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Why Nebraska football will be immune to transfer portal madness, and much more
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Apr 17, 2025
We look ahead to the transfer portal and what to expect from a Nebraska football perspective. In addition, we look back at the week that was in spring ball, on the recruiting trail, and analyze the latest Nebraska basketball transfer portal target. #GBR #Huskers 00:42 Spring Buzz 7:42 Transfer Portal Madness 15:33 Recruiting Roundup 29:23 Nebraska basketball talk
View Video Transcript
0:00
hey there Husker fans welcome back to the Husker Big Red YouTube channel i'm Chris Peterson and joining me as always is Danny Gillette and we're back here
0:06
for another episode of our podcast on this Monday and uh we've got a lot to talk about the transfer portal's opening
0:12
here in a couple of days um the Huskers Nebraska Basketball I um hosted another transfer portal target this weekend
0:19
we've got some recruiting buzz some spring football buzz we're going to cover so before we get into all that please make sure you hit the like button
0:24
hit the subscribe button get into the comment section and let us know what you think about uh our conversations this
0:30
week um and Danny how are you doing on this Monday morning i'm doing well it's the mid the midway point through April
0:36
and there's still a ton to write about so I'm always happy spring uh spring football um you know is eternal spring's
0:43
eternal I guess for Nebraska and like I said in this uh you know kind of when there wasn't a spring game and you know
0:50
people were kind of down I felt like about the spring I was like just be thankful that you know Nebraska hosts
0:55
you know open practices and that they you know Matt Rule they tried out Matt Rule seems like multiple times per week
1:01
a lot of players a lot more media access I think than others so at least we still learn quite a few things we still get
1:06
quite a few nuggets of information and although um we maybe haven't gleaned a
1:11
you know quite as much um you know from this last press conference I still think there was some worthwhile information
1:17
but uh well what were your takeaways from uh maybe Saturday's press conference or just the past you know
1:22
week of spring ball I thought it was interesting and we can
1:27
go into the subcategory if you want when Matt Rule gave advice about players
1:33
entering the transfer portal because there was a certain linebacker that left that is entering the transfer portal
1:38
again and um so I want to be polite here but you
1:44
know I think that um I think that Matt Rule was referring to him because it seemed very it seemed like a very
1:50
pointed criticism of uh the linebacker and um so that was one of my big
1:56
takeaways i know he didn't offer a uh you know as much information as he does in some press conferences but um it was
2:04
a good reminder that uh and and even with the Nicoa stuff over at Tennessee
2:11
that the transfer portal is kind of you know it's not ruining college football but it's such a big it's such a
2:17
polarizing thing it's it's gotten pretty crazy and uh yeah I want to get to that in just a second um and yeah in terms of
2:24
like the stuff on the field you know Matt kind of spent a lot of time talking about the transfer portal so I mean his
2:30
press conference I think was like 20 minutes and he probably spent at least a third of that probably talking about the
2:35
transfer portal and um he didn't really say um Nebraska was going to be too active but he did you know say that they
2:41
would look and if there was guys they thought that could help him out you know they mentioned one or two um I did think
2:48
you know just uh the continued talk about Quinton Ives being the number two running back um was interesting you know
2:53
he talked about how he liked the offense and defensive lines especially the physicality he said he feels like
2:58
Nebraska is a really physical team um blocking and tackling which I mean I think that's a good thing you that's
3:04
that's what you want to that's where you want to be at at this point i mean you want your head coach to be satisfied with that and that rule has a high
3:10
standard for that i mean he's a he's not a soft coach i mean the the the Huskers are they practice hard they hit hard and
3:18
uh I mean you you've you could see it from when he took over as the head coach the physicality you know rose to another
3:23
level so the fact that he's that Matt Rule is pleased with that I think is a positive sign um you know the playmakers
3:29
and at wide receiver another thing he said um that just caught my eye my ear excuse me they didn't go into it a lot
3:36
of times but he said um I feel like we're covering people better i feel like we're we don't have a lot of open wide
3:42
receivers and I know that the receivers have got a lot of attention this a lot of attention this spring but um you know
3:47
in one-on-one drills it's easy to win as a receiver but when you're in team stuff um makes it easier for those cornerbacks
3:54
and I feel like I I agree with Matt that like I feel like the quarterbacks are going to be better so to hear him say that you know was something that um
4:00
perked my interest or piqued my interest a little bit yeah yeah andrew Marshall is a guy that I'm excited to see both in
4:06
coverage and kickoff return um but you know I think they really upgraded the quarterback room uh this off seasonason
4:13
and I also think you know and you've mentioned this before we got to see a little bit of the future as well in a
4:19
guy like Donovan Jones and you know the depth that the quarterback room has Larry Tarver um I know I'm forgetting a
4:26
bunch of names but um the other kid from Florida too but just uh Sanders amari
4:33
Sanders yep amari Sanders there we go and um so I think we're going to see a
4:38
much better corner room a much more physical corner room and in year two
4:46
under you know the toutelage of John Butler I think the defensive back room is going to be miles and miles ahead of
4:53
where it was it's not going to be an one injury and the room completely you know
4:59
implodes like it did with with Tommy Hill's unfortunate injury it's going to be a lot of depth a lot of physicality
5:06
and a much more well-rounded room yeah and I think just you know good athletes
5:11
and and the length there's length in that room now and guys who can play more man-to-man coverage and you look back at
5:18
you know a few years ago you know when um Canander was running the defense like it was you know the guys were playing
