Positions to watch as Matt Rhule recruiting machine purrs

Nebraska football enters June with eight scholarship commitments for its 2025 class.

Don’t be surprised if the Huskers exit the busy recruiting month by doubling their current total.

Eight verbal pledges in June would be a sweet spot between the 14 commits coach Matt Rhule got last June — 12 signees plus eventual defectors Kewan Lacy and Callen Barta — and the four the Huskers snagged in 2022, when the Scott Frost era wobbled to a close.

Frost rarely attacked June the way Rhule did in 2023, when NU used its camps to evaluate and initiate offers to prospects, who often made official visits and commitments shortly thereafter. The deluge revealed Rhule’s penchant for organization, efficiency and confidence in his well-developed assessment system, built on NFL preferences for size and speed.

“Coach Rhule, out of any coach I’ve worked for, has emphasized measurables more than anyone else,” said Ryan Callaghan, NU’s director of recruiting systems and strategies. “He understands that part better than anybody.”

Callaghan has built a “one-stop shop” database to help Rhule snag and sort data quickly. He’s also had to build an app on his own phone if Rhule calls, wants specific information and isn’t in front of a computer to access it.

This is the kind of recruiting organization Nebraska needs 25 years after its last conference title. The organization it never quite had during the Frost era — though NU did OK — or the Bo Pelini era. (The Mike Riley era lacked both aggressiveness and the freedom to sign the kind of players and classes Riley signed at Oregon State. Riley’s boss at Nebraska seemed to make it harder).

If Nebraska intends to be a developmental operation — and Rhule does — then class volume and good clay (that is, speed and size, with hopes of skill and seasoning to come) matter most. The dividends take time to accumulate; by year five — when the 2024 class has four seasons in the program and the 2025 class has three seasons — you should be able to see the full extent of Rhule’s vision. Nebraska wants to — and this season, should — win before that, but NU should peak when this model has year-over-year input.

Want a handy way to know how Nebraska does? Examine its performance right in the middle of the field at running back, quarterback, interior offensive line, interior defensive line, linebacker and safety. The middle of the field.

Michigan had seven guys picked from those positions in the 2024 NFL draft, in case you want to know how good the Wolverines were between the hashmarks.

Nebraska has had eight players selected at those positions… in the last nine drafts.

You can probably guess the linemen — Cam Jurgens, Maliek Collins, Vincent Valentine, Carlos Davis and Khalil Davis. And maybe the safety — Nathan Gerry, who also played linebacker in the NFL. Tanner Lee was the quarterback. And Andy Janovich, in 2016, was the running back.

The Huskers haven’t been better on the edges of the field but that lack of success, to some degree, can be understood. NU has historically struggled — across 20 years anyway — to get elite offensive tackles, edge rushers, receivers and cornerbacks. There are exceptions to the rule, like Cam Taylor-Britt and Prince Amukamara and Randy Gregory, but Nebraska often needs the right combination of things to land those players.

The middle of the field? NU should have some of the Midwest’s best backs and ‘backers. The Huskers have generally been good, not great at those spots.

Devine Ozigbo was the last Nebraska running back to top 1,000 yards, and he began that 2018 season as at least the fourth guy on the depth chart. He wasn’t drafted, and neither have any subsequent NU backs. The Huskers go into 2024 hoping to lean on Emmett Johnson, a shifty back who gives off Terrell Newby vibes but may not be a 1,000-yard guy. We’ll see.

At linebacker, NU has been consistently beguiled by potential only to see that potential dashed by injuries. Nick Henrich played through pain and knee rehabs to notch 205 tackles, but bad luck kept him from more. Ditto for Luke Reimer — who’ll try to make the NFL as an undrafted free agent — and Will Honas. Collin Miller’s career got cut short by a spinal injury. Luke Gifford was more of an edge guy, but he took four years to develop into an NFL prospect; he’s still in the league now.

The top-rated ‘backer in that recruiting era, Avery Roberts, left NU and followed former linebackers coach Trent Bray to Oregon State, where Roberts had 276 career tackles and made third-team All-American. He’s a graduate assistant at OSU under Bray, who is now the Beavers’ head coach.

At safety, NU might have its best guy since Gerry in Isaac Gifford. He had 35 more tackles than any other Husker in 2023.

“Legitimately, Isaac Gifford is one of the best players in the country and you’re going to see it,” defensive backs coach Evan Cooper said this spring. “He’s a warrior.”

Seasoned Husker fans might recall former defensive coordinator Bob Diaco saying the same in 2017 about Joshua Kalu.

“There is no doubt in my mind that he is, and or will be, one of the best safeties in the country, if not the very best safety in the country,” Diaco said as he moved Kalu from corner to safety.

After several seasons with the Titans, Kalu’s still battling for a job in the NFL and may land with the Giants this year. He and JoJo Domann — now with the Titans after two years with the Colts — had strong NU careers; still, neither were drafted.

The last time Nebraska had NFL Draft-caliber guys at all three spots? That’d be 2011, when Abdullah and Rex Burkhead toted the rock, Lavonte David roamed at linebacker and Daimion Stafford played safety. For a handful of games, Jared Crick manned a defensive tackle spot, too. NU won nine games against a schedule that featured eight winning teams.

So, you’ve got some recruits to watch in June:

* Overland Park (Kansas) Blue Valley linebacker Dawson Merritt may serve as an edge rusher in high school, but the 6-foot-3, 205-pounder could project to an off-the-ball linebacker in college. The Top 100 prospect is down, in effect, to Nebraska and Alabama, where he visits June 7. I sense NU leads at the moment thanks to its defensive staff, which connected with Merritt’s dad, Kansas City Chiefs defensive backs coach David Merritt.

* St Thomas More Academy running back Mekhi Nelson comes from the same Connecticut prep school as Alante Brown and Marques Buford. The 5-foot-10, 190-pounder got his offer in early May and visits June 7, earlier than most of NU’s June visitors. He moved from part-time quarterback to full-time running back as a junior in Wilkes-Barre (Pennsylvania)

* Omaha Westside linebacker Christian Jones, the state’s top prospect who will visit USC, Oklahoma and Nebraska in June. Jones is a playmaker in the Henrich mold.

*St. Louis Cardinal Ritter running back Jamarion Parker is a bolt-by-you glider who hits top speed quickly. Nebraska would love for Kwinten Ives to be that kind of back, too; Parker is smoother on film.

*Murray (Kentucky) athlete Jeremiah Jones is probably a guy who, 20 years ago, just goes to Murray State and becomes a standout there. Hudl puts his film in the hands of every coach out there, and the 6-foot-6, 215-pound rover type will visit NU in June. Louisville appears to be the other favorite.

*Millard North linebacker Pierce Mooberry: He could be a edge rusher or a tight end, but Mooberry, visiting June 21, may fit as a Javin Wright-sized linebacker, too.