With another class complete, Scott Frost finds comfort in Huskers’ improvement in one year

With another class complete, Scott Frost finds comfort in Huskers’ improvement in one year
Scott Frost was all smiles as he discussed his 2019 recruiting class and the progress his program has made in the last year. CHRIS MACHIAN/THE WORLD-HERALD

LINCOLN — This was a signing day free of tension. At times Wednesday, the same appeared true of Scott Frost.

The coach turned a question about a player’s weight back on one reporter, jokingly asking him how much he weighed. He deadpanned about spending a nice Christmas with family during bowl season, but he doesn’t “ever want it to happen again.” He commented on the photographers trying to capture all of his facial expressions.

“How come every time I smile you guys start taking pictures?” Frost asked, drawing chuckles on the sixth floor of Memorial Stadium.

It was all a far cry from the uncertainty of last year, when nine players considering Nebraska went to the wire with their college choices. NU added one new commit Wednesday — its first since the early signing period seven weeks ago — when Oklahoma City Millwood receiver Demariyon Houston tweeted “IT’S BIG RED BABY” at 10 a.m.

The 27-man scholarship class doesn’t include longtime junior college commit Desmond Bland — academics factored into his expected absence — or running back John Bivens, who officially visited last month but remains unsigned. Other official visitors like Georgia cornerbacks Jamel Starks (Louisville) and Tavian Mayo (West Virginia) signed elsewhere as anticipated. Linebacker Eugene Asante inked with North Carolina after listing NU among his finalists.

Frost said Houston, a composite three-star prospect, has “legitimate speed” at a position where Nebraska needs more depth.

“That was one of our priorities, to get some guys we can start bringing along and developing,” Frost said. “We felt we could use one more and we were glad he was available.”

But the coach reiterated during his 26-minute press conference that most of the work was done weeks ago. Nebraska missed on a few late targets — most notably outside linebackers Dylan Jordan and Steven Parker — yet will still finish with a group ranked around the top 20 nationally.

Now, Frost said, the Huskers are maybe a half-cycle behind in recruiting, instead of two years like they were when he arrived. Not only have they locked down a class heavy on talent and numbers, but they also resisted the urge to “reach” on additional prospects they hadn’t fully vetted. NU didn’t issue any new offers to 2019 players after December and brought in seven official visitors in January, though only one eventually signed.

“We’re getting a heck of a lot closer,” Frost said. “But going into this recruiting (class), I wanted to take the best players I could, and try to help our team as much as we could, knowing that we weren’t going to be able to fill all the holes and get all the pieces that we want in one year.”

Some of those gaps could be addressed by a class of 23 walk-ons, including 20 from Nebraska. Frost said he looks for walk-ons who are good people with athletic potential. The more the better. Frost estimates that the roster size will settle around a number in the low 150s.

“I expect great things out of these walk-ons, kids that we’re bringing in,” Frost said. “We brought a bunch in in the last two classes. I think it will be very soon when some of those guys start helping us, and down the road a little further I think a lot of those guys are going to contribute, play and hopefully start for us.”

As Frost smiled and cameras clicked, optimism trickled into other topics, as well. The return to health of multiple redshirt freshmen who sat out last year like Cam Jurgens and Tate Wildeman. The strength and conditioning progress that has NU “starting from a good spot” instead of square one. The vibe among players, who are around each other and the coaches more often.

“The attitudes I see and the camaraderie that I see isn’t even on the same level,” Frost said. “Not even close to where it was a year ago.”

Huskers are making serious gains in the weight room, and getting healthier too

Nebraska coach Scott Frost already knows there are massive changes going on inside his program.

He can tell by looking through the windows of his office overlooking the weight room.

“Last year we had guys who couldn’t even get through workouts that had no idea how hard we wanted them to work, and weren’t motivated to do it,” Frost said.

There’s no trace of that this year. Frost loves what he sees in workouts and the new look of his players’ bodies.

“Love even more the attitude I’m seeing down there,” Frost said. “That’s where you can transform your team, make it bigger, faster, stronger, make it tougher and more close-knit.”