5:24
like nine 10 yards off and I don't know if that was his philosophy or it was because he was running the defense hell
5:29
and then I was running the defense i mean uh but I just remember and maybe it was because they couldn't cover and they
5:35
you know so I think that Nebraska has recruited a certain type of athlete at that position and I think we're finally
5:41
starting to you know see the fruits of that labor so to speak yeah i mean and
5:46
and and Eric Shenander defense was was nothing to write home about and you know
5:52
I remember guys like Jojo and Jojo Nolman and Ben Steel making that defense
5:58
look good i mean and even then it was a struggle so we're we're miles ahead in
6:03
terms of scheme and depth in my opinion yeah and so um before we switch I guess
6:09
to the next topic um on the offensive line just Tyler Knack is another guy that's kind of been building a little
6:15
bit more buzz um at offensive tackle i don't know if you know he's a former he transferred i can't remember where he
6:20
transferred from for some reason um anyway he's another guy that's uh you
6:26
know in the mix at offensive tackle um you know that's maybe taking advantage of Gunnar Coula you know not being there
6:32
so um you know that could be another guy in the mix with Lowski and some of those
6:38
other guys on the offensive tackle position but I feel like there's a lot of uh a lot of confidence about the
6:43
offensive line um I feel like the coaching staff feels good about that so you know as far as you know what does
6:48
that really mean hard to say but I feel pretty optimistic about this offensive line and from Utah yeah that Yeah I I I
6:57
remembered it was a power four uh school but um just looking at this group man I
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mean you've got if you have even your preferred starters you have five guys who started double digit games last year
7:08
either for Nebraska Notre Dame or Alabama so I feel like that's a pretty good starting point for this offensive
7:13
line yeah yeah I'd say it's really good and uh they went out and addressed their needs quickly in the portal and they
7:21
knew that offensive line depth was going to be a problem so they went out and got some guys who who were on teams that you
7:29
know played in the college football playoff or played in big moments so the experience that the transfers um bring
7:36
to the table is also something noteworthy all right let's talk a little transfer
7:42
portal now because it's been uh the the main topic of conversation in college football here the past few days with uh
7:49
Nico is it I am Aava is that how you pronounce the last name i believe so yes yeah so anyways we'll call him Nico from
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here on out because uh I just I suck at last names i'm sorry it's not I'm just not good at it people we're writers
8:00
we're not We're not uh video people clearly as you can tell trying to get better though i'm trying i really am
8:05
trying i know I've misspelled so or mispronounced so many names um anyway but yeah this whole thing is crazy and I
8:12
guess Nico asked for more money in the winter and then didn't get it didn't enter the portal and yeah to do this
8:18
hold out thing is nuts and um I know that you there's this whole house
8:23
settlement and um once that goes into effect uh there's like a cut off date
8:30
and after that any NI any NIL deal over like $600 has to go to like a third
8:35
party company or organization to get approved which I'm sure they'll they'll still figure it out but there's not
8:40
going to be like the the clearing house it is now you know right now I think guys are just getting money just you I
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don't think there's really a lot of stipulations with it i don't I'm not So guys are going to try to cash in and
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that's why people are predicting like the spring portal might be kind of crazy and I think it got pretty crazy with
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Nico entering and now it's like you know Tennessee is trying to get some quarterbacks into the portal so um yeah
9:02
hold hold on to your uh you know buckle your seat belts for the next few days i think Nebraska's going to be fine though i'm not I'm honestly not worried about
9:09
Nebraska losing like any key starters to the portal um I think they will lose players because of the the uncertainty
9:16
with the roster limits um I mean if you ask James Williams he was a key starter so we lost him to the portal yeah James
9:23
Williams is and then Terrence Knight's coming out and defending James Williams being like you can say whatever he wants it's like well maybe he should shut up
9:29
because well he can just be prepared for that blowback well it's like I mean he wasn't that good like he had some
9:36
moments but it's not like you know he only came in on third down as a pass rusher yeah yeah and he had like one
9:42
good game i mean he had like one good game where he had multiple sacks that I can remember and um you know besides
9:50
that I don't remember him making like that big of an impact so you know it's just like what are you doing and then
9:56
you know to him just repeatedly being like well no no disrespect dude like you're dis you're disrespecting Ty
10:02
Robinson ty Robinson is not a small human being i mean for you to you know sit there and like you know just minimum
10:08
his compared to you know some Florida State defensive tackle like just shut up you just you're making yourself Yeah
10:13
you're making Oh yeah but but uh but you had two sacks against Ruters and Purdue like good for you you didn't even make
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you didn't even make a tackle let's see so like half of the games last season
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you didn't even measure a statistic so in five games you did not even measure a single statistic so maybe you should
10:31
worry about that instead of taking shots at your old teammates because it doesn't look good for you i mean if it weren't Well honestly nobody would know who you
10:37
were if Nebraska didn't give you a chance i mean maybe he's bitter at the way that
10:44
you know Matt Rule and Tony White ended things maybe he's just bitter at the way you know the Nighton and White left but
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even still like nobody would know who you were if it wasn't for Nebraska so
