Will Isaiah McMorris commit to Nebraska? ‘They really want me’

And Niles Paul knows a thing or two about playing receiver for the Huskers.

“He’s just been telling me he loved Nebraska,” the 6-foot, 170-pound receiver said this week. “He wants me to go to Nebraska.”

Many people around McMorris want that. And they ask him about it with regularity, too, especially since Bellevue West quarterback Danny Kaelin flipped his commitment from Missouri to NU. McMorris laughs recalling how often he’s asked what he’ll do now that Kaelin is a Husker. He finds the question “more funny than annoying” as he mulls over his college options.

“That’d be like icing on the cake, being at a school with your QB,” McMorris said. “You already have chemistry.”

After a spectacular junior season — 90 catches, 1,297 yards, 14 touchdowns — the three-star prospect has interest in and scholarship offers from Penn State, Oklahoma and USC. But McMorris hasn’t scheduled official visits to those schools yet. He has an official trip planned to NU for June 23, but he’s now also going to Lincoln on Saturday for a camp workout with Nebraska’s staff.

Husker coach Matt Rhule and assistants spent the week near and in Houston working satellite camps, offering 2024 receiver VanKeith Brown and several more in 2025. NU appears also to be in good shape with recent official visitor Jacory Barney. Given McMorris won’t work out June 23 for coaches — there’s no camp that day — Saturday offers Nebraska the chance to see him live and for him to work with position coaches.

“They tell me they need, and with my skill set what it is, I could be all around the field, not just one position,” McMorris said. “I could come out of the backfield, play running back. Just a do-it-all receiver. They really want me to be a Husker.”

Nebraska took six receivers in its 2023 class — several with season stat lines nowhere near that of McMorris — almost out of necessity, given the exodus of receivers from the program in the spring. NU has three scholarship seniors — all transfers — and two older guys, Zavier Betts and Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda, who rejoined the team this spring after leaving it.

The Huskers have yet to land a receiver in the 2024 class although two commits with the “athlete” designation — Roger Gradney and Keelan Smith — could play wideout in a pinch. For now, Gradney projects to safety with Smith, the son of former Husker Neil Smith, at tight end or edge rusher.

* Another Bellevue West receiver, Dae’vonn Hall, won’t be visiting Nebraska on June 23. He and NU are parting ways in the recruiting process as Hall looks at SEC schools such as Mississippi, Texas A&M and Arkansas. He camped last weekend at Tennessee in search of an offer; he said earlier this week he was waiting to hear back from the Volunteers.

* Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) quarterback Stone Saunders returns to NU this weekend for an unofficial visit. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound Saunders has a Husker offer and several more; Kentucky, Miami and Iowa are near the top of his interest list. Saunders has thrown for 6,620 yards and 100 touchdowns.

* Six days after getting a scholarship offer from Iowa, Creighton Prep tight end Michael Burt will officially visit the school. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound Junior Jay is then scheduled to attend a Nebraska team camp that starts Sunday in Lincoln.