Nebraska football aiming for a flip in 2025 class, plus more

Hey Husker fans, welcome to another episode of the Husker Big Red podcast with Chris Peterson

and Danny Gillette. As always, Go Big Red! Good morning Husker fans and welcome to the Husker Big Red YouTube channel

I'm Chris Peterson and joining me as always is Danny Gillette and we're back with another

episode here of the podcast on Monday. And Danny, how you doing this morning, man

Good, my Bruins weren't able to pull it out on Friday, but other than that, I saw some

family this weekend, saw some friends yesterday, so it was a good weekend trying to escape

the rain here. It's very dreary right now as we speak, but other than that, I'm doing pretty good

How are you? Doing pretty well. Made it through another weekend, so another busy week ahead, but not a super busy week

I guess for the Huskers, or super busy weekend I should say, but we've got some news so we're

going to cover that. We're going to talk some Adrian Martinez, some recruiting stuff, the Big Ten baseball

tournament's coming up this weekend, so we'll touch on all those topics. Before we do that, if you haven't, please do us the favor of hitting the subscribe button

hit the like button, get to the comment section and help others find our content

We are a channel and a website for hardcore Husker fans, man, so if you're a fan of the

Huskers, hit the subscribe button. And anyway, if you're a fan of the Huskers, maybe you've been following Adrian Martinez

We're going to start our show there because like I said, it's a bit of a slow weekend and it's been fun to watch Adrian Martinez just killing it with the Birmingham Stallions

They won again on Saturday, he had five touchdowns. He had one play where he did look like a Patrick Mahomes on a two-point conversion I think

or maybe a touchdown, but he rolled way back like 20 yards and threw it into the back of

the end zone. He did make some incredible plays during his time with Nebraska, but he just wasn't very consistent

It sounds like he feels confident about the future, he's hopeful he'll get another chance

at the NFL. If he keeps playing like this, I don't know why somebody wouldn't at least give him an

opportunity to come in and compete for a backup job. He's definitely shown that he's worth another opportunity or worthy of another opportunity

in the NFL. Yeah, he's shown that he's the type of quarterback that Nebraska wanted when they recruited him

It just speaks to how bad Mario Brodusko did as a quarterback's coach. He was terrible

That combined with the fact that this roster, when he was here, wasn't built properly

I was a huge Adrian Martinez critic. I thought it was time to move on from him and I still think he came up short in several

situations, but at the same time, it just really highlighted the ineptitude of the staff

when Martinez was at Nebraska. I'm happy for him. I'm happy he's getting a chance to showcase his skill set because I think this was the

quarterback that Nebraska recruited and they thought they were seeing. Through a myriad of factors, both in terms of things that Martinez could control and

things he couldn't control, it just didn't work out. So now I'm happy to see him excelling and playing at a high level

It's been fun to watch him. Hopefully he keeps doing it and maybe that, like I said, will get him an opportunity in

the NFL after this. I think that's a big reason why a lot of these guys are playing in the spring league, is

to try to keep their careers afloat. Of course, you wish he had been that player at Nebraska, but with injuries and other different

things, it just never happened. Definitely, I think some of the blame falls with him, but there's plenty of blame to go

around on the coaching staff too. It just didn't work out and that was unfortunate, but hopefully we don't see the same thing

history repeating itself in the future with our other young phenom quarterbacks

We'll see how that goes with Dylan Raiola. I don't think we will

I mean, first off, the offensive line coaching is a lot better

There's a lot more weapons put around Raiola and I feel like there's a confident head coaching

staff and that makes a world of difference. I don't think this is going to be a score for us 2.0 this year

I think it's going to turn around and be successful and having a quarterback's coach who knows

what he's doing in Glenn Thomas also, I think will make a huge difference

We've seen it make a difference on the recruiting trail and we even saw it in the spring game

a little bit where they improved throwing motion of Heiner Carberg, the strong play

of Raiola and the strong play of Daniel Kaelin. I think there has to be something said for the job that Glenn Thomas has done so far

both on and off the field. Yeah, he's doing a nice job on the recruiting trail and bringing along these young quarterbacks