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yeah it's just yeah he's uh it's it's been it's interesting so um but hey man
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I'm glad that that guy's on like honestly I'm glad that guy's on our team anymore that's not somebody you want on your team like I can see from every
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interview that he's given like that's that's just not somebody that's for the team he's for himself
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and like I I would want him back i mean we're good now yeah like that yeah he
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was he started 11 games for Nebraska last year entered the portal and Yeah i definitely think that that's who Matt
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Rule was talking about when he said "Yeah he said some I think um his exact
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quote was um just don't leave." He said "I don't I want everybody to be happy
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here and if they're not happy here I want them to leave i want them to have an opportunity." But he said "Don't
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leave because somebody promises you a few more bucks or a few more something else." Because a lot of our guys who do
11:47
leave find out that that's not always true and uh Mai Gabbor found that out
11:52
because he's now in the transfer portal and he's visiting North Carolina so I mean like he'll find a place to play but
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playing for Bill Belich isn't bad to be fair i mean you know yeah if that works out I mean he's not a bad player but uh
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yeah I thought it was I thought it was interesting he also said something like um you know don't call me if uh you know
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what your promise doesn't come true you know if you're promised a starting job like don't call me back and so you know
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I don't know if I don't know if that's h I doubt that that that's has happened but I think that that's kind of his you
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know shot across the bat like I told you like I I I made you aware and I think the thing with Matt Rule is he's very
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transparent you know he's always been very transparent with these players i think he does the right thing i really
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do i really believe he does the right thing by these players in a tough uh situation i think that's why these guys
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are sticking it out and I think you know there's going to be this uncertainty where they might not know if they can
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stick on the roster and I do think that some of them are going to stick it out like Matt Rule said where they're like I'm a Husker through and through and I
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commend those guys and um hell I mean maybe that might be Turner Corkran and Teddy Parasha because I mean I know if
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Turner Corkran entered the portal he would get picked up somewhere because people teams need offensive linemen so
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freaking bad like they would at least give him a chance you know what I mean so we'll see what happens there'll be
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some departures there but I'm not worried about um I'm not worried about any starting level players leave
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hopefully I'm right about that what do you think about uh are you concerned about anybody leaving and do you think
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Nebraska is going to be targeting anybody no on both fronts i think you know if players were to leave they would
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have left you know at the very beginning of the transfer portal uh last year and
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I mean Nebraska may look at one or two guys like maybe like like you were saying and um less time an extra running
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back or something like that but I I truly do think that the roster is pretty much set for the 2025 season
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yeah I agree i mean I I just I don't really see any glaring needs i mean
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maybe you know I don't know maybe if you could get an all conference right tackle I guess you know you wouldn't
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necessarily say no the problem is that uh you know that player's going to c I feel like this is
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going to be like you know the you know in those movies where um like Arnold
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Schwarzenegger people like worst reference ever but it's like there's like the last Christmas toy you know and everybody's like fighting for it and
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going crazy like that's what this Yeah yeah yes yeah that's what this is going to be like for people trying to get
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offensive tackles it's going to be like people pushing each other and you know so the so I just feel like the baiting
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wars are going to get nuts and I'm not sure if Nebraska's you know really going to take part in that because I just I really don't think it's that much that
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needed i feel like they're pretty solid almost almost across the board really i I truly feel that way i'm not saying
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that they're perfect but they have you know a starting caliber player I would say at almost every position i had to
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think of Arnold Schwarzenegger Chris and that was the only one that came to mind so I'm glad I hit on that i usually think of him like I'm impressed that you
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that you got that reference yeah i I don't know if anybody else will so that was impressive Danny well well well you
