Nebraska Recruiting: Early Signing Period Weekend Wrap-up

Good morning friends and foes! Merry Christmas Eve to you and yours. The wife and I are spending Christmas with the in-laws. My wife being a nurse, we don’t get many chances to enjoy holidays with family. People don’t stop being sick just because it’s a holiday. There’s one bowl game today, the Hawaii Bowl, featuring Fresno State and Houston. My plan is to determine which team my father-in-law favors, and root for the other. Teresa’s - I hate to break the fourth wall, but there’s just no way I’m calling my wife Mrs Ugly - Teresa’s family does their big gift exchange on Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day is just immediate family and leftovers.

The Early Signing Period went reasonably well for the Huskers. There were some good hits and a few misses. While the numbers are among the lowest of the B1G, the average rating is among the top. Coach Frost emphasized filling positional needs with quality personnel rather than scrambling for numbers. Since my last update Wednesday, there are few developments to acquaint all you recruitniks with.

On Thursday, the Huskers were rewarded with a commitment from JUCO ILB Will Honas. This was a big win on multiple levels. Not only was Honas the #1 JUCO LB recruit, his other primary targets were Iowa and Wisconsin. The Huskers got a commit that can have an immediate impact on the field and in the locker room. And, they don’t have to scheme around him on the other side of the field in future games.

Friday brought the anticipated signing of tall WR Justin McGriff. His 6-5 height is going to create a lot of touchdown receptions as he runs across the back of the endzone reaching over defensive backs. He is also going add the ability to high point and come down with those 50/50 balls, an area that was lacking last season. This is a guy who is going to need some development, but has a lot of upside.

Saturday gave a bit of unfortunate news. Messiah Swinson, a tight end prospect from NY, signed with Mizzou. The coaching staff had made a big push on Swinson due to his 6-8 frame, but he stayed loyal to Missouri. At least they aren’t a Big Ten team. The worst part is how it rendered obsolete a whole bunch of Messiah/Savior jokes about the Frost staff I had been working up. Oh well.

This should wrap up all the excitement of the Early Signing Period. Although it put extra pressure on newly hired coaching staffs, overall I believe it improved the overall recruiting of college football. In my opinion, it’s going to add more parity to the college football top to bottom, since lower level teams can prevent their couple of all-stars from being poached by Alabama at the last minute. It should also cut down on the likelihood of getting #stringfellowed. Next year will look different, as an earlier visiting period is incorporated as well.

Stay tuned and next week there will be an article discussing positions of emphasis for the second recruiting period and players being targeted by the staff. In the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!