Hopefully, we'll see that production on the field this season. In terms of recruiting-wise, there's a little bit of news, not a whole lot

But Nebraska is trying to flip Emmanuel Carmo from Minnesota. He's a three-star linebacker in the composite rankings

He's going to be taking a visit. Wisconsin's going to host him and then Ohio State

Certainly, Nebraska trying to add to the 2025 class there with Carmo, who they're trying to flip from Minnesota

Yeah, and I believe he was a four-star in one set of rankings

Not that the rankings matter terribly, but he's a good player. He had 48 tackles, 10 tackles for a loss, I believe, last year

Two sacks and an interception that he took back for a touchdown. And he also played a little bit of offense as well

He had 15 interceptions, or sorry, 15 receptions for 294 yards and three touchdowns

So he did play a little bit of offense, but I think Nebraska would look at him as a defensive player

He can play off the edge. He can play, you know, kind of that pass rusher type of, you know, style

And I think he would be a great get and would fit into Tony White's defense tremendously

Yeah, so I was wrong. He's three. He is a four-star, 341 in the composite rankings

Yeah, he's 6'2", 222. So he would be a jack in the Nebraska system, in my opinion

That's where he would fit in best. And he would fit in well, honestly, I think

But, you know, Ohio State, you know, if Ohio State pushes for him, they're going to get him

I mean, flat out, you know, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio State, those are the visits

If Ohio State wants him, they'll get him, you know. So that's, I mean, that's how I feel about it

So we'll see how it goes. But if it's a true Nebraska-Ohio State battle, like, Nebraska is not going to win that

That's just, you know, that's just my opinion. Yeah, I mean, it's tough, but never say never with this coach he's deaf

I mean, I might be drinking the Kool-Aid, but, you know, they always seem to do their due diligence in recruitment

And they always seem to try to put their best foot forward in a recruitment

So, I mean, we'll see. I think it will be tough, but he would be a nice get

So, yeah, it's just, you know, you look at Ohio State and they get, you know, almost all of the top recruits if they want to get them

So, I mean, we'll see. Nebraska definitely could have an opportunity. But, I mean, I can't think of, you know, they obviously they won the, you know, Rayola and the Carter Nelson recruitments

But, you know, outside of players that like to have ties to the state of Nebraska, like, you know, they just haven't beaten anybody like in Ohio State for a kid yet

So we'll see if that happens. It's the same with Michael Terry, who visited Oregon this weekend

You know, they still have to, you know, I know people are like, oh, it's not as big a deal

But what is a big deal is that Oregon has the Nike money

So, like, their NAL offer is going to blow Nebraska's out of the water

Like, there's no question about that. Just because Nebraska paid Dylan Rayola, like, they ain't paying guys, everybody like that

Like, Nebraska NAL is not in that stratosphere. So, I mean, when you're talking about competing against Ohio State and Oregon, I still think that's a factor you need to think about

Because, like, Oregon will pay everybody because they don't care because they have Phil Knight's money

So that's why those teams always worry me because not only are they, they have the elite pedigree, but they're paying more than any, I mean, like, there's nobody in the SEC that's even paying more than Oregon and Ohio State

Like, in terms of NAL money, like, they're right there with Miami. And they actually have, like, you know, elite programs

They're not just like, you know, trying to put out a dumpster fire like the Hurricanes have been trying to do for the last decade

And, I mean, it should be no surprise if, you know, Terry goes to Oregon or whatever

I mean, we shouldn't be worried about him going to Oregon because, quite honestly, he should

We're not there yet. You know what I mean? We don't have the winning pedigree that a lot of these programs have and we don't have the Nike money

So I would not be shocked at all if he went to Oregon. I would love to have him at Nebraska

But, you know, it's no surprise if he ends up at Oregon or one of the other, you know, programs

And, you know, I'm not trying to be overly pessimistic. I've just seen a lot of times where Oregon or Ohio State gets involved and all of a sudden, you know, all of a sudden, they take over the lead

I've seen that so many times with Oregon. And that's because they're, you know, like, Michigan was recruiting against them for a quarterback

