North Platte grad, Montana transfer Vince Genatone commits to Nebraska football

Nebraska football got its first transfer portal addition of the spring cycle before its camp had even ended.

Former North Platte athlete Vince Genatone, who spent his first two seasons at Montana, announced on social media he was committing to NU. He left the Grizzlies’ program over the weekend, visited the Huskers on Tuesday and announced his commitment hours later on X.

Genatone had 136 tackles his senior year at North Platte in 2022 while winning the 220-pound Class A state wrestling title. Genatone also ran the 100-meter dash in 10.5 seconds.

A 6-foot-1, 218-pounder, Genatone redshirted his first year for the Griz before logging one tackle last season special teams.

His speed and versatility could make him a fit for either safety or off-the-ball linebacker; his size and frame is similar to that of former Husker linebacker Luke Reimer and current NU ‘backer John Bullock, who is 6-0, 220. Bullock, a former walk-on from Creighton Prep, switched from safety to linebacker in spring ’23. Last season, he finished with 50 tackles and 2½ tackles for loss.

While Genatone didn’t specify whether he’d be on scholarship, Nebraska’s approach to name, image and likeness funding tends to create scholarship-in-kind opportunities for prospects NU wants in the program. And Husker coach Matt Rhule has been far more aggressive than his predecessors in offering in-state players.

“I’ll watch the film, and he’s good enough, he’s a scholarship player,” Rhule said April 11 of evaluating an in-state prospect. “… and the (recruiting staff) will say ‘he’s a 4,’ — which means we think he’ll be a multiple-year starter — and I’ll say ‘well, then we should offer him a scholarship.’ And they’re like ‘well, maybe we can get him as a walk-on.’”

“If all we do is offer players in the state of Nebraska walk-on opportunities, then every guy is going to grow up dreaming of getting a walk-on opportunity. If we offer players scholarships, then guys we have the dream of ‘maybe I can be a scholarship player.’”

In summer 2021 – when the NCAA briefly allowed college programs to conduct one-on-one workouts with prospects – Genatone got an audience with Husker coaches. Nebraska ultimately didn’t extend a scholarship at the time, and Genatone took his recruitment into January 2022, when he visited Montana and selected the Griz over South Dakota State and a walk-on chance at Nebraska.