorado State, then travel to Louisville on Aug. 12 before settling in for a four-game home stretch. That run includes South Dakota, Notre Dame, Alabama and Omaha.

The Big Ten schedule starts Sept. 10 at home against Indiana. Nebraska then travels to Iowa before hosting defending Big Ten champion Washington on Sept. 20.

The October home slate is worth circling. Nebraska will host Wisconsin on Oct. 4, then later gets three straight home matches against Illinois, USC and UCLA before closing the regular season at Purdue on Oct. 30.

That USC-UCLA week will still feel new for a while. The expanded Big Ten has made plenty of schedules look a little strange, and soccer is no exception to that.

The Big Ten Tournament is scheduled for Nov. 4-13, with the NCAA Tournament running Nov. 20-Dec. 14.

How is Nebraska football going to win in 2026? More specifically, what is its edge over opponents?

I’ve always viewed college football through the lens of two actionable edges. A team can win with a) superior coaching1 and/or b) superior talent. Maximizing both edges is effectively the head coach’s job. If you can have both edges your team is probably going to win. If you only have one, your team probably still has a decent chance at a win. Have neither and things are pretty tough.

Picture this as Tom Osborne-era Nebraska in the Big Eight. The Huskers almost always had both edges over every team in the conference except for one—Oklahoma. Accordingly, Osborne won 87% of his conference games over 25 seasons.2

There are of course less-actionable edges that can impact the result of any given game. Things like schedule, travel, rest, weather and salary pool come to mind, but they aren’t controllable to the degree our two primary variables are. As a head coach you have two big, ongoing choices. You get to choose your staff, and you get to choose the players you hope will choose you based on your ability to recruit high school and transfer players.

Let’s view the Matt Rhule era, including the season to come, through these two potential edges. Where have and where might the Huskers have a coaching advantage? Where could talent take over? What does any of it mean for 2026?

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Nebraska softball is back in the Super Regionals but this time, the Huskers don’t have to leave Lincoln.

The Huskers won the Lincoln Regional over the weekend, beating South Dakota once and Grand Canyon twice to advance to a Super Regional for the second straight season. They will host Oklahoma State beginning Thursday at Bowlin Stadium, with a trip to the Women’s College World Series on the line.

Nebraska baseball, meanwhile, closed the regular season with a sweep at Minnesota and enters the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 2 seed. The Huskers are 41-14 overall, 23-7 in Big Ten play and firmly in the conversation to host an NCAA Regional at Haymarket Park.

Let’s unpack it all. Softball first, then baseball.

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You are an alien lifeform hurtling towards Earth. Your vessel is shaped like the Sooner Schooner because your bosses thought this was funny. Your mission is to understand why Americans love college football so much, and the human forms you will take upon arrival have already set up a number of interviews with people who should be experts.

During data collection, one source offers the following as an example of what makes college football great: “Heck, this is a sport where, as recently as 2023, you could go undefeated and not play for a national title (sorry, Florida State).”

You collect a lot of data, but this answer sticks with you. You try to process it through your human rationale emulator, which each of the envoys downloaded from the Blob of Thought before departing Planet Biletnikoff. Even though you’re dumbed all the way down to earthling level, it still doesn’t make sense.

How is it good that a team won every game it could but couldn’t win it all? How is that a feature of this sport? Seems like a flaw to you, but source after source kept mentioning something about the regular season really mattering in college football. You listened but were unpersuaded. It didn’t seem to matter for Florida State1 (whatever that is) in 2023 (whenever that was), yet this very example was held up as proof of the very thing it seemed to refute. Who would think like this?

Well, Stewart Mandel wrote that line in a column for The Athletic calmly titled “Stop them! A 24-team College Football Playoff will destroy the soul of college football.”2 Not to pick on one column. No need, really, when opposition to a 24-team playoff—which the ACC and Big 12 threw their support behind last week, joining the Big Ten—seems to be the baseline opinion for most college football fans and pundits. As Mandel writes, “based on several3 online polls” close to 90% of college football fans oppose expanding the playoff from 12 to 24 teams.

Why? I am but a humble human, but like you—a being from a place with the technology for interplanetary travel and the wit to do it in a tiny, covered wagon—I don’t understand. Are we still pretending that people follow college football because every week some team’s national title hopes could end? Those are pretty high stakes, but they’ve been dwindling since just before the end of the previous century.

