We discuss what we’ve learned on the search for Nebraska’s new Athletic Director and more in this week’s 3-2-1 column.
1 – Chancellor Ronnie Green lays down the AD timeline
In an interview with the Omaha World-Herald this week, Nebraska Chancellor Ronnie Green said he hopes to have an Athletic Director hire wrapped up this month.
On Wednesday we learned that both former NU President Hank Bounds and current Iowa State Athletic Director Jamie Pollard are out of the mix.
Were either approached or offered the job? That we don’t know, but nobody should be surprised Pollard is staying put in Ames where the Cyclones could have their best football team in modern day school history.
“Nebraska’s a great program,” Pollard told Cyclone Fanatic on their podcast. “It has a great history. I have a lot of admiration for Coach (Tom) Osborne, both as a coach and when he was an A.D. in the Big 12, and my daughter goes to Nebraska.
“I love the city of Lincoln, but I love working at Iowa State and I am not leaving Iowa State. I’m here. We’ve worked really hard for 17 years to get this program in a spot. I’ll take it as flattery and a huge compliment that there’s folks in Nebraska (who would want me).”
Does that mean he was approached or was he just addressing the fan speculation about his name? We’ll never know the truth on that, but it sure makes you wonder where this is heading. My feeling is he was definitely approached.
Is current Husker volleyball coach John Cook still in the mix? What about former Husker and current Big 12 administrator Ed Stewart? Or does Green have an ace up his sleeve we don’t know about at this point?
The sense I have on Wednesday night is this thing is very close to being wrapped up. I would not be surprised at all if we knew who the next AD was before the July 4 holiday or shortly after.
2 – Nebraska pulling out all the early stops with NIL
So far we’ve seen Nebraska pull out all the early stops with name, image and likeness.
Runza is launching a campaign with 100 different NU student-athletes who choose to opt-in to make a social media post. I’m told each athlete will make $50 for the tweet/post. Uber Eats has also launched a campaign for Husker athletes to opt-in for similar money. “Opt-in” is a commonly used phrase with social media company Opendorse. Tweets are prewritten and athletes have the ability to opt into the campaign or not.
However, the big thing we learned on Wednesday night is NU volleyball player Lexi Sun has launched her own clothing line, called THE SUNNY CREW.
We still don’t know what players like quarterback Adrian Martinez and cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt have in store. It’s campaigns like Sun’s, though, that are going to generate the national headlines on NIL.
The $50 opt-in campaigns from Runza are a nice benefit for athletes, but personal brands like Sun’s are going to bring in a whole different type of money.
3 – Stille and Domann get some preseason love from PFF
Both Nebraska senior linebacker JoJo Domann and defensive end Ben Stille were named first-team All-Big Ten by grading service Pro Football Focus this week.
This is not a surprise after their numbers/marks from a year ago. Both Domann and Stille are two of the better returning defensive players in the Big Ten based on their production a year ago on PFF.
Stille and Domann had far and away their most productive seasons as Huskers in 2020. For this team to take a step forward in 2021, they will need a similar type of season.
1 – Who’s one newcomer that’s passed the early eye test?
How do Nebraska’s newcomers look thus far in summer workouts?
Everyone has now made it to campus, and one player that has turned heads already I’m told is defensive lineman Jailen Weaver. At 6-foot-8, 320 pounds Weaver is a massive human being that could play multiple positions on the defensive line.
Remember, the Husker coaching staff never got to see Weaver in person until this month. I think the early reviews are the Huskers may have gotten a steal in Weaver.
2 – Who your darkhorse team in the Big Ten for 2021?
When you look at the Big Ten for 2021, several teams have lost key components from a year ago.
So who is a dark horse team in the West besides Nebraska? Obviously, Wisconsin and Iowa are going to get all the preseason love, but I think you have to say Minnesota is a team that possesses top-25 potential nobody is really talking about.
They return the top running back in the Big Ten, along with veteran starting quarterback Tanner Morgan. In all, Minnesota returns 20 of 22 starters from a year ago, and they added six transfers. The Gophers do open with Ohio State, though.
Nebraska baseball recruit Mikey Pauley out of Kansas City recently has picked up quarterback offers from both Kansas and Kansas State.
The Wildcats and Jayhawks offered Pauley after seeing him at camp this June. He also camped at Nebraska.
With that said, I still predict Pauley picks Nebraska baseball over playing football. Baseball is potentially his best sport, and I know he’s really excited to be a part of the Husker baseball program after watching this past season play out.
Pauley has strong Nebraska roots, as his grandfather Paul Blazevich was a former Nebraska-Omaha football All-American and the former head football coach at Omaha Central.
“I have cousins, aunts and uncles in Omaha,” Pauley told HuskerOnline when he committed. “Nadia Blazevich and John Blazevich are my aunt and uncle, and my cousins are Luca, Paul, Angelica and Bella.”
Sean Callahan can be reached at sean@huskeronline.com and he can be heard each day at 6:45 am and 5:05 pm on Big Red Radio 1110 KFAB in Omaha during the football season. He can also be seen on KETV Channel 7 in Omaha during the fall and each week he appears on NET’s Big Red Wrap-Tuesday’s at 7 pm.
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