In a land of sudden abundance, NU won't land every local tight end
But, over the past decade, the Huskers have probably held their own during a boom time at the position.
In a land suddenly abundant with top-flight prep tight ends, Nebraska lost one it wanted over the weekend.
Millard South tight end Chase Loftin committed to Florida State Saturday, a week after taking his official visit to Nebraska. A 3-star prospect rated as the 25th-best tight end in the country by 247Sports, Loftin did his due diligence leading up to the decision, officially visiting Missouri, Florida State, Texas A&M and Nebraska over the past four weeks.
An in-state prospect the Huskers want choosing a power program elsewhere will probably forever cause some consternation locally. Points to Loftin for originality, at least. I’m not a recruiting encyclopedia, but I don’t recall Nebraska losing many recruiting battles to the Seminoles. At least not for players from Nebraska. The twin powers of the 1990s clashed frequently for Florida prospects during the Bowden-Osborne years, but FSU in Omaha? In an earlier era, there was no reason for Florida State to be here with so much talent available at home.
That era is over, which is why I view Nebraska losing a home-grown player on occasion as less of a referendum than it once was. The Huskers were very good for a long time, and while there were comparatively few top-end players in the state, nobody knew more about them than Nebraska’s staff did. Rival Big 12 coaches weren’t dropping in at, say, Grand Island on a Friday night to see one guy when they could stay in Texas, hit at least two games and evaluate maybe 20 FBS-caliber players. It’s possible Nebraska was always producing top-25 tight ends from the high school ranks, but in an earlier era they were 6-foot-4, 220-pound trees in a forest with few recruiting analysts to see them ball.
Now everybody can know the type of talent in Nebraska (or anywhere), and it has been particularly concentrated at tight end of late. Over the last 10 classes, back to 2016, a tight end has ranked among the top three players available in the state by 247Sports. Loftin was ranked the second-best player in the state—behind NU linebacker commit Christian Jones—with an 89 rating. That puts him right in line with the nine top tight ends who came before him. That group had an average rating of 89.5, which puts them just short of the 90 needed for 4-star status at 247.
It's a good group of players, and the Huskers landed five of them over the past decade. I thought it was worth a quick look back at the group.
2024 – Carter Nelson (96 rating) – Nebraska
He just arrived on campus last month, so there’s nothing really to update here other than he’s the highest-rated tight end from Nebraska since at least 2016. As I wrote previously, not only is Carter talented, but I think he arrives in Lincoln with enviable freeroll scenario in 2024.
2023 – Kade McIntyre (88) – Oklahoma
The Archbishop Bergan standout redshirted while appearing in two games last season, recording one catch for 26 yards. The Sooner took two transfer tight ends in 2024, Jake Roberts (Baylor) and Bauer Sharp (Southeastern Louisiana). Both figure to be near the top of the depth chart as OU enters the SEC.
DQ’d on a technicality – Ben Brahmer (87) – Iowa State
Brahmer wasn’t the top tight end in Nebraska in this class, but maybe he should’ve been. His rating is higher than others who appear later on this list, but it was a deep class. The Huskers had Brahmer committed, but he flipped to Iowa State during the coaching change. The Pierce product had an impressive true freshman season in Ames, making 28 catches for 352 yards with two touchdowns.
2022 – Kaden Helms (90) – Oklahoma
The No. 3 prospect in the state redshirted while playing three games in his first season in Norman. Helms made one catch over those three games, and it was against Nebraska, which I have to admit is a nice little knife twist in the blowout that was the Huskers’ first game after firing Scott Frost. Helms, who played at Bellevue West, missed 2023 with a knee injury, but could be in the mix in 2024.
2021 – James Carnie (89) – Nebraska
Carnie appeared in two games a true freshman but didn’t see action in 2022 and hit the transfer portal. The Roca native landed at Concordia (Neb.) but didn’t record a catch in 2023.
DQ’d on a technicality – Thomas Fidone II (97) – Nebraska
Nebraska’s top tight end in 2024 wasn’t the state’s top tight end in 2021 because he lived in Council Bluffs, but, c’mon, that’s as close as you can get to being an in-state prospect without being one. Plus, Fidone grew up a Husker fan. The top tight end in the country by 247, Fidone was the get for Nebraska in the 2021 class.
