Three & Out: important visitors this week for Nebraska, was it really controversial, and a stab on who will be the next commitment
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, it’s a huge week for visitors this week in Lincoln, why Rhule’s controversial recruiting comment makes a ton of sense, and there are some big benefits to Belichick speaking in Nebraska. Here is your Three & Out:
Important visitors in Lincoln this week
This is a crescendo. Recruiting is ramping up, the quantities of players coming in on a daily to weekly basis, is increasing. This has to be music to the recruitnik’s ears.
The Huskers will host four players who could be at the top of the list at their respective positions on Nebraska’s Big Board. That’s the good news. The better news? Nebraska has return visits scheduled with three of those players for official visits in the coming weeks.
And to not get lost in the noise, Nebraska has some very important 2026 and 2027 players visiting this week as well. Here is the list:
2025
Adonyss Currie told Chad Simmons at the UnderArmour camp in Los Angeles that he felt like Nebraska was making him a priority. The Huskers hosted Currie on Tuesday and will be back for the spring game on April 26th. There is some tough competition for the Huskers to land the No. 4 cornerback in the nation.
Similar to Currie, John Mills was in Lincoln on Monday and Tuesday. Mills has felt like Nebraska is making him a priority too. He will also return to Lincoln in two weeks for the spring game. Mills is the No. 23 IOL in the country.
Nebraska will get a chance to host the No. 4 Edge in the country when Chad Woodfork visits on Friday. The competition is steep for Woodfork, no question about it, but the Huskers’ game with recruits in Lincoln this spring is on point.
The Huskers welcome Dawson Merritt back to town this Saturday for their scrimmage. Merritt is the No. 8-rated linebacker in the country, and the Huskers will get another chance to host him in mid-June for an official visit. There is a lot of interest in Merritt, including some new love from Alabama recently.
2026
Brock Boyd is big-time. Boyd is the No. 185 player and the No. 21 in the nation. Coach McGuire is doing a great job with Boyd after a solid sophomore season for the Dragons.
2027
Kylonn Haynie picked up an offer from Nebraska last week and visited Lincoln twice that week. What a great sign for the Huskers. Haynie is back in Lincoln for the third time in eight days. I imagine he will consistently visit the Huskers this spring and beyond.
I mentioned in Tunnel Talk on Friday that I liked the offer to Haynie not only because of the player that Haynie is but also because it gives more reasons for other players from Omaha Central to come to Lincoln. Haynie was back in Lincoln on Monday and brought Tory Pittman with him. This was only Pittman’s second time (that we know of!) visiting Nebraska.
These are just the visitors that on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning that we know about. I am sure that there will be others which we will add throughout the week. Don’t know how to find visitor information? Here are the links:
Controversial comment by Rhule makes a lot of sense
For the last week, I have chatted with over ten recruits. I have been interested in how Nebraska and Matt Rhule take what they have learned over their first 16 months or so and improve on it.
The improvements don’t have to be something shiny new. It seems that Nebraska realizes they have some great things going for them, and recruits can appreciate it more at practice than they ever could on a gameday visit.
Multiple visitors over the past week have mentioned Nebraska’s practice format. The Huskers have three groups of offense and defense going at all times, maximizing the time for the entire roster during every practice. There is a chance to compete and shine.
Additionally, all the recruits can watch their position closely and listen to how the Nebraska assistant coaches teach and work with the players in their room. There are no more valuable ways to see and hear how things will be as a player than to have that view into position group breakouts.
I Will Be At The University of Nebraska spring practice tomorrow !! #GBR @CoachEJbarthel @s_kwilli32 @SWiltfong247 @ChadSimmons_ @adamgorney @AllenTrieu @GregSmithRivals @On3sports @RitterPrep @BrennanSpain pic.twitter.com/d1g2pVxLTA
— Jamarion Parker (@JAMARIONPARKER_) April 4, 2024
Why is it valuable? I am reminded of what Jamarion Parker said last week. The former Arkansas commitment thought that Nebraska had talent in the running back room, but what he was also able to do was see there wasn’t someone like him on the field.
That is a way to sell!
The other obvious reason why it is more valuable to bring a recruit in for practice rather than a game is that there is more time to meet and talk to the recruits and show them around. Too often, I heard recruits during gameday visits say that they didn’t see any facilities and didn’t talk to any coaches.
In fairness, this was really more pre-Rhule. Rhule and his staff haven’t missed the mark of recognizing that a recruit is in Lincoln not just to see a game but to take a look around and meet some people. But even though it hasn’t been missed, it’s just tough to do, and it’s always in a limited setting. There are a lot of things going on before and after games that have the coaches’ attention.
So was it a controversial take? At face value it probably was. But the moment I heard him say those words it made complete sense to me.
So who will be the next commitment?
Who will be the next commitment? This has been a good question for the past six months or so. There hasn’t been a great answer, and it’s great when there is. For the first time, in a while, I think that I am getting more comfortable to let a name fly who I think could be the next commitment.
It would make a lot of sense if Jackson Carpenter joined the class very soon. I have felt good about Carpenter joining the class for a while now, but I have doubted it a time or two. Kansas was very much in the picture for him. He had a connection with the Jayhawks staff that I didn’t feel he did at Nebraska.
But as time goes, things change. Carpenter has been back to Nebraska this spring after only visiting Nebraska and Kansas earlier in January. He also has two more planned visits coming to Nebraska in the coming weeks with an unofficial visit for the spring game and an official visit for the big weekend on June 21st.
The spring also hasn’t gone the way that Carpenter originally planned. After a solid track season last year, during which we improved his 100m time over a tenth of a second, he ran a 10.68 PR last week, then strained his hamstring in a following relay. The setback got Carpenter thinking about what’s most important to him, and he hung up his spikes to get ready for his senior year.
This is just me reading the tea leaves here. It’s been challenging, if not impossible, to go back to the offer list and underline a name that could be the next Nebraska commitment before last week with reasonable certainty. But I finally feel like that time is here. Things are trending towards Nebraska keeping a legacy home and landing Carpenter soon.
Junior Season Highlights
C/O 2025
6’2 WR/FS
#11@LSWHawkFB
— Jackson Carpenter (@Jcarpenter06_) October 27, 2023
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