Head coach Matt Rhule and offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield have consistently spoken of building a positionless offense at Nebraska. Rhule has often talked of wanting to be the college version of the San Francisco 49ers. It’s not a surprise San Francisco is the template he’d like to mirror if that’s the ultimate vision of the offense.
Not only do the 49ers feature versatile, do-it-all playmakers like first-team All-Pros Deebo Samuel, Christian McCaffrey and Kyle Juszczyk, they also have one of the best tight ends in the NFL in George Kittle – also first-team All-Pro – and Brandon Aiyuk, one of the best young receivers in the league as well.
Kyle Shanahan is one of the brightest offensive minds in all of football. He’s great at maximizing personnel and manipulating formations. There’s a reason more and more teams are adopting his outside zone scheme.
The 49ers are the most versatile offense in the NFL. This season they were No. 3 in the NFL in scoring and No. 2 in total offense. They were the leagues 3rd best rushing team and finished 4th in passing offense.
The hope at Nebraska is that quarterback Dylan Raiola’s arm talent can be the catalyst that finally allows Husker coaches to implement the offense they’ve wanted to run all along. If a positionless offense is to become a reality, they’re going to need to continue to recruit skill position guys that fit that mold to put around him.
They may have landed the poster boy for such an offense with Ainsworth super-athlete Carter Nelson.
Nelson was first offered by the previous staff as a sophomore on May 11, 2022. It was his second offer – following Iowa State by roughly a month – but he would soon become a priority.
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Thanks to an eye-popping track season that spring, soon every elite program in the region would come through with an offer. Before long, he would go from a midlevel three-star recruit mostly known around the Midwest to one of the nation’s top tight ends fielding interest from national powerhouses.
An elite three-sport athlete, Nelson has a strong argument for being the best all-around athlete in the entire 2024 class nationally. He initially thought basketball was his future. Nelson averaged 12.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game as a junior and led his state’s classification in blocks, earning honorable-mention all-state recognition.
He was even more impressive competing in multiple events in track and field. In fact, the first recruiting attention he received was for his exploits in the sport.
As a sophomore, Nelson tied a 30-year-old state record with a personal-best 7-foot high jump – one of the best marks in the country. He also has PRs of 11.05 (100m), 22.66 (200m), 52′ 3.5″ (shot put), 175′ (discus), 14′ 1″ (pole vault) and 20′ 8.75″ (long jump). He also runs on the 4×100 and 4×400 relays. Keep in mind, most of these marks were set as a sophomore. He was dealing with an ankle injury during track season as a junior. He wasn’t 100% and couldn’t participate in some events. Otherwise he’d have improved on most of those numbers.
Even so, those are rare track numbers for someone who’s 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds. His off-the-charts athleticism is what initially put him on coaches radars around the country.
The attention he received is rarefied air for someone who plays eight-man football. So much so, that he was the first eight-man player Alabama’s Nick Saban ever evaluated.
Last spring, Ainsworth, a tiny no-stoplight town of roughly 1,600 became a destination for some of college football’s best teams during the evaluation period.
Its a hard-to-reach location that essentially takes an entire day to maneuver. For coaches who like to maximize their time, it meant a lot to Nelson when schools like Georgia, Notre Dame, Penn State, Alabama and Michigan made it a priority to see him.
Nelson was an immediate top-of-the-board target for Matt Rhule when he took the Nebraska job. He had Nelson on campus for his first in-state recruiting event on Dec. 4, 2022, and was back in Ainsworth with Marcus Satterfield on Jan. 21 during the contact period.
The staff had Nelson on campus five times during the spring. He came back to watch two spring practices in March and was at the massive March 24-26 junior day weekend, and the Red-White spring game April 22. He made another trip in late May where he spent time with Danny Kaelin.
It wasn’t just a locally themed spring for Nelson, though. He’d spent most of the previous spring and fall touring local campuses like Wisconsin, Kansas State and Iowa State. This past spring he wanted to venture out nationally. He reciprocated efforts to visit the campuses of schools showing him the most attention. He took unofficial visits to Colorado, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Auburn and Ole Miss.
When it was all said and done, Nelson accumulated over 30 scholarship offers coast-to-coast from every Power Five conference, with notable offers from Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Iowa, Miami, Michigan, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M and Wisconsin, among many others.
As he whittled down his options, Nelson zeroed in on Nebraska, Notre Dame, Georgia and Penn State as finalists, with each getting official visits. He saw the Bulldogs (June 2-4), Fighting Irish (June 9-11) and Nittany Lions (June 16-18) before finishing up his run of June visits in Lincoln June 23-25.
Nelson spent the weekend around a big group of Nebraska’s 2024 commits on the trip. Roger Gradney, Dae’vonn Hall, Isaiah McMorris, Keelan Smith, Gibson Pyle, Ian Flynt, Ashton Murphy and Quinn Clark were in town already pledged to the Huskers. Priority target Grant Brix was there too, as was Rex Guthrie, who committed following his visit.
