Exclusive Tunnel Talk: 4/19/2024
Welcome to the latest edition of HuskerOnline.com’s most popular member feature, Tunnel Talk. Our staff gives you the latest inside information on Nebraska football, basketball, volleyball, and recruiting.
Now, on to the scoop…
Callahan’s weekly nuggets
***I am curious about how this last week of spring finishes with offensive line transfer Micah Mazzccua. There have been a lot of ups and downs with his transition to Lincoln. I know we were told this week he was out of practice with the flu, but I’ll say I am watching that situation very closely. Will we see him on the field at the Red-White spring game?
***The Red-White spring game weekend is going to be huge for recruiting. Right now, Nebraska’s official visit number has fluctuated between nine and 11 and is currently at nine today. There are a lot of prospects they could add if they wanted, but they really don’t want to host any more official visitors than that.
***Las Vegas Bishop Gorman offensive lineman SJ Alofaituli was in Lincoln earlier this fall. I know he’s interested in taking an official to Lincoln again but has not yet set a visit. Alofaituli is one of the top interior offensive linemen in the country.
***Nebraska tight end recruit Carter Nelson is having a track season for the ages thus far. Here are the marks Nelson has put up in April, with limited training due to his basketball team making the state finals.
EventMark100 Meters11.03 seconds (PR)
-6th in Class C200 Meters 22.28 seconds (PR and broke his previous school record)
-2nd in Class C 400 Meters 54.85 seconds (PR) Shot Put50-6 1/2
-12th in Class CDiscus 188-1 (PR and ranked top 20 nationally)
-1st in Class CHigh Jump 6-2 (Already holds Class C state record of 7-0)
-6th in Class C (Top mark is 6-6) Pole Vault 13-6
-4th in Class C Long Jump 22-7 1/2 (PR)
-1st in Class C
Today, Nelson would probably compete in discus, pole vault, long jump, and the 200-meter dash at state track. It’s crazy to think he already holds the state record in the high jump, and that may not be one of the four events he chooses to compete in at the state track meet.
Nelson has won first place in eight individual events at meets over the last 14 days. I’ve never seen an athlete like Nelson who can succeed in everything from the throws and jumps to the sprints.
***Another future Husker who’s put up some big track marks is walk-on athlete Rowdy Bauer out of Norfolk. He PR’d in the long jump Thursday at 24-3 1/2, which is by far the best mark in the state for 2024. Bauer currently weighs 190 pounds. He also ran 10.99 seconds in the 100-meter dash.
Bauer’s long jump mark currently ranks 15th for all high school athletes in the country. He’s the only athlete in the top 25 rankings from a cold-weather state.
***We hear a lot about how Georgia practices differently than any team in the country. Let their spring game be an example of that. They went ones vs. ones and twos vs. twos for nearly the entire game. Heisman Trophy-favorite quarterback Carson Beck was 25-of-46 for 301 yards and two touchdowns in a spring game.
Georgia is so deep and talented that Kirby Smart doesn’t care what he shows on film because he knows he has one of the best rosters returning in college football. In their spring game, there were 118 total offensive plays run. Rhule would like to get to that point at Nebraska. He considers the Bulldogs as the gold standard of how to practice in college football.
***I heard an interesting thought this week about spring football in the future. Don’t be surprised if we eventually see more of an NFL mini-camp format that falls after the transfer portal window closes. For coaches, there is so much to manage during the spring with the portal and spring practice. Coaches have to walk on eggshells all spring when managing reps with their team, knowing it might upset a guy if they aren’t where they want to be.
***I am not expecting Nebraska to be overly aggressive in the transfer portal this spring, but if I had to guess a position they would consider taking a good player at, it would be offensive tackle. After Teddy Prochazka and Bryce Benhart, there is quite a drop-off on the roster right now.
