Nebraska football is keeping up with college football joneses with GM hire
28K views
Mar 17, 2025
Why hiring a general manager with an NFL background is a home-run hire for the #Huskers and an essential thing for Nebraska footbal moving forward. We also talk about the 2026 recruiting class and assess Nebraska basketball's stand regarding the NCAA tournament. #gbroexplained 0:55 A major staff hire by Nebraska 10:46 Breaking down visits/top targets in 2026 29:08 Bracketology and Nebraska basketball
View Video Transcript
0:01
hey Husker fans welcome back to the Husker big red YouTube channel I'm Chris Peterson and joining me as always is Janie Gillette and we're back here for
0:06
another episode of the podcast and we're going to discuss a major um hire by the Nebraska uh coaching staff adding a
0:12
general manager um and a great move by Matt rule so we'll get um in depth about that we've also got some recruiting news
0:18
heating up in 2026 with a bunch of visits and we'll check in on some Bracketology updates and discuss what
0:24
the Nebraska basketball teams need to do to advance to the NCA tournament here with the March Madness quickly
0:29
approaching so before we get into all that please please make sure to hit the like button hit the Subscribe button get
0:35
into the comment section and Danny how are you doing on this Thursday morning I'm doing well I'm doing well I'm
0:41
actually Wide Awake uh I think our late start here woke me up a little bit and gave me a chance to wake up so let's do
0:47
that again that sounds good to me um well and it was uh I guess coming
0:53
into this week you know we were wondering how much news we would have on Thursday and different things to talk about but actually quite a few things to
0:58
talk about and we'll start with a new hire by Nebraska um which was announced Wednesday night Pete themel of ESPN
1:04
reported it was confirmed by you know a bunch of other Nebraska reporters but Pat Stewart a guy uh coming from the NFL
1:11
worked for the Eagles he's worked for the Patriots worked for the Panthers um worked in Pro Personnel for the New England Patriots is coming over now to
1:17
be the general manager for Matt Rule and you know if you look at the landscape of college football lots of other teams
1:23
have general managers North Carolina is paying Michael Lombardi $1.5 million to be their general manager Oklahoma just
1:30
hired the guy who's been running the Senior Bowl Jim naggie to be their general manager so I think is a really solid one because he's really smart
1:36
anyway sorry yeah and just so if you if Nebraska fans don't like this move or don't understand why it's essential like
1:42
if you want to keep up with the Joneses this is what you have to do yeah and to get a guy who's has a scouting
1:47
background and a pro Personnel background you know with the transfer portal in Nal I think it's uh overdue
1:53
it's long overdue and I think this is one of the best moves that Matt rule has made as Nebraska football head coach
1:58
eight out of the 12 teams that were in the college football playoff this past season have a general manager so this
2:04
isn't something that Nebraska has as a specialty or that they're wasting money on or this that and the other thing
2:10
whatever I've heard from the fans I mean this is this is you know uh a higher
2:16
that should be made a higher that probably honestly should have been made a couple years ago but now we're really
2:21
seeing the financial aspect of college football uh the money management aspect
2:27
of college football and you know paying players you know those are three big
2:32
elements of the college football landscape now and so a general manager is a very smart move and bringing in a
2:38
guy like Pat Stewart who had experience during the better years of the Patriots I might add uh not the current iteration
2:44
but the better years is a smart move yeah and it's just you know when you look at the way that you're building
2:51
you know rosters in college football it's a lot different in than it used to be and Matt R talked about this in a
2:56
podcast with Urban Meyer um where he was talking about the some of the SEC scheduling and y ya but he was talking
3:02
also about you know High School recruiting and how it's much different than it used to be you know he's still said that he wants 65 to 75% of the
3:10
roster to be you know high school recruits but he also said that you know we're looking at more like 15 high
3:15
school recruits a year instead of like 20 or 25 as it used to be so mean you might be looking at you know maybe 15 15
3:22
high school recruits maybe 10 12 transfers and that's just the additions that you make to your team every year so
3:27
having a guy who's worked in Pro personnel who's scouting because what do you need to do in the transfer I mean Matt rule talked about you know like
3:34
every day he was coming into his office and you know checking out PFF and looking at film and trying to find players you know who fit Nebraska well
3:41
that's what you need a general manager to do and so this this guy and what Nebraska needs to be doing is throughout
3:46
