Big Red Weekend visitor preview
Nebraska will be hosting their third annual Big Red Weekend recruiting
event this weekend and their second and final one of the month.
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At least eight offered
scholarship
recruits will be in Lincoln this weekend, as NU will try to add to
their 2015 commitment list and get a jump start on the 2016 class.
Here is a complete visitor
preview of all the confirmed prospects that will be on campus for
the Big Red Weekend. HuskerOnline.com will have full coverage
throughout this weekend's events.
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VISITORS:
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(6-4/237), Lincoln (Neb.) Christian (2016)
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src="https://ct.yimg.com/mr/IMAGES/PROSPECT/PHOTO/JARED-BUBAK-140505-120.JPG"
align="right">OFFERS:
South Dakota State
THE SCOOP: This
Lincoln native is looking like one of the early top in-state prospects
of the class of 2016 and was impressive at Nebraska's camp this
week. At the RCS in Chicago, Bubak was named the No. 11
underclassman who participated in the camp where it was said of him:
"Although the 6-foot-4, 237-pound Bubak dropped a pass or two that
should have been caught, he showed decent hands on the day and moves
really well for a tight end prospect." Bubak also runs the
400, the 200 and 100 in track and he has already picked up his first
football scholarship offer from South Dakota State. He has
already camped at Arizona, Nebraska, and plans to go to Tennessee,
Wyoming, and South Dakota State.
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(6-4, 288) Omaha (Neb.) North
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src="https://ct.yimg.com/mr/IMAGES/PROSPECT/PHOTO/MICHAEL%20DECKER%20100.JPG"
align="right">OFFERS:
Nebraska commit
THE SCOOP: He
is one of two in-state players committed to Nebraska for this class, as
well as one of the two early offensive line pledges. He's a
scholar in the classroom, he has a high character and he is just
starting to scratch the surface of his potential. Though he's
by no means a finished product, his head coach at Omaha North Larry
Martin says of him that "He runs well for his size and he's got good
pad level, he really takes a lot of pride in finishing his blocks and
he is very strong." Decker has been held out of physical
activity this spring due to a shoulder surgery, but that won;t staop
him from attending Big Red Weekend.
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(6-5/308), Sioux Falls (S.D.) Washington
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src="https://ct.yimg.com/mr/IMAGES/PROSPECT/PHOTO/MATT-FARNIOK-140504-120.JPG"
align="right">OFFERS:
Iowa, Iowa State, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Washington State
THE SCOOP: The
state of South Dakota is natural recruiting territory for the Nebraska
Cornhuskers and Farniok will be the top recruiting prospect in the
state when he becomes a senior. One could argue that he is
already the top recruit in the state as a junior-to-be. He
comes from an athletic family as two older brothers have played
football at Iowa State and Oklahoma respectively. Farniok has
visited Nebraska before and the Huskers were the third school to offer
him. He will likely be an elite national recruit for the
Class of 2016 and he already has five early scholarship tenders to his
name.
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Christian Gaylord (6-6/270), Baldwin City (Kan.)
Baldwin
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src="https://ct.yimg.com/mr/IMAGES/PROSPECT/PHOTO/CHRISTIAN%20GAYLORD%20100.JPG"
align="right">OFFERS:
Nebraska commitment
THE SCOOP: He
is the other early offensive line commitment for the 2015 class and,
along with Decker, he will be counted on to be a surrogate recruiter
for the Cornhusker coaches for the other visiting prospects in town
attending the BRW. Particularly the group of impressive 2016
offensive line recruits who will be at the event. He also
attended the NU spring game, as well as other past visits to Lincoln,
so he knows the lay of the land by now. Gaylord is rated the
No. 2 recruit in the state of Kansas for this cycle.
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Eli Johnson (6-3/288), Oxford (Miss.) LAFAYETTE (2016)
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src="https://ct.yimg.com/mr/IMAGES/PROSPECT/PHOTO/ELIJOHNSON-140204-120.JPG"
align="right">OFFERS:
Current Ole Miss commit, has 11 total offers including one from Nebraska
THE SCOOP: He
is an intriguing prospect to be visiting Nebraska for the BRW because
he is a native of Oxford, Mississippi and he has already verbally
pledged to play for Ole Miss. Since nothing is final in
recruiting until the letters of intent are signed in February of a high
school recruit's senior year, the NU staff will get the
chance to sway Johnson their way. In addition to Nebraska and
Ole Miss, Johnson has been offered by nine other college football
programs. He benches 345 [pounds], squats 465, and has a 5.61
forty-yard dash time to go with a 29-inch vertical leap.
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(6-4/227), Lincoln (Neb.) Southwest (2016)
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Lenners does not yet have any offers
THE SCOOP: Lenners
is one of the more promising prospects to have emerged from the 2016
class in the state of Nebraska over the past several months.
He's coming off of solid performances from Nebraska's camp as
well at the Chicago Rivals Camps this past May. In fact, he
was named as the No. 9 ranked underclassmen at the Chicago RCS where
Rivals analysts had this to say about him."The 6-foot-4, 227-pound
Lenners looks like he could be a flex tight end who stretch the field
some, but also moves the chains. He has a solid frame for the tight end
position, and showed the ability to fight for, and come down with,
footballs in traffic. Lenners is a good route runner and when he did
get separation, he made some nice over-the-shoulder receptions."
