Exclusive Tunnel Talk: 5/19/2023
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
***Many people have wondered about the future of quarterback Logan Smothers and if he might return to Nebraska.
This is what I know right now: Smothers has been concentrating on finishing up his degree this week in Lincoln. He graduates on Saturday.
My feeling today is that he will ultimately leave Nebraska. The biggest thing is proximity to home. His parents have driven 15-plus hours for every one of his games. Finding a new school a little closer to his family is a priority, as is finding the right on-field situation.
Smothers has been contacted by Syracuse, Notre Dame, West Virginia, Florida Atlantic, Utah State, Charlotte, Texas A&M, Central Florida, Mississippi State, UAB, and Jacksonville State.
Syracuse, Notre Dame, West Virginia, and FAU all wanted him to visit. Utah State is hoping to get a visit from him after graduation. Charlotte has taken a QB from the portal. Many schools like Mississippi State and Notre Dame want him to come in to be a No. 2 and then compete in 2024 for the job.
West Virginia, UAB (where Trent Dilfer is the coach), and Jacksonville State (coached by Rich Rodriguez) are all situations where he could come and have a decent shot at winning the job. UAB and Jacksonville State seem the most likely options due to their proximity to home and the opportunity they present. This is not about NIL for Smothers. He’s never been about that.
This process has played out similarly to how Smothers carried himself at Nebraska. He’s under the radar and not looking for NIL or attention.
***Nebraska, Penn State, Auburn, Georgia, Notre Dame, and Ole Miss have all seen Ainsworth tight end Carter Nelson in person this spring.
Georgia, Nebraska, Alabama, and Auburn will all attend the state track meet today to see him.
I know Georgia feels like it is in the race, but views it as a long shot today. A Georgia coach told one source I spoke to that Nelson is a legit national-level prospect and looked even better in person than they realized.
***With some of the portal moves this spring, some of the bigger ones had to do more with where the particular player stood coming out of the spring.
Nebraska told Stephon Wynn it saw him with a limited role in their scheme this year. Matt Rhule would rather develop the youth on the roster with those snaps than give them to a sixth-year senior who was not an impact guy a year ago.
With running back Ajay Allen, they pretty much told him he was fourth on the depth chart coming out of the spring. They were honest with him and where he stood, driving him to the portal.
This is not a NIL situation, as Allen and Wynn were on very sizeable deals.
***Omaha Roncalli quarterback Brady McGill remains a sleeper name to watch. Nebraska has been by to see him this spring, and the staff plans to watch him throw live at camp next month.
***It’s interesting to see the shift in the NIL market. More high-dollar amounts now go to proven transfer portal targets vs. unproven high school prospects.
On3 did a great job of breaking that all down the other day. The other thing about a transfer is that they are stuck with you once they use their one-time exception. In contrast, a true freshman player can leave after one year, similar to what linebacker Ernest Hausmann did with Michigan.
That’s going to be a big piece of NIL. Can Nebraska get its program to a place where it can win some of these battles to get a transfer player? Can it keep good players like Hausmann from leaving?
Three teams might offer a guy a $ 40,000-a-month service contract agreement. Can NU get to a point where it wins those types of head-to-head battles? That’s NIL in a nutshell now.
***Rhule is being respectful with how he manages and updates the official roster. There are players no longer with the team that remain on the Huskers.com roster. Rhule’s stance is to let them announce their new homes before they’re officially taken off.
There will also be a few players that end up taking the new coach retirement package. Rhule would not share who any of those players were at this point.
-Sean Callahan
As Sipple sees (and hears) it
***Count Frank Solich among those who have been impressed by Matt Rhule’s ability as a public speaker.
A head coach being able to hold a room must mean something, right?
“I think so,” Frank told HuskerOnline. “It all adds up. If your personality is such that you don’t come off very well to young players and their families and people who support the program, then you have a little bit more of an uphill battle going for you.”
Solich, 78, was a head coach for 39 seasons, including stints at Omaha Holy Name (1966-67) and Lincoln Southeast (1968-78).
He stood the test of time. Enjoyed his share of success.
Hell, he was 58-19 (.753) at Nebraska.
I listen to guys like Frank.
***Michigan, Nebraska’s opponent Sept. 30 in Lincoln, is loaded up in its interior defensive line.
No questions there.
