Three & Out: HS All-Star games, special teams overhaul,2023 in-state class

This is HuskerOnline.com’s feature in which recruiting analysts Mike Matya and Bryan Munson give their weekly takes on topical issues concerning Nebraska football, baseball and recruiting.

Today in our next installment of “Three and Out” we hit on High School All-Star games, special teams overhaul, and 2023 in-state class could be special.

The two main, national post-season high school all-star games were not held last year due to the COVID pandemic, but they are resuming this season in their regular formats.

Nebraska has typically had at least a couple commitments/signees play in these contests, but with no current Rivals250 or four-star pledges in their 2023 class, it looks as if the Huskers will be shut out from these two prestigious games this cycle.

Since Scott Frost arrived in Lincoln as Nebraska’s head football coach, these are the participants in the two All-Star games the Huskers have signed:

[* left program early]

2018 — *QB Adrian Martinez, *RB Maurice Washington

2019 — OT Bryce Benhart, S Noa Pola-Gates, LB Nick Henrich, DL Ty Robinson, *WR Wandale Robinson

2020 -[COVID canceled] — OT Turner Corcoran, *DB Henry Gray, *ILB Keyshawn Greene, OLB Blaise Gunnerson,

2021 — TE Thomas Fidone, WR Kamonte Grimes, OLB Wynden Ho’ohuli

2022 — None

Needless to say, Nebraska’s luck with these top prospects playing in the post-season high school all-star games has been a mixed bag. Three of the main offensive playmakers signed did not complete their eligibility at NU.

Though Nebraska does not have any participants this season, below are the B1G conference commitment names for Husker fans to be aware of in these upcoming two prestigious High School all-star games:

Orlando, FL

Sunday, January 2, 2022

2:00 PM on ESPN

Ohio State (3) [RB C.J. Hicks, DE Kenyatta Jackson, LB Gabe Powers]

Penn State (3) [RB Kaytron Allen, WR Kaden Saunders, OT Drew Shelton]

Indiana (1) [S Dasan McCullough]

Michigan (1) [CB Will Johnson]

One other notable worth mentioning who will be playing in this game is Omaha Central offensive tackle Deshawn Woods who is pledged to Missouri.

San Antonio, TX

Saturday, January 8, 2020

12:00 PM on NBC

Ohio State (8) [WR Kojo Antwi, QB Devin Brown, CB Jyaire Brown, WR Kaleb Brown, WR Caleb Burton, OT George Fitzpatrick, WR Kyion Grayes, OT Tegra Tshabola]

Penn State (4) [QB Drew Allar, RB Nicholas Singleton, DL Dani Dennis-Sutton, LB Keon Wylie]

Michigan (2) [S Zeke Berry, WR Tyler Morris]

Indiana (1) [CB Trevell Mullen]

Iowa (1) [DL Aaron Graves]

Purdue (1) [DL Nic Caraway]

Rutgers (1) [OT Jacob Allen]

Wisconsin (1) [OT Joe Brunner]

Omaha Burke linebacker Devon Jackson, who is committed to Oregon, is another in-state player worth mentioning in this game.

All told, Ohio State leads the conference by far with 11 commitments combined playing in these two all-star games. The rest of the Big Ten’s teams combine for 16 total commitments playing in the games.

When you look at the divisional breakdown, the disparity is even greater: the East has 24 future players scheduled to participate in these two contests, while the West only has three. And, again, Nebraska has none this cycle.

It’s difficult to be relevant in your conference, much less nationally, when you are not getting at least a handful of the top recruits in the country to sign with you each and every cycle. Let’s hope the 2022 class is an anomaly for Nebraska and not a nascent pattern of things to come.

– Mike Matya

As Nebraska fans wait to hear how Scott Frost will fill out the rest of his staff, there is speculation that one of those spots will go to a special teams coordinator. This would be music to the ears of Husker Nation, but it won’t be the only new face related to special teams next season.

Special teams on the roster are getting a complete overhaul. The Huskers have been busy trying to add bodies to all of the spots related to special teams.