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know this is why we do a podcast together because nobody else gets us and understands us and uh Yeah so um yeah no
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I don't think that Nebraska will make any other moves if they do it will be a small one and on that same token I don't
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think um I don't think players will leave i think the roster is pretty much set at this point and um yeah we're
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we're we're approaching well well halfway through April almost May three
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more months until the season like I think I think what we see is what we're going to get yeah I I agree um so let's
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move on to some uh potentially future Huskers with some recruiting uh recruiting roundup um still you know
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like visitors trickling in it's been different this spring and I think it's you know they they're not having the
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spring game so they haven't made that like as big of a weekend and um but I do think that it's maybe been a little bit
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of a better process because you get you know a few guys every weekend who can kind of get the VIP treatment um so yeah
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here's a run kind of a rundown of who uh visited this weekend syracuse Edge Commit uh Cameron Wilson who's a three
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star um he's ranked as a four-star by some but a three star in the composite rankings he visited this weekend um I
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think he also he loves Oh sorry go ahead i think he also talked about coming back that's the only other thing I was going
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to say yeah because he loves the Flow Nebraska movement i was reading an article yesterday he loves that you know
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the Florida connections and heck there's a lot of Florida players up here now so it's not just a trend there like between
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the players and Phil Simpson and uh I know I'm missing a bunch of guys even
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even Jamar Mooi I think recruits to Florida some but the Florida movement is here and I think it's here to stay well
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yeah i mean they've got connections there and um it is a smart place to recruit you know like there's a reason
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why it's smart to recruit like Texas and Florida and California because there's so many good players like you're bound
16:52
Yeah you're bound to find some good ones so um yeah that was a good player to have on campus cameron Wagner the
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offensive tackle um was back again so that was a a good visit uh Jace Reynolds
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um linebacker edge target um was back on campus this weekend um let's see who Oh
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yeah daola yeah Luke Sorenson visited this weekend i'm watching honestly because I think we're going to need
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we're going to need a tight end soon uh just for developmental purposes and
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Sorenson's a baller he is yeah he's uh his rec he's been kind of a fast rising
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recruit and it's not I'm not sure what to make of the Isaac Jensen thing if with him cancing the visit to Nebraska
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because you know I'm not I'm not That makes me think Nebraska's not really in in anymore or maybe he just uh you maybe
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he's been in Nebraska so many times he feels like he doesn't need to visit but it's probably not a great sign either way so I really feel like he's probably
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not going to be part of the class now so well I feel like the pursuit of Luke Sorenson and and Isaac Jensen not coming
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uh maybe connected in in in a way just because you know I think the coaching staff maybe knows that um Jensen is not
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a guarantee and I think Jensen probably knows that maybe Nebraska is trying to
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move on to other options because the one thing that this staff does is that they recruit very quickly if they recognize a
18:13
player not wanting to be here or wanting to come here they don't wait to for the player decision they just keep going
18:19
yeah for sure and I think um they they just I think they do a good job of communicating with the players and so
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that they know there's not a clear interest here it's like okay well you know good luck to your future and um you
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know we'll move on to somebody else so um Dayton Riola also visited again um he
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I think he was on campus with uh maybe one of the receivers i can't reme I can't remember correct exactly but uh
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fourstar Nan Scott also visited this weekend like him or Ryan I think Ryan Mosley actually Ryan Mosley was there um
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I believe Ryan Mosley and Nen Scott and I love both sign me up for either one please yes so um Nebraska's doing a good
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job with a lot of these guys i think they're doing what you need to do um these out of region recruits especially
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you want to try to get them on campus three times i mean that's like the magic number you had your junior day you get your spring visit official visit and
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then close it out so um that's that's kind of where they're I think they're following along the plan i mean they've
19:15
only got three commitments right now but I think they're only going to take like 15 so I wouldn't uh I wouldn't worry too