the season they need to be studying players and looking at potential guys who should be you know going into the transfer portal and hell they should be
3:52
they should be tampering with these players if they see guys in October November that they can identify tamper
3:57
with them because everybody else is doing it so you know you know what you need to say hell with the rules and until somebody actually defines that and
4:03
starts punishing people for tampering you just have to do it like you absolutely have to do it I think Pete Nikos even had a piece out for on
4:09
three.com where um a staffer basically was like if you're not tampering then your program is behind so you need to
4:16
identify players that can that can help your team you know whether that's group of five whether that's you know other
4:21
teams in the power four and start reaching out to them start putting out feelers um and then I get to the portal
4:26
and be prepared and have a plan because that's what the other teams are doing a lot of these teams when players get to
4:31
the portal like they've already had contact with them they've already identified them and so you this will give you a guy who has a chance to scout
4:38
players on other teams because when you're talking about giving you know I mean we gave Rocco Spindler I don't know
4:43
exactly how much money but probably six figures right like we need to be scouting and uh hitting on these players
4:50
because there's there's not an endless amount of money right I mean like I know it seems like you can spend you know
4:55
yada yada y but these players still have to produce at some point and so I think it's very important that you make sure
5:01
you spend your money on the right guys and at the right positions and having an NFL mind I think will help just make all
5:07
that work better for Nebraska in terms of managing their roster well it's a good point you made
5:13
about having an NFL mind because you look at a lot of this coaching staff and they've played or been coaches in the
5:20
NFL John Butler Terry Braden um you know I I'm sure I'm I'm sure I'm missing a
5:26
couple guys there but those are the two ones that stick out in my mind and I think it's also important to note that
5:32
you know the associate head coach Phil snow for as old as he is he's been and
5:37
and and and I don't mean that in a bad way but as part of the older generation he is still very um receptive to the
5:45
transfer portal and receptive to kind of this new era of college football so it's nice to see that cohesiveness um
5:53
especially with a guy like Stone who has been part of the older generations of college football and you know that that
5:59
he's willing to adapt and yeah I was looking at um Nebraska's you know coaching or
6:06
basically like their their staff and they technically they do have a general manager right now um unfortunately he's
6:11
not going to have a job anymore I'm sure they'll give him a different job um let's see Sean padon is actually the
6:18
current general manager and he worked with rule um he was vice president of
6:23
football operations um with the Panthers he was the associate athletic director for football operations at Baylor so I
6:30
mean definitely has a lot of experience in football but more of a college football mind and I just think that with
6:36
the way that rosters are working now you it really is an NFL mindset I know people maybe don't like that but that's
6:41
just the reality I mean you're You're Building A Team you're looking at positions of value we saw that in the
6:46
transfer portal offensive tackle quarterback wide receiver defensive line you know there's certain positions where
6:52
you have to um identify and pony up money for players because there's a there's a very finite group of guys
6:58
available so I think just adding all of these different positions um and adding
7:03
a general manager with scouting and NFL you know Personnel experience which I think is really going to help in the
7:08
transfer portal and also helping with uh even just scouting because you know you're if you're only taking 15 high
7:15
school recruits a year I mean you need to you need to get the right ones because you know your scholarships especially now you know Nebraska used to
7:21
just be like well whatever we'll we'll have Walk-Ons and you know scholarship limits and things weren't really that big of an issue but now now it is now
7:28
that now we do have these limits and uh you know you're going to be turning away Nebraska is going to be turning away
7:34
players that want to play here so you need to make sure that you're you're getting the right ones and getting another guy with that much Personnel
7:40
experience in the NFL I think is only going to help and Sean Peyton will be the assistant athletic director for
7:46
strategic initiatives and what that entails is you know helping with the salary cap contract negotiations and
7:52
analytics so he'll still have a position within the program but it just won't be his current one yeah it's actually crazy
7:59
if you like look down the entire list of guys that are like I think Ed Foley's kid is on the staff looks like Charlie
8:06
