The Weekly Rundown: Nebraska is two weeks from the start of Fall Camp
Nebraska is two weeks away from the start of Fall Camp on July 31.
We hit on that and more as we start your Monday with The Weekly Rundown Column.
Sure bets
You have to feel good about these things right now:
Nebraska’s top 10 percent: We’ve seen a new tradition emerge this summer under Matt Rhule as his team works through workouts.
Each week Nebraska announced a top 10 percent to showcase players that have done well in summer workouts.
This got my attention in a tweet put together by Blackshirts fan handle. Linebacker John Bullock, safety Ashton Hausmann and offensive lineman Ethan Piper have made the top 10 percent all six weeks. Tight end Jake Appleget, defensive linemen Nash Hutmacher and Cameron Lenhardt, linebacker Grant Tagge and long snapper Camden Witucki have made it five weeks. These young men have had impressive summers.
Zavier Betts drive to get back: If it all works out as we think, wide receiver Zavier Betts might deliver one of the best comeback stories we’ve seen at Nebraska in a while. The Bellevue West product quit the team last March and was out of school until January.
After entering the transfer portal, he returned to Nebraska after Rhule gave him a fresh opportunity. However, to regain his eligible, Betts had to pass over 20 credit hours in the classroom, which he has. Now he’s poised to be one of the Huskers’ top receivers in 2023.
Huge numbers in the freshman class at DL and WR: Has anyone looked at the latest scholarship distribution chart? With D’Andre Barnes moving from cornerback to wide receiver and Mason Goldman and Jason Maciejczak moving from the offensive line to the defensive line, these numbers will get your attention.
NU now has seven scholarship freshmen at both the wide receiver and defensive line positions. They have four defensive backs listed now and three offensive linemen in the freshmen class. It’s starting to make more sense why NU has already taken seven defensive backs and they are poised to take at least four or five high school offensive linemen in the class of 2024.
Nebraska has one operating collective: It was interesting to listen to Nebraska’s assistant athletic director for NIL Jonathan Bateman speak on the Husker Sports Network.
What I found interesting is Bateman and the University continue to preach as if there are two operating NIL Collectives at Nebraska – The 1890 Initiative and The Big Red Collaborative. If you didn’t know anything, you would think the two collectives were operating on equal ground based on how they are presented on the University’s website.
“We have a couple of collectives in the space,” Bateman said on the Husker Sports Network. “We have The 1890 Initiative and The Big Red Collaborative. We are going through with both groups trying to figure out where everybody’s strengths lie to see where everybody is the best at to help our student-athletes out in the space.
“Even though we are two years in, there are certain things our collectives can do that we can’t do as a University.”
It’s hard to find a data point that tells you Nebraska has two operating collectives. All the numbers and public activity say there is one. 1890 has resigned nearly 100 football players and the men’s basketball and volleyball teams to new one-year agreements in June. They also work with sports like baseball, softball and women’s basketball.
Generally, if an athlete signs an agreement with 1890, or any collective for that matter, those deals are exclusive to that collective. That’s why it’s fascinating that a cloud of confusion continues to be painted when the three main revenue-generating sports at Nebraska and their athletes are all under exclusive agreements with 1890.
RELATED – Nebraska quarterback Jeff Sims has new NIL deal with John Deere dealer
The last public Twitter activity from the Big Red Collaborative was back in January. What is their role or involvement in NIL at Nebraska to date? Have they signed any agreements with NU student-athletes? Do they plan to be more public in 2023-24, where promoting both collectives as equals is necessary?
It would be interesting to hear from AD Trev Alberts and Bateman publicly, as you aren’t seeing something like this at a national level where the school has only done very light endorsements for its main collective supporting its revenue-generating athletes. Collectives are far and away the biggest component of NIL and a driving factor when recruits look at a school.
