According to the Omaha World Herald, Branson Yager is sold. Nebraska has virtually everything he’s looking for.
“Virtually” is the key word, because the offensive lineman from Grantsville, Utah, still hasn’t physically been to campus. But the 6-foot-7, 332-pound three-star prospect saw enough since the Huskers offered him a scholarship six weeks ago to make things public Monday night, committing as the fifth known member of NU’s 2021 class.
The fan base is “insane,” Yager said. His head coach and position coach — Scott Frost and Greg Austin — are both alumni. The new facilities are impressive. Plus, he has grandparents and other family 350 miles away in Scott City, Kansas, a place he still visits two or three times a year. The lineman is a hunter who knows the Midwest well.
Yager was supposed to tour Nebraska last month before recruiting shutdowns set in related to the coronavirus pandemic. After talking things over with his family last weekend, he decided not to let circumstances affect his process further.
“I was hoping to hold off until I get a chance to go visit, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen anytime soon,” Yager told The World-Herald. “So I’m not going to hold back on something that I know is right and lose my chance. It’s what I want. Since they offered me, they were my No. 1.”
Iowa State was “super close” as a finalist, Yager said, and he also added offers from Virginia, Vanderbilt and California in recent weeks. Ranked No. 127 among offensive tackles in his class according to 247Sports, he becomes NU’s second pledge since the shutdowns and first since inside linebacker Christopher Paul of Georgia on March 20. He’s the third O-line commit in the group including Elkhorn South’s Teddy Prochazka and Henry Lutovsky of Mount Pleasant, Iowa.
“I truly believe that in the next couple years Nebraska is going to make a huge statement,” Yager said. “And we’re going to leave all the guys that have doubt in the dust.”