-Sean Callahan
As Sipple sees (and hears) it
***It’s immensely challenging as a sportswriter to accurately portray practices that you don’t see. Still, almost everything I’ve heard suggests Nebraska’s two scholarship freshman quarterbacks – Dylan Raiola and Daniel Kaelin – have generally performed well this spring. I’m told their talent is very apparent. They’re evidently avoiding significant turnover issues. Same goes for Heinrich Haarberg, is my read. And, yes, we would tell you otherwise.
“The quarterbacks at different times have thrown beautiful deep balls for touchdowns,” a frequent practice observer told me. “And they have a quick release. They’ve worked hard on medium- and short-range passes. They’re really coached well.”
***Matt Rhule has said Nebraska’s on a mission to be “plus” in turnover margin. Praise the heavens. NU has been “plus” only twice (2009, 2016) in the last 18 years. The QB position obviously must play a lead role if this year’s team is to accomplish Rhule’s mission. Last year was simply awful for the position (10 touchdown passes, 16 picks). It seemingly can’t get worse.
***Rhule’s idea to work offense versus defense (with tackling at times) on three separate practice fields gets rave reviews from former Husker players and coaches. Feels like the Tom Osborne-Solich years. I’m not old enough to know exactly how Bob Devaney structured practices.
***The old guard also likes how much tackling work Rhule does in practice, but that’s old news at this point, if I’m reading things right.
“The tackling is good because it’s not just ‘play time’ out there,” a former coach told me. “There’s periods (of practice) where people know they’re going to get hit hard.”
***Even Nebraska’s injured players do as much as they can during practice away from the playing fields — within limits, of course. Rhule doesn’t allow for much standing around.
***I asked a former Husker if Dylan Raiola looks ready for the college game.
“I’d say he looks pretty darned good,” he said. “But you want to see the rest of spring ball. He has confidence. That’s very evident. And the thing is, he’s bigger than you think. It’s fun to watch him.”
I’ll keep it at that. You’ll notice I’m bullish on Dylan mainly because he’s a no-nonsense player with elite arm talent. He also loves the game. That’s always important.
***Dylan Raiola may concentrate on getting off to a faster start in this Saturday’s scrimmage. He was a little slow out of the gate last week.
***The Raiola family is tight. You see it in the way Dylan’s parents and siblings attend practices. His sister may soon be working in the athletic department. I like the fact that this is a family that cares deeply about the program. I don’t mind saying that Dominic and I have had conversations for many years about the program. I quoted him in many articles over the years – articles addressing the team’s struggles up front and struggles in general. The Raiola want-to factor and care factor are high. That has to mean something.
***Nebraska’s offense jumped offsides in practice last week, and Rhule made the entire unit do “up-downs” or pushups or whatever you call them.
***Said a former Husker who’s watched practices: “They’re on the right track. It’s just a matter of, do they have enough people who are really good?” In other words, can anyone rise to the level of first-team All-Big Ten or All-American or first-round draft pick?
Nebraska hasn’t had an NFL first-round selection since Prince Amukamara in 2011. He went 19th overall to the New York Giants.
***Rhule has mentioned Leslie Black a couple of times as a player who’s suffered a significant ankle injury this spring. According to his official Husker bio, a defensive lineman from Statesboro, Georgia, Black turned down scholarship offers from Southern Illinois and Savannah State to walk on at Nebraska.
***You may have seen Solich’s photo on Nebraska football’s social media accounts. The former Husker coach attended a recent practice while visiting his daughter in Lincoln.
-Steven Sipple
Munson’s musings
***I feel much better about the remaining in-state recruits, with Nebraska offers to end up committing to the Huskers eventually. For several weeks, I would have said for Christian Jones, Chase Loftin, and Reiman Zebert that the best I could do was 50-50 with Nebraska against the rest of the field. Again, that would have been at best.
So what’s changed? First of all, all three of the recruits have recently made visits to Nebraska. Both Loftin and Zebert visited Lincoln in January. The visit in April for Jones was his first time on campus since Thanksgiving.
