Three & Out: Spring Game visitor preview, Nebraska committed to get better up front and inside the numbers for March and April
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 take a look at the visitors that are expected this weekend in Lincoln for the spring game, Nebraska is making a big effort to get better up front on the offensive line, and looking closely at the visitor numbers in March and April with a position breakdown.
Nebraska Spring Game visitor preview
Going into last week there were some serious questions about what the visitor list would look like this week. It’s come together nicely for Nebraska. There are several key returning visitors and a number of first-time visitors. Let’s get into it:
Return Visitors
Comments: It can not be overstated how important it is to get these players back on campus, but you must mention Brandon Baker first. This is the No. 1 OT in the country. It’s hard to think about this, but catching up with him after the junior day last month it was hard not to think about the possibility that four years or so from this week he will be walking across the stage meeting Roger Goodell.
Carter Nelson is back in town after seeing Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Auburn, and other schools. It’s critical to keep Nelson coming back to Lincoln. Willis McGahee IV was planning this trip to visit Nebraska a second time and meet Dylan Raiola. McGahee said it was very compelling to have the No. 1 QB country considering the same school. Raiola is no longer visiting, but McGahee is still visiting.
Getting Gibson Pyle and Ashton Murphy on campus again is critical because of peer recruiting. Pyle is already working recruits on social media. He just needs some help from Murphy, to do it in person and online. Jordan Ochoa gets included here because his first visit to Nebraska was ahead of his first P5 offer. Now, he has one from Washington State. Ochoa is interesting. It’s obviously a position of need. Keep an eye on this one.
First-time Visitors
Comments: If there has been a spot that Nebraska seemed to be light on, outside of interior defensive linemen, it was middle linebacker. The Huskers hosted Tyanthony Smith this past weekend and now a pair of four-star MIKE LBs from California for the spring game. Dylan Williams and Kamar Mothudi are friends despite going to different schools. Mothudi changed his plans from a Thursday visit to the spring game on Saturday (great sign).
Let’s talk Texas. A trio of first-time visitors in town this weekend will be visiting Nebraska. Makai Saina played for current Nebraska tight ends coach Bob Wager last year at Arlington (Texas) Martin and was teammates with 2023 signees Ismael Smith Flores and Jeremiah Charles. Four-star safety Peyton Morgan is long and rangy. He just picked up his 30th offer, which was from USC. Tyler Mercer is interesting. Prosper is becoming an absolute perennial powerhouse in Texas. He has several G5 offers which typically means once the first P5 offer gets there several will follow.
The film on Kahmir Prescott is insane. He has some real feel on the football field, along with great athleticism and speed. Nebraska has been targeting several prospects with amazing top-end speed, and Prescott fits the bill. Pay some attention to Landon Brown here. He just has one offer, but he’s been invited to several top D-I schools for junior day or practice invites. These schools are keeping tabs on him, just like they are with Mercer. It will just take one offer to blow the lid off of him.
Obvious commitment to get better up-front by Nebraska
I applaud the efforts of Nebraska’s recruiting efforts. It’s month five. The No. 1 OT in 2024 is making a return visit to Lincoln. This weekend marks Baker’s second time in a month to see Nebraska. I used to think Baker would be about as tough of a pull as Raiola would be, but the Huskers appeal to the big man from Mater Dei.
But, it goes beyond Baker. Yes, the Huskers have seen some of their targets dip off the board like Gage Ginther and Andrew Sprague. But Nebraska seems to still be very much in it with players like Caleb Pyfrom (still unsure if he will be in Lincoln this weekend, by the way), Kaedin Massey, Grant Brix, Nuku Mafi, Semisi Tonga, Kyle Rakers, and now the Huskers are bringing in Makai Saina and just offered Coen Echols on Tuesday (who was on a visit to Nebraska).
The commitment by Nebraska to get better up front is clear. You might say that it’s that way at other spots though too. Nebraska is being considered by the No. 1 players in the country at quarterback, running back, defensive line, etc. It’s true, but I am going back to years and years of disappointment when it comes to offensive line recruiting.