Yet, people continue to watch. The TV deals get bigger and the conferences get bigger so the TV deals can get even bigger and then the playoff gets bigger so…y’know. I don’t really care about money’s role in all this.

The opposition of fans is something that resonates with me, but maybe I’m too weak as I’ve already conceded defeat here based on…oh…the sport’s entire history. When has college football ever acted in the interest of the people who support it? While you think on it, I’ll be singing this to the tune of “We Didn’t Start the Fire”:

OU, TV, Big 12, SWC,

Ticket prices, selection show, Tuesday night Ohio

Cal in the ACC, forgot to cancel streaming fee

Pac-12 ,wiped away, what else do I have to say?

The expansion of the playoff is where the decentralized powers will finally come together and consider the fans? No harm in bringing it up, I suppose, but it seems like a defense doomed to fail. They’re going to do what they want.

Yet, people continue to watch. Not as many as watch the NFL, interestingly, which has a regular season where (pound the table for this part) the stakes are comparatively low. Somehow, it manages. As Chuck Klosterman wrote in a 2007 essay, the NFL (with its revenue sharing) was “arguably the most successful form of socialism in U.S. history.” This makes it less “American” than college football by default. Modern college football might be the most American sport as it is still pure, uncut capitalism.

This is why you traveled all that way to understand it. But as you wing your way back to Biletnikoff, a troubling thought enters your emulated mind. If college football is the most American sport, it’s one where the American Dream doesn’t really exist.

It might on an individual level, sure. Diego Pavia is probably the best, most recent example. Nobody in the world thought this 0-star recruit was a future SEC starter and Heisman finalist. Nobody except Diego Pavia, and, unless he was winning games for your team or beating your rival, nobody liked him because the chip on his shoulder was big enough to blot out the sun. It’s how Vanderbilt won 10 games

But at a team level, the story of the sport is the most powerful wielding unchecked power. Vanderbilt got to live the American Dream for what will amount to a day in the grand scheme of things. Most likely, it will be Vanderbilt again in the near future because that’s how the sport works.

About halfway home now, you wonder if the most American sport/no American Dream thing is a contradiction in construction only. Maybe the contradiction actually increases college football’s Americanness. You think a 24-team playoff is probably fine. Contrary to the evidence collected, your determination is people don’t actually love college football for high-stakes games between teams they don’t follow, but even if they did, a larger playoff isn’t going to meaningfully reduce its meaning anyway. If they do it right, it might even enhance it in ways. It could speed up change. It could make the American Dream more attainable to more people.

That’s the consensus on the Schooner, but back on Earth it’s already 2036. They’ve already done what they want.

This week’s Friday Five starts with the topic that is going to keep shaping college athletics whether anyone likes it or not: NIL, enforcement and who gets to decide what counts as a valid deal.

Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen addressed the Huskers’ recent arbitration case during an appearance on Sports Nightly this week, and while the details are complicated, the larger question is not. Nebraska believes its athletes should have access to the same NIL pathways as athletes elsewhere. The College Sports Commission disagreed with how some of those deals were structured.

Elsewhere, Nebraska softball added more national recognition before opening NCAA Tournament play, men’s basketball learned its Big Ten opponents for next season, Nicole Jones added another key piece to her first women’s gymnastics staff and two former Huskers are expected to reunite in Australia.

Let’s get into it.

Nebraska’s NIL case is not just about Nebraska

The easiest way to explain Nebraska’s NIL arbitration case is this: the Huskers thought they had a pathway for 18 football players to complete potential NIL deals. The College Sports Commission disagreed. Nebraska challenged that decision. The arbiter sided with the CSC.

Dannen made it clear during his Sports Nightly appearance that Nebraska’s case became such a national talking point, in part, because the Huskers were early. Nebraska submitted some deals for review shortly after the bowl game against Utah in January, which put the school near the front of the line when questions started moving through the new system.

This is also not a Nebraska-only issue. Dannen said there are “literally tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars of deals” that have also been rejected and are still waiting for arbitration.