TE Reiman Zebert (@ReimanZebert527) was back in Lincoln on Thursday. Zebert checked out practice and spent time talking with the #Nebraska staff. It was made clear that Zebert is a priority, and the #Husker staff see a big role for him in the offense.https://t.co/KPPHrItsxd
— Bryan Munson (@BryanMunson_) April 12, 2024
Loftin was supposed to be in Lincoln on April 1st but couldn’t make it. He got there later in the week. When you see these canceled visits, they are a little concerning, but obviously, Loftin got back later that week. From sources, Loftin was hanging out with Carter Nelson during that practice.
It was different talking to Zebert about his experience the other day, too. One of the things that Zebert drove home in his interview with me was the conversation with coach Matt Rhule. It sounds like Nebraska’s head coach is committed to keeping Zebert home and will head up recruiting Zebert.
I already have a prediction for Pierce Mooberry to stay home, and I don’t have any reason to second-guess that. Mooberry has visited Nebraska three times this year; more than likely, he will be back in Lincoln next weekend for the spring game. He already has his official visit set for the big recruiting weekend on June 21st. I am leaning towards Mooberry committing to Nebraska ahead of his official visit.
***While we are on the topic of spring game visitors, I finally got a hold of some people who could speak to what is going on with all of the Las Vegas (Nev.) Bishop Gorman recruits. According to a couple of sources I caught up with, Nebraska will be hosting several of them next weekend.
I can confirm that Alai Kalaniuvalu will be in Lincoln that weekend (finally). Douglas Utu will join him as well. SJ Alofaituli wants to make the trip to Lincoln next weekend. However, he has some scheduling issues to work through now. I will keep you posted and try to get him confirmed in a visitor preview next weekend.
***There is also some other big official visitor news to share here. I was finally able to reach Kade Pietrzak. He visited Nebraska in late March and went quiet following that trip. He got back to me earlier this week and confirmed that he had scheduled an official visit to Nebraska for the June 21st visit weekend. That weekend keeps getting bigger and bigger.
***Brian Tapu was one of several players from Utah who were visiting Nebraska with former Husker offensive lineman Toniou Fonoti. Tapu has been challenging to reach, but he also got him this week. He loved the visit to Nebraska and said he is working with Nebraska to schedule an official visit to return to Lincoln later this spring/summer.
***I am interested in what is going on with Ike Ackerman. He has been having a heck of a track season, and some frame-wise similarities could be made to Carter Nelson from last season. Ackerman recently high jumped 6-foot-2 and recorded a shot-put throw of 53’9”. Ackerman is holding a pair of D2 offers now, but there is a feeling that the Huskers are keeping a close eye on Ackerman. If he camps at Nebraska, there is good reason to believe that Ackerman ends up with an opportunity to become a Husker.
After a great call with @KyleDeVan68 I am extremely grateful to receive my 7th D1 and 1st P5 offer from @BeaverFootball Go Beavs!!! @DStoddard5 @CoachPeter68 @AllenTrieu @SWiltfong_ @BHoward_11 @MohrRecruiting pic.twitter.com/DkppMdaQbJ
— Ren Brown 3 (@RenBrown25) April 19, 2024
***I was already interested in Ackerman, and the same can be said about Ren Brown. Brown, from Stanton (Neb.), is making some noise. He picked up an offer from Ohio earlier in the week, and on Thursday, he got another from Oregon State. Brown has excellent size and, like Ackerman, could be a good summer camp performance away from an opportunity, too. He is a project, and he will tell you, but all of the potential is there with Brown.