The work inside the weight room also spills out into the hallways of Memorial Stadium. The guys are around the offices more, Frost said. They’re smiling and joking. Everyone seems excited for spring ball in five weeks.

“That’s a far cry from where we were,” Frost said. “When I walked into the first team meeting room you could have heard a pin drop in there. That’s not the team I wanna coach.

“I want a team when I walk into the team meeting room they’re having fun and chatting it up and loving being around each other, and then they can dial it in and get to work. The attitudes I see and the camaraderie that I see isn’t even on the same level. Not even close to where it was a year ago.”

Huskers get healthier

Nebraska is adding more than 25 scholarship players to its roster, but that doesn’t even include a handful of redshirt freshmen returning from injuries.

Frost said defensive lineman Tate Wildeman is looking great after dealing with a knee injury last fall. Safety Cam’ron Jones is back after shoulder surgery. Defensive end Casey Rogers has also recovered from his shoulder injury, and he’s putting on weight, too.

Junior receiver JD Spielman, who missed the Iowa game with a high ankle sprain, is also back, Frost said.

The only player not back yet is safety CJ Smith, who was hurt during his only appearance in a game against Northwestern. His return may take a little longer, Frost said.

Frost nicknamed all those injured freshman the “Black Sweatshirt Posse.”

“They all sat in the same place on the wall during practice wearing the same hooded sweatshirt. Usually the same one I had on, so I went over and joined them from time to time,” Frost said. “Those are some talented kids, and I get a little upset looking over how much talent we had sitting on the wall. And it’s been an unfortunate set of circumstances with those kids.”

With all of them back, Frost said, it is almost like six more recruits joining the team.

“Anxious to put all those pieces together,” Frost said. “Those guys are going to make a difference in our team if they approach this the right way.”

Quarterback brotherhood

Frost said he often talked with former Husker Zac Taylor when he was at Nebraska from 2005-06. Taylor was named this week as the next coach of the Cincinnati Bengals.

“There’s kind of a Nebraska quarterback brotherhood that exists with most of us,” Frost said.

Frost wished Taylor good luck with his new job, calling Taylor “a football guy.”

“He’ll give me a reason to try to root for him and Cincinnati a little bit,” Frost said. “We wish him nothing but the best.”

No more Christmases at home

Thanks to a 4-8 record, Nebraska missed bowl season for the second straight year, the first time that’s happened since the 1960s.

It didn’t sit well with Frost, who took Central Florida to bowls in both years there and was a regular in New Year’s Six Bowls with Oregon.

“I’m not used to having Christmas off,” Frost said. “It was nice being with family, I don’t ever want it to happen again.”

Frost said he was encouraged with the Big Ten’s showing during bowl season. Especially when he considers Nebraska took a lot of those teams to the brink.

“There’s some really good performances with Big Ten teams that we battled with and played well with, and in some cases had a chance to win or won the games,” Frost said. “It lets me know that even though the program wasn’t anywhere near where I want it yet at the end of last season, that maybe we’re not that far away. And I think that can be a beacon for hope for all of us as we’re working hard this offseason.”

Scott Frost discusses NU’s 2019 class, says ‘these guys are ready to have a lot of fun”

Nebraska coach Scott Frost addressed the media to recap the 2019 recruiting class. Check out a transcript below, as provided courtesy of the Nebraska athletic department.

* * *

On his approach in the last month of recruiting the last few spots

“In the January recruiting cycle, we wanted to look around and take a look and see if we thought anybody fit us and if they did take our best swing at them. This year was different than last year. Last year, there was quite a bit of really good players still available after the first signing day. This year, there weren’t near as many and the guys that were got recruited by everybody. I’ve been doing this long enough to know that sometimes when you want to just take another guy or two to fill a spot, those don’t turn out as good as often as guys you’ve recruited and know well. So, we did our best to get to know some guys and take some looks at some guys that we thought might still be able to help at certain positions but we weren’t going to reach and take guys just to take them.”