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much you know they've got most of their top targets are coming in for official visits and that's when they're going to
19:26
going to look to close so um yeah I I feel like uh 2026 class is setting up
19:31
well um I don't know there's been It feels like there's been some positive buzz about Trey Taylor but it's really hard to read what What's your read on
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Trey Taylor this week because it seems like it's almost every week yeah right i don't know
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it's He's really hard to read he's He's been a fan of Nebraska he likes the
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business school he likes that but at this point you know with his decision coming up May 1st I had said last week
19:56
that that was a good thing for Nebraska but now I'm not so sure we'll see what happens this week
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um I think honestly I'm going to be watching this week for if there's any
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buzz about Keegan Croucher because I feel like if we hear a lot about Keegan Croucher then that will give us the
20:14
context clues that you know maybe the staff knows that Taylor isn't coming we go back to you know the staff recognizing you know who wants to come
20:20
and who doesn't and and move on so I don't know what's your read i know I know Michigan is interested illinois is
20:26
making a really really big push uh what's your read on it well um Michigan has been um projected
20:35
to get a 2026 quarterback um his name's Nathan Bernard from uh C from Ohio which
20:41
is connected to this in a in a a roundabout sort of way but I'll explain it um so he's like a three star ohio
20:48
State's evaluating him um but if Michigan gets his commitment I think that'll be a sign of um where they stand
20:56
with a 2026 recruit whose name is Ryder Lions and he's a fivestar he's a 2026 kid but he's a Mormon
21:03
yes but he's Mormon okay and so he's going to be taking a a one-year uh Mormon mission after this year so even
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though he's a 2026 quarterback he's really he's really a 2027 quarterback
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and he visited Michigan this weekend so I think like in their ideal world they
21:20
would take this i would take two quarterbacks Nathan Bernard and um Ryder Lions i
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think in 2026 with an eye that he would be like a 2027 QB so I mean if they're taking him I really don't see them
21:32
taking Trey Taylor so I it it could flip around but my read is that Trey Taylor's
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not going to Michigan um at least right now so I mean he seemed like he really
21:43
liked his Texas A&M visit but it's hard it's hard to say that that was the one that kind of pushed him towards the
21:48
decision because he also just visited Michigan and Nebraska so I honestly I I truly don't know but I've seen some
21:53
Nebraska accounts that like are posting positive things but you just you can never really tell on social media so I'm
21:59
not I guess it's uh it's interesting because there there haven't been any crystal
22:04
balls or anything with Trey Taylor it's been like all quiet so um we'll see
22:09
decision is coming up so yeah I don't think um I don't know i I can't really
22:15
rule out Illinois either it doesn't seem like LSU is really that much in the mix so it does seem kind of like
22:21
it's Michigan Nebraska you know um&m and
22:26
uh Illinois see it's what it feels like um just to me I'm not I'm not saying
22:31
that's I have any intel on that um but yeah so I I think it'll be interesting
22:36
to see like where things are at with u Michigan and Ryder Lions after this weekend because if he's like their if
22:42
he's like their top target and they can get both of those guys um kind of like what I was saying I think that would
22:47
would make sense and probably would push them out of the running for Trey Taylor um but then they're also on Keegan
22:54
Croucher too so it's either way I feel like um Keegan Croucher is going to be a fallback for you know probably whoever
23:00
loses this race like even Texas&M back no and and his it's just it's
23:06
interesting how some kids have different timelines for their recruitments like Keegan Croucher is like "Oh I'm going to take visits in the fall before I make my
23:11
decision you know whereas Trey Taylor is making his decision May 1st which is more of a you know you're most of the
23:18
time quarterbacks make their decisions before their senior season starts um so or even before like their junior season
23:24
i mean so that's just Yeah that's just where it is um I know they want a quarterback in the 2027 cycle but you
23:32
have Dylan for what two more seasons yeah probably then hopefully TJ can
23:40
slide in for a little bit and then you have Dayton so I think if we didn't land a quarterback in the 2027 cycle it
23:46
wouldn't be the end of the world necessarily like if if Dayton wasn't in the picture if TJ wasn't here then I'd
23:53
be like "Oh like damn we got to get rolling." But I feel like the uh the U
23:59
program did a much better job of scouting quarterbacks over the last couple classes and now they have some on the roster so they have kind of a little
24:05
bit more time they bought themselves time and not not necessarily rush for a quarterback don't get me wrong I want a
24:10
2027 quarterback but I feel like if we if we missed out on uh Trey for example
24:16
it wouldn't be you know the end of the world as in some years where it's like oh no we need a quarterback now because
24:23
we Yeah well yeah and when Matt Rule came here I mean there wasn't you know the quarterback room wasn't great i mean
24:29
there wasn't a lot of infrastructure there and so now you've got um you got Dylan who's your who's your guy for the
24:34
next two years you've got two I think two players who they at least believe
24:39
could potentially be the future starter and and and Marcos Dvalia and uh Oh yeah i always forget about him yeah yeah and
24:46
he I mean the thing is is um everyone was like bummed that Daniel Kalin left well Dalia is ranked like a lot higher and I'm not saying that rankings are the
24:52
end all beall but like he's a talented kid so I thought Nebraska you know swapped out one young quarterback for
24:58
another pretty effectively and then um but the thing is you know going back to the Nico kid from Tennessee is like you
25:04
