Anderson and Lee sign grant-in-aid paperwork with Huskers

Cornerbacks Avery Anderson and Eric Lee have been strongly committed to Nebraska since verbally pledging to the Huskers in February and today they took their level of commitment one step further by signing athletic grant-in-aid agreements with the Huskers.

Anderson and Lee are both set to enroll early at Nebraska which made them eligible to sign the financial aid agreements as soon as August 1 of their senior year, which they both did this morning. By signing, Nebraska becomes bound to honor the scholarships they've offered to Anderson and Lee. The agreement does not bind the prospect to the school, but in the eyes of Anderson and Lee it more than solidifies their level of commitment to the Big Red and they hope it sends a message to other prospects considering Nebraska as well.

"It was the first thing I did this morning, woke up, got a bowl of cereal, signed it, and faxed it off," Anderson said. "It's been a long process with all of the different schools and all of the different recruiting things you've gone through over the years, it's just a huge weight off of your shoulders being done with all of the recruiting. Now I'm just locked in and can focus on my senior year and don't have to worry about all of the extra recruiting stuff. I'm signed, ready to go, and graduate early."

Today somewhat served as Anderson and Lee's own National Signing Day since the two of them will already be attending classes at NU in February. Lee said by signing today he feels that he's accomplished one of his dreams.

"It's a tremendous thing for me to be able to do today," Lee said. "I've always wanted to be able to go to Nebraska and this kind of makes it even more official and more real that I've been able to complete one of the dreams that I've had for so long."

While on the surface it appears the prospects have more advantages of signing the financial agreement, but there are plenty of reasons why signing Anderson and Lee makes sense to Nebraska as well.

The big thing for NU is that they can now publicize the addition of the top two players in the state of Colorado to its team. Contact between prospects who have signed and the school becomes virtually unlimited and Nebraska will even be able to start sharing information such as its playbook and strength and conditioning information which usually cannot be done until after a letter of intent is signed.

"I get to talk with the coaching staff more frequently and also they can send me some of the playbooks and all of that stuff," Lee said of some of the advantages to signing today. "I'm just getting exposed to all of the coaching staff more and to what Nebraska actually does within closed doors."

Anderson and Lee have played major roles in the overall recruiting efforts in their 2015 class and they believe that by signing with Nebraska today it will only help to serve their peer recruiting prowess.

"I think it will be a huge influence on recruiting from now on," Anderson said. "It really shows that we are serious and we're signed and ready to go and what we are preaching and telling them is what we really believe because we already signed and are living by it."

"I think you'll get viewed as more of a credible source because (recruits) will think 'obviously this kid sees something in Nebraska that I might not see so why not see what he's talking about and go out for a visit' and hopefully they'll go on a visit and see that Nebraska is more than just cornfields like everybody portrays," Lee added. "It's a lot more than (cornfields), the coaching staff is phenomenal, the facilities are great, and I think it's everything that an athlete should be looking for in a school."

By signing today, Anderson and Lee became the first two prospects to have signed early financial aid agreements with Nebraska since the NCAA began to allow eligible early enrollees to do so last fall.