And all of a sudden, you know, like, his parents had, you know, jobs at Nike

So it's like, oh, I wonder why he picked there, you know

So, I mean, that's just how things kind of go. But I do, you know, I did read the Michael Terry interview with some of the stuff

And he was talking about the offense, you know, yada, yada, yada. So, I mean, I don't think that Oregon took the lead

But they are always a team that kind of worries me. And Texas A&M and Texas are out there, too

So it's just some kids, NIL matters more than others. I don't know how much it matters to Michael Terry

But, you know, he's ranked like 27th overall. So you're not going to get a player like that without some sort of NIL plan

And the base salary thing, you know, isn't going to work. Like, those guys cost a lot of money

And Nebraska might, you know, might be in the position to pay that. I'm not sure

But I know with Dylan Riola, it seems like I think that was kind of a unique situation where

you know, Matt Rule was like, hey, you know, he came out and was like, we need this much money for a quarterback

You know, whether I think he meant the transfer portal, you know, more than high school recruiting

But then Riola came up. And then I think that so that money that they were going to use to get like a Kyle McCord

or somebody else, then they kind of just kind of push towards Dylan. So, I mean, they do have NIL money, for sure

I'm not saying that they can't be competitive in that field. But I just I just always worry about, you know, like if you're offered 500,000 to go to Nebraska

and a million to go to Oregon, like what's your decision going to be in Oregon? You know, so I mean, we'll see, though

I do think Nebraska is in a good spot with Michael Terry. But, you know, Oregon, Oregon just always freaks me out for kids

Because, you know, not only that, they do have amazing facilities. I know I know everybody loves the Nebraska facilities

But Oregon's facilities were like, you know, have been as good and all the amenities that

they have to for players like it's pretty wild. But what they you know, if you've ever done like a video tour of Oregon facilities

like there's definitely no no worry about costs there. I guess we'll just say that

But Nebraska is building something special, though, in Oregon. They do have they do have some talented quarterbacks on their roster

some younger guys besides Dylan Gabriel. But I don't know that they have a Dylan Rayola

So, I mean, we'll see how it all works out. But it'd be hard to say no to Oregon

It would be hard for me to say no to Oregon if I had to choose between Oregon and Nebraska. But we'll see

Like you said, we'll see how it all shakes out. You know, I think I think it's going to be an interesting recruitment

And I think it's going to go to the highest bidder. And we'll see what Nebraska can do

I mean, Nebraska surprised us before. So maybe they surprise us here. Yeah

And like I said, it always just depends with how much different teams, you know, Ohio State sometimes with these, you know, four stars that are in the 300s

like sometimes they'll not really be that interested. So that's why I said, like, if Ohio State's pushing for

you know, that person at the top of their board, you know, they're at a point where they can routinely turn away guys that are ranked like 300

Like they turned away Donovan Edwards for Michigan, basically, you know, because they they pretty much were like, you know, we have Ladarius Henderson

And, you know, there's like another running back that they want in the class. They pretty much told him, like in June

And mind you, this guy's like ranked in the top 40. I mean, he was like basically a five star recruit

They're like, hey, you know, you either commit right now in June or we're just going to move on

You know, and that's that to me, that's crazy that they can they have so much talent to choose from, you know, like because that that was like

Michigan's number one player on their board outside of McCarthy, you know, J.J. McCarthy in that class

So they would have waited until hell froze over for Donovan Edwards to make an announcement

You know, and they did. They waited until the signing day where Ohio State's I mean

ended up being a bad decision because he took two ADR touchdowns against them in the game

But but still, I mean, those are the kinds of decisions that like Ohio State just walked

away from a commitment from a top 100 cornerback because, you know, he committed

He decommitted. But I mean, essentially, because they have so many good cornerbacks, I think that's the big reason

it's like when's the last time Nebraska landed a top 100 cornerback? I can't remember

They have had Coleman is the top 100 guy, Carter Nelson, Dylan Rayola, Grant Brick

So they've landed for four top 100 kids in the rule, which is pretty impressive

You know, that's pretty impressive. But especially considering we went five and seven last year

