Three & Out: scholarship numbers pinch, healthy culture, commit dominoes

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 the scholarship numbers pinch, finally getting to a healthy culture, and commit dominoes soon to fall.

The impacts from Covid are still being felt and will until some guidance is given to schools on how to handle departures and players who may choose to stick around for another year before falling off of the 85-man player roster. This is absolutely impacting Nebraska right now.

There were multiple recruits this weekend, both from the individual workouts and the official visitors, who mentioned the dilemma Nebraska is facing. How many guys can they carry? For how long? Can they get relief for players that left the team?

Two players verified the total scholarship range Nebraska is trying to deal with. The Huskers believe their 2022 class size could be as small as 14 players and as large as 28 signees. That’s right, this class could double in size potentially.

But for now, Nebraska is having to go the conservative route. One of the recruits from Friday said that coach Frost was hoping to have some clarity back from the NCAA either by the end of June or, hopefully, by the end of July at the latest. The sooner the better.

The Huskers are close to finding themselves in quite the quandary. Consider running back with Justin Williams and Ashton Hayes. Both loved the Nebraska visit and left Lincoln with the Huskers as their leader. They are different players, though, and it would be a luxury to take both.

There are similar situations emerging for Nebraska at wide receiver, defensive end, linebacker, and things will likely get there in the secondary, too. And consider the in-state players that haven’t gotten an offer, who in other years would probably leave campus with an offer from NU.

If you started with Jake Appleget who did get an offer; then consider potential offers to Vince Genatone, Kaden Johnson, Dominic Rezac and Koa McIntyre. All of them tested very well. All of them are incredibly versatile athletes that could play a number of positions.

There was something else that came up this weekend. This was a very insightful nugget from Nebraska that was passed along to me. The Huskers told one official visitor that this class is going to be small, not only based on Covid and not understanding what the rules are, but by design.

This recruit went on to say an assistant coach shared with him that the staff knows they are a young football team, particularly on offense. They don’t need to add a lot more young guys, even if they could take 28 players this year. They are looking for some dudes.

The coach continued with this recruit that he’s looking for players who are interested in more than just occupying a roster spot. He’s looking for guys who are ready to come in, work and be productive immediately.

There is clearly a profile here that Nebraska is trying to fit when it comes to the limited available slots this class.

– Bryan Munson

With their recent success under Matt Campbell with mostly lower ranked recruits, Iowa State is using the motto “five-star culture” to sell their football program to prospective future recruits and players.

It makes sense because it’s true. A superior culture and team morale can be worth more than a couple of five-star recruits on your roster when it comes to consistently winning.

As Nebraska head baseball coach Will Bolt has shown, sometimes a program’s culture can be turned around swiftly, and other times it takes much more laborious effort and time.

Nebraska is attempting to rebuild its tradition-rich football program from scratch and to dig it out of the ruins the last two decades have left it in. In year four under Scott Frost, we may finally be getting to that point with this team, roster and program, but the on-the-field results will tell the ultimate tale.

In speaking with the recruits who took official visits to Lincoln the first couple of weekends in June, a frequent refrain we have been hearing from them has been how they liked the “family atmosphere” at Nebraska and how “close-knit” the team is.

Below are some examples of these quotes in this regard the official visitors have shared with us:

DE Hayden Schwartz — “It was how they ran things. They were just themselves. Everyone was very natural and down-to-earth. Ben and Ty were very approachable. It’s a cool culture. You can feel it just walking in. It’s not a nice, happy thing either because they push each other.”

LB Tyler Martin — “Whether it’s coach Frost at the top, the support staffs in the middle and all the way down to the visit hosts that know everything and can answer all of your questions. It just had a family feel. I think that was the most incredible part. They were great coaches and great people.”

WR Grant Page — “There’s a great vibe on the team, a great vibe. They all like each other, it seems like. They all were making jokes and they care for each other.”