On future approaches

“I think this is probably where we’ll land going forward and I think most people will. I think people are landing there because that’s the trend right now. Like I said last year, there was a good number of good players that didn’t sign. There were still some last year, but not the same numbers. If this year is any indication, most people are going to sign their classes early and you better have the guys in the boat that you really want with a few spots in your back pocket if you’re doing it right.”

On if he feels caught up on the recruiting cycle

“Just being honest, when you come in as a new coach you’re two years behind because you’re just trying to come in here. We were just starting to look at 2019 guys last year that we could get to Nebraska in December. We’re a lot farther down the road now, looking at 2020s already in January, some 2021s. We’re probably still a half a cycle behind, but that’s going to be easy to catch the rest of the way up in May, having already looked at some young kids in May recruiting. We can be a little bit more specific with some of the targets we’ve already found and we’ll probably be able to get even farther ahead with the 2021 class.”

On how he feels about the numbers by position group

“There’s nothing about what we’re trying to do that can get fixed at the drop of a hat. Coming in, there was a couple of position groups that were desperately low with scholarship players and players in general. There were some things we had to fix to get them the way we wanted them. We’re getting a heck of a lot closer, but going into this recruiting cycle I wanted to take the best players I could and try to help our team as much as we could knowing we weren’t going to be able to fill all the holes and get all the pieces that we want in one year.”

On Demariyon Houston

“I say this about a lot of the guys, but first thing is that we really liked him as a person, really enjoyed his family. Demariyon is a kid that can really run. Our offense, as long as I’ve been in it, has been really successful and dangerous when we have a bunch of people that are weapons and can do a lot with the ball in their hands. Demariyon’s got legitimate speed, was a good player on both sides of the ball and returning kicks down in Oklahoma. Receiver was one of the areas that we were way below the number of players that we need or would like to have when we walked into the door a year ago. That was one of our priorities, to get some guys in and bring them along and start developing. We felt like we could use one more and we were glad he was available.”

On his specific ideal number of receivers

“I don’t want to get into specifics, but we have a baseline number for how many outside backers, inside backers, D-Line and so forth that we’d like to have on scholarship. It’s never exact, you’re always one over at one spot, one under at another spot, but we’re getting a lot closer to where we need to be from a depth standpoint.”

On the playmakers still on the roster

“Losing Stanley (Morgan) is going to be tough to replace. He was a great player around here for a long time, gosh I enjoyed being around him for a year. Hopefully, some of these young guys that we brought in can help fill the gap. There are some guys on campus that I’m expecting to make huge jumps this year. A lot of times, the first year in a system, some kids don’t quite flourish and they make a huge jump in year two. There’s a bunch of guys already on the roster from (Jaevon) McQuitty, to (Jaron Woodyard) Woody to Mike (Williams) to Andre Hunt, to even some walk-ons like (Wyatt) Liewer and (Bennett) Folkers. There are a bunch of guys that I think can take a step forward and help us next year. There’s a bunch of candidates to get us with three-four good wide receivers on the field and I feel a lot better about that than I did a year ago.”

On Noa Pola-Gates

“We fought hard for a lot of our commits, a lot of guys put a lot of time in for these guys and I tip my cap to the coaching staff. Coach Fisher, Coach Chinander, Coach Held, Coach Verduzco and Coach Dawson were all involved in recruiting him. I think he felt at home here, I think he felt like this was a good opportunity. He’s a dynamic playmaker, he’s aggressive. You saw him hit on Wandale (Robinson) in the All-Star Game and you could kind of see what both kids are made of from that play and that game in general. I love that we’re adding more speed, I love the attitudes that we’re adding, I like the toughness we’re adding and Noa certainly is a part of that. He signed in December, and we kept it under our hat as best we could to allow him to announce it at the Polynesian game the way he wanted to, but he’s a big addition for us.”