“It’s really about the pass rushers,” says Chris Balas, senior editor of TheWolverine.com. “They think Ernest Hausmann coming in is going to bolster the linebacker corps. He had a great spring here – not to rub salt in the wound, right?”
We’re going to see it more and more in college football. If a true freshman shines, he can become exceptionally marketable as other teams try to “buy” him with NIL money. The new team will then have a proven college player for three or four more years.
Michigan has stringent academic standards, which limit its transfer pool to a certain degree. But grades were no issue for Hausmann.
“He looks like a great fit and will play a lot,” Balas.
Michigan needed depth at linebacker, and Hausmann has proven himself.
“What a luxury to get a kid like that,” Balas said.
OK, I’ll stop. He’s from Columbus. But, yeah, I’ll stop right now.
***Brian Howell, the Colorado football beat writer for the Boulder Daily Camera, envisions an electric atmosphere Sept. 9 at Folsom Field.
C’mon, it’s going to be wild. We all know it.
This just in: Colorado football fans despise Nebraska.
They apparently have some new fuel.
“They’ve heard that stuff that Rhule has said, and they jumped all over it,” Howell said. “He has said some things that they perceive as being targets at Deion (Sanders).”
Exhibit A: Rhule last month discussed his transfer portal approach with Nebraska reporters.
“I hear other schools talking about they cannot wait for the day the transfer portal (opens),” Rhule said. “They cannot wait…I cannot wait to coach my guys. I am not thinking about anyone else other than the team that is out here.”
Two days before Rhule’s comments, the Colorado football Twitter account posted a quote from Sanders directed toward prospects entering the portal following spring football.
“The transfer portal is open, and you know Coach Prime ain’t hard to find.”
It’s all kind of silly, but kind of fun.
***See you in Boulder?
“As much as CU wants to avoid this, a third of the stadium is going to be Nebraska fans,” Howell said. “That’s always the case. CU isn’t going to keep Nebraska fans out of it.”
***In his speech for the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce last week, Rhule noted he’s temporarily living in the Haymarket area before his family moves to town this summer.
He’s out and about, including stops at The Mill coffee house.
“I’m walking down the street, walking to The Mill, to get my cup of coffee at 6:59 a.m. … and I’ll have someone stop me and say, ‘Drinking the Rhule-Aid, a little bit at a time!’”
He paused.
“I mean, what’s that mean?” he said with a smile.
“Or I’ll have people say, ‘We’re winning the offseason again,’” Rhule said.
“Winning the offseason” is a common refrain of Nebraska football cynics, and I’m right there with them.
Rhule, though, has his own thoughts on it.
“For as long as I’m here, I want us to win every single day,” he said.
He wants his players to represent themselves and the program well in every setting, year-round.
“Culture comes way before the winning!” the coach said.
Good stuff.
***As we reported last week, Nebraska has added a second walk-on fullback transfer from Omaha Skutt. Notre Dame’s Barret Liebentritt joins Wyoming’s Caden Becker as the second former Skyhawk to transfer to NU this month as a fullback/tight end/h-back.
Both Liebentritt and Becker have trained in Lincoln with Chris Slatt, who trains a bevy of high-profile athletes near Roca, Nebraska.
“They both called me and were like, ‘Hey, what’s the temperature (at Nebraska)?’” Slatt said. “I told them I’m hearing amazing things. They said they were looking to come back home.”
Slatt feels Rhule is giving walk-ons a legit chance. Of course, Rhule walked on at Penn State. He understands a walk-on’s plight.
“The energy’s up,” Slatt said. “I mean, Ashton Hausmann got an amazing look. You know, Cooper Hausmann gets moved from quarterback to slot receiver, and he’s getting an amazing look.
“He got Brandon Reilly’s walk-on jersey number (87), which is an honor in itself.”
***By the way, Liebentritt already has been training with Slatt in recent days.
“He’s coming off a broken fibula/tibia,” Slatt said. “Right now, the strength’s there. We’re just getting the balance, stability, and activation back.
“He looks great.”
-Steven Sipple
Munson’s Musings
***It’s been a bit of a bummer of a week with Dylan Raiola coming off the board and committing to UGA. Like most of you, I felt good about Nebraska’s chances with Raiola. In the end, it just never seemed to add up. Being a Nebraska legacy didn’t seem like enough to matter, either.