Most important was the presence of Danny Kaelin. He and Carter had forged a strong friendship through the recruiting process and spent time together in the days leading up to their visits. They attended the College World Series in Omaha together on Wednesday, June 21.
I admire the patience and due diligence Carter showed throughout his recruitment. He took over 20 trips as part of his recruiting process.
Coming into his Husker official visit, he was considering heading to Georgia where – ironically enough – Dylan Raiola had done a good job of peer recruiting him since the two had started a friendship during their shared recruitment by Nebraska in the spring. He was also feeling a strong pull towards Notre Dame.
Nelson came into his visit not expecting to commit. The bond he felt with the members of the class, coupled with his close relationship with Rhule changed his mind and altered his timeline.
Location also played a factor. Carter’s family is important to him and having them be able to see him play paid a big part.
On Saturday morning during his visit he made up his mind. He called his parents, Jake and Sandi, and let them know he was ready to commit. He then called Rhule and the two decided he’d break the news in front of the coaches and other recruits in North Stadium.
Carter waited a few days to make the news official publicly, doing so on Wednesday, June 28, during a live announcement from the Ainsworth High School Gym with roughly 150 locals on hand. There was a collective sigh of relief from Husker Nation after Nelson committed. Notre Dame and Georgia were legit contenders.
In fact, Nelson ended up taking an unofficial visit to Notre Dame for their game against USC during Nebraska’s bye week. Rhule made sure to visit his high school Oct. 13 ahead of the visit, just to be sure he was still locked in. He was.
Carter played all over the field for Ainsworth. He lined up as a quarterback, running back, wide receiver and tight end on offense, while playing linebacker and safety on defense. He also handled the kicking and punting duties. Nelson led Ainsworth to its first winning season since 1999 as a junior with a 9-1 record and a state playoff berth, and then repeated the feat as a senior.
He finished his prep career with 1,533 yards and 27 touchdowns passing, 1,979 yards and 33 touchdowns rushing and 2,346 yards and 43 touchdowns receiving on offense. As a defender he collected 201 total tackles and 10 interceptions – returning six for touchdowns.
Nelson earned first-team All-Nebraska recognition from the Omaha World-Herald and first-team Super State honors from the Lincoln Journal Star as a senior, while being named the honorary captain of the Class D-2 all-state team by both publications. He was named second-team All-Nebraska as a junior.
He was a semifinalist for the Maxwell Football Club National Player of the Year and one of six finalists for the All-American Bowl Player of the Year.
Nelson was selected to play in both the All-American Bowl and the Polynesian Bowl. The handful of practices that accompanied the all-star games themselves were the first time Nelson had ever played 11-man football. Despite that, he was singled out for his strong play in both all-star showcases. Even among some of the best players in the country, Nelson’s athleticism stood out.
Carter finished the 2024 cycle as a consensus four-star recruit and is ranked as the No. 41 (On3), No. 49 (247Sports), No. 75 (Rivals), and No. 119 (ESPN) overall player in the country, making him one of the highest-ranked players in the state’s history.
Nelson is the type of player that an offense can be built around. He’s someone with unicorn traits. His combination of size and athleticism at the tight end spot is rare. Generational talent is a term that gets thrown around too much, but Carter legitimately fits that label.
Georgia coaches often compared his skill set to Brock Bowers, and while I would pump the brakes on putting those types of expectations on him, it’s a legit player comp. Former Florida Gator Kyle Pitts is another.
Despite being a supreme athlete, there will be a pretty substantial learning curve for Nelson when he gets to Nebraska. It’s an adjustment making the move from eight-man to 11-man. In 8-man football, the field is smaller – 20 yards shorter and 13 yards narrower. There are also only three offensive linemen and essentially no third level on defense. It’s unfortunate he didn’t enroll early to help him in his transition, but his talent is undeniable.
On top of being a game-changing prospect on offense, Nelson could project as an elite Edge player or thrive at the Jack position in this defense. But his value is too high on offense to use him anywhere else.
He’s the prototype for today’s new-age tight end that are nightmares for defenses to defend. He’s the embodiment of ‘too fast for linebackers, too big for defensive backs.’ I expect Nebraska to use Nelson all over the field. I think you’ll see him line up in-line, in the slot and even in the backfield as an H-back. Matt Rhule talked about using him in short-yardage goal-line situations where he could leap into the endzone like Walter Payton. I don’t think he was joking. He could absolutely be used in those situations.
When Nelson gets comfortable at this level and masters the nuances of the game, he’s going to be a chess piece that will keep defensive coordinators up at night. He oozes potential and has a sky-high ceiling. Nelson could be a special player.
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