Husker Recruiting: The 500 Mile Radius For 2014 So Far

As this piece was going into the editor, the word came down that Luke Gifford will be joined by Jason Hall as the first two commitments to the 2014 Nebraska recruiting class.

While another commit is good to have, there is some concern by some people that for the amount of offers that Nebraska has extended, there's very little return on investment so far. Checking the Corn Flakes through the last couple of weeks, you can see that Nebraska is offering a lot of kids. A whole hell of a lot of them. So many that ESPN has the number of them at roughly 150. Now, that's a lot considering we're not even at Big Red Weekend yet, but we're not going to concentrate on the whole damn country, rather the thing that Nebraska should be owning. Yes, my friends, it's our narrative known as the 500 mile radius!

Why are we talking about this? Well, in the 2014 cycle, the talent level is a pretty good one, better than in most seasons. I've tried to link first names and such to every player available.

Now, while this is one opinion, obviously I have tried to get everything and everyone down in the post below. There are some parameters in this, so lets go over them real quick:

- Below is listed all recruits rated 5.7 or higher within a 500 mile radius of zip code 68588 (according to rivals.com map feature) & those with a Nebraska offer in that radius that are rated lower than 5.7.

- No JUCO’s are listed in this.

- Prospects were ranked at the position listed by rivals, this may not match the position that Nebraska/other schools are recruiting them for.

- All Pro & Dual QB are listed as QB’s. All APB, RB, & FB are listed as RB’s. All OT, OG, OC are listed as OL. All WDE & SDE are listed as DE’s. All ILB & OLB are listed as LB’s.

- Please forgive if there is a missed a visit or miscounted. However, there's no real changing the data by one or even two misses.

QB

David Cornwell: Norman, OK. 4 star 10+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has not offered

Dimonic McKinzy: Kansas City, KS. 3 star 4 BCS offers. Minnesota verbal. Nebraska did offer. Has visited Lincoln.

Justice Hansen: Edmond, OK. 4 star 10+ BCS offers. Oklahoma verbal. Nebraska never offered .

Rafe Peavey: Bolivar, MO. 4 star 15+ BCS offers. Arkansas verbal. Nebraska did offer.

Clayton Thorson: Wheaton, IL. 4 star 10+ BCS offers. Northwestern verbal. Nebraska never offered.

RB

Juan Day: North Little Rock, AR. 3 star 1 BCS offer. Arkansas verbal. Nebraska never offered.

Justin Jackson: Carol Stream, IL. 4 star 10+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has not offered. Has visited Lincoln.

Jeff Jones: Minneapolis, MN 4 star 5+ BCS offers. Minnesota verbal. Nebraska never offered.

Christian McCaffrey (son of NFL legend Ed McCaffrey): Highlands Ranch, CO. 4 star 20+ BCS offers.Stanford verbal. Nebraska did offer.

Markel Smith: St. Louis, MO. 3 star 4 BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has not offered.

Devon Thomas: Broken Arrow, OK. 4 star 5+ BCS offers. Oklahoma State verbal. Nebraska never offered.

Traevohn Wrench: Gardner, KS. 4 star 5+ BCS offers. Kansas verbal. Nebraska did offer.

Mikale Wilbon: Chicago. 4 star 15+ BCS offers. Vanderbilt verbal. Nebraska never offered.

WR

Monte Harrison: Lee’s Summit, MO. 3 star 10+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has offered. Has visited Lincoln. Is a top baseball prospect. Still in the hunt.

Allen Lazard: Urbandale, IA. 4 star 5+ BCS offers. Iowa State verbal. Nebraska did offer. Has visited Lincoln.

Jeffrey Mead: Tulsa, OK. 3 star 10+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has offered.

TE

Ian Bunting: Hinsdale, IL. 3 star 20+ BCS offers. Michigan verbal. Nebraska did offer.

Gaelin Elmore: Somerset, WI. 3 star 5+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has offered. Has visited Lincoln. Still in the hunt.

Deandre Goolsby: Derby, KS. 4 star 5+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has not offered. Has visited Lincoln.

Daniel Helm: Chatham, IL. 4 star 15+ BCS offers. Tennessee verbal. Nebraska did offer.

Matt Nelson: Cedar Rapids, IA. Not currently rated 5+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has offered. Still in the hunt.

Nic Weishar: Midlothian, IL. 3 star 20+ BCS offers. Notre Dame verbal. Nebraska never offered.

OL

Brian Allen: Hinsdale, IL. 3 star 15+ BCS offers. Michigan State verbal. Nebraska never offered.

Andy Bauer: St. Louis, MO. 4 star 30+ BCS offers. Ole Miss verbal. Nebraska did offer. Has visited Lincoln.

D.J. Foster: Lincoln, NE. 4 star 5+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has offered. Has visited Lincoln multiple times. Still in the hunt and probably the favorite here.

Jaden Gault: Monona Grove, WI. 4 star 5+ BCS offers. Wisconsin verbal. Nebraska did offer.

Jamarco Jones: Chicago, IL. 4 star 30+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has offered.

Roderick Johnson: Florissant, MO. 4 star 15+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has not offered.

Trenton Noller: Windsor, CO. 4 star 1 BCS offer. Uncommitted. Nebraska has not offered.

George Panos: Hartland, WI. 3 star 5+ BCS offers. Wisconsin verbal. Nebraska did offer.