The Huskers have already added three transfers or preferred walk-ons to this point:

Weas has one year of eligibility remaining after his transfer from Georgetown. Weas immediately figures into the long snapper picture for the Huskers.

The Huskers picked up the first of two PWO kickers this week with Pankratz. Pankratz is a transfer from Furman and is a lifelong Husker fan. He has four years of eligibility remaining.

The second of the PWO commits this week chose Nebraska over an offer from Kansas and a PWO from Iowa State. Weinrich has a big leg and was told he will immediately compete to kick field goals next fall.

The Huskers will likely host the only specialist that they have offered to this point for an official visit this weekend in Timothy Bleekrod.

Maybe the most unique aspect about Nebraska’s recruiting other specialists could be the potential to grab two kickers from Furman. Bleekrode has been getting recruited by Nebraska the hardest of all of the schools and has two years remaining.

The rumor is that Nebraska is also likely in the market for a transfer portal punter. There are no known names that fit this bill, but this could come out soon.

In addition to the specialists, it seems worthy to mention that Nebraska is also interested in improving their return game. There have been multiple recruits, two as of late actually, that have mentioned figuring into the return teams:

Hayes will definitely play a big role for Nebraska on offense. At McQueen HS, Hayes had 257 kickoff return yards this year (unknown number of kickoff returns).

Page had his season come to an end early this year after he tore his ACL. Through five games Page had 128 kickoff return yards and also saw time on punt returns.

Jones has some serious speed and Nebraska should be interested in getting him involved as much as possible. Jones saw time on both kickoff and punt returns this fall (182 kickoff return yards).

The newest Nebraska commitment has been open about the Huskers talking to him about playing a role in the punt return game for them next year. He housed five punt returns and six kickoff returns this year.

Johnson is not in the Nebraska recruiting class yet, but has been told that he should get an offer on his visit this weekend. The Minnesota High School Player of the Year has said that Nebraska could see him helping out on kickoff returns.

The special teams coordinator hire will definitely get the headlines, but this recruiting class indicates a focus on immediate improvement on special teams.

– Bryan Munson

In this Class of 2022, the Nebraska coaches struck out with the top four rated football recruits in the state, according to Rivals: Omaha Central offensive tackle Deshawn Woods [Missouri], Omaha Burke outside linebacker Devon Jackson [Oregon], and Bellevue West tight ends Micah Riley-Ducker [Auburn] and Kaden Helms [Oklahoma].

The Huskers did land the No. 5 in-state recruit in Columbus outside linebacker Ernest Hausmann, as well as Lincoln Southeast linebacker Jake Appleget and Millard South athlete Gage Stenger.

The Class of 2023 in-state group of top recruits is looking like a bumper crop and another opportunity for the Husker staff to lock down the borders.

These two in-state pledges form a nice foundation for the Husker coaches to build upon with this class. Both were rated as four-star prospects prior to the most recent Rivals rankings revision. How Ben Brahmer can get lowered from a Rivals250 designee to a 5.7 three-star after having 63 receptions for 1119 yards (18.6 ypr) with 13 touchdowns as a junior tight end is simply inexplicable.

Each one of these 2023 in-state players has multiple Power Five offers, in addition to being the recipient of a Nebraska scholarship tender. Noonan’s father, Danny, played at Nebraska; Tuioti’s father, Tony, is the Huskers’ defensive line coach; and Coleman said he dreamed of getting an NU offer ever since he was a little kid.

All of these in-state recruits are being closely followed by the Cornhusker coaches after having successful junior campaigns. Needless to say, their camp performances this spring and summer will go a long way to determining whether or not they receive Nebraska scholarship offers as well. Our hunch is at least a couple of them will.

It’s entirely possible for most of them to stay home and end up playing their college football in Lincoln. The state of Nebraska has been going through an uptick in premium high school recruits for football, basketball and baseball recently. It’s imperative to keep as many of them at Nebraska for college as possible.

– Mike Matya