Foley as an assistant director Foley himself on the staff still
8:11
um in some sort of role like I mean they still have him as special teams coordinator so like they haven't updated
8:17
this yet but um so but yeah it's it's it's interesting all the all the staff
8:22
positions but um I'll tell you like I think this is a major you know major move um and Michigan's hired one and
8:28
Shawn McGee is their General man and that he made a critical impact in trying to land Bry Underwood and some of the
8:34
guys that Michigan was able to get so just I feel like it just uh kind of sets the tone when you're you know with
8:40
recruits and saying hey like this is how much this is what we value this is how much we're going to pay you Etc and um
8:47
just having somebody else that can you know it strikes me I guess with uh some
8:52
of these guys that went to the NFL from college like Jeff Halley is just a name that comes to mind being like I don't want to be a general manager type thing
8:59
I don't want to do all this type of stuff well this this takes a lot of that off of Matt ru's plate I feel like you
9:05
know he's obviously going to have a big impact on what the roster is but he doesn't have to sit here and look at worry about all these contracts as much
9:11
and worry about retaining guy I mean he still does but he can delegate that Authority a little bit to a guy who has
9:16
that experience of an NFL you know front office and I think because I mean another thing is you're you're seeing a
9:22
lot of players too and you know Matt's talked about this plenty of coaches have talked about this but like they're coming back and renegotiating you know
9:28
they're being like Oh I played well I I want to come back and get more money and that's a conversation that you need to be able to learn how to
9:34
navigate and having somebody who has been in NFL front offices is going to help more because it's like hey man like
9:41
this is what you did this is what your positional value is like this is what we can pay you fairly and that's you have
9:46
to be able to have those conversations with people and so I feel like you know retention and player retention and all
9:51
that stuff really factors into this too and I think you know it's really interesting how you know just two years
9:59
ago Nebraska established the position of nil director right and now two years
10:06
later they now have a general manager the nil is much better and so how far they've come under Matt Rule and Troy
10:12
Dannon too um as far as niil is concerned in the past two seasons is definitely admirable and notable and
10:20
necessary yeah and I think U I'm hoping that there'll be even more you know nil support for basketball too um with with
10:27
Troy Dann in the 1890 because that's going to going to be you know trying to build a team through High School
10:32
recruiting in basketball is going to be even more challenging than it was before um so that was bag anyway either let's
10:38
be honest here yeah well it's just it's just tough you know it's tough where they're at so um anyway and speaking of
10:45
recruiting um a good segue to some Nebraska football recruiting is heating up in the 2026 class and um we talked
10:52
about this recently but I was not long ago sitting there being like man why does Nebraska not have more more June
10:58
official visits set well they did start to plenty yeah they they heard me they got plenty this week um so just kind of
11:05
going through some of them this might not be all of them but like Luke Sorenson tight end from California is
11:11
visiting Ryan Mosley we mentioned him earlier Camden Jensen the 67 220 pound
11:16
tight end um from Colorado will be taking an official visit Lincoln Watkins another tight end from Michigan Danny
11:23
Odum um a cornerback from Florida who I think I really like I think he is a little bit underrated and um Jabari
11:31
Brady a big-time receiver from Florida um c yeah CJ brona who is committed to
11:37
Nebraska who just has really got a big um update in the rankings which was good to see he's coming back for an official
11:43
visit which I think is important his man like some SEC teams are going to try to flip this kid he I I when he got when he
11:51
committed he was unranked but if you looked into his stats he had like six interceptions last season he ran the he
11:57
run the 100 meter in 103 so it did didn't take a genius to look at his film and be like this dude needs to be a
12:02
fourstar um he on three moved him up to number 139 in the country which boosted
12:07
his composite ranking up to like 314th or 317th so like this this guy I think I
12:14
think CJ brona is one of the best corners in the 2026 class like I really believe that I think he's a top 10
12:19
cornerback and uh because he's got size two he's 61 runs 103 and has ball skills
12:24
like you cannot like that's exactly what you want from a corner like this is a prototyp typical corner and Charles
12:31
power The Scouting director of V 3 like really talked him up recently in their update so Nebraska talking about
12:36
evaluating players like when he committed he was unranked so that's just another example of them over the past