I took some flack about it when I said back in December or January that I felt like Nebraska was running second, if not third, for Raiola. As I stated in Three & Out, there was a time for Nebraska when Raiola visited Lincoln a couple of times earlier in the year, and things were looking good. I looked forward to my heaping helping of crow.
In the end – and this doesn’t just go for Raiola – it’s going to be extremely difficult for Nebraska to convince some of the top-rated visitors to come to commit without some noticeable gains on the field and in the win column. No. 1 players at their position and four or five-star players don’t go to four-win teams. They don’t need to.
***So where does that leave Nebraska? As you can see how June is coming together for official visitors, the Huskers are still in a very good spot. I would think that NU hosts Brandon Baker and others this fall for a game. Landing that caliber of a player will be borderline impossible unless the turnaround this year is dramatic.
Still, you must host those players to get those players. Rhule and his staff can recruit. I have zero doubt about that. They have put a ton of energy into that in such a short amount of time after coming to Lincoln. Once the product on the field looks like it’s turned a corner, that is when the big recruiting wins will start happening.
***Speaking of big wins in recruiting, this might be as black helicopter/dark sunglasses/conspiracy theory as I get. But has anyone else noticed that when Nebraska is trending in an area, it seems like something happens that ultimately dampens the mood?
The latest example of this was Stone Saunders. Following the commitment of Raiola to Georgia, Saunders made a positive tweet for Nebraska. Just days later, Iowa offers. Now, I am not saying that Saunders is Iowa City bound. But the timing is weird, and it’s at least something that I caught.
I mentioned on “After Hours” on 1620 The Zone that what is happening with Saunders is a little strange. I like his film. He can make all of the throws. He lacks ideal size, but look at some of the QBs taken in the first round of the NFL Draft this year. What’s strange to me is the interest from Penn State.
I am trying to figure out what to make of it and how much attention I should be paying to it too. One popular theory a year ago was that PSU had stopped recruiting Cameron Lenhardt because he was too much of a tweener. In the spring game, we all saw that fans should be excited about Lenhardt’s talent and potential.
***I outlined several new offers to 2024 players on Monday and Tuesday in Three & Out. On Wednesday and Thursday, the number of public announcements for new offers for Nebraska could be counted on one hand. One of the latest offers this week was 2024 wide receiver recruit Reece Vander Zee.
Vander Zee, a two-way athlete, holds offers and has set official visits to Iowa and Iowa State. When I asked him if Ed Foley mentioned anything about taking a visit to Nebraska, I didn’t expect his response. He said Foley mentioned coming to camp at NU this summer.
Camp? For an offer guy who already has other D1 offers? Not sure what to make of that, but if Reece is a priority target for Nebraska, it should reconnect soon and try to get him on an official visit. He wasn’t sure if he would make it to Lincoln, which may be based on how he’s been approached.
***We keep adding more and more players to the official visitor list, and I am close to adding more. Honestly, the past four weeks or so have done Nebraska some good to reset recruiting. There are a lot of new names we didn’t talk about in March or April that are now visiting in June.
What is becoming very clear with every new visitor is that there will be a substantial number of players from Texas in the 2024 class. Six of the confirmed 14 official visitors so far are from The Lone Star State. It’s easy to increase that number by adding Ian Flynt, Gibson Pyle, and Roger Gradney. By the way, Flynt and Gradney are taking their official visits on June 23.
***There was an interesting report that came out on Brian Robinson. He was in Lincoln for the spring game weekend and had a great time on his visit. Robinson was a name we didn’t know about as early as some others and didn’t get as much coverage. It seemed to be a recruit that Nebraska would get a chance to host again.
The report (here) didn’t mention anything about Nebraska. It also said that Robinson was getting closer to a decision. I caught up with Robinson this week to see if the door was closed to NU, and he said he planned to visit Lincoln. No date is set yet, and he isn’t sure when he will get to campus again. He has official visits scheduled for each of the weekends in June already.
-Bryan Munson
Washut’s Nebrasketball news & notes
***The college basketball recruiting calendar entered a dead period on Wednesday that runs until May 26. That means things will likely remain quiet on any further roster additions for Nebraska for a bit longer.
With two available scholarships remaining for the 2023-24 season, the only legitimate target currently on the board for the Huskers is Western Reserve (Ohio) Academy forward Eemeli Yalaho.
The native of Finland officially visited NU last weekend but then immediately took a second visit to Texas Tech.
