How patience, creativity and a lot of Zoom calls led to a by-the-book signing day for Huskers | Recruiting

Some of the players in the class — particularly the five from Nebraska, three from Iowa and one from South Dakota — were able to see the campus and visit on gamedays. Besides that, though, guys like defensive lineman Ru’Quan Buckley (Grand Rapids, Michigan), who attended a junior day in January before the pandemic kicked up in early March, are more the exception than the rule this year.

“I still feel like I know them all really well, but there are several I’ve never been in the same room with and I’ve never seen in person,” Frost said. “It’s been probably more phone calls, more FaceTimes, more chats, those type of things, than maybe other years. For sure more than other years.

“You get to know somebody, but without home visits and official visits and unofficial visits, there’s a few that I’ve never met before. Looking forward to working with this group, though.”

Instead of jetting around the country in May and hosting camps and barbecues in June, gameday visits through the fall and jumping back into planes for a frenetic closing stretch, NU coaches and staffers did what a lot of Americans have done for months on end now.

They spent a lot of time on Zoom.

“Got to give a lot of credit to the recruiting staff, (Sean) Dillon and (Ryan) Callaghan and (Trent) Mossbrucker. Also, a lot of credit to (director of football creative and engagement) Orah Garst who does a lot of our social media stuff, a lot of the videos that people watch. Helped us out with some of the virtual visits and those types of things.