Yeah, well, especially more because, you know, if you look at another important thing

we're Nebraska is going to start trending up, I think, is there's there was this chart I saw

that was talking about like expected, you know, NFL draft picks, you know

outside of recruiting rankings, you know, that type of thing. And that's one Michigan in terms of, you know

recruiting rankings compared to draft picks was like the best. You know, they had the most draft picks essentially compared to like, you know

the worst kind of recruiting, you know, compared to like Georgia and stuff like that. They recruited a way lower level

And that's where I expect Nebraska to be right where Michigan is within a couple of years

because they're going to recruit these kids. They're going to get some top or top 100 kids

But Matt Rule is going to take kids that are three stars and low ranked four stars

And he's going to develop them into NFL players. And we're going to start seeing Nebraska have, you know, six, eight

10 players drafted in a single draft. That's that's what I believe is going to happen in the future

It's going to take a few years to get there. But under Scott Frost, you know, so right right now, Nebraska is like at the bottom

part of that list because they're still kind of dealing with the Frost era of things of

you know, guys that were recruited really highly and then didn't pan out

Some of those guys that still process able to put guys in the NFL somehow

I mean, yeah, I mean, recruiting wasn't he wasn't terrible at recruiting

It was just the development. Yeah, no, he got some he got some four stars from Florida

He had Fedoni, obviously. I mean, looking back on it now, he wasn't the worst recruiter

You would think that, like, judging by his work ethic, he would be like one of the worst recruiters in the entire country

But he really wasn't. I don't know what exactly he sold to recruits and what his recruiting pitch was

given how everything looked on the field and how unorganized he appeared to be

But, you know, somehow it worked. And, you know, some guys are still coming along, you know, Bryce Benner

It's made a big step, you know, Turner Corker and Teddy Prohoshko, all guys that

you know, Scott Frost recruited. I mean, Isaac Gifford, Ty Robinson, Nash Hatchmaker

I mean, there is a lot of this roster that, you know, key parts of this roster that were

recruited, you know, by Scott Frost. So it's interesting to see how it all works out

But, you know, you got to get it done on the field. And he just could not, you know, he couldn't get the results on the field where they needed

to be. But Matt Rule, I think, will do that. So that's kind of the recruiting buzz

And the other thing I wanted to wrap up with Carter Nelson, you know, won the, I believe

it was the long jump state championship. He took third in the 200 meters

But I think his jump was like a foot longer than anybody else. So, I mean, kid's just an athletic freak

I think he had the second. I want to say he didn't get the all-state record, though

I think that went to Rowdy Bauer, the guy that's walking on for the Oscars

So that shows you, I mean, even with some of these walk-on guys, you know, like Matt

or Gina Tony. Crap, I'm- Vince. Vince, yeah. I don't know where I got Matt from

Vince, Gina Tony. I mean, just incredible, you know, numbers athletically. And in Nebraska, some of these walk-on guys have that, too

And Carter Nelson, man, this guy is one of the most athletic players in the country

Quinn Clark, you know, just won a divisional title in some jumping events

So I'm actually going to be watching Quinn Clark this week. I'm going to be covering the state class AA track meet in Montana

So he's going to be there. Matt Ludwig might be there. So maybe I'll see if he's around, try to talk to him, too

But yeah, it'll be interesting to see, you know, watch Quinn Clark and watch some of

these other athletes. But I do like how Nebraska really does invest in those track numbers

I think that is something that, you know, Matt Rule is- they're not the only ones, but

you know, prioritizing athletes and betting on athletes, I think is a smart way to go

Especially if you can coach the game like Matt Rule can. Yeah

And, you know, I think it's always worth to find, you know, certain traits that you want

And for this coaching staff, it's speed. And it's speed and, you know, it's the ability to kind of make plays in open space

And they haven't really deviated from that style. It's not a hodgepodge mix of wide receivers with different skill sets, per se

You know, all of them have some semblance of speed and, you know, ability, again, to

make plays down the field, make plays after the catch. And so they've stuck to a style that's worked