12:42
two years identifying players that nobody else kind of saw coming and that you know that that uh speaks with like
12:48
Rex Waterman I know people you know were like oh Rex Waterman's not ranked this guy sucks and it's like yeah CJ brono
12:53
wasn't ranked either so you can't just always trust the rankings Nebraska has a good eye for Tal and um Rex Waterman big
13:01
tackle is going to be coming in for a visit Luke waffle um in Edge uh a top 100 player is
13:08
going to be he just scheduled an official visit too so things really training up I think in the 2026 class and a busy month of June setting up for
13:16
Nebraska Jabari Brady and Ryan Mosley are two guys that are really interesting to me I love the way they play they're
13:23
both big- time Playmakers uh Southern wide receivers which is interesting to
13:28
me because it seems like when you look at Ryan Mosley Jabari Brady you know they they are still trying to recruit in
13:35
the South and then you have the tight ends Lincoln Watkins uh Luke senson um
13:41
you know those guys they really want a tight end in this class it seems and
13:46
they are you know Camden Jensen you mentioned too as well so they're doing their homework on the tight end position
13:53
I honestly feel really good about Danny odm because he talked about his relationship with Williams and Coach
14:00
Rule and how he really liked coach rule so I'm not going to say he's a guaranteed commit but I really like where Nebraska stands with him it seems
14:07
like they're making a strong oppression and uh it's just really interesting to see how Nebraska continues to recruit
14:13
the southern part of the country and we talked about this a couple weeks ago I don't think they're straying away from
14:19
the state of Texas by any means but I do think there's more of a focus on Georgia
14:25
and Florida and you know that I think is uh largely in part to Phil Simpson Phil
14:32
Simpson and a guy like Jamar mosy who also has ties in Florida as well as the
14:37
Midwest so I think some of these staff members that were hired as analysts as
14:42
coaches um you know I think we're starting to see their influence pay off
14:47
especially when it comes to Southern recruiting yeah and it's um I think they've just you know they focused
14:54
really on um that 500 mile radius you know St Louis and Kansas and some of
14:59
those other places Matt rle talked about wanting to get into Chicago but yeah there's those other you know Texas
15:05
California um you know you mentioned Georgia St anywhere that you can kind of uh recruit nationally as much as you can
15:11
so I speaking of California players uh Brian boner um a top 100 running back at
15:17
Nebraska in his top eight this week um so he's a guy I think they need to get back for I think this is a recruitment
15:23
that they can win um UCLA is one of the teams in the mix you know Michigan is but they have a lot of running back
15:28
irons in the fire uh Stanford Washington Georgia in the mix but I I feel like Nebraska you know has a chance he
15:35
visited twice he visited twice already visited this um for junior day so he's
15:40
another name I'm kind of watching to uh you know get back for an official visit there was another running back actually that I saw that did that U is coming for
15:48
an official visit in the 2026 class I can't remember um Jamal rule is his name
15:55
actually not uh not rhu l but rle Jamal rule um which kind of I thought is
16:03
interesting out of Charlotte uh Christian unranked in the 2026 class um
16:09
but does have offers from you know NC State Arkansas Wisconsin um Boston
16:16
College Syracuse Virginia Tech so quite a few quite a few ACC and SEC offers 6
16:21
foot 205 pounds so he's another running back to um to kind of monitor there they've got a couple um for official
16:29
visits but he's the most recent and we'll see if if Ryan Bronner uh sets up
16:34
an official visit with Nebraska so it's going to be a tough one he's really really good um he is a allpurpose back
16:41
receiving back as well as running back so that's going to be a really tough recruitment but I'll be interested to see where Nebraska Falls
16:48
there and uh with CJ Bron on in the rankings update I think that was one
16:53
interesting thing seeing him another is that uh Jeff Tamala the Millard South quarterback is now the number one ranked
16:59
player in the state for the 2026 class he's now number I think 255 um in the in the 247 composite
17:08
rankings you see I haven't heard enough Nebraska fans complain about how we haven't offered him yet that's
17:13
interesting yeah well that's I guess that is my question do you think Nebraska should offer this kid because they haven't offered him he's ranked 19
17:20
I mean if you I mean I know that uh rankings aren't everything but the rank there's a huge difference between him
17:26
and and Dayton Rolo who's ranked like 788 or something um he is 19th among
17:31
quarterbacks right now um and let's see where Dayton rayola stands in there um
17:38
so Dayton's 9004 overall and he's 74th among quarterbacks so and he doesn't and
17:45
