Donovan Raiola, Matt Rhule and the Nebraska football program just keep on rolling.
The Huskers landed 16 commitments from June 8-July 1, and they just grabbed themselves another big one: Four-star 2024 offensive lineman Preston Taumua is N.
The 6-4, 317-pounder out of Waipahu (Hawaii) High School made his commitment to the Huskers official with an announcement in the late-night/early-morning hours – depending on your time zone – a little after midnight Central Time on Sunday (July 16).
Taumua is the fifth four-star commitment in Nebraska's 2024 class and is the team's fourth offensive line pledge of the cycle.
ANALYSIS: Breaking down impact of Preston Taumua picking Nebraska
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Taumua, who is ranked as the country's No. 228 overall prospect, is the Huskers' second-highest ranked commit in the class behind tight end Carter Nelson (No. 161 overall) and joins Nelson as the Huskers' second 2024 commit ranked in the Rivals250.
Taumua – the No. 1-ranked recruit in Hawaii and No. 10-ranked offensive guard nationally – joins Nelson, tight end Ian Flynt, wide receiver Dae'vonn Hall and wide receiver Jacory Barney Jr. among the program's four-star pledges in 2024.
The Honolulu native, who recently transferred schools from 'Aiea to Waipahu, will be developed as a guard in Raiola's O-line room. He is set to join a trio of other interior offensive line prospects who are all currently rated as three-stars: Texas' Gibson Pyle, Colorado's Landen Davidson and Iowa's Jake Peters.
Raiola did some truly fine work to land Taumua, who was highly coveted by both Oregon and Auburn, in addition to Alabama and Arizona. Those were the other programs Taumua listed as finalists following his slate of official visits in June, when he went to see four of those five schools. (He never made an official visit to Alabama.)
Both Oregon and Auburn spent a chunk of time as the favorite to land Taumua, and the Ducks held a substantial amount of momentum after they got his final official visit during the last weekend of June. Arizona was also heavily in the mix as Taumua said moments before announcing his decision that the Wildcats were right up there with Nebraska and Oregon as one of the three he was most strongly considering.
His visit to Eugene came one week after his trip to Nebraska, where enough of an impression was made on Taumua to supplement the relationship he had built with fellow Honolulu native Raiola – a former star O-lineman himself during his high school days at Kamehameha Schools, which is just a short drive from both 'Aiea and Waipahu, before he became a standout at Wisconsin.
The time and effort Raiola and Company – which also includes Rhule and some help from fellow Honolulu native Ben Scott – invested into building a relationship with Taumua paid off in a big way to pull him into the Big Ten instead of the SEC or Big 12.
Taumua is the Huskers' 24th commitment in the 2024 class, which has soared up the rankings throughout their hot stretch in June and their two additions in July (Taumua and Barney). Nebraska now has a class ranked inside the top 20 nationally and top 5 in the Big Ten in the Rivals team recruiting rankings.
Once he signs with the Huskers, Taumua will become their second high school signee out of Hawaii in the last 20-plus years. Nebraska signed linebacker Wynden Ho'ohuli out of Mililani High School in the 2021 class. Like Taumua, Ho'ohuli was the No. 1-ranked recruit in the state, but he transferred back home to play for Hawaii after spending one season at Nebraska.
Prior to Ho'ohuli, the Huskers had not signed a player from Hawaii since 1999 when it landed both offensive guard Junior Tagoa'i and future first-team All-American and two-time All-Big 12 offensive guard Toniu Fonoti.
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