It seemed like momentum was trending toward the Red Raiders coming out of the weekend. Much of that was because TTU could offer significantly more immediate playing time than Nebraska.
Yalaho is reportedly set to announce his commitment today. My gut still says he ends up at Tech, but I’d probably put it at 55/45 odds between the Red Raiders and NU.
***Wednesday marked the end of the 2023 Division I regular signing period. High school prospects – like Yalaho – can still commit outside of the signing periods, but they would do so without a valid National Letter of Intent.
That doesn’t really matter much these days, though. Other types of binding paperwork can essentially accomplish the same thing as a traditional NLI.
***Keisei Tominaga still has until midnight of June 1 to officially pull his name out of the 2023 NBA Draft pool. As far as I’m concerned, though, that’s all pretty much a moot point.
He wasn’t invited to the NBA Draft Combine or the G-League Elite Camp. He has a couple of NBA workouts set for next week, but I’m still unsure which teams.
In short, I continue operating as if Tominaga will be back at Nebraska next season. I think the Huskers are as well.
***Speaking of Tominaga, one of Fred Hoiberg’s comments caught some attention during his radio show this week. He said fans wouldn’t even recognize Tominaga after his gains through new offseason strength and nutrition programs.
I just spotted Tominaga grabbing some lunch in downtown Lincoln on Tuesday. Honestly, he looked about the same as the last time I saw him, but he did have a new haircut.
***It sounds like Tominaga will not be with the Huskers during their foreign tour to Spain this summer.
That’s because he will likely be representing his country with the Japanese national team at the 2023 FIBA World Cup. The event runs from Aug. 25-Sept. 10 and will be held in Japan, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
Tominaga will return to Japan during the first week of June when national team tryouts and practices begin.
***I also think there’s a chance that New Mexico transfer Josiah Allick won’t play in Nebraska’s games in Spain. If nothing else, he’ll be limited in how much he can participate.
Allick had ankle surgery this offseason. He’s expressed confidence that he would be recovered in time to be full-go for Spain, but I get the sense that the staff won’t rush him back for a handful of exhibitions.
Allick is a veteran guy, and NU knows what he can do on the court. He’ll still go and experience the equally valuable team bonding during the trip. I just expect we won’t see much of him in the three games out there.
***Hoiberg gave a positive update on Juwan Gary’s recovery from shoulder surgery. But while Gary remains “right on track” to be ready for the start of the season, I wouldn’t be surprised if he, too, was limited or held out of the games in Spain.
The Huskers don’t want to take any unnecessary risks in exhibitions with veteran guys like Allick and Gary. Final decisions on those guys won’t come for another month or two, so we’ll see if anything changes on that.
***Hoiberg also recapped Nebraska’s offseason additions so far and had some interesting notes on his newest players.
On Bradley transfer big man Rienk Mast, Hoiberg called him “one of the best rebounders in the portal,” a priority trait NU was looking for this cycle.
Hoiberg added that Mast was a “tough defender” and praised his offensive versatility. At 6-foot-9, 240 pounds, Mast has many similarities to Derrick Walker while being a much better 3-point shooter.
***On Allick, Hoiberg said the former Lincoln North Star standout brought a “high skill level” on both ends and could play the four or the five. An emphasis for Allick this offseason will be improving his perimeter shot to get more “fluidity” and “rhythm” in his technique.
***What excited Hoiberg the most about his two frontcourt additions were the effort and toughness both brought to the table. He said that duo, along with Gary, could “punish” teams on the glass this season.
***Hoiberg said there was a real possibility that Nebraska could use a big lineup with Gary at the three, Allick and the four, and Mast at the five.
***On Brice Williams, Hoiberg said people he knew in the NBA had told him that the Charlotte transfer was “a hidden gem.” Hoiberg thinks Williams will be a plus addition as a shooter, rebounder, and defender.
***Lastly, Hoiberg said he was banking on Iowa transfer point guard Ahron Ulis thriving in Nebraska’s system. The hope is that Ulis can become more of an on-ball playmaker in NU’s five-out scheme, where he was a bit limited in Iowa’s motion offense.
***Nebraska’s lone 2023 fall signee, IMG (Florida) Academy wing Eli Rice, might not get talked about as much as the transfers. But Hoiberg made it clear he was very high on the three-star prospect’s length and versatility.