Nebraska has gotten close. Last year was about as good of a year recruiting offensive line players and the Huskers missed out on what was arguably their top three offensive line targets. Still, it was successful because Nebraska was getting serious about it, going after the best. When you do that, you’re going to get your heart broken. Those players are like gold. And they can only sign with one school.
What I like about this weekend though is Nebraska is not just looking for 2024 offensive line targets but 2025 as well. The Huskers will host one of, if not the best consensus, offensive tackles in the nation in 2025. Douglas Utu from Las Vegas (Nev.) Bishop Gorman (same high school as former Husker Nick Gates) has offers from Georgia, Oregon, Michigan, Tennessee, Colorado, Penn State, and many other schools already.
Nebraska has made quite an impression on Utu leading up to the trip. It will be interesting to see what he’s thinking about after he wraps up his weekend in Lincoln. The 6-foot-5 and 270-pound offensive tackle is making his first known trip this weekend to Nebraska. I would qualify that as an excellent sign for the Huskers.
What I would also qualify as an excellent sign for Nebraska is where they are with some offensive line targets. I can see three to four getting taken, and if Nebraska has four on the hook and someone like Baker decides they want in this December, the Huskers will not turn him away.
Nebraska visitor counts by position – blueprint for 2024
Following the spring game weekend, there will be a need to come up with a view of what the 2024 class will look like. It’s safe to say that most players that will sign as part of the 2024 class for Nebraska have visited already.
The visitors so far will be the names that will come up in June for official visits. They will include the names of players that find other ways to get back to Lincoln during the summer as part of their process to figure things out. And if their timeline doesn’t include committing during the summer, they will be the same names we are talking about that want to see a game in Lincoln this fall.
Here is a breakdown of March/April visits by offered recruits (does include recruits that picked up an offer while on their visit to Nebraska) that will give us a glimpse of how the class could look when it’s all said and done.
PositionPlayers that visited in March/April with Nebraska offersQB (1)Dylan RaiolaRB (1)Nate FrazierWR (3)Gatlin Bair
Ryan Wingo
Isaiah McMorrisTE (4)Carter Nelson
Jaden Reddell
Ian Flynt
Eric IngwersonIOL (7)Gibson Pyle (COMMIT)
Semisi Tonga
Riley Sunram (Committed to Minnesota)
Nuku Mafi
Grant Brix
Kyle Rakers
Makai SainaOT (6)Brandon Baker
Kaedin Massey
Gage Ginther (Committed to Tennessee)
Andrew Sprague (Committed to Michigan)
Caleb Pyfrom
Coen EcholsDL (3)Williams Nwaneri
Ashton Murphy (COMMIT)
Jerod SmithEDGE (2)Jacob Smith
Wyatt GilmoreLB (7)Dylan Williams
Kamar Mathudi
Thomas Heiberger (Committed to Wisconsin)
Elijah Newby
Tyanthony Smith
Willis McGahee IV
Michael BoganowskiS (4)Caleb Benning
Peyton Morgan
Kahmir Prescott
Roger Gradney (COMMIT)CB (1)Mario Buford A total of 39 prospects with offers in the class of 2024 have visit Lincoln in March and April.
The board is obviously light in some spots, but here are some things that I noticed:
Nebraska hosted just one quarterback and one running back. Both recruits were the No. 1 player at their position according to On3. A total of 13 offensive linemen will have visited by the end of April and only three of those players are off the board to other schools.Surprisingly, Nebraska will have hosted seven linebackers. However, there are some inside and outside guys in those two groups on top of the two players considered Edge players.There is at least one in-state player who has an offer from Nebraska that didn’t visit Nebraska in March or April.The total number of visitors at WR and DL is surprisingly light. It will be interesting to see what happens at those spots.Just one player that is classified as a corner by On3 has visited Lincoln in March and April.
Just an interesting look at what Nebraska has cooking right now with the 2024 class. Offers seem to keep trickling out, and I assume there will be more once the evaluation period has started and the Nebraska staff is on the road looking at some more 2024 players with their own eyes.
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