can be you can be stocked and then two days later your quarterback room is thin so um I think that's why you know you
25:10
want to try to add one every year if you can and if Nebraska misses Andre Taylor I think Keegan Croucher is one option
25:16
and then um the kid the other kid um is it Brillin Warren um
25:22
I think that that would be a good fallback option the kid from Omaha Westside his dad played at
25:28
Nebraska um he's not ranked yet but um he's starting to get you know more offers so you know that would be a
25:35
potential guy that they could fall back on um you know if they don't recruit Nebraska kids the world ends so we don't
25:41
want the world to end yeah people will people will act like that but you look at I mean so far he's been offered by
25:48
Oklahoma State Missouri Kansas State Kansas Iowa State Cincinnati Arkansas so
25:54
I mean he's he's becoming a legit prospect and um you know so I think that
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that would those that's my quarterback hierarchy and um yeah people are you know there's the debate the 2026 class
26:07
should they you know get Jeff Tamalia blah blah blah and I mean I don't know I'm right there i don't I don't like
26:13
Iowa offering him i mean I don't want to see him go to Iowa but I mean you know what do you do i don't think I think
26:19
they're they're all on the the Dayton Raola train for good reason so um you know I trust their scouting but I I'm
26:26
hoping that somebody else like gets Jeff Tamalia besides Iowa yeah although
26:31
Iowa's never really been a quarterback building school so if Iowa gets him
26:37
probably so why would hopefully he can hand the ball off good hopefully uh he
26:42
he he practices handoffs if he goes to Iowa so I'm not too worried about that but it it would sting from the point of
26:48
you know him going to arrival it just it's just going to be interesting to um
26:53
to see how that plays out because it's pretty clear you know it's never really been that like presented as Nebraska
27:00
chose you know Raola over it but it's pretty clear that's what they did and he just you know they they've never basically given given uh the time of day
27:08
to Jeff Tamala so it's it's interesting but they're betting on Riola and that's not a bad bet to make i mean he's got
27:14
you know what two uncles that played professionally um an older brother that you know is going to be most likely a
27:19
first round pick um so that's the thing is like people act like Dylan Riola played bad last year and they're like
27:25
like I even saw people um you know cuz I posted some things on like the Husker Big Red Facebook like after he uh you
27:32
know being like oh man I'm so glad like this is our quarterback you know and we don't have to deal with this Nico stuff because Dylan Rayola definitely could do
27:38
the same thing he could absolutely do i think Dylan Rayola could fetch almost as much money as this as as Nico could i
27:45
mean and people I mean he threw for 2,000 um 8 you know 2,800 yards last
27:50
year completed um 67% of his passes i know he only threw 13 touchdowns but he
27:57
did not have like a dynamic receiving core i mean a good offensive coordinator for I mean yeah for for much of the year
28:04
he still threw for 216 yards a game like as a true freshman that's that's hard to do and I think that people who were
28:10
criticizing Dylan Riyola for the way he played last year like you're outing yourself as somebody that just doesn't
28:15
know football because going coming into the Big 10 conference and having that kind of success as a true freshman is
28:21
not easy so I feel like the way that he played last year is just going to be a springboard and like you're crazy if you
28:27
don't think that Dylan Raola could go get like three four five million on the open market he could he's choosing to
28:32
stay at Nebraska and let's give him some credit for that yeah yeah and I wonder you know at at what point they're going
28:39
to run everybody out of town and then nobody will want to come here i wonder if that they will ever come cuz Yeah
28:44
we'll see hopefully the hopefully us uh good us non crazy people will keep them keep them here you know I think they I I
28:52
think we will because you know I I I really do believe in what this coaching staff is doing and what this what this
28:58
coaching staff is building and you look at the caliber of visitors even just this weekend for example that are coming to Nebraska it's a lot different than
29:04
what it was let's see when did we start the show three years ago so I mean three years ago we were talking about you know
29:10
the cupard being there and you know we were just hoping for a bowl game and a winning season and you know now the
29:18
program has been elevated to a different level all right let's switch over to we'll
29:23
wrap up the show here another transfer portal target for Nebraska they had their rosters almost set they have one
29:29
um spot at least that we know of right now and they're trying to get it filled with another player um and over the
29:34
weekend they hosted Ezra Acer hopefully that's pronunciation is correct um he is
29:40
uh going to be a senior this next season so he's got one year of eligibility but he started 29 games last year for Utah
29:46
um he started 73 games in his career he played at East Carolina uh before Utah but averaged uh 12 and a half points
29:53
last season five rebounds um shot 54% on twos um 51% from the field overall he
30:02
didn't didn't make a single three last year um or let's I guess he made one he made one three-pointer last season uh
30:09
made six the year before so he's not not a three-point shooter 23% career um but
30:15
I mean he's got he's a 61% shooter from the line and another area that stands out to me about his game is he averaged
30:20
6.4 free throw attempts per game which would have led Nebraska last season so
30:26
um I think this would be a great a great uh addition and I'm kind of bummed that it's Monday and we still haven't got a
30:31
commitment so sounds like it sounds a lot to me like a Jan Gary type of replacement um like that type of player
30:38
so and you know you mentioned he doesn't really shoot three-pointers he shot one last year now we have three-point
30:45
shooting so we don't need to worry about a three-point shooter we can focus on a guy that that generates contacts uh
30:50
drives inside and his rebounding ability is also a plus so I think he would be a great fit i mean when you look at this
30:57
team you have the three-point shooting in Sanford and Aie and then you have the
31:02
dynamic scoring you know guard in blue and then you have