“I’m really, really excited about Eli.”
***I get the sense that this will be a very important summer for Ramel Lloyd Jr.
Lloyd made the most of his first year in Lincoln as a key member of Nebraska’s scout team. But beginning in June, he’ll finally get to work with the “varsity” squad and push for a role in the rotation.
I’ve heard mixed reviews about the former Sierra Canyon (California) so far. I’ll be very curious about where he stands in the backcourt pecking order following the Spain trip.
***If, for some reason, Nebraska does not fill both of its two remaining scholarships, there’s a good chance it will keep a spot (or two) open going into the season.
Having an available scholarship is valuable. It allows you to go after a potential high-level mid-year transfer (like Isaac Copeland) or lock in a mid-year high school enrollee that moves up a class (like Denim Dawson).
It also allows you to award a walk-on with a scholarship for a semester or an entire season (like Charlie Easley). I’d think Sam Hoiberg would be the first choice in that scenario.
I’ve heard he’s ahead of fellow walk-on Cale Jacobson in the rotation right now, and he definitely earned that right with his play last season.
-Robin Washut
Abby’s assists
***Nebraska’s 2023 Big Ten schedule has not been released yet. It will likely happen in July. However, the Huskers’ non-conference slate is available.
Head coach John Cook and Nebraska did a nice job of building up their schedule to get progressively tougher.
Here’s the current 2023 non-conference schedule:
DateOpponentLocationAug. 25-27Tournament with Utah State, Lipscomb and SMUBob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, Neb.Aug. 30 (Volleyball Day in Nebraska)Omaha at 7:00 p.m.Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb.Sept. 3Kansas StateMorgan Family Arena in Manhattan, Kan.Sept. 6CreightonBob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, Neb.Sept. 9Long Beach StateBob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, Neb.Sept. 12-14StanfordStanford Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Cali.Sept. 17KentuckyBob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, Neb.
Nebraska starts off with Utah State, Lipscomb, and SMU in the Ameritas Players Challenge from Aug. 25-27.
Utah State made the 2022 NCAA Tournament by winning the Mountain West Tournament. SMU finished 22-10, and Lipscomb went 14-13 in 2022.
Creighton, Stanford, and Kentucky all went to the 2022 NCAA tournament as well. Stanford advanced the furthest, losing to San Diego in the Elite Eight. Kentucky also fell to the Toreros in the Sweet Sixteen.
The Huskers will be one of the first teams to play in Kansas State’s brand-new Morgan Family Arena.
Nebraska will host former assistant coach Tyler Hildebrand and Long Beach State for the second time. They were swept by the Huskers last season but finished 19-9 overall and 14-6 in the Big West. They finished third in the conference in Hildebrand’s first year as head coach.
Stanford came to Lincoln last season and beat Nebraska 3-1. The Huskers bounced back with a sweep over Kentucky in Lexington. These two rematches will be critical for the development of NU’s young team.
In college volleyball, it has become very important to play tough non-conference matches and also win early. Nebraska will have a challenge but will definitely learn a lot about their team before Big Ten play.
***Former Husker volleyball player Kelsey Robinson and Imoco Volleyball took down Jordan Larson, 3-1.
Larson posted on Instagram saying thank you and goodbye to Vero volleyball. Next, the outside hitter is headed back to the US Women’s National Team.
***Club volleyball has finally wrapped up, and several future Huskers and Nebraska teams did very well.
2024 libero commit Olivia Mauch and Premier Nebraska 18 Gold were the 2023 18 Open National Championship runner-ups. Mauch was named an 18U second-team All-American by PrepVolleyball.com. Her teammate, Louisville commit Alanna Bankston, and Purdue commit Grace Heaney, also made the second team.
Premier Nebraska 18 Gold finished No. 21 in the nation. VCNebraska 18 Elite came in at No. 76, and Nebraska Elite 181 finished at No. 93 in PrepVolleyball.com’s 18’s Top 100 Club Teams.
***2024 Nebraska middle blocker commit Ayden Ames was selected for the Under Armour All-America Game in Orlando after an UANext camp in Dallas. She joins outside hitter commit Skyler Pierce, who was invited in April after the Kansas City camp.
All five 2023 Husker commits played in the Under Armour All-America Game last season.
-Abby Barmore
The post Exclusive Tunnel Talk: 5/19/2023 appeared first on On3.