On handling the transparency of the transfer market

“The first thing I’m anxious about is the transfer portal is going to be old news very soon, as many kids that are going to put their name in. Obviously we’ve had some kids go in. There’s going to be different circumstances. We had one kid go in that just wanted to look around, but his heart was here and we welcomed him back. I think it’s going to be more and more important for coaches to have great relationships with their kids and have a building that everybody wants to be in and keep everybody happy so you don’t lose them. But there’s going to be kids from all over the country in that portal. I think it’s going to be important to have a spot or two in your back pocket in case the right kid becomes available. For us, it’s got to be the right kid. It’s got to be someone that’s going to fit on our team and it’s somebody that’s talented enough to help us. We’ll certainly keep our eye on that and we have some flexibility to take one or two of those if the situation arises.”

On Darrion Daniels’ potential as a leader

“Well, you don’t become a captain of a team unless you’re a good teammate, and we want kids who are good teammates. I think he was anxious to play with his brother for a year. His brother kept hinting at it and we kept telling him we couldn’t do anything until the season was over, and if he put his name in the transfer portal. After he did, honestly it happened really fast and this is where he wanted to be. So we were glad to add a piece on our defensive line and I think he’s going to help us.”

On what he wants to see out of Dedrick Mills right away

“Devine [Ozigbo] ended up being such a big piece for us last year. I think he surprised everybody, maybe even including himself, in how well he performed this year. I think he’s got a future in football. That’s tough to replace. That being said, I think the group we have, led by Mo Washington and some other young guys, are going to make that position more talented than it has been. But we’re going to be really young, so we felt like we needed to add somebody that maybe had some experience. Getting to know Dedrick, he’s taken an unusual path to get where he is, but we really enjoyed being around him and getting to know him and seeing what he’s fought through. He’s got some work to do to get here, but we feel confident it’s going to get done. He’s more of an every-down back, somebody that’s older and hopefully a little more durable, and a very talented player. So we need to get him here and evaluate all that, but we’re excited about him.”

On the talent that defensive backs Coach Travis Fisher now has to work with

“T-Fish has had great players everywhere he’s been. He does a great job managing his room, he does a great job recruiting to get talent in his room. That’s going to be a really talented group of kids. There’s some older guys with Dicaprio [Bootle], with Deontai [Williams]. There’s going to be a lot of young talent, too. So some of those old guys are going to have to keep playing well. They’re going to have to compete a little more and they’re going to have to show that they can be leaders. Some of the young guys were anxious to get in here and let them run around and compete. I think that’s going to be a deeper unit than we’ve had. To be honest with you, that group struggled a little bit to adapt to the way we wanted to do things early on in the year. The message to me coming out of the weight room is that group’s about the best one in the weight room right now. Between the strength and conditioning group and Coach Fish and Coach Chinander, I think that group’s in a really good place and will be for a while.”

On what has impressed him in the strength and conditioning program

“Well my office overlooks the weight room, so I don’t get to see a lot but I can look down and watch them working out. Last year, we had guys that couldn’t even get through workouts that had no idea how hard we wanted them to work, and weren’t motivated to do it. Looking down this year, we’re not starting from square one this year. We’re starting in a good spot. I love what I see. I love the good weight that people have put on. I love the look of the bodies and I love even more the attitude that I’m seeing down there. So that’s where you can really transform your team and make it bigger, faster, stronger, and more importantly make it tougher and more close-knit. I see really good things happening in there.”

On his opinion of the depth at center moving forward

“We’re going to have an open competition at center. Obviously Will Farniok is coming back. Hunter Miller has a chance. I think there’s some guys playing guard right now that we’re going to have to have snap the ball some to give us options with those guys. Obviously Cam Jurgens moving there is going to be a piece of that, too. So there’s going to be open competitions at every spot and there’s going to be some interesting ones in the spring, and center is definitely one of them.”