So far, most of what 1890 has done has been paying the school to advertise on the Husker radio network, air commercials around the state, and buy street billboards and signage inside the different sporting venues to gain brand awareness. We have yet to see strong public message campaigns from the school to direct dollars to its main collective. We also don’t see coaches at NU publicly tweet to fans about how they can support their programs through NIL donations, which is a big thing the schools that are serious about NIL are doing everywhere.
Surprises
D’Andre Barnes move to WR: This one kind of slipped by us, but Barnes has moved from cornerback to wide receiver, according to Garret McGuire.
However, McGuire did hint that Barnes could easily move back to defensive back. In high school, Barnes led Aurora (Colo.) Regis Jesuit in both receiving yards and interceptions. He’s a versatile athlete with big-time speed.
Ethan Piper at Big Ten Media Days: After seeing that Piper has made the top 10 percent all six weeks this summer, maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise he will represent Nebraska at Big Ten Media Days next week in Indianapolis.
Piper has had quite a story, from starting in 2020 to losing his job in 2021 and winning it back a year ago. It appears he’s poised to be a factor in 2023.
The jury is still out
Questions still surround these things:
Nebraska’s new football facility: I’m far from a construction expert, but when you look at the live video of Nebraska’s new football facility, it appears things still have a ways to go.
We’ve reached a point where this week where the University has to decide if it is ready to move the players into the new locker room for the start of fall camp or if it would make more sense now to push it later into the season.
There are a lot of factors in play here out of Nebraska’s control. Over a year ago, things like the supply chain issues caused quite a few back-ups for everyone in the construction industry.
TE Arik Gilbert’s waiver status: We are entering crunch time with the waiver tight end Arik Gilbert needs from the NCAA to play football in 2023.
Rhule has long said it’s a process, and they have done all the necessary steps to this point. The question now is when will we hear something official from the NCAA? I’m sure Rhule will address this next week in Indianapolis.
How ready will LB Nick Henrich be in camp?: Nebraska linebacker Nick Henrich told Steven Sipple last week he was just recently cleared a little over two weeks ago.
How ready will Henrich be to step back into the defense? What type of role does new defensive coordinator Tony White envision for Henrich in 2023?
This has my attention
Moving forward, this has my attention:
Preston Taumua’s commitment: Nebraska’s June/July run continues. The addition of Preston Taumua gives this class another solid addition to the offensive line.
The four-star Taumua can play both at tackle and on the interior of the offensive line.
Grant Brix’s next move: Taumua is N. Now the focus is on Logan-Magnolia (Iowa) offensive lineman Grant Brix. There is still no word on his decision timeline.
Matt Rhule and staff speaking in Houston: On July 18, Rhule and several members of his staff with Texas ties are speaking in the state again. This will be at least the third time we’ve seen Ruhle in Texas since January, speaking to local coaches at different events and clinics.
Rhule will speak at the Texas High School Coaches Association “Coaching School” in Houston this time.
More senior staff movement: Nebraska’s Senior Associate AD for Development Ben Murray announced he moved to West Virginia to become the Mountaineers’ Deputy Athletics Director.
Murray was the highest-paid employee in the development office at $195,700. This summer, Facilities AD John Ingram ($137,730), Executive Associate AD Bob Burton ($257,830) and Senior Deputy AD for External Operations Garrett Klassy ($355,250) also moved on. In January, Senior Associate AD for Medicine Lonnie Albers ($286,840) and head football trainer Mark Mayer ($177,899) were two others relieved of their duties by the athletic department.
That is over $1.41 million in senior staff salary Alberts has unloaded from NU’s payroll from multiple departments. These were some of the higher leadership positions and salaries throughout the department.
Sean Callahan can be reached at sean@huskeronline.com and can be heard daily at 6:45 am and 5:05 pm on Big Red Radio 1110 KFAB in Omaha during the football season. He can also be seen on KETV Channel 7 in Omaha during the fall and each week appears on Nebraska Public Media’s Big Red Wrap-Up Tuesdays at 7 pm.
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