They've gotten quarterbacks that fit the style of the receivers. And they've done a good job overall of establishing an offense that's complementary at each position

with the other one. And, you know, it's interesting, too, before we kind of move on, I want to touch on baseball

But Matt Rule did do an interview on Sirius XM. And he was talking about the walk-on, the whole walk-on thing

We've talked about that on a couple of our shows. But he said that getting rid of the walk-on would be awful for college football

And he said it would be really, really sad. And I agree with him. Now, you have to remember, too, Matt Rule was a former walk-on

He was a walk-on linebacker at Penn State. So to be honest, if, you know, if walk-ons didn't exist, like, he might not even be at

where he's at right now. You know what I'm saying? Because, like, you know, he played college football, yada, yada, got his foot in the

door, eventually became a graduate assistant, coach, you know, worked his way up

What if he had to go play for some D3 program? You know, and he, you know, what if that was his fate

I'm not saying he wouldn't have still been a coach or maybe he, you know, but maybe he's

a D2 coach someday. I mean, so all those little opportunities matter

And, you know, I'm not saying maybe there shouldn't be some sort of limit or maybe they could make walk-ons like the practice squad or something

I don't know, but it seems like I just don't want to get, you know, those guys to get robbed

of that opportunity. Like Isaac Gifford, man, like he's probably going to get drafted next year

And that's not to say somebody couldn't go and play at a JUCO or an FCS school or whatever

and then transfer up. I mean, we've seen that and that probably would happen. But I do think that, you know, it would be sad and it would be a bad thing for college

football, especially Nebraska, if they got rid of the walk-ons. Yeah, we'll have to see what happens there

It's very interesting. You know, the entire landscape of college football is changing and unfortunately some

tough decisions are going to have to be made. But like I've said before, it's about the coaches who adjust with all these changes

and the ones that are the ones that are going to survive. So we'll have to see

I'm hoping the walk-on program, you know, doesn't get eliminated, but, you know, time

will tell. So speaking of some tough decisions, I think Will Bolt's going to have some interesting

decisions to make with his pitching staff this week, looking ahead to the Big Ten tournament

So Nebraska did lose to Michigan State on Sunday and that gave Illinois the Big Ten championship

I'm not even sure if they won there. I didn't really care. I didn't watch it. But at any rate, Nebraska is the number two seed

And so the Big Ten tournament is interesting because like in softball, everybody makes

it, you know, but baseball, they cut it down to eight teams. So you have to be fairly good to make it

And Omaha's hosting it for the second year in a row. I believe

Let me double check here. Yep. Yep. There's Omaha. Yep. So Nebraska is going to be starting on, so Tuesday, actually, is when we're getting this rolling

And Nebraska is going to be playing Ohio State at 2 p.m

Central time. So it's really basically because you only get really get three baseball games in, you

know, it's a little longer than softball. So the first game is going to be at 10 between Indiana and Purdue

And then you got Nebraska, Ohio State, Illinois and Penn State will be the last game on

Tuesday and then Wednesday morning will be Michigan and Iowa's the other eight teams

So basically, you know, if you win, the key is you got to win your first two games

Essentially, if you win your first two games, then you're in that undefeated semifinal

essentially, and you've got two chances to get to the championship games. So I guess where it's going to be interesting and where it also differs from softball is

you know, like if you had Jordy Ball, you know, like Nebraska should have had this year

she would have been hurt. I mean, you could you can throw her out there for game one, two, three and four

I mean, as long as she for the most part, I mean, there's some, you know, I guess

fatigue factors. I mean, softball pitchers will take a break, but for the most part, they can just ride

on through and that's in baseball. You obviously can't do that. And, you know, Brett Sears has been amazing this year

But when when do you when do you use his start? Do you do that? You know, game one, do you wait for game three

So that's going to be a really interesting decision for Will Bolt is how he kind of organizes his pitching staff for this week

I personally until game three, because you don't want to lose, but you've got to factor

in maybe if you, you know, start off slowly and you need that dominant pitcher to at least

you know, give you some life. And it's kind of like a game seven pitcher, in my opinion