the other thing with uh Dayton rayola too is you look at his offer sheet the only teams that I've offered him outside
17:50
of Nebraska are Charlotte and Appalachian State so is Nebraska missing the boat on the quarterback uh you know
17:58
um recruiting in 2026 like did they make a mistake in putting all their eggs in dayon rola's
18:04
basket it's a tough question but they put all their eggs initially in the
18:10
Daniel Kalin basket and look where Daniel kin is now I think there's something to be said
18:15
about the competition in Nebraska versus competition in Georgia I that doesn't
18:20
mean I don't think they should offer him but just because they're highly ranked in Nebraska doesn't mean that not that
18:26
they're not good but that the the the compet I think is a little bit tougher in Georgia and you know when you look at
18:32
Daniel Kalin now you know he's not even with the program anymore and initially we both agreed that he was a can't miss
18:39
Prospect but now I mean it's like sometimes the highest rated prospects in
18:44
Nebraska don't correlate to you know success on a national level as you know
18:51
I think the competition's A Little Bit Stronger in Georgia so I don't know I mean they should offer him but I'm not
18:57
going to lose sleep if they missed the vote on him yeah I mean it's it's in it's
19:03
interesting because I still think kayin can be a good quarterback I mean it would be different if you know it's just
19:08
hard to know how that would have worked out if Dylan rayola you know I think he can be a good quarterback too I mean I I
19:14
and I don't want to bash him at all but I like he's not even on the roster anymore so that to to me like I just it
19:22
just makes me wonder about the level of competition in Nebraska and how that correlates to skill on a National level
19:29
if that makes sense to me and that's not just for the quarterback position that's for all positions yeah I mean I think it
19:35
just um you know it just depends but I do yeah I do think it's interesting I don't think that they're going to offer
19:41
him I think they have made their decision they've made their evaluation I mean they just unless they're taking two
19:47
quarterbacks yeah for sure um but you know like you say it's difficult because you always have to be I think you always
19:53
have to be recruiting that position because you just never know uh what's going to happen like TJ Latif could
19:59
spend one year at Nebraska and then make the same decision that Daniel Kalin did you know I want to go somewhere where I can compete to be a starter as a
20:05
sophomore which isn't going to happen and Nebraska like it's just not for him like TJ Latif has to sit for a
20:10
guaranteed two years before he's ever gonna sniff the field you know so is he gonna is he G to wait for that long like
20:16
I hope so but there's no guarantees anymore so I think you have to recruit every single class like you're trying to
20:22
find a new starter because you might need to be your starter like and yeah yeah let's be honest here it's not like
20:28
you can't go out and pay for another quarterback in the transfer portal now I mean it's it's it's easier to do now so
20:36
you know as much as sorry to kind of hijack your thing here but to as much as you know we might have missed the boat
20:43
again it's like the general manager thing you either get what you can or get left behind and in past years Nebraska
20:49
has been slow in recruiting quarterbacks so well 12 tamalia I think is a good player and would have been nice I'm
20:55
comfortable with with Rola and the fact that we were able to get him early because who knows what's going to happen
21:01
yeah and it'll be um yeah it'll just be it'll be interesting to see I know some Nebraska fans probably you know like hey
21:07
why haven't we got this kid really it's interesting because if you look at the top two players in the 247 Sports
21:12
composite rankings for the state of Nebraska Nebraska didn't recruit either of them so the one is an offensive lineman who's committed to Illinois and
21:19
the other is Tamala who you know Missouri's he's got like 12 offers in the last two weeks and most of them have
21:25
been from power for programs Iowa state Missouri like major not major names but starting to pick up and now that there's
21:32
not a ton of quarterbacks left in the 2026 class he's going to be a pretty pretty hot name I would say in the
21:38
midwest um especially but they Nebraska made their evaluation they could change that but here's the thing too is there's
21:45
the other aspect of you've got Rola and his brother's the starting quarterback like are you gonna you know push you
21:50
know worry about his commitment when his brothers moving into a senior season probably not I mean that's just the reality of the situation and maybe maybe
21:58
they could say hey we're going to take two quarterbacks but you know I just I really think that that you know
22:03
recruiting recruiting one puts the other in Jeopardy and I think that they really have evaluated Dayton rayola and
22:11
are saying like hey we think he's going to be more in two years than he's going to be right now and so they've been