On the challenges of recruiting quarterbacks after sophomore Adrian Martinez’s impressive performance

“When we had Marcus Mariota at Oregon, it was kind of tough to get the right guy for a couple years. I think everybody could see what he was, and I don’t know if you were necessarily going to sign the best kid in the country the next year after he had started as a redshirt freshman. With that being said, here, Luke [McCaffrey] was one of our top guys on our board from the beginning. He’s a type of kid who’s not afraid of competition. I can’t believe how quickly he’s come in here and learned stuff, how hard he’s been working and how excited he is. So I think we got a really good one in this class. We’ve got one coming in already for [the] next class that I can’t talk about. You’re not going to find an Adrian [Martinez] every day, but I love the kids that we’re adding, including at that position.”

On leaders in the class and how to recruit for character

“To be honest with you I think that getting to know kids and getting an honest evaluation of their character on top of their talent leads you to getting the right type of kid. I think the way we recruit lends itself to us getting those type of kids. I think those type of kids are attracted to my coaching staff and the guys in our building because when they get to know us they see the character of these assistant coaches and other people and those are the kind of people they want to be around. I think they see the honesty in the way we recruit them, the genuine nature in the way that we approach it and that appeals to the right type of kid. I don’t know if I have seen an incoming class in my career that has me as excited [as this one.] From that standpoint, you can go across the board as see kids that were winners in high school, were team captains in high school, were in state championships that were in playoff games and semifinal games and state championships. I don’t think we are going to be short on leadership from this class.”

On any specific players he sees as a future leader

“Yeah almost every single one. I could just address the guys that are already on campus. I don’t know if I have seen a kid work harder in an offseason to learn an offseason than Luke (McCaffrey) and he has been kind of a little bit of the ring-leader of that group already. Wandale (Robinson) is kind of the same way, coming in and learning and he is going to be able to play more than one position in his first year because of the way he learns and the way he approaches things. Nick Henrich is cerebral and smart and a problem-solver and tough and I know he is going to be a leader on defense. Garret Nelson is a wild man, I love it. His energy is going to lead us in some good directions. Chris Hickman, same way. Brant Banks, same way. Jamie Nance is doing a good job. So, all these kids that are here I think have leadership potential. The great thing is they’re not the only ones and we have some more coming.”

On the redshirts and injuries

“Touching on a few of them, Tate Wildeman is looking great, he was dealing with a knee last fall. Cam[‘ron] Jones, had a shoulder [injury] and he is doing great in the weight room right now. Casey Rogers had a shoulder [injury], he is doing a great job and putting on weight. CJ Smith is the one that got hurt in the middle of the season and that might take a little longer. For the most part, all the other guys that we didn’t have last season are up and going. Man, those guys are going to make a difference in the team if they can approach this in the right way.”

On the advantage of certain players not playing the end of the season

“We will find out at spring ball how much work they were doing. I called them the ‘black sweatshirt posse’ because they all sat on the same place on the wall during practice, wearing the same hooded sweatshirt. Usually, the same one I had on so I went over and joined them from time to time. Those guys are driven. I mentioned Tate (Wildeman) and Casey (Rogers), Cam Jurgens, Cam[‘ron] Jones, Braxton (Clark) was over there a little bit. There are some really talented kids and I would get a little upset looking over at how much talent we had sitting on the wall. It was kind of just an unfortunate set of circumstances for those kids. That is going to be almost like getting four or five or six more recruits in this class and guys that already have experience with our team. So, I am anxious to put all those pieces together.”

On positivity for freshman that redshirt

“Yes. First years are hard. It is different for someone who Adrian (Martinez) or someone like that who comes in and plays, that is rare. For the guys that have to redshirt, you are used to being a high school superstar and a junior high superstar and Pop Warner superstar and you come to a place and you don’t even get to play the game, you’re just practicing. It can be hard on some kids. Some kids use it the right way and take advantage of that year and really get bigger, stronger, faster, and learn scheme and they come back even better. Some other kids struggle a little more. The great thing is that I think we are going to get all our guys through that and they’re all in a really good place right now.”