2020 – Will Swanson (86) – Kansas State
The Papillion La Vista South product is putting together a nice career in Manhattan. Swanson has appeared in 27 consecutive games the past two seasons, following a redshirt year, and was listed as the No. 2 tight end on the post-spring depth chart for 2024. More of a blocking tight end, Swanson has seven career catches, but one went for a touchdown. Back when the Huskers ran the option, that was sort of the default season for a tight end. Swanson would’ve fit right in in Lincoln, then or now. Good player.
2019 – Chris Hickman (89) – Nebraska
The Omaha Burke star played in 18 games over four seasons at Nebraska, shuffling between wide receiver and tight end early in his career. Hickman made five career catches before stepping away from football after the 2022 season.
2018 – Cam Jurgens (94) – Nebraska
Could he have been a top-flight tight end? Yeah, probably, but it’s tough to argue with the move Jurgens made to center. He started 31-of-32 career games at Nebraska before becoming a second-round draft pick of the Eagles. Jurgens is poised to become Philadelphia’s starting center in 2024 following the retirement of the Kelce brother who doesn’t date Taylor Swift.
2017 – Austin Allen (86) – Nebraska
A 6-foot-8 giant from Aurora, Allen was everything anyone could hope a recruit could be—a captain, 43 career games played with 65 catches for 975 yards and, by the time he was a senior, the Big Ten Tight End of the Year. Allen was an undrafted free agent who signed with the Giants and later the Packers. He spent the spring with the Arlington Renegades in the UFL. Recruiting rankings aren’t an exact science, but Allen’s assessment from 247 compared favorably to…
2016 – Noah Fant (88) – Iowa
He’s a nice bookend to the list because I remember this being spoken of as a) a pretty big calamity at the time, which b) lends support to the idea that missing on the occasional in-state guy is less calamitous now when you compare it to more recent misses. To be clear, Nebraska wanted Fant, it just didn’t get him. That the Omaha South tight end chose Iowa certainly amplified the angst, but the Hawkeye program did everything advertised on the box. Fant was a two-time All-Big Ten player over three seasons, scoring 19 touchdowns on 78 career catches. A first-round draft pick of the Broncos, Fant is entering his sixth NFL season. He’s started 68-of-75 career games.
To highlight here: Since 2016, the state of Nebraska has produced at tight end a six-year NFL veteran (Fant), the Big Ten’s player of the year at the position (Allen), a player likely to be an NFL fixture for years to come at the position he switched to in Lincoln (Jurgens) and a player who has been a solid if unsung contributor on one of the best teams in the Big 12 (Swanson). There are four others who are still playing or have yet to begin their careers at a power-conference school. The Huskers didn’t land all of those players, but I think it’s fair to say NU held its own (particularly if you can move Fidone a few miles west, over the Missouri River) during a remarkable run of talent at a single position.
And the run might not be over. Nebraska already has an in-state offer out to a tight end for 2026. Millard South’s Isaac Jensen doesn’t have a rating yet from 247 but he has offers from Florida State, Texas A&M, Missouri, Kansas State and Iowa State.
That group feels familiar. It’s like we’ve been here before.
Odds & Ends
Over the last four days Nebraska added its first two offensive linemen to the 2025 class. First was the strange flip of tackle Brian Tapu (6-7, 295) of Salt Lake City. Days after committing to Oregon State, the 3-star (87 rating) prospect changed his mind and committed to the Huskers. On Sunday the Huskers landed a commitment from Houston Kaahaaina-Torres of Honolulu, a 3-star (88) who projects as a center. It would’ve been a little anxiety-inducing if NU didn’t have an offensive lineman in the fold entering July. Now it has two.
Former Huskers Kayla Caffey, Briana Holman and Kaitlyn Hord are all returning to the state to continue their professional careers as part of the Omaha Supernovas. The Supernovas won the first Pro Volleyball Federation title earlier this year.
I’m as in the bag for video game college football as anyone can be. This is mostly due to circumstance. I’m just old enough to have started out on Bill Walsh College Football, and I never stopped playing as the game got a little bit better each year. I was the sort of “gamer” who got the new college football game the day it came out and then maybe played one or two other games each year. If I had the latest console, it was only to play this game. I’m excited for the return of the EA Sports franchise, but I’d still like to say for the record that I don’t care where any team or individual unit is ranked in the game, and I think it’s insane that said rankings are part of the news cycle now. A big part based on the past week.