22:16
right about a lot of those ones I mean Jeremiah Jones was way underrated um I mean there was guys I'm trying to think
22:22
that guy was it Carlon Jones who Nebraska got state or Alabama yeah so I
22:27
mean there's a bunch of guys CJ Bron there's a bunch of guys where Nebraska has been
22:33
ahead of the rankings and sometimes like look you know this might look bad but it's it's I mean what are you going to
22:39
do you're going to be like hey Dayton like sorry we 247 ranked him higher so we're going to go with him now like you have to trust your evaluation it's not
22:45
like they didn't know who that kid was at the same time he could have improved and gotten better but you know they like
22:51
rayola and uh I think that's going to stay that way not saying that that's the right move but I think they've already
22:56
made their decision in terms of 2026 quarterback and I think that their focus is on trying to get Trey Taylor in 2027
23:04
right now so good I'm I'm so happy you mentioned that because he's another quarterback but also and I'm not saying
23:10
this is gonna happen but let's be honest Dylan has a good season this year I don't know you know 10 and two nine and
23:15
three even maybe eight four teams are going to come calling so even now it's not a guarantee that Dylan will stay on
23:21
the roster necessarily for the right price um and so it you know this the
23:27
situations like these are always fluid and um I know a lot of it is up to the players agents and agents are putting
23:33
bugs in players ear I'm not necessarily a fan of agents in college sports but um
23:40
yeah you know I I I just think it's about what you can get now and not
23:45
necessarily waiting for talent anymore and I think that kind of goes back to the transfer portal High School argument
23:51
as well I mean you can't necessarily wait for somebody to develop and now a player doesn't want to wait to be
23:57
developed and play so I think you kind of have to take the instant gratification these days over you know a
24:03
long process of development yeah I mean that's definitely uh that's definitely part of
24:09
it and um you know it's just it's going to be an interesting time I think moving forward and um you know I Taylor by the
24:17
way I'm glad you said I like Trey Taylor a lot too he's uh you know nebrask is going to be taking another visit to
24:23
Nebraska um he's expected to make a decision this summer he said so um we'll
24:29
see where where that kind of lines up I think the next visits are going to be really important I think uh Michigan's
24:34
right there I think Nebraska's right there though I feel like those are the teams I've heard the most about um I
24:40
know Notre Dame's right in the mix um a bunch of others but it seems like I don't know I just feel like Michigan and
24:45
Nebraska kind of have the inside track right now with Trey Taylor yeah he said he he he said he's liked the business
24:51
school and for him you know it's far enough away from home but close enough to where he can still kind of be home so
24:59
that's a part of it too um I'm really intrigued by that Recruitment and I think that's part of the reason why
25:04
tamalia hasn't been offered yet either because I think the program believes they have a good shot with Trey Taylor and I believe that as well uh I don't
25:10
know what you read on the Michigan part of it is but I think Nebraska has a good shot with Taylor yeah I think he has a
25:17
good shot too they U Michigan just hired FIP Lindsay to be their offensive coordinator and he was recruiting Trey
25:23
Taylor when he was at North Carolina so I mean I think Michigan still has some ties there um but yeah I it's going to
25:30
be a tough it's going to be a tough battle but I think Nebraska's right you know in the thick of it right now so um
25:36
in terms of uh the 2026 class they're you know ranked pretty low right now but
25:42
there's they've only got two commitments so nothing too really worry about but things I think are starting to heat up
25:47
Jace Reynolds is also another guy who's going to be visiting um we mentioned him um with tight ends it is notable that
25:53
you know Matt lwig really they are out of the mix with Matt lwig it seems he uh had visits for Michigan Texas Tech
26:00
Georgia and I think is trying to set one up for Texas A&M Nebraska's not even going to get a visit so even though they
26:05
technically have the crystal ball lead from at lwig it doesn't seem like they're involved in that recruitment
26:10
which I does disappoint me because I think he's a stud I mean they got three other visits coming on Deck so I don't
26:17
know I mean I I really like saon um I really like Watkins too and
26:24
and Candon Jensen is a guy that I'm watching too so it's not like you know I I think Nebraska will get one of those
26:31
tight ends obviously and I think those are good players but um you know I think
26:37
it's just a continued fluid situation I mean lwig committed in what September I
26:43
believe it was or he hasn't committed he's still he visited in September he
26:49
visited a couple times so now you know that's five months later and and you
