Three & Out: making workouts permanent, fall deciders, finessing the roster

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 making personal workouts permanent, having room for fall deciders, and finessing the roster and 2022 class.

My heading sounds very much like Oprah. “You get a car!”. “Everyone gets a car!”. The newly afforded private workouts are a blessing for high school athletes who were impacted by Covid. Don’t miss the forest for the trees, though. The bigger picture is that inadequate assessments happen far too often of recruits for various reasons. Why wouldn’t a school want to work directly with the recruit every year to see if the player is worthy of a DI offer?

Based on some unofficial data and information gathered by us here at HuskerOnline, there is little doubt the Nebraska staff took advantage of the private workouts the NCAA allowed this year. The allowance this year was really more to offset the time the schools couldn’t get to evaluate the player in-person last year and this spring.

But even during those evaluation periods the coaches typically are at the mercy of the player’s availability or if there is a setting to see the recruit do something football-related. There are states that have an offseason or have spring football, and there are those that don’t. I have heard about schools needing to watch basketball games or go watch a player lift to just get an idea on some things.

And let’s go a step further. How many kids get overlooked because they are not developed properly while in high school? Or maybe they are in another sport at the time of the evaluation period so they are dinged up or not in the right type of shape? What about playing for a staff that prides itself on putting in an offense that is more in-line with what is played in college today? Has a staff that is qualified to coach or even played the game before? Has a strength program that is more in-line with college football strength programs, not just a bowflex or a universal machine?

There is no way to balance all of that out. College coaches expect circumstances that need to be sifted through. They know when they look at a player they are looking for talent and potential. There are those evaluations whether it’s a workout, spring football, running track or something else for a college coach to better understand how a recruit moves or how they test or how coachable they are. Those are the controlled elements that should be put back into the hands of the schools.

This pragmatic workaround for the missed evaluation time or seeing a prospect in-person needs to stay for good. Covid was the great equalizer for everyone. No one was getting access to high schools recruit (unless you’re Arizona State apparently). The real hero move here is to allow these evaluations to continue citing the many uncertainties and unequal circumstances when it comes to evaluating a recruit in the first place.

The NCAA should do what it needs to do and that is allow for college coaches to adequately evaluate talent for their program. The private workouts level the playing field and allow for college coaches to get a fair and honest assessment of recruits.

– Bryan Munson

The mad dash that was June college football recruiting comes to a close today. All the individual personal workouts, summer camps, Friday Night Lights, Big Red BBQs, as well as official and unofficial visits alike have been completed.

Nebraska ended up hosting 20 official visitors this month while garnering five new commitments. The Huskers are currently sitting at seven total verbal commits for this Class of 2022, and the NU staff is being very selective in who they accept new verbal pledges from for this cycle.

That is probably a good thing because, depending on their level of success on the field, Nebraska’s coaches may want to have room in this limited class to add some potential difference-makers later on who have expressed interest in taking visits to Lincoln in the fall. Particularly, along both the offensive and defensive lines.

A handful of them are listed below:

Minnesota offensive lineman Lucas Heyer was at Nebraska’s spring game and said he liked it a lot. Since then, he has gone totally silent and has not given any interviews at all. He also took self-guided tours to Iowa State and Iowa in the spring, and utilized two of his official visits at Michigan and Northwestern in June.

If he does not decide this summer, there’s a decent chance Heyer will make it back to Lincoln for an official.

Alex VanSumeren has been exhaustive in his college search to date. He has taken official visits to Texas A&M, Penn State, Michigan State and Northwestern in June, as well as some self-guided tours to places like Clemson. He has been consistently telling me the past couple of months that he wants to get to Lincoln, and when I contacted him a couple of days ago he said this: “We are still talking. I would like to get there.”

Domonique Orange has only taken one unofficial in June that we are aware of, and that was to Missouri. He wanted to save all of his official visits for the fall. He added that Ohio State, Oregon and Texas A&M would definitely be getting official visits from him, but the other two were open. Nebraska has been on him from the beginning, and he told me numerous times he planned to visit, but he never did make it up to Lincoln this summer. That leaves open the possibility he will get there in the fall.

In early June, Kenneth Grant took unofficial visits to Ohio State and Wisconsin, and then he returned for an official visit to the Buckeyes’ program this past weekend. He’s another one who has told me several times he wants to visit Nebraska before making his college decision.

Any of the above could pull the trigger to another school this summer, but if they don’t, Nebraska remains in play. They all bear watching to see what they do.

– Mike Matya

The current Husker commitment total is at seven. We have said before this class will be on the smaller side. In fact, we have heard as small as 12 and as many as 17. Does Nebraska really know? No. But, they have some things that I think that they are managing.

Consider where they are with linebacker at the moment. Two in-state kids are in the class with four-star linebacker Tyler Martin hanging out there. Many may have thought that Martin was gone to Arizona and would never be heard from again. Right now, I think Nebraska is managing the optics of their class by not being able to add a third linebacker before they get an offensive lineman, defensive back or defensive lineman.

And it’s the right thing to do for Nebraska. Things will work out with Martin to get in the class I am sure. However, Nebraska’s staff is conserving and managing this class at the same time. Yes, they can just about double in size from where they are currently, but do they want to by August? No.

The Huskers will get more clarity on players they feel may or may not stick around for next season like Adrian Martinez. How about other players who just say it’s time to call it a career? Or others that decide they are never going to see the field at Nebraska and they can get a chance to play somewhere or go closer to home.

Regardless, there will be all of that type of roster management to go along with the class size management. I am thinking Nebraska will get to 14 or 15 with this class. And based on where they are currently, they would like to be at about 10 by the time the season comes around.

What would that entail? Well, Nebraska needs to have some flexibility. While some of you on RSS seem to know better than the others that this team will not exceed expectations this year, it’s definitely a possibility. What if Nebraska goes 3-0 to start out the season, then what could they potentially end up doing the rest of the way? Seven wins? Eight wins!?!

Let’s just say Nebraska outperforms what they are expected to do and maybe knock off a team or two that opens a door with a recruit. Nebraska needs to have the ability to consider taking guys like that if they are in that position.

And, obviously, there are the transfer possibilities. I think Nebraska could be in the market again in the fall at a number of spots, particularly on defense. It’s another reason why I don’t think NU wants to run up to 15 commits now and then not be able to have options later.

So who could be those players that help Nebraska get to 10 or so by August? There’s a number of them. I feel good about more than three, honestly, and that’s going to come back to Nebraska understanding which guys they think they are looking good for them, and when some of these June visitors plan to make a commitment.

Here is my list of recruits to be on the lookout for a July commitment: James Monds III, Jake Maikkula, Jalen Marshall, Jayden Mangham, Tyler Martin, John Pastore and Valen Erickson.

There’s a potential issue at offensive line if there is a third guy that wants in. The other numbers, however, seem fairly manageable. Linebacker is still a spot I feel Nebraska adds Martin eventually, just not before the end of the month.

Have a safe and happy 4th!

– Bryan Munson