The Future Stars Nebraska Didn’t Want

Hell hath no fury like an athletic prospect scorned.

Nebraska football has learned this the hard way over the years, turning up their nose at recruits that were waiting with bated breath for just a little reciprocal interest. With National Signing Day approaching, it’s time to look at the spurned recruits who made Nebraska regret passing them by, breaking out in college with a big red chip on their shoulder 

This examination will not delve into recruits Nebraska seriously recruited to no avail. There’ll be no tales of being left at the altar on signing day or ballyhooed signees that simply didn’t pan out. Rather, this will delve into the recruits Nebraska could have had in their class but didn’t because they either slow played them, or didn’t recruit them at all.

Instead of rehashing stories about Barry Sanders and Marshall Faulk – generational talents Nebraska infamously passed over – I’ve kept it to recruits who signed in the 21st century and limited it to just ten of them.  

See also: The Decommitments that Hurt the Worst

Without further ado, let’s dive into the top ten recruits Nebraska let slip away. 

Linebacker Joe Mortensen | Kansas Jayhawks (2004 – 2008)  

Mortensen was an unheralded linebacker recruit with a dream of playing for Nebraska. His recruitment played out slowly as he waited on pins and needles for an offer that would never come from either Frank Solich, or his newly hired successor, Bill Callahan.

Giving up on his prospects of being a Cornhusker, he signed with Mark Mangino’s Kansas program in February 2004. How’d that turn out? Mortensen finished his Jayhawk career with 282 total tackles, first team All-Conference honors, a national spotlight for Kansas’s breakout season, and the only two wins Kansas would claim over Nebraska in the last half-century, which included a 76-39 shellacking in 2007 that still stings to this day.  

Quarterback Greg McElroy | Alabama Crimson Tide (2006 – 2010)  

Better known now for his TV commentary, McElroy was committed to Texas Tech early in his senior season after backing up Chase Daniel in high school for three years. He chose to reassess his decision after his season ended, a timeline that coincided with Josh Freeman jilting the Huskers during the dead period.

With Coach Callahan’s NFL pedigree, McElroy expressed interest in the Huskers, but Callahan did not reciprocate, choosing instead to go all in on California native Garrett Green, who ultimately played receiver for USC. McElroy ended up signing with Mike Shula’s Alabama and won a national championship in his first year starting for Nick Saban in 2009.

With Nebraska’s 2009 defense, a steady hand at quarterback like McElroy may have been all Nebraska needed to do very big things. 

Defensive End Drew Ott | Iowa Hawkeyes (2012 – 2015)  

Ott, the farm boy from tiny Giltner, Nebraska, covered up his father’s Husker memorabilia when he matriculated at Iowa, a spiteful gesture towards the home state school that neglected to recruit him. In Iowa City, he succeeded in turning a Husker stronghold in Giltner black and gold. Ott entered his senior year as a second team All-Conference end, one with more than 10 sacks to his name and a second-round grade from the NFL.

A series of nasty injuries and an unforgiving NCAA robbed him of a proper final year and his NFL hopes. But there’s no doubt he would’ve been a monster on the line with Maliek Collins and Randy Gregory. Ott got a bit of revenge against Big Red when he scored a touchdown on a blocked punt against the Huskers in 2014.  

Linebacker Elijah Lee | Kansas State Wildcats (2014 – 2016)  

Elijah Lee may not have the name recognition that others on this list do but he’s exactly what the Huskers needed in the mid-2010’s, and the exact kind of recruiting error they’ve made so often over the last two decades. A three-star prospect out of Missouri, Lee was a two-time All-Big XII linebacker for K-State before playing in the NFL for eight years.

The Huskers could have had Lee in their class but Pelini, like so many other coaches in the 2010’s, was more enamored with prospects from the SEC’s footprint. The Huskers gave Lee’s spot to DeAndre Willis, an Alabaman who quit the team two days into fall camp before fading into football obscurity. Prizing the Willises over the Lees has been one of Nebraska’s principal issues over the last couple decades. 

Defensive Tackle Harrison Phillips | Stanford Cardinal (2014 – 2017)  

Phillips was the top-ranked recruit in Nebraska for the 2014 class. A standout in the classroom and a force in the weight room, he camped with the Huskers in 2013 and impressed.

