Signing day goes off without a hitch for Nebraska
The first day of the early signing period has come and gone, and it was a day without drama for coach Matt Rhule and the Nebraska Cornhuskers. That’s a good thing.
The first day of the early signing period has come and gone, and it was a day without drama for coach Matt Rhule and the Nebraska Cornhuskers. That’s a good thing.
Let’s talk about it.
Who signed letters of intent?
The 2024 recruiting class is a large one with 29 signees (as of Wednesday). In addition to the 29 signees, there were an additional nine walk-on signees and one transfer signee.
Here is the breakdown:
Quarterback (3)
Dylan Raiola
Daniel Kaelin
Brode Soukup (walk on)
Running Back (2)
Izaac Dickey (walk on)
Trent Uhlir (walk on)
Wide Receiver (5)
Dae’vonn Hall
Isaiah McMorris
Quinn Clark
Jacory Barney Jr.
Keelan Smith
Tight End (3)
Carter Nelson
Ian Flynt
Eric Ingwerson
Offensive Line (7)
Grant Brix
Preston Taumua
Gibson Pyle
Landen Davidson
Alexander Ruggeroli
Jake Peters
Nolan Fennessy (walk on)
Athlete (2)
Connor Schutt (walk on)
Derek Wacker (walk on)
**Of note, Wacker is listed as a RB/LB combo on the roster so we made him an ATH for ease of the breakdown.
Defensive Line (1)
Ashton Murphy
Defensive Back (11)
Caleb Benning
Mario Buford
Rex Guthrie
Roger Gradney
Donovan Jones
Braylen Prude
Amare Sanders
Evan Taylor
Larry Tarver Jr.
Preston Okafor (walk on)
Blye Hill (transfer)
Linebacker (1)
Vincent Shavers Jr.
JACK (2)
Willis McGahee IV
Ethan Duda (walk on)
Punter (1)
Kamdyn Koch
Place Kicker (1)
Nico Ottomanelli (walk on)
Here is how it breaks down by state:
Nebraska — 16
Florida — 5
Texas — 5
Colorado — 2
Iowa — 2
Maryland — 2
Georgia — 1
Hawaii — 1
Missouri — 1
Montana — 1
New Jersey — 1
Nevada — 1
North Carolina — 1
Wow. That’s a lot of signees.
You’re right. It is. And here’s the deal right now: removing walk-ons from the mix, Nebraska has 99 scholarship athletes on its roster as of today.
Freshmen — 28
Redshirt freshmen — 20
Sophomores — 12
Juniors — 20
Seniors — 66
That is 14 over the 85-man limit, so we can expect attrition in the coming months. One name that surfaced in the transfer portal as the first day of the early signing period winded down was quarterback Chubba Purdy. Reports surfaced early evening on Wednesday that he intended to transfer. By around 9 p.m. CT, it was official. (Make it 98 for the roster then.)
The current FBS transfer window opened Dec. 4 and runs through Jan. 2, 2024. It’s unlikely we’ll see too many Nebraska players leave in the next couple of weeks, so the spring transfer window is the bigger one to watch.
The spring window opens April 15 and runs through April 30. With Nebraska’s spring game set for Saturday, April 27, it seems likely those few days following would be when the largest number of players would enter the portal.
There are a lot of walk-ons from Nebraska. What did Rhule say about that?
Good question. Here’s how he spoke about the number of homegrown Huskers that opted to walk on versus take scholarships elsewhere:
“The high school football here is really, really strong,” Rhule said on Wednesday. “I’ve done some national shows and they’re like, ‘Well, you signed eight guys.’ Notre Dame signed a player out of here, too. Illinois signed a player out of here, so it’s not like we got every one. There’s 10, 11, 12 Division I players here.”
By the way, if you want to see the full class breakdown (and take a further look into those walk ons), you can here.
I noticed Nebraska didn’t add a scholarship running back. What’s that about?
Nebraska is content with its running back group at the time. That includes Gabe Ervin Jr., Rahmir Johnson, Emmett Johnson and Kwinten Ives. Everything we’ve been told is that they feel good about the potential of this group.
That said, expect running back to be a focus for the 2025 class. In the meantime, Nebraska will work to attract a specific kind of player that wants to play within a run-heavy offense.
“Running backs should want to come here and play,” Rhule said. “We kinda revamped the way we play. We ran the ball well this year, so try to go find the tailback that will really help us in next year’s class, but if one comes along before then, let’s do it.”
Seems like there was an emphasis on Florida, especially with the last-minute flips from athletes in the area. Texas is another area of focus too. Will that be a trend going forward?
Yes, but Rhule is also clear that Nebraska and the 500-mile radius will remain a focus too.
“We’ll be there every year,” Rhule said. “We’re going to keep recruiting Florida, we’re going to keep recruiting Texas and we’re going to keep recruiting this area.”
OK, one last question. When it comes to the quarterback spot, did Rhule have anything to say about Raiola, Kaelin and the others currently on Nebraska’s roster?
He sure did. And let’s just look at the quote as a whole:
“I’m always going to explore everything, but at the end of the day, as I said to you guys, I was never really interested in one-year quarterbacks. I believe in doing due diligence. I don’t believe in just making statements. I always look at those, but it’s really important to me that Chubba (Purdy) and Heinrich (Haarberg) have earned the chance to go compete in the spring without someone coming in that’s a year ahead of them. That was first and foremost. We looked at some things, but didn’t make any offers to anybody. I just wanted to stay true to that message that we had from the end of the year. Daniel Kaelin has been loyal to us from the very beginning. We believe in Daniel, we believe in his skill set, his processing, how quickly he sees it. I love the fact that even this past weekend, he had an opportunity. He just wants to compete and be a Husker.
“As I sat there and watched that show yesterday and they talked about Tommie Frazier and Brook Berringer, just, ‘Hey, I want to be here and I want to compete.’ I appreciate that about him. Dylan called last Sunday and said, ‘Hey, Coach, my heart is telling me to come to Nebraska. Can I come take another look?’ I challenged him, like, ‘Hey, make sure you’re serious about this. I don’t want this to be something that isn’t right for you,’ and he said, ‘My life has greater purpose than just being the top recruit. I know what Nebraska means to my family, I know what it’s meant to me and I’d like to come there.’ I think in the end, to have a player of Dylan’s caliber, not of his recruiting, but of his caliber. His arm talent, his ability to see the field, but probably more than anything, his work ethic and how much he cares about the game. We obviously took that.
“I feel great about our quarterback room, we have four players that we believe in. With the young players, with the two freshmen, I think it’s really important that they follow the right trajectory. It’s not about coming in and scripting success. It’s about teaching them to play quarterback the way we want our quarterbacks to play. That’s why I didn’t want a quick fix. I want to build this thing with guys who have been in the program, who learn our way of thinking, our way of seeing the field, our way of viewing defenses, our way of calling protections, our way of training.
“I think as we move forward, everything will be earned and nothing will be given. It will be great competition. It’ll be great learning and great development. We have some pretty special players in that room.”
As for who will lead the group, Rhule deflected the question on Wednesday. He said the day was to talk about recruits and he’ll talk about the coaching piece — if there is something to talk about — another day.
For now, the room is down one more player in Purdy. What does that mean going forward? Well, Nebraska will likely take a look at the portal.
Until then.