Ross Pierschbacher: Cedar Falls, IA. 4 star 10+ BCS offers. Iowa verbal. Nebraska did offer. Has visited Lincoln.

Frank Ragnow: Victoria, MN. 3 star 5+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has offered. Has visited Lincoln. Still in the hunt.

Dalton Risner: Wiggins, CO. 3 star 5+ BCS offers. Kansas State verbal. Nebraska never offered.

Braden Smith: Olathe, KS. 4 star (will be a 5) 40+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has offered. Has visited Lincoln. Still in the hunt but doubtful on him.

Brian Wallace: St. Louis, MO. Currently unrated 5+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has offered. Has visited Lincoln. Still in the hunt.

DT

Craig Evans: Sun Prairie, WI. 4 star 5+ BCS offers.Soft Wisconsin verbal. Nebraska did offer.

Josh Frazier: Springdale, AR. 4 star 15+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has not offered.

Enoch Smith Jr.: Chicago, IL. 3 star 10+ BCS offers. Michigan State verbal. Nebraska never offered.

DE

Deondre Clark: Oklahoma City, OK. 4 star 20+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has not offered.

Dewayne Hendrix: O’Fallon, IL. 4 star 20+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has offered.

Billy Hirschfeld: Hartland, WI. 3 star 5+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has offered. Has visited Lincoln. Still in the hunt.

Peyton Newell: Hiawatha, KS. 3 star 20+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has offered. Has visited Lincoln multiple times. Still in the hunt and, by some, considered favorite here.

Gelen Robinson: St. John, IN. 4 star 5+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has not offered.

Conor Sheehy: Milwaukee, WI. 3 star 2 BCS offers. Wisconsin verbal. Nebraska never offered.

Chris Slayton: Crete, IL. 3 star 5+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has offered.

Nile Sykes: Lombard, IL. 3 star 5+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has not offered.

Dylan Thompson: Lombard, IL. 3 star 15+ BCS offers. Ohio State verbal. Nebraska never offered.

LB

Gyasi Akem: Broken Arrow, OK. 4 star 10+ BCS offers. Oklahoma State verbal. Nebraska never offered.

Clifton Garrett: Joliet, IL. 4 star 30+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has offered.

Nyles Morgan: Crete, IL. 4 star 30+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has offered.

Jimmie Swain: Lee’s Summit, MO. 3 star 10+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has offered.

Kyron Watson: East St. Louis, IL. 3 star 10+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has not offered.

CB

Parrker Westphal: Bolingbrook, IL. 4 star 20+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has offered. Has visited Lincoln. Still in the hunt but doubt this one.

S

Steven Parker: Jenks, OK. 4 star 20+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has offered.

ATH

Kalen Ballage: Falcon, CO. 3 star 10+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has offered. Still in the hunt

Luke Gifford: Lincoln, NE. 3 star 2 BCS offers. Nebraska verbal.

Lonnie Johnson: Gary, IN. 3 star 5+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has offered.

Jay Scheel: La Porte City, IA. 4 star 4 BCS offers. Iowa verbal. Nebraska did offer.

Raymond Wingo: St. Louis, MO. 3 star 10+ BCS offers. Uncommitted. Nebraska has offered. Still in the hunt.

---------------------------------------

Well then, that's a lot of names and such. But for those of you that are all TL;DR and all that, here's the numbers to grasp for the entire radius. Ready?

205 high school prospects in the radius currently holding D1 offers.

Nebraska has offered 34, which is 16.6%

14 prospects with offers from Nebraska have visited Nebraska which is 6.8%

Of those, there are 12 uncommitted prospects that Nebraska has currently offered that they have a realistic chance at signing, or 5.9%

1 is currently committed (Gifford).

120 prospects in the radius currently holding BCS offers

Nebraska has offered 34, or 28.3%

20 of those 120 have visited Nebraska, or 16.7%

14 with offers have visited Nebraska, or 11.7%

Of those, there are 12 uncommitted prospects that Nebraska has currently offered that they have a realistic chance at signing, or 10%

1 is currently committed (Gifford)

54 prospects in the radius with D1 offers and a current rating of greater than or equal to 5.7

Nebraska has offered 29, or 53.7%

15 of those 54 have visited Nebraska, or 27.8%

13 with offers have visited Nebraska, or 24.1%

Of those there are 10 uncommitted prospects that Nebraska has currently offered that they have a realistic chance at signing, or 18.5%

0 are currently committed (though you can say that Gifford could be rated, and I wouldn't have an issue with that).

In closing? I don't know how patient we are supposed to become in recruiting, unless you just remember that Nebraska has shown to be slow till summertime, push it hard till the beginning of the season, and then dormant till the end of the regular season in recruiting. It's maddening, but Nebraska has offered a lot of kids. That being said, not many are saying yes, and the quote from Els in ESPN saying that kids tend to commit once they get on campus is odd because 1) a lot of kids have visited Nebraska without committing (which could be a lot of things, the soft close one of them) and 2) the fact that Nebraska's two commits are from two kids that either live in Lincoln or haven't set foot on the campus yet.

This isn't a critical piece either; obviously there is footwork and such being laid down here. But with only roughly 18 spots open for this class and a batting percentage of about 5%, it's worth taking into account.

Also, come July, the "it's early" bullet point is gone. We've seen the tendencies, and there's work to be done to make the quality of BOOM be there, because there isn't going to be a quantity of BOOM this year, or the next couple thereafter.