Creighton Prep standout Sam Sledge commits to Huskers | Recruiting

Three decades ago, Bob Sledge paved the way for Nebraska’s running backs as a guard and played himself into not only All-Big Eight honors, but eventually a spot in the NU football hall of fame.

Now, his son will play football for the Huskers, too.

Nebraska on Sunday landed a verbal commitment from Sam Sledge, a Class of 2023 offensive lineman who is headed into his senior year at Creighton Prep.

Sledge, listed at 6-foot-4 and 270 pounds, first picked up a scholarship offer from NU on Jan. 22 after he attended a junior day in Lincoln, and his college decision did not take long after that.

Sledge’s recruitment really started to pick up steam over the summer after the year-plus NCAA recruiting dead period ended. He did a whirlwind tour of camps, including some quality time in Memorial Stadium, and came out of June with an offer from Miami (Ohio). Then, he put together a strong junior season, helping Creighton Prep rush for more than 220 yards per game and picking up first-team Super State honors on the offensive line from the Journal Star for his work.

“As a player, he’s really athletic,” Creighton Prep coach Tim Johnk said. “He’s a multi-sport athlete, has been his whole life. I think all of that has helped him develop into a really good athlete as a big kid. He’s got great feet, really good hands. He was a tight end for us as a freshman and was actually a quarterback through eighth grade. He can throw the ball a mile and his rotation is like if he was a highly trained quarterback. He’s just naturally gifted athletically.

“You put that into a big body, 6-4 and 270 pounds, and now you’ve got a pretty special athlete.” 

Sledge picked up an offer from Kansas in addition to Nebraska in January and would likely have seen his recruitment continue to develop, particularly among schools in the region, had he decided to extend it further into the year.

“He’ll be an interior guy and everybody that comes through loves him at center, just because of his athletic ability,” Johnk said. “(Iowa head coach) Kirk Ferentz was in (in late January) ago and he compared him to — and they haven’t offered him, but I felt when they left that they were very close and that they will at some point here — they compared Sam to (All-American center Tyler) Linderbaum coming out of high school, but that Sam is an inch or two taller. Athletically, they said Sam reminds us a lot of him when he was a junior/senior in high school.” 

Instead, he is the fourth member of NU’s growing 2023 class and the third from within the state’s border. He joins Lincoln Southeast offensive lineman Gunnar Gottula, Pierce tight end Benjamin Brahmer and Miami defensive back Dwight Bootle II as the early pledges in the class for head coach Scott Frost and company.

The three in-state commitments in 2023 already matches the total the Huskers ended up with in 2022 in athlete Gage Stenger and linebackers Jake Appleget and Ernest Hausmann.

If Nebraska gets its way, though, Sledge will be far from the last. NU also has offers out to Lincoln East athlete Malachi Coleman and Elkhorn South edge defender Maverick Noonan and has in recent cycles extended more in-state offers as senior seasons approach and then unfold.