Three & Out: spring game recap, Husker fans deliver, and 2024 new offers

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 spring game recap, Husker fans deliver again, and 2024 new offers.

The quarterback position remains a mystery. Casey Thompson has displayed the leadership that was needed and, while he says the coaches have seen enough from him in practice this spring to name him the starter, there was a definite lack of confidence when Scott Frost was asked about this following this spring game.

There are two guys that likely wish the spring didn’t play out the way that it did and that’s Chubba Purdy and Heinrich Haarberg. Both Purdy and Haarberg missed time this spring due to injury. I was told Haarberg’s injury was severe enough that surgery was considered. Both Purdy and Haarberg appear to be players that if they can get healthy could make things interesting over the summer. I know some have picked on the late interception by Haarberg to end the spring game, but that comeback route wasn’t run very well if you go back and re-watch and was easy to jump.

If there is a player that wished he could get a “spring game do over” it might be Logan Smothers. From all reports, Smothers was having a good spring. I can’t think of another player that may have been questioning his role with the team more than Smothers after three new quarterbacks were added to the room in January. The spring game didn’t do his spring practices justice.

In the end, I am not sure what solid conclusions can be taken away from the game anyway. Two-hand touch in the first half. Limited snaps for the projected starters. Depleted units because of injury.

Moving over to recruiting, it was a little disappointing Nebraska didn’t get any commitments, but it was a very positive recruiting weekend for the Huskers. It was interesting to hear some of the responses from the recruits following the game on Saturday.

While so many were disappointed by the spring game attendance, nearly all of the recruits mentioned the dedication of the fans as the best part of their weekend experience at Nebraska. One recruit mentioned to me that he had been to a spring game that had just 5,000 fans and was at a regular season game that had just 20,000 fans, so getting 50,000 for a scrimmage was amazing.

The recruit reaction to the current facilities and the new facilities were a little inconsistent, but understandably so. A couple of the reactions wondered why Nebraska was building new facilities when their current facilities still looked brand new. While another recruit brought up that every D1 school had nice facilities and it wouldn’t really play a role in their decision.

I would expect quite a few of the 2023 recruits to make it back to Lincoln one way or another over the next several months. Many of them were talking about coming back on their own dime for another unofficial visit ahead of taking an official visit in the fall or flipping those two trips around (official in June and unofficial visit in the fall).

One of the recruits that started his visit to Nebraska Friday night and I felt might eventually commit was Kansas City (Mo.) North Kansas City defensive tackle Edric Hill. I have put in my futurecast for Hill, as well as for Joshua Horton. I put in my pick for Horton a little bit ahead of his ‘8’ rating for the weekend which was a little disappointing to hear him say.

Last, but certainly not least, was the offer to Brock Knutson. I am sure this staff is excited they have a good year for in-state offensive lineman finally, and Knutson can make a serious challenge of being the best of the bunch. He is very athletic for a man his size and he looks like the kind of player that could add 25 pounds and you wonder where it went. This more than likely means Nebraska will look at taking as many as four offensive lineman if they could add Knutson and potentially another, bigger offensive tackle.

– Bryan Munson

Through good times and bad times, and lately, they’ve been mostly bad, Nebraska Cornhusker football fans continue to distinguish themselves as one of the program’s biggest assets in recruiting.

Having 55,000 people in attendance for a spring game, after five consecutive losing seasons with no bowl games, is simply astonishing when you really think about it.

But such was the case on Saturday, and it made a huge impression on the star-studded group of recruits who were in Lincoln to attend the game. The Red-White scrimmage was undoubtedly the biggest recruiting weekend Nebraska has had in quite some time; and probably the most mentioned highlight when we spoke to the NU recruiting targets after the game was the Husker fan base.

Just a few of the notable comments from Saturday’s visitors are below.

“It’s the only major sport in the state. A lot of people support the team. The stadium was full. Other games in other stadiums are lucky to get 20,000 fans and there were 50,000 this weekend… The fan attendance for the spring game [was the highlight]. Football isn’t in season and people are out doing other things and supporting other sports, but there were 50,000 fans there today to see some two-handed touch football for one half and then just a little live football. It showed me that just for a little bit everyone wanted to come and watch their team again.”

