Frost explains why the Huskers want to build ’22 recruiting class around ‘impact’ transfers and fewer freshmen | Recruiting

Nebraska’s coaching staff will take some of the bye week to get out on the road and recruit for the first time in a long time.

In fact, it’s essentially been since the 2020 recruiting cycle ended in February that college coaches were allowed to get out and see high school players play live and visit schools and families.

“That’s been tough. Particularly being in Nebraska and not being able to get out,” coach Scott Frost said Wednesday. “Our coaches haven’t been able to get out in, you said 600 days? 620 days? It’s been a long time. It’s just unfortunate.”

This year is shaping up to be different from most classes for Nebraska. The Huskers, like a lot of schools, are planning on taking a smaller number of high school prospects this year. That’s in part because the NCAA granted an extra year of eligibility for all athletes, and schools, Nebraska included, don’t know exactly how many spots they’ll have available.

The Huskers, for example, have only eight scholarship seniors that they know for sure won’t be back next year. Even factoring in five to seven more departures — whether to the NFL or to the transfer portal — only gets the class to 13-15. Then, there’s another reason why Frost and company are thinking about a smaller high school class for 2022.

“This recruiting class, we’re going to focus on maybe some immediate impact guys a little more. Probably not sign as many freshmen,” he said. “When you’re as close as we’ve been, one or two more pieces, one or two more guys, can get you over the hump. We’re probably going to look to the transfer portal a little more, look to junior college a little more and focus on those things to make sure we replace a couple guys we might be losing and try to add just a couple more of the pieces I think we need.”