The central disagreement is whether a multimedia rights partner counts as an “associated entity.” Nebraska says PlayFly Sports should not be classified that way. The CSC says it should. The arbiter agreed with the CSC.

But even that may not be the final answer.

Jeffrey Kessler, lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the House v. NCAA settlement, is challenging the CSC in federal court over that same issue. That hearing is scheduled for June 10.

In the meantime, Nebraska is trying to work within the system as it currently stands. Dannen said the school is resubmitting the rejected deals in different forms, with some already back in the review process.

There is also a Nebraska-specific wrinkle here. Dannen said state law says athletes cannot be penalized for accepting a valid NIL deal, which could eventually bring Attorney General Mike Hilgers into the conversation, but Nebraska has to exhaust the current options first before that route becomes realistic.

At the end of the day, Nebraska expects the players to get their money one way or another, but it also wants to compete without pretending the rules do not exist.

“I see a lot of roster numbers floating around out there. I don’t believe a lot of them,” Dannen said. “Nonetheless, if School A touts that they’re going to be able to provide their athletes X, then Nebraska wants to be able to, whether it does or doesn’t, but wants to have the same pathway to provide the same to our athletes.

“I think we all have to take a big grain of salt in the things we read and hear. A lot of deals schools are saying they’ve done have not passed through the system yet. And I’m not being pollyannaish, there are some people who, frankly, aren’t paying attention to the rules. And we’re not going to do that, we’re going to follow the rules. There is a federal antitrust settlement that prescribed rules to follow, and we’re going to follow those, as are the schools in the Big Ten. But there are others that, let’s not pretend that everything is on the up-and-up.”

Jordy Frahm keeps adding to the résumé

Nebraska softball opens NCAA Tournament play at Bowlin Stadium on Friday and the Huskers have received plenty of recognition on the way there.

Jordy Frahm was named a top 10 candidate for USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year this week, giving Nebraska’s two-way star another national marker in a season full of them.

This is not new territory for Frahm. She was a top-three finalist for the award last year and a top-10 finalist in 2022 and 2023 at Oklahoma. In 2026, she helped lift Nebraska to a Big Ten regular-season title, a Big Ten Tournament title and the No. 4 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Frahm leads Nebraska with a .426 batting average and has added 19 home runs, 10 doubles, four triples, 50 RBIs and 55 runs scored. In the circle, she is 18-4 with a 1.24 ERA, 10 saves and seven shutouts. Nationally, she ranks in the top 10 in ERA, saves, shutouts, strikeout-to-walk ratio and WHIP.

Nebraska also landed eight players on the NFCA All-Mountain Region teams, the most in program history. Frahm, Jesse Farrell, Ava Kuszak and Hannah Camenzind were first-team selections. Kacie Hoffmann, Hannah Coor and Alexis Jensen made the second team, while Samantha Bland earned third-team honors.

That feels like the right snapshot of this team entering the postseason. Frahm is the obvious headline, but Nebraska has not built a 46-6 record because of one player. The Huskers have been too balanced for that. Now they get to see how far that balance travels in the NCAA Tournament.

Michigan is coming to PBA

Nebraska men’s basketball got its Big Ten opponent list this week and one home game jumps off the page immediately: Michigan is coming to Pinnacle Bank Arena.

The defending national champion Wolverines will be the first reigning national champion to play at PBA since the building opened in 2013. It will also be Nebraska’s first time hosting a defending national champion since Kansas came to Lincoln in 2009.

Nebraska will also host Indiana, Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, UCLA and USC. The Huskers’ double-play opponents are Iowa, Michigan State and Penn State.

The road side is not exactly gentle either: Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Northwestern, Oregon, Penn State, Purdue, Washington and Wisconsin.

In all, Nebraska will have 10 matchups against NCAA Tournament teams. The Huskers will host Iowa, Michigan State, UCLA and Ohio State, plus College Basketball Crown participants Rutgers and Minnesota. Indiana and USC are also showing up in early top-25 conversations.

For Nebraska, this schedule is both the challenge and the reward after the 2025-26 season ended in a Sweet 16 run.

By the way, student tickets are already sold out for 2026-27. That says plenty.

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Nicole Jones adds more technical credibility

Nicole Jones continued building her first Nebraska women’s gymnastics staff this week with the addition of Brett Wargo.

