The Weekly Rundown: Nebraska finding its way back to 85 scholarships and final thoughts on this week’s portal movement
Nebraska’s post-spring roster attrition appears to be about done as the Huskers move their way closer to 85 players on scholarship.
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:
The spring portal window comes to a close: The spring transfer portal window officially ended on Sunday, but technically a school’s compliance department has up to two business days to make new entries.
Technically the portal is closed, but there will be some late activity today and Tuesday from entires that happened potentially on Saturday and Sunday.
In all, we saw 10 Husker players publically enter the portal last week. There were a few surprises and several others that were not. Everyone is still learning the new way of the portal windows, and we saw that play out with several notable names across college football jump in right before the deadline.
A high NIL market for QB Casey Thompson: Give quarterback Casey Thompson credit. He’s played his two years of the portal era perfectly.
He took what he accomplished at Texas and turned it into a starting job at Nebraska after Steve Sarkisian brought in his guy last season. Now he’ll do the same thing again, as it appears Jeff Sims is Matt Rhule’s guy at quarterback.
I don’t think anyone can be upset at Thompson. This isn’t just about NIL. It’s about finding a place to play his sixth year of college football that offers the best path to be a starting quarterback. With that said, his NIL value now has never been higher. Thompson was already reportedly at Auburn this weekend.
The Big Ten and SEC’s dominance: 117 of the NFL’s 259 total draft picks came from the Big Ten and the SEC Conferences. When you add USC, UCLA, Oklahoma and Texas to that, the number is 135, compared to 124 for the rest of college football. That’s an average of 4.2 draft picks per team.
This is a great metric to reference when people ask why TV rights deals are so important. The more money you have, the more resources you have to build, develop and recruit talent. The Power Two continues to pull away.
The draft continues to be a sobering reality for Nebraska fans: Indiana was the only Big Ten team that did not have a player drafted this past weekend. Nebraska finished with just two. In comparison, Purdue had five, Kansas State had four, Iowa had four, Northwestern had four and Iowa State had three.
If anything measures the fall of Nebraska football in the last decade, the draft data does not lie. It also shows the growth other programs have made over the Big Red in recent years regarding recruiting and development.
Just think about this: both of NU’s draft picks this year were in Lincoln for less than a year. Three of its last five draft picks came from the transfer portal. That’s not a sustainable model.
Surprises
These were my surprises of the week:
Ochaun Mathis being drafted before WR Trey Palmer: I think most expected wide receiver Trey Palmer and edge Ochaun Mathis to get drafted this weekend. However, I’m not sure anyone could’ve predicted Mathis would go before Palmer.
Nearly every projection had Palmer going somewhere between rounds three and five. The fact he fell below Mathis was a surprise.
Power Five’s dominance over the first two rounds: Here are a few other crazy draft stats from the weekend. No Group of Five or FCS players were selected in the first round. Just two went in the second round.
This is another metric that shows the impact the transfer portal and NIL have had on the lower levels of football. If you are an identifiable draft pick at the FCS or Group of Five levels, the odds are you will be transferring up to Power Five. That’s just the reality.
A 48-hour volleyball sellout in Memorial Stadium: Nebraska fans never should surprise you, but selling out a volleyball match of over 80,000 tickets in 48 hours – come on. That’s incredible. Very few performing acts could accomplish something like that, let alone a sport that generally plays its home matches in front of 8,000 fans.
The jury is still out
Questions still surround these things:
Can Nebraska volleyball set a world record?: Now that we know the volleyball match is already sold out, can they set the world record for the most-attended female sporting event in history? There’s a chance of that happening, but it will take some creativity by AD Trev Alberts and his team. They are already on track to be the most attended non-football event in NCAA history.
The words “World Record” should get anyone’s attention. I expect John Cook and Alberts to do anything possible to make it happen.
Can Garrett Nelson make it in Miami: The draft process has probably not gone to plan for former Husker Garrett Nelson. After declaring a year early for the draft, Nelson did not get an NFL Combine invite, nor did he get drafted this past weekend.
Several teams were interested in signing him as an undrafted free agent, and he chose Miami. What is the roster outlook now for Nelson? You would think he’s going to have at least a shot of being on the Dolphins practice squad but remember, JoJo Domann a year ago made the Colts’ active roster after not being drafted. It’s unpredictable at this point.
How many players have taken the new coach retirement package: Nebraska currently sits three over the 85 scholarship limit based on the public transfer portal entries we know about.
How many other players chose the new coach early retirement package? Huskers.com had not done an official post-spring roster update yet. My guess is NU is already at 85 or under it. We just don’t know about the other moves yet.
This has my attention
Moving forward, this has my attention:
15 of Nebraska’s 2022 additions are already gone: Here’s a stat that describes the new college football world we live in. 15 of the scholarship additions Nebraska added in 2022 have already left the program. A couple of those exhausted their eligibility, but most came and went as quickly as The Snuggie.
Portal targets for Nebraska: With the spring portal window closed, will the Huskers pursue any players starting this week?
The competition will be tight for any attractive names. Things like playing time and NIL will factor in heavily. That’s a tough tightrope for Rhule to walk, as he’s building for the long run, not just for 2023.
QB Logan Smothers: Is the window truly open for QB Logan Smothers to return? What type of interest will Smothers garner in the portal?
DL Stephon Wynn Jr.: Nothing about defensive lineman Stephon Wynn Jr.’s portal entry felt right this week. From all accounts, he had a strong spring. It will be interesting to see where he lands.
RB Ajay Allen and QB Casey Thompson: You knew the spring portal window would have its fair share of surprises. Husker fans got teased until Friday before the big ones dropped.
No matter how you spin it, Thompson and running back Ajay Allen are a hit. Both are already receiving SEC interest, which is telling in its own right.
Michigan State’s transfer portal hits: The shock of the day was Michigan State losing quarterback Payton Thorne and wide receiver Keon Coleman. They are the type of losses you can’t recoup on May 1.
Coaches on the road: What does the schedule look like this week on the road for Rhule’s staff? This past week was about settling business with his own football team. Now that the portal has closed, expect a heavy presence on the road.
June official visits: We’ve seen a couple of June official visits already get set for Nebraska. I would expect each week that number to grow significantly.
Remember, starting this year, prospects can take unlimited official visits. They are still only allowed one official visit per school, but I fully expect June to be busier than ever. A lot of top guys will probably take four officials in June.
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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