26:55
know things change so but I do think it's telling how they have so many tight end visits lined
27:02
up um yeah it is interesting and I I think um they've got Isaac Jensen who
27:08
obviously is an instate guy who's G to be I think a they've already got the crystal ball for him so um you know I
27:15
think they'll probably get his commitment and then one of those other three guys is probably how it's going to go the rankings did get shuffled a
27:21
little bit um I should say so Daren Jones the cornerback from Omaha North is up to the number two spot in the state
27:29
um the guy I was talking about the offensive lineman Landon Von seren serin I'm not sure how to pronounce that he's
27:35
number four now he's committed to Illinois um and then am Marian amarian Jackson the wide receiver is also up in
27:41
the top five so I mean I think that there's still um a couple of instate guys that
27:48
Nebraska's in the mix for I'm not sure if they've uh they haven't offered a Maran Jackson a Marian Jackson which is
27:55
kind of interesting in the 2026 class but they have some pretty lofty targets a wide receiver you know so that could
28:01
be a reason why and I'm trying to see about Darion Jones I don't know a ton about him I don't think he's been
28:06
offered by Nebraska either so really it's uh out of the top six um
28:13
instate players two of them are already committed and Nebraska's only offered two so in terms of instate recruiting I
28:20
think you can tell Nebraska just doesn't really like that much what they're seeing in this 2026 class so I don't
28:27
while we've seen a ton of State recruits the past few years I think maybe this year we might only see two or three in state commitments if that well when you
28:34
have ties to Georgia and Florida and I'll say it again you know when you have ties to those two states and you're
28:41
having a little bit of success in those States I mean you look at jakori Barney Cortez Mills uh Vincent Shavers you know
28:47
Wills m i mean and you think you can do better down there then maybe that's
28:52
where you go um I do think you know maybe they should focus a little bit
28:58
more on instate recruiting but it's clear that they have an area where they feel like they can find
29:05
success um all right let's shift to uh some basketball talk we'll have the Bracketology update
29:11
and course Nebraska missed a big opportunity against Michigan in maybe what was the ugliest college basketball
29:17
game I've ever watched um but 4945 was the final or 4946 excuse me um Nebraska
29:25
had a bunch of chances late um Bryce Williams missed two shots to take the lead Conor Sean missed one with about
29:31
seven eight seconds left and then berky actually um booked inell whatever however they say his name I'm saying it
29:38
wrong tel no I think that's it because on the they this it's like berky booken
29:45
Chell I think is how you say it yeah anyways that's how they've been saying on the TV but he he had a decent look um
29:52
they shot I think I calculated that outside of Bryce Williams and Sam hyberg who was two for two the rest of the team
29:58
shot like 12% from the field uh Bryce Williams made more field goals than every other player on the roster
30:03
combined and I mean it's it's disappointing because he was on fire and and Michigan literally just had to double team him and that that just
30:10
thwarted the Nebraska offense Conor seen played sorry he played terrible I mean he just played terrible he's on he's on
30:17
this team for one reason to make shots and he got a bunch of good looks including a game-winning shot and missed
30:22
it so it's like you know I I don't want to hate on the guy but you know if you're here for if he Conor asan can't
30:28
make the three-point shot like he can't be on the floor because he doesn't play defense he doesn't do very much so it's like you have one job man and you know
30:36
Bryce Williams got you a damn good look and I said that was disappointing I don't know why people were upset that
30:42
you know Conor Sean took BR Bryce had no op outside of like getting fouled by four guys like he had to mug yeah so you
30:50
know it's it's tough but at the same time Nebraska the their bubble status didn't
30:56
really change you know they still are um you know one of the last four buys according to ESPN in the last update
31:02
they've been switching from one of the last four in to one of the last four buys if you look at bracket Matrix which
31:08
is tracking like 113 brackets the last I I checked Nebraska was in an 110 so like
31:13
they've they dropped slightly after the Michigan game um their seed dropped a little bit but not drastically they're
31:20
still yeah out of5 brackets tracked by bracket Matrix Nebraska's in the field in 113 so as as
31:28
long as they beat Iowa at home and Minnesota at home and win a game in the Big 10 tournament I think they're in I I
31:33
think they still have to get to 20 wins but they still control their own destiny but they are waffling quite a bit on
31:38
that bubble line sounds good in theory but I'm not too confident about Iowa and honestly Minnesota is a tough team too I
31:46