Coach Pelini simply didn’t know what to do with him. Rather than figure out his position later, they held off on an offer. It was textbook slow playing. But other schools pursed him with ample fervor, none more than Stanford, where he signed and went on to an All-American career.

His senior season he totaled an outrageous Ndamukong Suh-like 103 tackles from his interior line position. Today, Phillips is still starting in the NFL, currently with the Vikings. The reluctance to bet on local Nebraska kids cost the Huskers, and Pelini, dearly.  

Tight End Noah Fant | Iowa Hawkeyes (2016 – 2018)  

Like Phillips, the Huskers technically did extend an offer here. Riley rushed an overture after other schools beat him to the punch. But Fant, the top-ranked Nebraskan in the 2016 class, ultimately went to Iowa because they showed much more interest than the home state Huskers ever did.

Fant scored 19 touchdowns for the Hawkeyes, a position record at a school known for producing elite tight ends, and became a first-round draft pick alongside fellow Hawkeye tight end, T. J. Hockenson. Two of his 19 touchdowns came in a 2017 beatdown of the Huskers to drive the Huskers’ recruiting gaffe home.

Fant is currently a starter for the Seahawks, several years into his NFL career. Just imagine how much better Riley’s Husker teams would have been with Fant catching passes from a certain Cincinnati Bengal quarterback.   

Quarterback Joe Burrow | Ohio State Buckeyes & LSU Tigers (2015 – 2019)  

Okay, you knew this one was coming.

(Deep breath)

Perhaps the most infamous of Husker rejections, Burrow, the son of a former Husker and younger brother of two others, dearly wanted an offer to play for his dream school Huskers, both as a high school recruit and as a transfer prospect. Burrow never received mutual interest from Nebraska, though.

Did he work out at LSU? Oh, he just put up arguably the best single season performance of any player in college football history, won a Heisman, a national title, and heard himself called first during the 2020 NFL draft.

But let’s also address something else: Joe Burrow would not have been Joe Burrow at Nebraska. Throwing to Ja’Maar Chase and Justin Jefferson is much different than what he would have had in Lincoln. That’s how I sleep at night anyway.   

Defensive Tackle James Lynch | Baylor Bears (2017 – 2019)  

The son of a former Husker, James Lynch’s story is almost as egregious as Burrow’s. He was part of Matt Rhule’s first class at Baylor and went on to become a unanimous first-team All-American, Big XII Defensive Player of the Year, and a fourth-round NFL draft pick. Lynch attended Nebraska’s spring game in 2016, saying he’d have committed on the spot if he were given an offer.

But that offer never came. And so James Lynch, whose middle name is “Husker” for crying out loud, ended up a Bear. The Huskers never went bowling in the three seasons Lynch played in Waco.  

Running Back Breece Hall | Iowa State Cyclones (2019 – 2021)  

Breece is the cousin of Roger Craig and the stepson of fellow I-Back great, Jeff Smith. He even ate dinner with Tom Osborne. How in the world did he not become a Cornhusker?

“I ask myself that [question] every day,” Hall said in a 2022 interview.

Iowa State showed interest early and often. Nebraska was lukewarm at best, as Frost was more interested in pursuing Ronald Thompkins and Wan’Dale Robinson, considered an all-purpose running back in 2018. Hall resisted late overtures from Nebraska and became a decorated Cyclone.

In just three seasons, Breece ran for nearly 4,000 yards and was honored as Iowa State’s first-ever unanimous All-American in 2020. He now stars for the New York Jets. Hall would have been the reliable runner that could have put away plenty of close games between 2019 and 2021 for Frost.  

Tight End Sam LaPorta | Iowa Hawkeyes (2019 – 2022)  

Wait, Sam LaPorta, one of the very best tight ends in the NFL, could have been a Husker? That’s right.

According to Sean Callahan’s Husker Online podcast, LaPorta was basically “giftwrapped” to Nebraska, the connection being former Husker lineman, Tanner Farmer, who attended high school with LaPorta and brought him to two Husker camps. Per Callahan, LaPorta tested well at both, freak athlete that he was, but was considered too small at 210lbs to garner an offer.

If not for an eleventh-hour tender from Kirk Ferentz, LaPorta would have played in the MAC. It pains to think he could very well have been a Husker.  

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