31:08
um the kid from Air Force who can also shoot a little bit um but but but is a taller type of player so you have a very
31:15
balanced roster from this transfer portal and honestly I think it's one of the best uh recruiting jobs that Fred's
31:21
ever done yeah and this would be um I think this would be another great addition um I think he'd have a he might
31:28
even start if he if he comes on because you look at right now they've got um you look at their front court they've
31:34
got Ukiagist um they've got you know Berke Boyansel and um Rink Mass and I like
31:41
that i like that trio i thought I did pretty well on those pronunciations but we're going to have a mouthful of names this season that's for sure yeah why do
31:48
why can't you just recruit guys like Joe Smith or something i was thinking Joe Smith yeah joe Smith they're like Matt
31:54
Brown or something and I think it's going to get worse because I meant to say this but it does seem and I think it's smart but we talked about like high
32:00
school recruiting not working out as well so I think Nebraska is going to do more international recruiting like you know um which I like yeah but that's
32:07
just going to be more more uh names that are hard to pronounce um anyway can't
32:12
get his butt over to the high schools but he can fly overseas to do international recruiting
32:18
probably Zoom calls and stuff like that but um yeah it's funny well you got to
32:23
recruit who you can get I guess um but with uh Ezra I really think so going back to what I was saying before is okay
32:30
we've got three good bigs but you're you're you are who who you can guard right like in this era of basketball
32:36
like and I'm looking at this team it's like who's going to guard the fours who's going to guard the other teams for
32:41
Rinkmast i mean Beer can like I think Berke can rink mask can in some
32:47
instances but you know if you're talking about like um a Julian Battle who we were talking about who those kind of
32:52
those stretch fours you know who can shoot threes like that's going to be a tough matchup for like a barricade or
32:58
you know especially if you only got one guy so I think in that sense they could really use um Ezra Oair who averages
33:05
he's averaged um you know a steal per game he's not like a shot blocker but you know like half a block per game but
33:11
he's a pretty good defender and um the other thing is he's just he's a really good um he's a really good postcorer so
33:18
he's would give Nebraska another post threat and I think he would play really well he would fit really well with rink
33:24
mast because you talk about like the high lows situation that you know mass could have um you know like throwing the
33:31
ball down to him he's also um a really good screen and role player because he gets a lot of his a lot of his points
33:37
come off post ups a lot of his points come in transition and isolations but a lot of his points too come off like cuts
33:42
and rolls to the basket so talking about playing him with you know Jammarcus Lawrence with Kendall Blue I think he
33:48
would be a nice fit there um hell you could maybe even have um you know copy kind of what Michigan did this year and
33:54
put Rink Mast as your ball as your ball handler in the pick and roll like I'm serious i think Rick Mask him handling
34:00
the ball yeah yeah so put Rink as your put Rink as your ball handler and send
34:05
Ezra up there as your screener and that could be kind of interesting because um you know Rink can dribble down there and
34:11
kind of isolate and post up and score so I don't I think there's a lot of things that they could do together and I think
34:17
he would be a great fit along with Rink Mass and just is a and he's a guy that even though he started last year for
34:22
Utah he only played um 23 minutes a game so he's not So whether he start like to
34:28
me it's it's basically irrelevant whether he starts or not like he's he's like Connor i just I don't think
34:34
it's like I to me it's irrelevant whether whether a starts or not because his role is going to be the same either
34:39
way he's going to play like 20 to 30 minutes and shoot a bunch of threes and this guy is going to play 20 to 30
34:45
minutes and get a bunch of post ups rebounds play defense so I think he would be a perfect kind of final piece
34:51
to this roster if they're able to get him yeah i mean he's he's he can do it all can score rebound and when you look
34:57
at like I just kind of said but it's worth reiterating again when you look at the shooting the ball handling ability
35:04
of Lawrence and Blue the postcoring ability of a guy like Europe and Rink
35:11
Mass i mean this team is extremely balanced so add so adding Assar would would just continue that balance even
35:18
more in my opinion it is balanced i like how it's uh shaping up and um yeah I
35:24
mean people are like "Oh we can't replace like Bryce Williams and Jawan Gary." Well like no you're not going to that's not how it works like and uh like
35:31
the best player on this team is going to be it needs to be rink mass i mean he was an all big 10 selection so that's a
35:36
pretty good you know starting point and I think Kendall Blue has a lot of things
35:42
that Bryce Williams does and I think he can even have I think he has a higher um upside he has a higher um ceiling not
35:48
not a higher ceiling than Bryce Williams but a higher ceiling than he showed and I think Fred Hoyberg has shown that he's
35:55
really good at getting that out of players so like he you see like Bryce was good at Charlotte but when he got to
36:01
Nebraska like he became a different player and you can't tell me that the same way I thought too like he did a
36:07
much better job I think of moving without the basketball Nebraska like I felt like Fred was able to get a lot out of him yeah like Fred's a damn I mean
36:14
he's a damn good coach he's coached you know Iowa State to the NCA tournament he's been in the NBA he's been an NBA GM
36:21
like he knows the game and so I feel like yeah a lot of these guys that are coming here even if they're not the
36:27
highest ranked guy in the transfer portal like I still feel like they're going to improve their game and and I think Nebraska is going to be a pretty
36:32
good team next year obviously I still think they're going to be like on the bubble you know they're going to be it's
36:38
it's going to be similar i think I think almost every year for Nebraska is going to be similar like it's going to be
36:44
fighting to make the NCA tournament you know yada yada yada but that's a hell of a lot better place to be than you know bumbling at the bottom of the Big 10
