How — and why — Nebraska is recruiting in Missouri again

A nearby state recently overlooked in Nebraska football’s recruiting is poised to make its return as a major state in the Huskers’ efforts.

It’s been nearly a decade since Nebraska landed multiple recruits out of Missouri in the same cycle — but the end to that trend appears near.

St. Louis Cardinal Ritter running back Jamarion Parker took the first step Wednesday, committing to Nebraska’s 2025 class.

NU will host Parker and another Missourian recruit —  St. Louis Christian Brothers College wide receiver Corey Simms — for official visits in June while also waiting on a decision from Overland Park (Kansas) Blue Valley linebacker Dawson Merritt.

By the end of the month, it is possible NU’s 2025 class includes the highest number of Missourian commitments since the Huskers landed two players out of the state in 2016. Nebraska’s efforts in Missouri — particularly urban hotbeds Kansas City and St. Louis — have ebbed and flowed under different coaching staffs.

Nebraska recruited the state heavily in the mid-to-late 2000s with head coaches Bo Pelini and Mike Riley continuing those efforts. Nebraska signed at least one Missourian per recruiting cycle from 2012-2017, which included future NFL players Freedom Akinmoladun, Maliek Collins and Carlos and Khalil Davis.

During Scott Frost’s tenure, though, Nebraska’s presence within Kansas City and the rest of Missouri vanished. Five consecutive recruiting classes came and went without Nebraska signing a player from the state, souring many high schools’ relationships with the Huskers.

That meant head coach Matt Rhule and his staff had to work to create — or rebuild — relationships when they arrived on the job less than two years ago. So far, they have been highly successful.

“There has been a major uptick in Nebraska’s presence (in the area) with coach Rhule’s staff,” Blue Valley head coach Allen Terrell said. “We’ve been blessed to have some really high-level recruits, some of which have been recruited by Nebraska (in the past), but it is completely different with this staff; they’re genuine.”

Though Merritt plays high school football for Terrell’s Blue Valley program on the Kansas side of the Kansas City metro, his recruitment has been led by NU’s main recruiter in Missouri: linebackers coach Rob Dvoracek.

“He’s an easy guy to like as a potential position coach for Dawson,” Terrell said of Dvoracek. “He’s been consistent but he hasn’t been overbearing, and he’s really good at relating to young people. Him and Dawson have hit it off very well.”

Terrell has a positive impression of the entire Nebraska coaching staff, including Rhule, who he said reminds him of a high school coach because of his down-to-earth personality and belief in developing players as young men.

That was reinforced during a mid-May recruiting visit where the majority of the NU coaching staff traveled to Overland Park to see Merritt. Terrell had some tough questions he felt needed answering, namely what happens if a player starts to struggle, gets homesick or is not meeting the program’s standards.

“There were eight or nine (coaches) in my office and they had answers for everything,” Terrell said. “It’s like a village where everyone is going to be looking out for guys, making sure they’re okay if help is needed and holding them accountable. I don’t feel like it’s just coach-speak; every single one of those guys could cite examples of how that process worked, and that’s very comforting to hear that they’re looking out for young people.”

Merritt, a four-star recruit and top-100 prospect nationally, is officially visiting Alabama this weekend and will decide between the Crimson Tide and Huskers in the coming weeks.

While Nebraska has been successful in Kansas City under Rhule — the Huskers added wide receiver Jaidyn Doss in 2023 and tight end Keelan Smith out of the area in 2024 — breaking into St. Louis has posed another challenge. Parker’s pledge to NU marked the Huskers’ first commitment out of the city since running back Tre Bryant in 2016.

Bryant played for the same high school that Simms currently attends and the Nebraska connections don’t end there for the four-star wideout — his father played basketball for the Huskers in the early 2000s.

At 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, Simms lists his ability to catch in traffic and his physicality as his biggest on-field strengths. NU’s wide receiver coach, Garret McGuire, has also told Simms he likes his catch radius and how well he moves for his size.

“He’s been recruiting me pretty heavy; we have a great relationship and we talk all the time, just laughing and joking,” Simms said of McGuire.

Simms visited Penn State last week and will travel to USC and Missouri this month alongside his June 14 visit to Lincoln. Simms said that he plans to announce his commitment sometime next month.

Whether Nebraska lands one, two or all three of its key targets, the Huskers’ recruiting work within Kansas City and St. Louis is already paying off as the elite prospects prepare to make their decisions down the road.

“I’m trying to go somewhere where I’m going to get on the field and get the chance to show my talent,” Simms said. “I want to be developed, to get better every year and I want to be somewhere where my head coach and my receiver coach are going to be there for the long run.”