Wargo comes to Nebraska from Ascend Gymnastics in Auburn, Washington, one of the top club programs in the country. Ascend was named the USAG National Program of the Year in 2022 and earned Region 2 Program of the Year honors in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

“Brett has established himself as one of the premier club coaches in the industry,” Jones said in a statement. “He is known for his elite technical knowledge, innovative approach and consistent ability to develop high-level athletes. His outside-the-box thinking and contagious energy will be a tremendous asset to our staff, and he will bring a unique perspective and proven expertise that will immediately elevate our program. We are thrilled to welcome him to Lincoln and can’t wait for him to get started!”

Wargo has nearly 20 years of club coaching experience, has worked as a USA National Team coach and Canadian National Team clinician and helped Shilese Jones win world championship medals in 2022 and 2023. He has also coached more than 30 national champion athletes in the Level 9 and 10 Junior Olympic Development Program.

After already bringing Lincoln native and NCAA all-around champion Jordan Gamboa back home, Jones has now added another staff member with a clear high-performance background. The picture is starting to come into focus.

“I am humbled, honored and excited to join the University of Nebraska Women’s Gymnastics Program, and I am grateful to Nicole and Devin (Wright) for their trust and confidence in me,” Wargo said. “Nebraska Women’s Gymnastics has a proud tradition of excellence at the highest level, and we are committed to building a program that reflects and exceeds those championship standards. Central to that vision is a strong emphasis on the student-athlete experience, creating an environment rooted in care, support and personal growth, while empowering each individual to reach their full potential. The University of Nebraska provides one of the premier athletic environments in the country, and I look forward to contributing to a culture defined by passion, pride and excellence. GBR!”

Jaz Shelley and Issie Bourne reunite in Sydney

Jaz Shelley and Issie Bourne are expected to be teammates again, this time with the Sydney Flames. Shelley signed with Sydney earlier this week, and Bourne announced she is making the move from Southside Melbourne to Sydney as well, pending league approval.

For Nebraska fans, this is a fun duo to see reunite. Shelley and Bourne helped define an important stretch for Nebraska women’s basketball under coach Amy Williams. They were teammates on the 2021-22 team that reached the NCAA Tournament, and both left Lincoln with careers that still hold up well over time.

Bourne finished with 1,221 points and 648 rebounds in four seasons at Nebraska. Shelley, who transferred in from Oregon, became one of the most complete guards in program history with 1,364 points, 512 rebounds, 565 assists, 170 steals and 250 made 3-pointers.

Now both are continuing their professional careers in Australia.

Shelley averaged 13 points, four rebounds, four assists and a league-leading 2.5 steals per game last season with the Geelong Wodonga Giants. She was also a finalist for WNBL Defensive Player of the Year.

Bourne averaged 16 points and 5.4 rebounds for Southside Melbourne and was part of Australia’s gold-medal team at the 2025 Asia Cup.

Their reunion also fits into a longer Nebraska-Australia connection. Shelley and Bourne are part of a line that includes Ruby Porter, Jessica Petrie and Kelsey Griffin, whose WNBL career has become its own standard.

Not every Husker story ends when a player leaves Lincoln. Some just pick up in a new time zone.

This should be Matt Rhule’s best team at Nebraska. It’s his most experienced team. While returning production doesn’t mean quite as much as it once did, it’s not meaningless. It’s still better to have it than not and the Huskers have more of it than at any point since Rhule arrived.

That’s great and probably undervalued here in our Offseason of Indifference, but the conditions that created this 2026 skepticism are real, too. Nebraska didn’t make unimpeachable progress in Rhule’s third season—exactly when his Temple and Baylor teams had—and it went 1-4 after the calendar flipped to November. Even if you’re willing to start fresh for 2026, Nebraska hasn’t beaten a ranked team in nearly a decade and Rhule is 0-20 against top-25 teams as a power conference coach.1 The Huskers are almost certain to face three top-10 teams in 2026 and maybe another two or three ranked from 11^th to 25^th.2

All that being (likely) the case, how does Nebraska get to a record that sends everyone home happy at the end of the regular season? That’s the starting point for The Equation. Last year, it was easy to land on 9-3. Given a schedule that could include five or more ranked teams, I think it’s 8-4 this year. It would only be one more win than the past two seasons, but I think it would be hard to hold that against NU given the context. Go 8-4 against this schedule—and don’t collapse in November—and that’s the type of 8-4 that lands in the top 25.