36:50
conference which I know that's kind of where they ended up this year but they still were you know just a few wins away
36:55
from making it to the tournament so I think I think that's where they're going to be and and you know for the most part
37:00
I'm fine with that i do want them to win games and stuff but I would much rather have a reason to watch basketball than
37:06
like you know a few years ago like there wasn't even reason to watch the team in like February because they were like had
37:12
like eight wins you know so they were like nine and 21 or something and like at least this team is playing like in
37:18
postseason tournaments you know what I mean so and I feel like they'll and I know the Crown blah blah blah but that's
37:23
still playing in the Crown is still better than sitting at home and not having a team that's like good enough to even get there you know so I agree i
37:30
agree and hopefully next year won't be the crown but be the NCA tournament but we'll see one thing at a time yeah I
37:37
think they got a I think they have a good chance i like how they're building this roster but um yeah it's hard last
37:43
year though too so there you go yeah I did too but um I mean it's always like I
37:48
feel like you're always going to have that that reaction you know you always want to have that positive you know you'd like that optimistic mindset when
37:54
you're building a roster like what it could be and you're trying to think of you know it's kind of always the glass half full mindset and so yeah I mean I'm
38:02
trying to guard against that a little bit with with some of these additions but um you know and there is some of
38:08
these guys are going to have to prove that they can play up in another league you know and that that always is a concern but that's why like with Ezra
38:14
Asawagi like he already played he's already played in the Big 12 and that's a really quality conference and the and the um whatever they call it the
38:21
American he was he was a all-American um or no he was on the all he was a he
38:27
was an all freshman in the American conference guy why I hate that conference name it's just it gets confusing all American what was it
38:33
before was it oh the east yeah it was the big east yeah then they that's what it was then they changed I miss big east
38:40
basketball not to go off on like a random tangent but big east basketball is the best I love the old time saying
38:47
like Yukon Syracuse you know even BC back when they were in the Big East
38:53
before they joined the ACC like I missed good Big East basketball
38:59
yeah now it's like uh half the Big It's like half the Big East plus like Kraton and some other words it just isn't the
39:05
same and I'm not trying to Kraton but you know no it's not the same but you
39:11
know what i still miss the Big Eight so I miss uh I miss when No you know Nebraska used to play Kansas and that
39:16
was always a fun that was always a fun game um and we usually got killed but every once in a while we beat Kansas and
39:23
um that just like that was always I remember that was always like the one time a year Nebraska was on like national TV when they would like play
39:29
Kansas and so you know part of me wishes Nebraska was still in the Big 12 because we would have ran the table yeah we
39:37
probably would have been in the playoff last year if they had been in the Big 12 like I'm not even joking so No I agree
39:42
yeah um yeah i mean Arizona State was I don't know maybe we couldn't have beat Arizona State but probably would have at least like made the made the like
39:48
championship game yeah yeah and probably would have got like a 17-point lead and then found a way to lose it like Yeah
39:54
probably like when we played Oklahoma in the in the Big 12 like one of the last it might have been the last Big 12
39:59
championship game and we had a ch I feel like we had a chance to go up like 14 and like threw an interception in the
40:05
end zone or something i don't know but we need to we need to end this drought of conference championships so maybe
40:12
we'll maybe this will be the year maybe i don't know that's the thing about it's like winning a conference championship
40:17
now is it's it's as hard as winning the national championship i mean let's just be honest about it because last year's
40:23
national champion didn't even win the Big 10 so I was going to say it's meaningless now i mean kind of but so
40:29
maybe I mean I wouldn't say I wouldn't say it's meaningless but I would say it's it's not it is more meaningless
40:36
like in the sense that you don't have to win the Big 10 to win the national championship anymore so like yeah you're
40:42
right in the like Yeah you don't even need to play in it i mean it's like but but I think it does still mean something
40:50
for like it would mean something for Nebraska if they won it you know and also when you have 72 teams in the Big
40:55
10 it's a lot harder now so yeah for sure you're like yeah you talk about it's I just think you have to look at it
41:01
almost as a whole separate you know the way I look at basketball it's like you know you truly successful is you have
41:08
three chances outside of the you know the crown and stuff like that to win to hang a banner right and that's to you
41:13
know win the regular season Big 10 win the Big 10 tournament win the national championship and in football you know
41:19
you're you're you're you have two opportunities and that's winning the national title and winning your conference champ i mean because I don't
41:24
think we're hanging banners for the pinstripe bowl so like you know what I mean you might maybe maybe that No we
41:30
can't do that i will get a T i still want a t-shirt though um so you know yeah I it's still one of those trophies
41:37
that you can win and I sure as hell would love to see Nebraska win it i would love to see him make it there and
41:42
uh we'll see if that ever happens i I think we're closer closer than some of us want to
41:47
admit though but we can still be a mile away close can still be a mile away so that's my final that's my final thought
41:54
for the day yeah same here those are some good good good metaphor for life so
41:59
um all right guys we'll wrap it up there we'll be back with another episode uh midweek and then we'll um do our Saturday morning chats um you know this
42:06
Saturday leading into the spring game so make sure you hit the like button hit the subscribe button and as always go
42:12
Big Red go Big Red
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