Lincoln tomorrow! @CoachMattRhule @Adam_DiMichele @Coach_Satt @_CoachGThomas @HuskerCoachTW @coachedfoley @s_kwilli32
— Will Anderson (@WillAnderson16_) April 12, 2024
***I caught up with 2026 DB target Kaprice Keith from Bellevue West after the scrimmage on Saturday. It may be a good bet that an offer from Nebraska for Keith could come. He had a fascinating comment:
“Nebraska was asking if I wanted to go there, and then they asked what it would take for me to commit,” Keith said. “I was supposed to talk to coach Rhule, but I didn’t get to because he had a meeting.”
***I have a rough draft together for the offensive big board, but pieces keep getting moved around. On Thursday night, I added another interesting piece: an offer to a wide receiver. Tanner Terch from Littleton (Colo.) Heritage picked up an offer from Nebraska after a visit. He had 55 catches for 876 yards and averaged 16 yards per catch last season. He’s about the same size as Jackson Carpenter, plays all the spots, and does returns.
Now, this new offer to another wide receiver could relate to Isaiah Mozee. There are likely some other targets, like Cortez Mills, that Nebraska realizes are going to be tough pulls and needs to add some other targets to its list. I would also offer up that Emmanuel Choice won’t be easy. The couple of times that I saw him at Lancaster last season he had an Oklahoma towel and now things are trending for the Sooners with Choice.
Terch told me on Thursday night that Nebraska is considering him an athlete. He would like to find a way to play special teams. He says, “Special teams is where games are won!”
-Bryan Munson
Washut’s Nebrasketball news & notes
***The big news on Thursday was Wisconsin point guard and former Bellevue West standout Chucky Hepburn officially entering the NCAA Transfer Portal.
Many Nebraska fans immediately wondered if Hepburn might be heading to Lincoln, possibly as a package deal with Omaha transfer and former BWHS teammate Frankie Fidler.
Everything I’ve heard over the past 24 hours is that the Huskers won’t be much of a factor with Hepburn or Fidler. With Hepburn, most of the talk has revolved around Michigan State and Louisville. According to a longtime Wisconsin beat writer, the word up in Madison is that Louisville has offered Hepburn an NIL package worth roughly $750,000.
It’ll be interesting to see how long Hepburn plays the process out, as I’ve heard numerous programs have inquired about him since he hit the portal.
Again, I don’t expect Hepburn or Fidler to end up at Nebraska at this point.
***I believe there’s another former Bellevue West Thunderbird in the portal that Nebraska has a real chance with.
South Dakota State forward William Kyle III has an official visit to Lincoln for the football spring game weekend on April 26-28. That’s after he unofficially visited campus on April 1.
Not only that, but Kyle met with Nebraska’s staff again on Monday afternoon.
At this point, NU and Wake Forest are probably the leaders for the 6-foot-9, 230-pound sophomore. He just canceled his visit to Iowa State this weekend.
Kyle will visit Wake Forest on Sunday and Monday.
***As I reported on Thursday night, Nebraska hosted Wisconsin transfer guard Connor Essegian on a visit.
The trip was a bit surprising, as many expected him to commit to Indiana after visiting Bloomington on Wednesday. We’ll see where things stand after his time in Lincoln, but NU would undoubtedly take his commitment if he wanted to pull the trigger.
***Essegian’s decision directly correlates with Nebraska’s pursuit of Villanova transfer guard Brendan Hausen. My read is that Essegian will make his decision by the end of the weekend. If he goes elsewhere – Indiana, Maryland, and possibly Ohio State are the other top contenders right now – then NU will turn its attention to Hausen.
Hausen is currently set to visit Lincoln on Monday. He’s visiting Kansas State this weekend.
***Nebraska made the final three for Charlotte transfer Igor Miličić Jr., joining Tennessee and Baylor.
The 6-10 forward visited last Sunday and Monday, followed by trips to UT and BU this week. I’m hearing that the Huskers think they have a real shot with Miličić, but so do Tennessee and Baylor.
It sounds like he will announce his commitment this weekend or early next week. The more I hear, the more I like NU’s chances.
