Dawson Merritt to choose between Nebraska, Alabama

The Nebraska football team is inching closer to landing one of its top 2025 defensive targets.

Blue Valley (Kansas) Northwest linebacker Dawson Merritt, who officially visited Nebraska’s Spring Game last month, has narrowed his list of schools from four to two — and the Huskers made the cut. A four-star recruit who is the nation’s eighth-best linebacker prospect according to 247Sports, Merritt eliminated Missouri and Oklahoma from contention for his commitment.

The defender is now down to Nebraska and Alabama as his final two options.

The Husker coaching staff has heavily pursued Merritt, a Midwestern prospect who hails from the Kansas City area, since extending a scholarship offer last November. Head coach Matt Rhule and linebackers coach Rob Dvoracek, NU’s lead recruiter in the area, visited Merritt at his high school in January.

A large contingent of Nebraska coaches, including Dvoracek and defensive coordinator Tony White, visited Merritt on Thursday.

Merritt visited Lincoln twice this spring as he pushed up a planned June official visit into late April. There’s now only one more visit for the four-star linebacker to take — Merritt has scheduled a June 7 official visit with Alabama.

A decision should follow later this summer with Nebraska in a strong position to potentially land the impactful defensive recruit.

* Coaches on the road: The Nebraska coaching staff continued making recruiting visits this week during the second-to-last week of an open recruiting period which runs through May 25.

On Monday, co-offensive coordinators Marcus Satterfield and Glenn Thomas and offensive line coach Donovan Raiola visited American Fork (Utah) Lone Peak tight end Bear Tenney less than three weeks after Tenney committed to Nebraska. While there, Raiola extended an offer to Bott Mulitalo, a four-star 2026 defensive line recruit.

All three coaches were joined by running backs coach EJ Barthel and wide receivers coach Garret McGuire on Wednesday for a visit to San Antonio Alamo Heights athlete Michael Terry. Nebraska’s decision to send its entire offensive coaching staff is indicative of Terry’s status as a five-star athlete who could play a variety of offensive positions.

Terry, who officially visited Nebraska in late April, wore a large knee brace on his right leg in a photo he posted to social media of him and the NU coaching staff. Later, Terry clarified that he’d not been severely injured — he’d just received platelet-rich plasma therapy, a form of treatment that addresses inflamed tendons.

* Texas recruiting work: In addition to those visits, much of Nebraska’s recruiting work this week has come in Texas. NU has had a consistent presence in the state ever since Rhule was hired — and the Huskers continue to target high-level prospects from the Lone Star state.

McGuire, who handles most of Nebraska’s offensive-centered recruiting in the state, offered a trio of 2026 wide receiver prospects in recent days. San Antonio Madison wide receiver Jordan Clay, Cypress Cy Springs athlete Paris Melvin Jr. and Pearland Shadow Creek wide receiver Chris Stewart all reported earning Nebraska scholarship offers.

Melvin and Clay are four-star recruits, with Melvin also having the potential to play defensive back in college. Stewart is not yet ranked by several recruiting services, but that will change soon — Colorado, Michigan and USC also offered Stewart within the last week.

Elsewhere in Texas, defensive line coach Terrance Knighton continued his efforts in recruiting the Houston area with some help from Dvoracek.

They had a busy Tuesday extending offers to players such as Houston Mayde Creek linebacker Kosi Okpala, a fast-rising 2026 prospect. Port Arthur Memorial cornerback Brock King and Houston North Shore cornerback Chace Calicut, a 6-foot-3, 190-pound recruit, also received Nebraska offers.

Knighton also offered Houston Mayde Creek wide receiver Chad Nelson, a 2027 prospect who put together a strong freshman season at the varsity level. The scholarship offer was Nelson’s first.

* Other new offers: At this point in the 2025 recruiting cycle, Nebraska has already evaluated and offered most of the prospects it intends to target. That won’t stop the Huskers from seeking late bloomers or under-the-radar recruits, though.

NU’s newest potential 2025 target, Santa Margarita (California) Catholic defensive lineman JJ Hanne, fits that mold. A 6-5, 280-pound recruit who is ranked as a three-star prospect, Hanne only began playing football recently after moving from Germany. Hanne has less than a dozen offers with Arizona, Texas A&M and Utah following NU’s lead by extending an offer.

Nebraska’s quarterbacks coach, Thomas, has also offered a new 2026 quarterback prospect in Draper (Utah) Corner Canyon’s Helaman Casuga. A four-star prospect with several years of varsity experience, Casuga is being pursued by several programs on the West Coast.

Having recently landed its 2025 quarterback commit in TJ Lateef, Nebraska can turn its attention at the position to 2026. Evaluating its options will take time — Thomas offered Cartersville (Georgia) Cass quarterback Brodie McWhorter last week and NU has several other high-level prospects on its radar. That includes legacy recruits Dayton Raiola and Case Vanden Bosch.

* 2025 recruit back in play: Nebraska briefly had to cross Phoenix Mountain Pointe defensive back Rylon Dillard-Allen’s name off its 2025 recruiting board — but Dillard-Allen might now be back in play for the Huskers.

Dillard-Allen had planned to officially visit Lincoln for Nebraska’s Spring Game but instead announced his commitment to in-state school Arizona State on April 22. Dillard-Allen’s plans changed again on Wednesday when he reopened his recruitment three-plus weeks later.

It’s possible that Dillard-Allen ends up at Texas A&M, where he’s scheduled a June official visit, while Nebraska may continue recruiting the three-star safety prospect as well.