On Maurice Washington’s weight

“I have to be honest with you, I haven’t seen Mo (Maurice Washington) since I have been off the road. I am sick of traveling and I am anxious to see him. I know (Head Strength and Conditioning Coach) Zach (Duval) is working hard with him and (Director of Performance Nutrition) Dave Eilis is working with him. And he is not alone, there are a lot of guys that we need to get bigger and stronger and to mature. I know how special Maurice could be if he was 200 to 210 pounds and he certainly didn’t come in at that weight. We are working hard with him, I think his biggest issue is making sure he is eating right and the nutrition side of it because he is working his butt of in the weight room.”

On growing the roster

“Yeah, we want to grow the roster again. That was one of the secret sauces around here for a long time. Kenny Wilhite has done a great job with that. Trent Mossbrucker in our recruiting department, Gerrod Lambrecht has done a great job with that. I expect great things out of these walk-ons. Kids that we’re bringing in, we’ve brought a bunch in, in these last two classes. I think it’ll be very soon when some of those guys start helping us and down the road a little further, I think a lot of those guys are going to contribute playing and hopefully start for us. But, I’m not going to just let guys be on the team just to be on the team either. So, it’s going to be competitive just like your opportunity to be a starter at the university is competitive. That will put us in a really good place of where we have the right type of kids. Kids that are on the team for the right reasons and hungry to be here.”

On roster total

“We kind of have a clearance to be in the 150s, and probably low 150s. I imagine there might be a little attrition. There might be some guys that don’t end up making it and some other things. Some guys that graduate and move on. We’ll deal with that as the situations arises. I imagine we’ll end up in the 150s somewhere.”

On the right guy

“I want good people, and I want athletic potential. Some of the guys we have are big and have huge frames and are good athletes. Spencer Long is just a great example of what we’re looking for. He’s a guy that was a tight end. I don’t think he ran quite long enough to be an NFL tight end, but he had a huge frame and a really good athlete. A guy in this program got in strength conditioning and ends up being a great player in the NFL. Not every guy has to be an over O or D-Lineman, but I certainly think there’s a lot of those running around the Midwest and Nebraska, certainly looking for other positions, too. If guys are going to play here, it’s going to get harder and harder to play here and they better have some really good athleticism about them and better have a high upside. If they do, we’ll get them in the weight room, with the right attitude and they’ll hit the field.”

On being more selective with walk-ons

“Moving forward, I hope we can afford to take that many numbers and we’ll see where we can get our total roster to. We’re going to start to get a little more selective. With that being said, if there is a great player in the state of Nebraska or surrounding states, and they want to be at Nebraska, and we’ll find a way. We’re starting to get a lot of things about the roster where we wanted, including roster size and some guys we can really look forward to developing because we think they’re going to help us from the walk-on program.”

On Big Ten teams in bowl games

“I’m not used to having Christmas off. It was nice to be with family. I don’t ever want it to ever happen again. I’ve said this before, I’ve never been so anxious to get started the next year like I was at the end of this past season. Our entire team had that attitude. It was great to see the Big Ten have good success from bowls. There was some really good performances by Big Ten teams that we’ve battled with and played well with. In some cases, had the chance to win or won the games. It lets me know that even though the program wasn’t anywhere near where I wanted it at the end of last season, maybe we’re not that far away. I think that can be a beacon of hope for all of us as we’re working really hard this offseason.”

On relationship with Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor

“I know Zac (Taylor) pretty well. I would actually talk to Zac when he was playing here. It’s kind of a Nebraska quarterback brotherhood that exists with most of us. Zac married the daughter of my head coach when I was in Green Bay. Coach Sherman’s daughter would be at practice in Green Bay. All I know about Zac is that he is a football guy. Everything I’ve ever heard about him is how much he loves the game, so he would be a reason to try and root for him and Cincinnati a little bit, and we wish him nothing but the best.”