***Nebraska was supposed to host Minnesota transfer forward Pharrel Payne on Thursday, but that visit got called off this week. Texas A&M appears to be one of the frontrunners for Payne, while Oregon and Indiana are among others making strong pushes.
There’s still an outside chance that Payne will schedule a trip to Lincoln down the road, but that seems like a long shot.
***I reported that Nebraska had been in contact with fellow Minnesota transfer Joshua Ola-Joseph and that he was working on scheduling a visit.
You can cross his name off the target list, as NU is no longer pursuing the 6-7 forward. It sounds like he’s close to committing to Cal.
***In 2024-25 schedule news, I still expect Nebraska to play in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Dec. 21-24.
There is still no word on what other schools will be in the eight-team field. However, one appears to be Oregon State.
Last year’s bracket wasn’t finalized until June, so it might be a while before anything is formally announced. But, if you’re looking to spend Christmas in Hawaii with Nebrasketball, go ahead and book your trips.
***I’ve also heard that Nebraska will likely play another game at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., next season. No word on an opponent or date, but I’d assume the game will be sometime in November.
Stay tuned.
-Robin Washut
Abby’s assists
***Husker Volleyball Head Coach John Cook said on Kicking Back with the Cooks that her expects all of his players to play during the spring game. But outside hitter Ally Batenhorst, who has been training with NU this spring, is unlikely to play unless necessary. After graduating in May, Batenhorst will be a grad transfer at USC.
They recorded the episode at the beginning of April. However, it was likely recorded after Harper Murray was cited by LPD for driving under the influence along with reckless driving, obstruction of a peace officer, minor in possession and carrying a false ID.
Nebraska will hold a press conference with Cook and a couple of players on Friday afternoon. We will know more about Murray’s situation soon.
***Nebraska Volleyball Assistant Coach Jordan Larson will play professional volleyball in Omaha. The former Husker outside hitter signed with League One’s Omaha team. She will be playing alongside former Husker libero Justine Wong-Orantes.
Larson’s professional playing career will not impact her job as a Husker assistant coach. League One’s season doesn’t start until the beginning of January. They begin training camp in November, so she will have to work around that with Nebraska volleyball.
League One announced its professional volleyball league in 2019. They’ve been developing their league, teams, and programs to their inaugural season in 2024. They created LOVB, which aims to connect with and further local volleyball players and teams. LOVB fosters relationships with club teams and college athletes in their surrounding area.
While the Pro Volleyball Federation and the Omaha Supernovas might have already created a fan base, LOVB has two legendary Husker players on their roster. I am very intrigued to see how PVF and League One can co-exist in the same market simultaneously or how they will conflict.
***Husker softball has recorded several top-10 attendance records this season. They had a record-breaking 2,000 fans sign up for 2024 season tickets. However, the numbers aren’t reflected in the stands because former Oklahoma pitcher and two-time national champion Jordy Bahl suffered a season-ending injury.
Nebraska softball suffered six other season-ending injuries this season. They went from a top 15 projected team to 25-16 so far this season.
Additionally, NU added 1,100 more seats to Bowlin Stadium due to the excitement around this season’s team. Since the injury bug has struck, the number of tickets sold and the number in the stands are not similar. Roughly 400-600 fans show up for Husker softball games this season.
***During this spring, Nebraska is honing in to ensure their platform for passing is excellent. Cook said on Kicking Back with the Cooks that because the ball is moving so much and so fast, they aren’t teaching passing like they usually did. Now, it’s all about having an excellent platform to pass tough balls.
He said Larson taught him and the team a new passing drill that helps with those techniques. Playing beach volleyball also helps a lot.
Cook did mention the speed and strength with which Texas hit and served in the national championship game. That, along with other teams with very strong hitters, is part of what sparked this focus.
NU’s hitters are working on hitting harder, too. They are also working on jump serves, where the ball has a top spin and is hit harder/faster. Cook said a couple of players have the potential to jump serve during a match.
-Abby Barmore
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