The Weekly Rundown: Post July 4th edition

We start your Monday off right with the HuskerOnline Weekly Rundown as we wrap up the long holiday weekend.

You have to feel pretty good about these things right now:

A July AD decision: I think we could hear a decision on Nebraska’s next Athletic Director sometime this week. As we know, Chancellor Ronnie Green has been on record saying things will be wrapped up this month. If this goes longer, it might tell you things have not gone to plan.

Lexi Sun: No Husker athlete will benefit more from NIL than volleyball player Lexi Sun. Her clothing line launch this past week is “real money,” where nearly everything else we saw with other NU athletes appeared to be more “pizza money” level type deals. It will be interesting to hear how much money she will be able to make by coming back to NU for another year.

Blake Lawerence and Adi Kunalic: I’ve known Blake and Adi a long time, and to see what they’ve put together with OpenDorse is amazing. Don’t be surprised if we see them on an ESPN 30 for 30 someday on NIL and how it’s changed college athletics. They have essentially created a template that allows NIL deals to happen much easier.

Buyouts: Bill Moos walked away with around $3 million from Nebraska this past week. If there’s been one sure bet about the Nebraska Athletic department, they have been pretty good in paying out buyouts and contracts to coaches and administrators.

These were my surprises of the week:

James Monds III: Two weeks ago I felt like Fort Pierce (Fla.) Westwood cornerback James Monds III was a near-lock to Nebraska. To see him pick Indiana on July 4 definitely came as a surprise, as the legacy angle for the Huskers ended up being a non-factor.

Mikey Pauley: When Kansas and Kansas State offered Husker baseball commit Mikey Pauley a quarterback scholarship I figured he was as good as gone.

However, credit Will Bolt and the Nebraska baseball staff. They had him up for a visit late last week, and I think the Big Red has a pretty good shot of keeping Pauley. You don’t see that very often, but I think Pauley knows baseball is his best long-term sport, where in all reality he’s a Plan B quarterback recruit for both KSU and KU who have missed out on targets they offered before him.

Delano Banton: Fred Hoiberg and the Nebraska basketball team suffered a tough blow this week losing point guard Delano Banton to the NBA Draft. A month ago, I’m not sure anyone would’ve predicted Banton would go pro, but evidently, he turned that many heads at the NBA Pre-Draft workouts.

Questions still surround these things:

2022 Husker recruiting class: I know Nebraska is taking a very small class in 2022, but I expected the overall number on July 5 to be higher than seven overall commits. Will we see NU close on some of their June visitors this month? I thought the Huskers would be around 10 commits and not seven.

NIL: We know NIL is here to stay, but where will this all go? I think Week 1 was a fairly small rollout in all reality. I think you are going to see some much bigger deals in the works as we get closer to the start of the 2021 college football season.

Ronnie Green: Ultimately, the Athletic Director hire is going to define the tenure of Chancellor Ronnie Green. Former President Hank Bounds led the charge to fire Shawn Eichorst and bring in Bill Moos. This is now Green’s show, and all eyes are on him and how he handles this hire.

Moving forward, this has my attention:

John Cook: Is he a legitimate candidate to be the next Athletic Director? The better question is how bad does he want it and has Green talked to him about the job?

Trev Alberts: Is former Husker great and current Nebraska-Omaha Athletic Director Trev Alberts a candidate at this point? Could hiring Alberts help mend some fences in Omaha and bring more Omaha money back into the Husker athletic department? Alberts has quietly done a very good job at UNO the last few years.

Garrett Klassy: Is interim Athletic Director Garrett Klassy in play for this job? If Green gives the job to Klassy, does it tell you others turned NU down? Keep your eyes on this situation.

Jamie Pollard: Was Iowa State Athletic Director Jamie Pollard ever offered the job, or did he play the situation to get a better deal down the road from ISU? If Iowa State gives Pollard a new contract, it probably tells us he was approached by NU.

Ed Stewart: Things have appeared to cool on this front. The former Husker All-American who works for the Big 12 had a lot of early steam, but you aren’t hearing Stewart’s name much anymore. Has Stewart talked to NU at this point? Is he even a candidate?

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.