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July Recruiting Update: All Quiet On The Nebraska Front

There's not a whole lot to talk about in the Nebraska Football Recruiting horizon.

By Brian Towle
Eric Francis

Since we last talked (minus the whole Stringfellow stuff), we did a couple of primers for both Big Red Weekends, with some good talent coming into Lincoln between those weekends.

What has happened? Well, a couple of things...

- The staff has been on vacation. Which is fine, but sometimes lines of communication drop off. Granted, there has to be some R&R for the staff, but you definitely want to keep up with kids. 
- Things like Nike's The Opening (which SBN's Bud Elliot has been at) along with Elite11 competition has taken over the spotlight nationally. While Nebraska currently has no targets at The Opening, Quarterback target Deondre Francois has been doing well at the E11 competition. Even though Nebraska is not the leader here and Florida State is, it's nice to watch this go down.

Now, who and what to watch for in the next few weeks....

-Tyler speaks of multi-sport kid Marquise Doherty, who has a good chance to come on and play both Football and Baseball for the Huskers. Now, before you freak out, he's not at a level that a Bubba Starling or Monte Harrison was or is. However, he's a very serviceable player that could work out on both sides of Interstate 180.

I have Doherty becoming a Husker in the 247 Crystal Ball. And I haven't missed yet! (2 for 2 kids)

- It's a 3 horse race right now for OT Mirko Jurkovic. Nebraska, Florida, and Purdue are the 3 finalists it seems to be. I was somewhat surprised that Jurkovic didn't commit while in Lincoln, but I'm going to bet that he will be one of the first visits Nebraska has during the season.

- CJ Johnson, Clester's son who was angling for a offer with Nebraska, ended up giving his verbal to Craig Bohl's Wyoming Cowboys. Some are clamoring about losing this kid to Wyoming, but I'm not one of them. He worked out and was given a chance to get an offer, and in the end, Nebraska didn't want to extend one.

It would be interesting to see if Nebraska comes in late and offers him, but I don't think that would even matter at that time. Nebraska had their chance, and didn't pull the trigger.

- THE HUSKERS HAVE A OHIO OFFER. I REPEAT, THE HUSKERS HAVE OFFERED SOMEONE OUT OF OHIO! Troy Henderson Jr. could very well be the next Husker verbal. Henderson, from Lakewood, Ohio, was all set to decide between Rutgers and Syracuse on the 4th of July, but Ross Els & Rich Kaczenski came in with a offer the day before the holiday. Now, it seems to be a race between Nebraska & Syracuse. I am honestly not sure about this one, but the longer it takes him to make a decision, the better Nebraska looks here.

- I know I have mentioned this before, however it is worth bearing upon you again. Hunter Dale may be visiting Lincoln again. This time, word has been mentioned that Husker verbal RB Kendall Bussey wants to take Dale along to Lincoln. To be honest, Dale hasn't been the most dependable kid to visit, as he wasn't very interested in Nebraska til the last minute to come to the 2nd BRW, only to say he couldn't afford to come to Lincoln. I'll believe he visits when I physically see him show up.

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Now is the time we talk about rankings and such. Nebraska, bottom line, has slipped down the tarp. In this piece back in April, the Huskers were 2nd to Penn State in the Big Ten and 10th nationally in the 247 rankings.

Right now? The Huskers are 6th in the Big Ten and 30th nationally. It's a combination of other teams getting their feet underneath themselves (like Ohio State and Wisconsin) and the fact that Nebraska only has about 5 to 6 more spots to fill, and not being able to hit higher targets. Can they make it up with getting a lot of upsets for decisions? When I asked this on twitter, Mike Schaefer of 247 said this...

Now, we do know that there are targets that come along during the season, however Nebraska's going to have to get lucky to get to where Mike suggests. That would be disappointing with the way the cycle started. Then again, we do have 6 months to go before NSD, so there's no reason to panic. However, it will be interesting to see who Nebraska starts to aim for as the season starts.

To see what could happen to the Nebraska (or any class) with certain players coming or going, check out the FREE Class Calculator at 247.

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As always, a reminder that SBNation is your FREE source of national recruiting news, Thanks to Hudl for their videos. And, as always, thanks to Mike Schaefer, Michael Bruntz and the folks over at Nebraska's 247 Sports for all their links.

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