You know, you start your ordinarily you start your best pitcher for game seven or you plan

it out that way. So me personally, I would start Sears game three

I don't know about you. Yeah, I think I would. I think I'd go, you know, McConaughey, and I'm not sure if that's how you pronounce

his name is spelled that way and then bracket and then probably see it. But, you know, whatever, however it works out

I do think that Nebraska, I don't think they have to win this tournament to make the NCAA

tournament, although I mean, the Big Ten has gotten some, you know, the short end of the

stick a few times. But like I said, based on the D1 baseball projections, unless they're super wrong

because Nebraska was a two seed in the region with the number 10 seed overall, which was

Oklahoma, and that was before this weekend. So I'm sure it'll get updated, but they won two out of three games at Michigan State

So I don't think that that could hurt their, you know, I don't think that's necessarily going to help their resume, but I don't see that hurting them, you know, winning a weekend

series on the road. So I feel pretty good about their chances

But, you know, I mean, the tournament's in Omaha and you can never scoff or, you know

pass it a chance to win a Big Ten championship. And it would be great if they could win the Big Ten tournament title, because I mean

look, even if they make the tournament, they're probably not going to win the NCAA tournament

or anything. It's kind of like the women's basketball team. Like, I felt like they could win the Big Ten championship

And then, of course, they lost the lead. But this is a tournament I think Nebraska can win if the pitching, you know, if the

pitching staff can put it together, especially the bullpen. Like, they really need to address the bullpen going into next

Well, they got used a lot on Sunday. Yeah, I know. I swear it was

It was every time I turned. So I was like going back and forth between things and I turn it there and then they would

be back in it. And then Michigan State's offense would just like explode again

I had seven pitchers utilized on the bullpen. Brockett did not have a good day at all yesterday, but that happens

You just wonder about the arm fatigue of the bullpen heading into the tournament a little bit

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how it all, you know, how it all kind of shakes out

And yeah, it's nice to have it in Omaha. Last year, they got to the round right before the championship, I think. Right

I'm trying to think of. But last year, they really needed to win the tournament to make it this year

I think they're in a better you know, they're in a better position. I mean, they did lose a lot of games, you know, those midweek games, which hurts, you

know, to create in Kansas State and yada, yada. But they got some nice wins early in the season

And looking throughout Big Ten, Big Ten play, I think they only lost like one or two series

I mean, they were pretty good over the course of the season. You know, the Big Ten usually only gets like maybe two or three teams in

But I feel like Nebraska, you know, even if they even if they go like two in a barbecue

I still feel like they got a pretty good chance of making it. But don't don't go to a barbecue, though

Let's not test my theory. If anybody doesn't know that you lose two games and then you got your, you know, it's

the thing we used to say in high school because you have the family, you know, you have like the team barbecue

So, you know, you double elimination tournament. So two losses and you get your barbecue, which you don't want

That's not a good. No, no barbecue is a good. I'm always there for a good barbecue, but you don't it'll pick you up, you know, make

you feel better about your season being over. So I guess that's that part's OK

Yeah, but ideally you do that on a barbecue. You want the you want the end of season championship barbecue, you know, the banquet

The banquet. Yeah, exactly. He wants the banquet. Not you want the banquet with some barbecue

Yeah, that's the dream. So, yeah, we'll have to see what happens this week

It's going to be a lot of interesting, you know, how they use the entire, you know, pitching

staff, how you know, what's the bullpen going to look like? Who do you start for that third game

I mean, there's going to be a lot of interesting decisions made this week. You know, so it's going to be really interesting to see what happens over the course of the

next couple of days. And I do want that's one thing I like about the college baseball season is how short it is

You know, just I like that the games kind of matter a little bit more. It's major league baseball can be a long season, although I don't I don't hate it, but it'll

be fun to get down to it with the college season here. And then it will be essentially track and field to wrap up

So we'll be done with the 2023, 2024 sports year and we'll be on to 2024, 25, which will

be Nebraska football, the Nebraska football season, which is what, less than about four

months away now, three months, three and a half months. It's May 20th, May flu. So May 20th, August 31st is the opener

We're getting close