Friday Five: It's overlapping season
Everything is happening all at once.
Welcome to the overlapping season.
After softball got things started last weekend, baseball joins the fold this weekend. Football officially has its spring game date and time. The NFL Combine looms.
And that, like always, is not all.
Here are five things worth your time this week.
Baseball opens in the desert (again)
Nebraska’s season begins under bright lights and palm trees.
The Huskers head to Arizona for the MLB Desert Invitational this weekend for a four-game stretch to get their season underway. It starts Friday night against UConn on MLB Network and rolls through Northeastern, Grand Canyon and Stanford before the team flies home.
UConn has had Nebraska’s number in the all-time series (2-1), and this is the first time the two have met outside postseason play. Grand Canyon handed the Huskers a 3-1 loss on opening weekend last season. Stanford owns a 6-2 edge historically and hasn’t seen Nebraska since 2008.
That’s the schedule. The bigger question is identity.
Just under half of last season’s production returns on both sides of the ball. The lineup brings back 49% of its at-bats and roughly half of its power numbers. On the mound, it’s similar—48.5% of innings—but none of last year’s saves. That means new leverage arms, new late-game roles and probably a few experiments in February.
Ty Horn gets the ball Friday night after serving as the No. 2 starter last year. Carson Jasa follows Saturday. Transfer Cooper Katskee—who went 11-2 at Miami (Ohio)—slots in Sunday. Gavin Blachowicz wraps the weekend Monday.
Nebraska is 129-28 under head coach Will Bolt when it puts up at least six runs. Last season, that number was reached 32 times. The math has been consistent for years: if the offense gets to six, the odds tilt heavily red.
Early-season tournaments have become a staple under Bolt. This is the seventh such weekend in as many non-pandemic seasons, and the results have ranged from statement wins (Vanderbilt, LSU) to reminders that February baseball can get sideways quickly.
Spring football sets the calendar
Spring football officially has its date.
Nebraska’s spring game is set for Saturday, March 28 at 11 a.m., capping coach Matt Rhule’s fourth spring in Lincoln. Tickets go on sale next week, with general admission starting at $5 through March 22 before climbing as the game approaches. Club tickets follow a similar pattern. On game day, prices jump significantly.
Also, March 28 won’t just be about football. Baseball and softball are both scheduled for 2 p.m. starts at Haymarket Park. It’s a coordinated push by Nebraska: three events, one afternoon and all within walking distance.
Rhule’s team begins its 15-practice slate on Feb. 21. The spring game is part scrimmage, part marketing event and part recruiting billboard. With roster turnover now an annual reality, it’s also the first public look at how a new group fits together.
It’s also nice to have it back as it was.
Combine season is here
Emmett Johnson and DeShon Singleton both earned invitations to the NFL Combine, which begins later this month in Indianapolis.
Johnson leaves as the 2025 Big Ten Running Back of the Year after piling up 2,460 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns across four seasons. Draft projections have him hovering in the Day 2 range, but the Combine tends to clarify things quickly for backs who can test.
Singleton began at the junior college level before finishing with 163 tackles and three interceptions in four seasons at Nebraska. Safeties often have to prove versatility at the Combine—range, tackling, coverage—and Singleton will get that chance.
Nate Boerkircher, who finished his career at Texas A&M after four years at Nebraska, also received an invite.
Others—including Ceyair Wright, Rocco Spindler and Javin Wright—are expected to draw attention at Nebraska’s Pro Day.
Bowling keeps stacking results
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Nebraska bowling is very good.
The Huskers sit No. 6 in the February National Tenpin Coaches Association poll after a third-place finish at the Columbia 300 Saints Invite. They’re 52-26 on the season and about to host the Big Red Invitational from Feb. 20-22.
That event will feature 10 ranked teams, including the top eight in the country. Conference USA occupies the top six spots in the poll, and Nebraska is firmly in that mix.
There’s not much mystery here. Nebraska has been one of the most consistent winners in the department. The next two weeks a home tournament followed by a trip to North Carolina A&T—will shape seeding for the conference championships in mid-March.
NIL investigation raises compliance questions
According to a report from Front Office Sports, athletes at Nebraska are among those the College Sports Commission has opened NIL investigations into.
The inquiry centers on whether certain athletes failed to report NIL deals into the NIL Go system as required under the House v. NCAA settlement framework. Under current rules, all Division I athletes must disclose NIL deals above $600 for review to ensure they represent fair market value and a legitimate business purpose.
On Jan. 15, CSC head of investigations Katie Medearis emailed Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen notifying him that “the College Sports Commission is investigating whether members of one of your institution’s sports teams failed to report one or more third-party Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals in accordance with applicable rules.”
Nebraska compliance officials responded later in January, explaining that two athletes had submitted additional details into NIL Go after confusion about timing and disclosure requirements. CSC senior investigator Shawn Vorndran followed up regarding additional agreements, which Nebraska confirmed had been submitted.
It remains unclear whether the inquiry has been fully resolved. Nebraska athletics did not immediately comment, per Front Office Sports.
Zooming out, this is the new layer of college sports.
The House settlement removed scholarship caps but replaced them with roster limits and centralized NIL oversight. Schools now operate in an environment where compliance is both more digital and more scrutinized.
Confusion over disclosure timing isn’t shocking in a system that is still being normalized. But investigations—even preliminary ones—are reminders that NIL governance is a real thing and programs are adjusting in real time.
Ah,the overlapping season. It’s that time of the year where everything collides once again. In fact, the Friday Five could have been the Friday 15. Maybe one week we’ll make it so.
For now, we’ll see what the desert brings for baseball this weekend (and Alumni Weekend for Nebraska basketball).
See, there’s never enough space in these newsletters.