On attitude this year versus last year

“The biggest difference I see is how kids walk onto our floor more often. They are around the coaches, they have smiles on their faces. I think everybody is excited, and that’s a far cry from where we were. I walked into the first team meeting room, and you could’ve heard a pin drop in there. That’s not the team I want to coach. I want a team to where I walk into the team meeting room and they ‘re having fun and chatting it up and love being around each other and then they can dial it in and get to work. The attitudes that I see and the camaraderie that I see isn’t even on the same level, not even close to where it was a year ago. I give credit to all of the assistant coaches that are working with them every day. I think these guys are ready to have a lot of fun.”

On JD Spielman

“I saw him this morning. He was going to class, I think. He had a high ankle sprain, don’t need to say much more about it. He was so close to playing in the Iowa game, but just couldn’t change direction well enough to trust him out there.”

Huskers finish with highest recruiting class ranking in eight years

Now that the dust has settled on another recruiting cycle, it’s time to see how the Huskers fared in the team rankings.

The 2019 class, at least based on rankings, is the Huskers’ best in eight years. They finished in the top 18 of all three major services (247Sports, Rivals and ESPN) and in the top 20 of the composite rankings produced by 247. Here’s the breakdown:

Composite: No. 20 (fourth in Big Ten)

247Sports: No. 17 (fourth)

Rivals: No. 16 (third)

ESPN: No. 18 (fourth)

Of those services, Rivals has the most extensive rankings database as it first began ranking recruits with the 2002 class. This is only the fourth time in that span that Nebraska has finished in the top 16 on Rivals. The Huskers were No. 15 in 2011, No. 13 in 2007 and No. 5 in 2005.

On ESPN, which started recruiting rankings in 2006, this is the second-highest result for the Huskers, which have only cracked the top 20 twice. They were No. 17 in 2011.

The newest of the bunch is 247Sports, which launched its rankings in 2010. At No. 17 this year, that’s the second-best ranking for the Huskers on that site after landing at No. 16 in 2011.

As for stars, 15 of the Huskers’ 25 high school signees received a four-star rating from at least one service. And of those 15, five were consensus four-stars, meaning they held that rating from 247, Rivals and ESPN. They were: Wandale Robinson, Noa Pola-Gates, Bryce Benhart, Nick Henrich and Ty Robinson.

Husker spring game tickets are going fast with only a few thousand left

As of Thursday afternoon, about 2,900 tickets still remained for the Nebraska football spring game, an NU spokesman said Thursday, though sales have been brisk.

NU allowed Husker season ticket holders to start buying spring game tickets on Tuesday. Then Nebraska opened up the market Wednesday to the general public. A spokesman said Nebraska sold 25,000 tickets over seven hours to the general public on Wednesday.

Wednesday night, Nebraska football coaches noted on Twitter that the school had sold 80,000 tickets because only 7,100 remained, but a Nebraska official did not confirm that figure, citing only the 25,000 sold Wednesday.

As of Thursday morning, tickets to the spring game were still available and being advertised on NU’s ticket hotline. Assistant Athletic Director for Ticketing Holly Adam was not immediately available for comment.

Last year’s spring game, the first for Husker coach Scott Frost, broke the school’s attendance record with 86,818 purchased tickets.

Record-breaking Husker receiver Stanley Morgan catches invite to NFL combine

Former Nebraska receiver Stanley Morgan received an invite to the NFL combine.

The 6-foot-1, 195-pound Morgan, who holds the all-time Husker receiving record, finished his college career with 2,747 receiving yards and 22 touchdowns. In 2018, he became the first Husker to eclipse 1,000 receiving yards in a single season.

Morgan also caught a pass in 38 consecutive games, breaking a record previously held by Johnny Rodgers.

Morgan was the lone Husker to receive an invite to the combine.

Here’s analysis from Lance Zierlein from Morgan’s player card on NFL.com:

“While some scouts see Morgan as ‘just a guy’ with average size and athleticism who fails to stand out as a prospect, others may appreciate his professional approach to the position and competitive demeanor. He’s best judged by the sum of his parts, which takes into account his toughness and durability, as well. He doesn’t open wide catch windows, but his ball skills and ability to haul in contested catches tend to make up for it. He could start off as a WR4/5 but has the chance to find playing time as he works his way up.”

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