“For a spring game, I think 54,000 fans, or whatever they were, is a pretty good outcome. So, they really brought the energy and the coaches were fired up.”

“The personal highlight for me was really seeing like how much the fans support the team. Even at a practice like a spring game, there were so many people. It was just a good atmosphere. Their fans are really good supporters of their program.”

“It’s a loyal fan base, a loyal school. It’s a diehard fan base. I can tell the way they turned out for the spring game. Also, the coaching staff gets along great with their players and just wants the best for them.”

“It was cool! The atmosphere was crazy for it just being the spring game and all of the fans that were there… I have been to a lot of schools and they are all a little similar and a little different. The game and the fans were big.”

“The environment? Wow. 60,000 fans at a spring game is crazy. I have been to other spring games and the most that were at those games was 5,000 people… Everybody in Nebraska is for Nebraska. It’s not like Georgia where you have Bulldog fans, Jacket fans, Alabama and Auburn fans. Here it’s only Nebraska.”

For whatever reason, the Nebraska staff chose not to host many recruiting visitors during the regular season last year. I think Coach Frost and crew know by now what a shortsighted mistake that was.

It ended up costing them dearly when it came to the lackluster results last cycle on the recruiting trail. I doubt we will see that mistake made again this season or beyond.

When so many schools have caught up to Nebraska with facilities and other amenities, one thing they cannot match is the loyal and passionate fan base of Husker Nation. They came up big for the football program again on Saturday, and it will no doubt pay dividends with eventual commitments from some of the recruits in attendance.

– Mike Matya

Nebraska did extend an offer to in-state offensive lineman Brock Knutson, but the real story of the weekend was Nebraska offering a number of 2024 prospects. It’s great to see the Husker staff looking a little bit down the road knowing there may be only around 10 or so additional players added to the 2023 class outside of portal transfers.

Unlike other years, there was a chance for some of the recruits to get back into the coaching offices following the game and talk to the staff. Three of the juniors in attendance left Memorial Stadium with an offer from the Huskers.

Bentancur was a slam dunk to get an offer once we had previewed the list earlier in the week. The 6-foot-5 and 230-pound tight end, from Woodstock (Ill.) Marian Central Catholic, was only holding an Iowa State offer before the Nebraska offer, but he had a huge sophomore year. As a junior, Bentancur had 53 receptions, 1165 yards receiving and 16 touchdowns. I expect the offer total to grow for Bentancur who will be visiting Northwestern, Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa in the coming weeks.

I literally caught up with Hart on Tuesday night and will have a full update from him recapping his visit to Lincoln later in the week. The talented junior running back had over 1,200 all-purpose yards and 15 touchdowns last season as a sophomore. His reaction to the visit indicated the Huskers really impressed him with their fans, the coaches and the offense. There are no more upcoming trips scheduled for Hart at the moment, but he did say he wanted to make it back to Nebraska again to get a better understanding about the academics and take a better look around campus.

Tuerk is going to be an interesting one to keep an eye on. He’s already ten pounds over his listed weight in his Rivals profile indicating he’s looking more like a defensive tackle (either three technique or two technique) with the possibility of playing some base end in a 3-4 as a four technique. The Nebraska staff held nothing back with Tuerk, telling him that they have been able to get offensive linemen from the area, but not big-bodied defensive linemen. Tuerk was at Cincinnati yesterday and is planning on taking a visit to Illinois next weekend, and possibly Minnesota in the coming weeks.

Williams may have been my favorite interview of the weekend and that’s saying something because of how many players Mike and I caught up with and because I had to wait until Monday to catch up with him. Williams left Lincoln after getting the offer on Saturday night, went to Kansas City and won camp MVP at an UnderArmour Combine. The best line from Williams was he thought it would just be cornfields in Lincoln because of the mascot and be more like Iowa. I literally laughed out loud when he said that. Williams wants to get back to Nebraska, but has plans to visit to a number of schools during the month of June. Either trying to earn an offer or to work out for the schools and the coaches that have already offered him so he can get an understanding for how they coach.

Nebraska is working ahead since things are going right in the current class. It’s another obvious indicator that things have really changed among the staff and in the recruiting office to try and keep the ball rolling for the coming classes.

– Bryan Munson