CB Avery Powell — “You know, it’s a brotherhood. At my high school, it’s also a brotherhood, so when I saw that at Nebraska too, it was special. Everyone is hanging with each other and they’re always together. You don’t find players being by themselves. This experience was very unexpected. It was kind of mind-blowing, you know?”

S Markeith Williams — “After that, we just had good family time. It was really more just the recruits with the staff and the team. We had a good chance to just be together and spend some time together.”

OL Ashton Craig — “They’re definitely a close-knit family and they gel together pretty well. Just from hanging out with them, you can tell that for sure. They all get along with each other really well and they are a close family.”

DE Nico Davillier — “Meeting the players, the coaches and the staff was the best thing about the weekend. Really everything was just like ‘wow’ to me. I am still shocked by how good it was and how much love they showed.”

None of the above positive comments guarantees any of those recruits will end up becoming Cornhuskers, but they can be a good indicator of the internal health of the football program and its culture.

Current players are usually going to shoot recruits straight and tell them exactly what’s going on behind the scenes on the team — good, bad, and in-between.

That fact the recent official visitors both heard and experienced for themselves a close family feel and “brotherhood” while in Lincoln could signal the football program finally getting back on solid footing culture-wise.

But, as stated earlier, the results on the field will be the ultimate indicator of the program’s true health status. Scoreboard talks and everything else walks.

– Mike Matya

When any of the various writers here at HuskerOnline.com say that it’s been a crazy time over the past year or so, it’s an understatement. Covid and the finally ending NCAA dead period have impacted us tremendously.

So when we’ve had the opportunity, it’s been important to bring you all of the news you deserve from the individual workouts to the camps to the unofficial visitors to the official visitors to the commits. And while we have handled the campers and visitors more than commits, we think a run on new commitments could be just around the corner.

I believe we have all been thinking that Richard Torres was going to commit to Nebraska following his Kansas State official visit. It’s important for these recruits to make sure they are making the right decision. What’s wild is that Kansas State thought they were leaders for Torres. I don’t think that was ever the case.

Truth be told, Torres will not be the last recruit in this class that officially visits Nebraska one weekend, takes an official visit to another school the next weekend, and returns home only to commit to Nebraska. I fully expect this to happen again next week with Tyler Martin pulling the trigger for the Huskers.

There was some confusion today with the Big Board, and in particular at linebacker. The adjustments that were made were this: the number of spots at inside linebacker were reduced. This was due to the class size. Martin is an outside linebacker recruit now for Dawson who could also play Mike.

And if Nebraska’s next commitment isn’t Martin, it should be at the same position with Jake Appleget. Appleget has set up his official visit to Nebraska for this coming weekend, which will also include the BBQ for other recruits. I would anticipate a commitment coming from Appleget to make sure he has a spot in this class.

And after those two, there are definitely some other prospects I believe Nebraska could get a commitment from between now and the end of July or so. It’s a fairly lengthy list that includes Landon Samson, Avery Powell, Jalen Marshall, Valen Erickson, Ashton Hayes and Markeith Williams.

I mentioned in the chat on Monday that I feel better about the list of recruits as you read them left to right. There are no other visits set up for Samson at the moment. I thought Powell may have been sent home, similar to Chase Androff, to think about things. Marshall saw Oklahoma State and then will go to Indiana. He could make a decision by the end of the month of June.

Erickson is talking about officially visiting Tennessee. They already have one tackle in their class and have official visits set up with at least three others before Erickson. Hayes softened in his interview on his timeline. He could make a decision at any time. Williams will check out Miami and then is scheduled to visit Ohio State. I think Nebraska is still sitting in a very good position with him.

Things are going to get interesting in the secondary. The Huskers bring in Powell one weekend and follow him up with James Monds III. Same with Williams. After bringing him in, the Huskers are bringing in a pair of safeties with Nathan Vail and Ja’Corey Thomas.

There is going to be pressure on some recruits to grab a spot or risk not being part of the 2022 class for Nebraska.

– Bryan Munson