Grand Island Northwest has a Division I prospect in edge rusher Victor Isele. We checked in on him at the In-State Tour.

2022 is the 19th year of the HuskerOnline In-State Tour. Every February since 2004, HuskerOnline profiles the top up-and-coming prospects in the state of Nebraska.

This year our In-State Tour was broken up into two events in Omaha and Lincoln as we profiled all the top prospects in the state.

Our next stop of the 2022 In-State Tour takes us to Grand Island Northwest, where the Vikings are led by talented pass rusher Victor Isele.

2022 In-State Tour: Gretna | Elkhorn South | Omaha North | Elkhorn | Omaha Burke | Scottsbluff | Omaha Westside | Bellevue West | Omaha Central | Creighton Prep | Pierce

Head coach: Kevin Stein

2021 record: 5-5 (First round Class B playoffs)

Season rewind: “2021 was tough for us because we had two ends of the spectrum of competition. Each week was so drastically different in our mindset, in the mindset of 16, 17, 18-year-olds going to the game. They’re not dumb. They know when teams are really, really good, and when the teams are down. It was a challenge to get their minds right, to come out each and every week.” (GI Northwest’s losses were to Bennington, Aurora, Scottsbluff and Waverly twice).

Stein’s take on OLB Victor Isele: “His speed is his ace in the hole that he has. His speed and his quickness, his first step. Then probably the second thing is he has great hands. He’s really, really used those really, really well. Yes, we’re looking at hopefully getting him up to that 235, 240 now that wrestling is over through the off-season, try to get him bulked back up. He’s been doing a good job of probably putting on about 20 to 25 pounds about every year. He’s still going with that.

“We really just push him to a defensive end position, we do have some different packages where we use them on offensively. On offense, he has carried the ball, but we just use him as a blocker. It’s at tight end, but 98 percent of the time he’s on the defensive side. He goes so hard, so long, so hard that he really gases himself out. Him going two ways gets tough just because of his motor and his energy, and his drive, and everything defensively.

Isele’s take: “I want to gain some more weight. Probably around 240. Next year for wrestling, I’ll probably will be heavyweight. Football, I’ll probably be around 240, 245-ish, 6-3. Keep my speed and gain some muscle and some size.

Recruiting: Isele is being recruited by Nebraska, Wyoming, Iowa State, North Dakota State, South Dakota State, South Dakota, Columbia, and Penn.

“I have been to Nebraska and Wyoming,” Isele said. “I plan to go to NDSU on March 11th. Maybe SDSU. We’ll see how I’ll face my schedule. I’m talking to a lot of schools right now.”

By the numbers: As a junior, Isele had nine quarterback sacks, 64 total tackles, 19 tackles for loss, two forced fumbles and one blocked punt. He was named first-team All-State.

Isele is also a multi-year state qualifier in wrestling and has been clocked at 11.2 seconds in the 100-meter dash at 6-foot-3, 215 pounds.

He has a bench max of 300 pounds, a squat max of 500 pounds, a 34 inch vertical and has been clocked at 4.69 seconds in the 40-yard dash. He carries a 3.4 GPA in the classroom.