mean it's gonna be tight it's gonna be tight um I could see them beating Minnesota I
31:53
don't have confidence uh in Iowa and quite honestly if they wanted to beat Iowa they should
31:59
have taken care of business a month ago that L looms large and I know you're talking about it off air but that loss
32:05
looms extremely large now as well as a couple other games but yeah that that
32:11
one really does because um probably would have been a quad one win yeah um
32:17
you know I'm not sure I don't know what Iowa's ranked right now but it would have been at that time and so yeah it'll
32:22
be so so this Saturday home against Minnesota um you know must win game
32:27
Minnesota's been playing a lot better they really have been they've uh they've pulled off some nice wins so that's
32:33
going to be a battle than at that Ohio State on Tuesday which should be another quad one opportunity another yeah they
32:40
were tough last time we played them yeah and they're going to need a win to and then home against Iowa who's also trying
32:45
to you know they're trying to make sure they don't miss the Big 10 tournament frankly Nebraska could still miss the Big 10 tournament as much as we're
32:51
talking about the NCA tournament if they lose all three of these games they could miss the Big 10 tournament it's not out
32:56
of the realm of possibility so happen if they play like they did on Wednesday and
33:01
this last game here and then you would be probably lucky to go to the NIT in that situation um because you're what 17
33:09
and 11 right now so me they'll they'll go to the NIT worst case but that would
33:14
be they should not be going to the NIT I'm sorry yeah I agree so yeah we'll see
33:20
what happens um with these next two games they they put themselves in a position where there's no margin for error so um but they were they were
33:28
there last year they were kind of there two years ago and they couldn't quite get to the NCA tournament so we'll see
33:33
uh we'll see what happens but um it would be nice if they could uh if they could win that if they could win that
33:38
game at Ohio State that would help a lot if they could win both of these home games that would help too but yeah I
33:44
don't I'm not confident I was a scary team because they can shoot the hell out of the ball and if they make 15 threes
33:50
on you then you know they just are a weird team and anybody can lose to that team it sounds like that's been the story for the last 15 years right they
33:57
can shoot the ball and they really can I don't know where they uh get Shooters but maybe uh maybe
34:03
we should recruit that area as well and uh yeah now this could be a very tough
34:08
stretch for Nebraska basketball or it could be a very good one to be honest with you I don't have confidence in a
34:14
victory over Iowa Ohio state is not easy I mean they took us to the wire in
34:19
Lincoln back on the nth and um Minnesota like you said they've been playing
34:25
better basketball they just upset you La you know a couple days ago and um yeah
34:31
this could not be an easy stretch and quite honestly Nebraska shouldn't be in this position they should have taken
34:38
care of business in January and I don't want to belabor the point still but they
34:43
if they don't make the tournament this season NCAA tournament a lot of it can go back to the missed opportunities at
34:50
the beginning of the calendar year yeah and then you know this Michigan game too I feel like is one that they'll uh him
34:57
and hob a lot cuz they should have won that game like they really should have won that game um every I mean defensively like you had told me that
35:03
they were going to hold Michigan to 49 points I would have thought that they won by 15 like that's just that like I
35:09
there was never in my wildest imagination that they would be able to do that defensively and uh so that bad
35:15
basketball around by everybody I just don't yeah I don't understand it but anyway um the women's team uh also is
35:23
still kind of on the bubble their um last four buys as well according to ESPN
35:28
so they're playing Northwestern on Sunday that would be a nice win to get they just um Washington's among the last
35:34
four in so Minnesota so is Oregon so there's a lot of big 10 teams on the bubble um they've been dealing with some
35:41
injuries as well so hopefully they can get a win over Northwestern on Sunday and that should hopefully solidify Amy
35:47
Williams team in the Nate tournament Amy Williams is you know is a very consistent coach and a very good coach
35:53
and I know they've had some struggles this year but I still felt confident in the women's team to be able to make the NCA
36:00
tournament so all right you guys well that's the Bracketology update covered the recruiting um Nebraska's new general
36:06
manager hire so we'll wrap it up there um we'll be back with another episode on Monday we'll uh hopefully be covering a
36:12
Nebraska basketball win a couple of Nebraska basketball wins over the weekend so um check back please make sure you hit the like button hit the
36:18
Subscribe button and as always go Big Red go Big Red
#College Sports