Scottsbluff OL Brock Knutson has piled up a nice list of Power Five options; will his dream school offer? | Recruiting

Brock Knutson’s weekends have largely been busy recently. 

The Scottsbluff offensive lineman and three-star prospect in the 2023 class is getting out and trying to see as many colleges as possible this spring. 

That includes this past one.

Knutson (6-foot-7 and 285 pounds) made the long trek to Columbia, Missouri, to take in Missouri’s spring game. He first heard from Tigers assistant coach Erik Link several weeks ago and the two had been in touch regularly. Link wanted Knutson to see campus, and the spring game felt like a good time because Knutson said he’d never seen the school play football before. 

“It’s a good opportunity for me to see their style of play,” Knutson told the Journal Star over the weekend. “Plus, it’s an SEC school and that’s really attractive to me because the SEC is the highest-ranking of the Power Five conferences.”

Knutson has a busy stretch coming up in April, too. He’s slated to check out Kansas State on April 8, return to Lincoln for Nebraska’s Red-White Spring Game the next day and then head back south to Kansas City for an Under Armour combine. 

“I also want to try to get to Northwestern,” Knutson said. “They want me to get up there for a visit and I’ve always wanted to be a doctor. Getting a degree from Northwestern would be super prestigious.” 

This has been, essentially, the way it’s gone for Knutson over the past several months. But he wasn’t one of those recruits who found himself on the radar particularly early. In fact, through last summer, he said he’d heard absolutely zero from colleges. 

“My recruitment really started on Sept. 1 of last year,” he said. “I didn’t have anybody contact me until that day, and that’s when (Nebraska recruiting staffer) Sean Dillon hit me up. He was the first coach to follow me and actually show me some attention. …

“It pretty much just blew up from there.” 

His first Division I offer came “out of the blue” from Kansas. 

“It was crazy. I called my dad. It was pretty much, like, an ‘I made it’ moment,” Knutson said. “Up until then I just had Division II offers.” 

Since then, Iowa State, Kansas State, Colorado State, Wyoming, Miami (Ohio) and North Dakota State have all followed and he’s picked up a three-star rating from Rivals and from 247Sports. 

The school that got in touch first, the Huskers, have not so far. Knutson attended a junior day in Lincoln on Jan. 22 and said the staff didn’t talk with him about an offer or where he stood on their offensive line board. 

NU has already landed two in-state offensive linemen in the 2023 class in Lincoln Southeast’s Gunnar Gottlua and Creighton Prep’s Sam Sledge. 

Knutson, though, said he hit it off with Husker offensive line coach Donovan Raiola.

“I really like Donovan Raiola,” Knutson said. “He’s pretty much a no-bull(crap) guy. He’s straight to the point and he really wants everything to be as simple, but as complex, as possible. So, he kind of puts things in layman’s terms and has a lot of acronyms. I really like that. He brings a lot of energy, too.”

And they’ll reconnect next month for the spring game. What would an offer from the home-state team mean? 

“It would be huge,” Knutson said. “Ever since I was a little kid, Nebraska’s always been my dream school because, growing up a Husker fan is really big to me. My dad, he’s always harped it to me. He’s got a Herbie Husker tattoo on his ankle. 

“We’re diehard Husker fans.”

Nebraska has two in-state offensive linemen committed, plus Pierce tight end Benjamin Brahmer, in a five-man class so far. The Huskers also have offers out to Lincoln East athlete Malachi Coleman and Elkhorn South edge Maverick Noonan.

In recent years, NU has offered at least one or two in-state players during the summer or even into the fall, as well. That list includes Gage Stenger and Jake Appleget last year, plus James Carnie, Koby Bretz and Heinrich Haarberg in the 2021 class. 

Whether Knutson ends up in a similar position remains to be seen, but he’s earned himself a nice collection of college options regardless.