Just don’t tell quarterback Anthony Colandrea that. “When I first got here, it felt like the bar was eight or nine wins, and I was like, no — we want to win 11, 12 games,” he told On3 this week.

Fair enough. He and I have different motivations and stakes at work here, so I still think eight wins is a pretty good bar. Here is, in a realistic sense, how the Huskers could get there.

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For months, Nebraska softball built its season with this exact possibility in mind. It wasn’t just about making the NCAA Tournament. It was more specifically about hosting and staying home. Giving itself the kind of postseason path that elite teams fight all spring to secure.

On Sunday, Nebraska got it.

The Huskers were selected as the No. 4 overall seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament, the program’s highest national seed since 1998. They will host the Lincoln Regional at Bowlin Stadium beginning Friday, with South Dakota, Louisville and Grand Canyon coming to town.

If Nebraska wins the regional, it will also host a super regional.

Nebraska has hosted regionals before but not since 2013. It has been to the Women’s College World Series seven times but not since that same season. It made a super regional in 2025 but this year comes with the opportunity to control its own destiny at home.

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The four most important people for Nebraska football in 2026 are, in alphabetical order, Rob Aurich, Corey Brown, Roy Manning and Geep Wade. Convince me otherwise.

Or, rather, let me make my case.

Every offseason I like to determine where the Huskers are projected in the Big Ten, compile a rough approximation of talent on hand by position group and see where the gaps are. We can reasonably estimate, via early title odds and power rankings, that NU is somewhere between the eighth- and 10^th-best team in the conference. Does the talent potentially on hand align with that? Which positions are better than that? Which are worse?

This spot check is intended to be quick and not comprehensive. We’re just trying to get a snapshot of the league as a whole. To do this I grabbed the average recruit rating1 by position in the 2023–26 classes and folded in the transfer ratings for the most recent classes. That’s not capturing every player on a roster, but it captures most of them and realistically a team is probably relying on its 50 or 60 best players from a 105-man roster.

And that’s how I came to the theory that the most important people for Nebraska this season don’t have a recruiting or transfer rating. They’re four of the new assistants Matt Rhule brought in during the winter. You’ll (perhaps) see what I mean.

Here are the average player2 ratings by position group for Nebraska in relation to the talent on hand elsewhere in the Big Ten.

At first glance, Nebraska’s preseason projection to be middle of the pack might seem reasonable enough as the raw materials are similarly mid. The Huskers only rank in the top-third of the league at the offensive skill positions, but they don’t rank lower than eighth at any position. It’s a collection of talent that says, “ninth-best sounds about right.”

But if ninth-best is where NU ends 2026, things are going to get tense around here quickly. Yes, even after this offseason of doom and/or indifference because another 7-6 year would only support the validity of those feeling. So, the key question becomes how the Huskers outperform what might be a completely reasonable consensus?

That is, I hope, the value in doing this by position. Which groups should lead the way? Which have to perform beyond expectation?

Let’s start with the good. By my method of talent approximation, the Huskers have the sixth-best receiver corps (including tight ends) in the conference. It might not win you games on its own, but you can work with that. The running backs also come in sixth, and the interesting thing there is I compiled only recruiting ratings first, leaving out the transfers. Based on talent acquired the traditional way NU ranked ninth in the league, but when you added the transfers all the other teams took at running back Nebraska moved up to sixth. Not saying this proves Rhule was right not to take a transfer running back, but interesting.

The placement of NU’s quarterbacks surprised me a bit, but TJ Lateef and Daniel Kaelin were both 4-star prospects and Anthony Colandrea, the presumed starter, was the Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year in 2025. QB is an interesting position because it’s possible—or at least every team hopes—only the talent at the top matters. Put it this way, if Colandrea or either of the other two is the fourth-best quarterback in the Big Ten come December, the Huskers almost certainly had a pretty good season.

The defensive line and linebackers are almost right where they should be given the preseason projections, though I do think the linebackers have the potential to be better.