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John Raridon (6-4/271), West Des Moines (Iowa) Valley
(2016)
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src="https://ct.yimg.com/mr/IMAGES/PROSPECT/PHOTO/RARIDON%20100.JPG"
align="right">OFFERS:
Illinois, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and
Wisconsin
THE SCOOP:
Raridon will not only be one of the top recruits in the state of Iowa
for the next cycle, he will likely be one of the top offensive line
prospects in the entire country for the Class of 2016. He
has a personal connection to Nebraska as his father, Scott
Raridon, played for the Huskers as an offensive tackle in the
80's. Raridon also attended Nebraska's Junior Day which was
held in February and he has told us that "My interest level in Nebraska
is very high." He already holds seven scholarship offers but they will
be the first of many more to come down the road for Raridon.
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(5-11/170), Pflugerville (Texas) Hendrickson (2016)
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src="https://ct.yimg.com/mr/IMAGES/PROSPECT/PHOTO/KESHAWN-SOMERVILLE-140121-120.JPG"
align="right">OFFERS:
Current Baylor commit, no other offers at this time
THE SCOOP: Somerville
picked up his first offer from Baylor this past week after he
reportedly ran a 4.37 second 40 yard dash at their camp.
He wasted little time in committing to the Bears shortly
after receiving the offer. However, prior to committing to
Baylor, Somervile had made travel arrangements to camp at and visit
Nebraska for their Big Red Weekend. He does not yet hold an
offer from the Huskers, but told HuskerOnline.com (prior to his
commitment) that he was looking forward to earning an offer from NU at
camp and attending BRW just as his former teammate and current incoming
Husker cornerback Trai Mosley did last summer. If an
offer comes, Mosley and Huskers will most definitely look to flip
Somerville's commitment.
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(6-1/188), Independence (Mo.) Ft. Osage (2016)
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src="https://ct.yimg.com/mr/IMAGES/PROSPECT/PHOTO/130421_RIVALS_STLOUIS_0323_8667971759_O100.JPG"
align="right">OFFERS:
Thompson does not yet hold any offers
THE SCOOP:
Thompson has seen attention from recruiters rise over the past few
months and he's hitting the camp circuits hard in order to land that
first offer. So far he has camped at Iowa and Missouri.
He'll throw for Nebraska and attend Big Red Weekend today
before heading to Arkansas on June 19 to visit and workout for the
Razorbacks. As a sophomore, the 6-foot-1, 188-pound
quarterback threw for 1,451 yards, 19 touchdowns and four interceptions
while completing 57-percent of his passes. He also ran for 296 yards
and nine touchdowns on 76 carries.
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(6-2/228), DeSoto, Texas (2016)
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src="https://ct.yimg.com/mr/IMAGES/PROSPECT/PHOTO/TRISTENWALLACE100_031014.JPG"
align="right">OFFERS:
Indiana, Nebraska, and SMU
THE SCOOP: The
rule of thumb is every college football program should take at least
one quarterback signee per class and Nebraska has already offered seven
Class of 2016 signal callers, including Wallace. NU's other
early offers from fellow Big Ten program Indiana and most recently
nearby SMU. At the RCS in Dallas, Wallace was named one of
the top underclassmen who participated in the camp. It was
said of him, "Wallace boasts an Adonis' build and grabbed the attention
of many just by walking into the camp. He lived up to the hype his
physique created during drills. Wallace has a big arm and is able to
zip the ball through tight windows. He is, however, a little erratic."
Wallace participated in NU's camp yesterday prior to
attending today's BRW.
red="" color="#b00000" size="3">Late
cancellations with 2015 prospects
There were a couple of late cancellations to today's visitors as Erie
(Pa.) Cathedral Prep wide receiver Charles Fessler had planned
to make it to one of Nebraska's two Big Red Weekend dates, but had to
cancel on both of them due to travel conflicts with his baseball
schedule. Fessler did tell HuskerOnline.com that he still
plans to visit Nebraska soon, however no date has been planned yet.
2015 Louisiana natives safety Hunter Dale and NU runningback
commit Kendall Bussey were late scratches from this weekend's
events as well. Dale ran in to trouble funding his last
minute trip to Lincoln and Bussey ran into conflicts with his 7-on-7
schedule for this weekend.
Rivals250 safety Will Sunderland of Midwest City, Okla. had
orginally planned on visiting Nebraska this weekend, but it appears
that those plans have fallen through as well. Sunderland
currently holds a top three of Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Nebraska.
red="" color="#b00000" size="3">What to
expect from the third annual BRW
As things stand today, we've
confirmed at least 10 2015 and 2016 recruits that will be in
Lincoln for Nebraska's major summer recruiting event. While some big
name targets were late cancellations due to a variety of reasons there
will still be a very good collection of talent in Lincoln this weekend,
especially in regards to underclassmen talent.
The main goal for the Nebraska coaching staff this weekend will be to
show these prospects what Nebraska's program has to offer on and off
the field. The setup will be similar to that of an official
visit where players will be able to meet with the coaches and all of
the various support staff within the Athletic Department. Highlighting
the family atmosphere that head coach Bo Pelini
has created during his tenure at NU may be the biggest priority of all
though.
You can also expect several of the current players, especially the
incoming freshmen who visited for last year's BRW to be present and
interacting with the recruits and their families. Much like
last year, this weekend should prove to be pivotal in the direction of
this year's recruiting efforts for Nebraska and beyond.
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