Three & Out: Chase Loftin’s rise, finishing up Nebraska’s 2024 recruiting class, and two new 2026 offers to a pair of South Florida recruits
Three & Out is Nebraska On3’s feature in which recruiting analyst Bryan Munson gives his weekly takes on topical issues concerning Nebraska football and recruiting.
In this week’s Three & Out, we discuss Chase Loftin and what is the next national tight-end target from Nebraska, predicting how the class of 2024 will go, and a couple of new offers were recently made to 2026 recruits from the 305. Here is your Three & Out:
Another national TE target from Nebraska
There have been several 2024 storylines in the past several months that we have discussed in Three & Out and several 2025 topics that we just haven’t had the real estate to cover. Maybe one of the most intriguing topics was Elkhorn (Neb.) North tight end Chase Loftin and his rise this summer.
Loftin has a frame that you will notice. On the in-state tour in Omaha, he stood 6-foot-5 and weighed 200 pounds this past February. He may resemble more of an X wide receiver than a Y, but give it some time. Loftin could sit on the depth chart across multiple tight-end spots because of his hands, athleticism, and ability to block.
The summer that was for Loftin started in Norman, Okla. An impressive camp performance earned Loftin an offer from the Sooners. Oklahoma had a pair of big pass catchers on campus that day. The then Texas Tech commitment Ivan Carreon from Odessa (Texas), who flipped to Oklahoma recently, and Loftin.
About a week and a half later, Loftin was in Lincoln for the Friday Night Lights camp. The Huskers worked Loftin out of a two-point and a three-point wanting to see how he could not just catch the football and look at this athleticism but see how Loftin blocked. Head coach Matt Rhule offered Loftin later on the field that night.
Chase’s father played football at Iowa, while his older brother, Brayden Loftin, plays tight end at Kansas State. Chase picked up an offer from Kansas State following camp and went five-for-five on the summer by going to five camps and getting offered by each school:
Oklahoma
Iowa State
Nebraska
Missouri
Kansas State
You can fully expect the offers to keep rolling in for Loftin. He will grow into playing the tight-end position, but his athleticism, size, and body control set him apart as a receiver right now.
The finished product is just some time and effort down the road. Loftin is scratching the surface, and with his best days on the football field ahead, anticipate the offer list to grow for Loftin over the next year and a half.
Mapping out how the rest of the 2024 class may go
It’s been four days since Nebraska picked up their last commitment from Jacory Barney. Cue up the “Sky is falling” gifs.
Nebraska fans should feel good about where things sit with Nebraska recruiting. 23 commits in the current class is good for 5th in the Big Ten team rankings and No. 18 overall nationally.
It’s fair to say that few saw Nebraska being at this quantity of commits at the end of the class. But a few still make sense for Nebraska to add to the class. It gets a little more predictable when we look at pending official visitors and positions of need.
Here is a run through those names and positions that still makes sense for Nebraska to be interested:
Running Back
Offensive Line
Defensive Line
Edge
Linebacker
Defensive Back
Nebraska could push out to 26 or 27 total commitments in the class. What Nebraska adds here, following Barney, will impact how active Nebraska will likely be in the portal come the fall.
The most significant positions of need are offensive tackle, edge, and jack outside linebacker.
There seem to be a few players out of the recruits that I mentioned above that Nebraska won’t turn away. Grant Brix, Jacob Smith, and Caden Durham are some of those names. I think that Nebraska takes any of them regardless of where they get to in the class.
I left out Amare Sanders only because Nebraska would be at eight defensive back commitments in the class. It should cause the staff to pause and think about things, but he would be a take because of his talents, he is another South Florida kid, and Nebraska has some flexibility in the class.
Suppose Nebraska was in a position to take Sanders as a commitment. In that case, it almost certainly cements that some players already on the commitment list will end up playing other spots (but that could be another section of Three & Out).
New 2026 offers out in South Florida
The coaches are taking some time, but some new offers just went out the door to 2026 players. They are worth noting because the staff is working during their time off and because of the recruits’ location: South Florida.
Nebraska has an in for South Florida, and while some will roll their eyes and remember the ins that Scott Frost and his staff had in Florida, on the surface, this feels different.
It all remains to be seen how Nebraska closes, signs, and the recruits fare in Lincoln. But what Nebraska has going in 2024 shows promise, and the staff is interested in adding more players from that area to their roster.
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