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It’s the lines that give me pause. Eighth-best on offense and defense is in line with where the Huskers are projected overall, but remember the goal is to be better than projected.3 How far can you really go if you’re simply average in the trenches?

Nebraska made a lot of coaching changes this offseason to avoid finding the answer to that question. Can Wade make this offensive line, where NU devoted a ton of transfer money, something more than what it looks like on paper? The good news is it already looks better on paper than it could have. With the 2026 transfers in the mix, Nebraska ranked eighth in the Big Ten on the offensive line. That was up from 10^th based just on the high school talent recruited over the past four cycles.

On the defensive line—where Brown will coach the interior, Manning the edges—the high school talent ranked 11^th, the lowest of any position group. After portal, where NU added two power-conference veterans, it climbed to eighth, which should give you an idea of some of the key questions facing Aurich, the architect of the 2026 defense, this fall.

That’s a lot riding on four new assistant coaches. You could argue the three new position coaches might have the least4 to work with and thus need to do the most with it. Aurich’s overall hand in the defense—and the hiring of these assistants—plays the biggest role on that side of the ball.

I’m intrigued by some of the players Nebraska added to the roster, same as anyone else. But if median-ish talent is what the Huskers are working with in 75% of the games they’ll play this fall, more than median-ish results could come down to a few highly paid, hand selected people coaxing something more out of those groups.

Welcome to Lincoln, in alphabetical order, Aurich, Brown, Manning and Wade.

Odds & Ends

• Nebraska softball made winning the Big Ten Tournament look easy with a 7-2 win over UCLA Saturday. The Huskers earned the fourth overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and will host this week’s Regional and, should they advance, next week’s Super Regional. Nebraska opens tournament play Friday against South Dakota State at 5:30 p.m. CT (ESPN+). Louisville and Grand Canyon are the other two teams in Lincoln.

• Baseball got a momentum-reversing sweep of Iowa over the weekend after losing three at Ohio State the previous weekend. By Warren Nolan’s real-time RPI, the three wins pushed the Huskers up three spots to No. 15 with results not yet final across the country. That’s back on the cusp of being a Regional host. NU faces Creighton in Omaha Tuesday with a three-game swing at Minnesota to follow to close out the regular season.

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This week brought a little bit of everything for Nebraska Athletics. From a massive volleyball showcase to men’s basketball staff continuity to a high-profile women’s gymnastics hire and much, much more, there was plenty to recap.

Yes, it’s May, but Nebraska gave us plenty to work with. Let’s dive in.

Nebraska volleyball is headed to AT&T Stadium

The Huskers will take part in the inaugural Spikes Under the Lights showcase on Thursday, Aug. 27, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys. The event will feature Nebraska, Florida, Penn State and SMU in a primetime exhibition format with a $1 million prize pool — the largest ever awarded in women’s college sports.

The three-hour event will air live at 7 p.m. CT on a major national network, with broadcast details still to come. The format includes two semifinal matches followed by a championship final, all played in a best-of-three set structure designed for television.

“We are excited and honored to be part of this historic event that showcases the continued growth of women’s volleyball,” head coach Dani Busboom Kelly said in a statement. “This will be a great opportunity to face some talented teams in an iconic setting as we ramp up to the start of the season. It should be an awesome night and hopefully a lot of Husker fans will be able to experience it with us in Dallas.”

Nebraska has already helped prove what volleyball can look like on a massive stage. This is different from Volleyball Day in Nebraska, of course, but the larger point still holds: when volleyball is treated like a major event, people respond.

Fred Hoiberg keeps his staff together

Fred Hoiberg announced this week a multi-year contract extensions for assistant coaches Nate Loenser, Ernie Zeigler and Pat Monaghan, along with general manager Luca Virgilio. After a school-record 28 wins and Nebraska’s first NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in program history, it was a logical move.

“The success our program had this year is really a testament to the efforts of our entire staff, and it is important to reward them for all of their work,” Hoiberg said. “The work they pour into our players is evident in their development in our program. Nate, Ernie and Luca have been vital over the last four years in helping us build a winning culture and enjoy sustained success that Nebraska basketball has not seen in a long time. Pat stepped in seamlessly and made a significant impact on our program with his work ethic and knowledge in recruiting. He is a rising star in the coaching field.”

Loenser, now associate head coach, has been key to Nebraska’s defensive identity. The Huskers ranked eighth nationally in defensive efficiency last season and led the Big Ten in scoring defense at 66.2 points per game.

Zeigler has helped Nebraska reach the postseason three straight years for the first time in more than 25 years. Monaghan stepped in last April and made an immediate impact. Virgilio, the program’s general manager, continues to oversee roster construction and player acquisition at a time when that job has never mattered more.

Nebraska is not just rewarding a good season. It is trying to protect the structure behind it.

Jordan Gamboa comes home

Nicole Jones made a significant addition to her first Nebraska women’s gymnastics staff this week. Jordan (Bowers) Gamboa is coming home.

Gamboa, a Lincoln native and Lincoln Southwest High School graduate, joins the Huskers after a decorated career at Oklahoma. She was the 2025 NCAA All-Around Champion, helped the Sooners win three NCAA team titles, won the 2025 Honda Sports Award for women’s gymnastics and was named the 2025 SEC Gymnast of the Year.

“Jordan is a go-getter who elevates everyone around her,” Jones said. “Her athletic accolades speak for themselves, but what truly sets her apart is the standard she’s lived and the mindset she brings every single day. She understands what it takes to win, and more importantly, how to sustain it.” I believe she will be an incredible bridge for our student-athletes - someone they can relate to, learn from, and grow alongside - while also serving as a powerful connection point for recruits who want to come to Lincoln and be part of what we are building. It’s incredibly special to bring her back home.”

Gamboa finished her Oklahoma career as a 28-time All-American with 12 perfect 10.0 scores. That gives Nebraska instant credibility from someone who knows both Lincoln and championship-level gymnastics.

“Husker Nation, I am extremely grateful for this opportunity to be a part of this incredible staff and University,” Gamboa said in a statement. “Being born and raised in Lincoln, my roots run deep, and I am eager to give back to this program and its potential. Nebraska has consistently produced elite gymnasts, and we want to create a culture that keeps them coming back and give these athletes space to thrive in their sport and every aspect of their lives! I am excited for what’s to come! GBR!”

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Nebraska men’s hoops adds Boise State in Sioux Falls

Nebraska also has its first official 2026-27 men’s basketball schedule announcement.

The Huskers will return to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to face Boise State on Sunday, Nov. 15, at the Sanford Pentagon. Tipoff time, television information and ticket details will be announced later.

Boise State gives Nebraska a quality early non-conference opponent, and Sioux Falls has become a familiar neutral-site stop for the Huskers.

“We’re excited to return to Sioux Falls this year and appreciate the work Sanford Sports does to make this a first-class experience,” Hoiberg said. “We faced Boise State in the College Basketball Crown semifinals two years ago and have a great deal of respect for Head Coach Leon Rice and his program. They’ve posted five straight 20-win seasons and should be one of the top programs in the new Pac-12 Conference. This matchup gives us a quality non-conference opponent early in the season, and I know the Sanford Pentagon will be full of Husker fans, creating a tremendous atmosphere.”

Nebraska returns two of its top three scorers from last season’s Sweet 16 team, including first-team All-Big Ten selection Pryce Sandfort and Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year Braden Frager.

Nebraska softball keeps rolling

The No. 2 Huskers beat Michigan 4-2 on Thursday in College Park, Maryland, to advance to the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament. Nebraska improved to 44-6 and extended its winning streak to 19 games, the longest active streak in the country.

Michigan scored first, but Nebraska answered with three runs in the bottom of the first. Hannah Camenzind, Ava Kuszak and Jesse Farrell each drove in a run, and Emmerson Cope added a solo home run in the fourth.

Jordy Frahm handled the rest. She threw a complete game, allowing two runs on four hits with nine strikeouts. Samantha Bland and Cope both went 2-for-3, with Bland adding a double and Cope providing the home run.

Nebraska has now reached the semifinals in each of the last five Big Ten Tournaments. This year, though, feels different. The Huskers are the No. 1 seed, they are ranked No. 2 nationally and they are not sneaking up on anyone.

They will face No. 4 seed Indiana on Friday at 4 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network.

So much for a quiet week.