2025 Eureka (Mo.) High four-star offensive tackle Jack Lange is one of Nebraska's top targets, maybe the top target, at the position. With the Huskers set to lose Bryce Benhart, Ben Scott and potentially Turner Corcoran and Teddy Prochazka after the 2024 season, addressing the line is a priority for Matt Rhule and his staff.
Lange recently announced his official visit plans: Wisconsin (May 31), Missouri (June 7), Michigan (June 14) and Nebraska (June 21). At this point in the process, this is pretty much the final four in the running for the top-200 prospect.
“For me, I think I’m ready to start shutting the process down, so I think these four schools are the ones I want to go look at," he said. "I think I’m going to go to one of those four schools. There’s going to be schools that reach out and try to talk to me, and things could change, but I don’t think they will.”
The 6-foot-8, 275 pounder has seen all four programs at least once and feels comfortable potentially playing at all four, but he can only pick one, and the official visits will play a critical role in his final decision.
“I will just need the official visits to clear everything up," he said. "Because at this point it’s not really ‘what do i need to see,’ or ‘is there anything else they can do.’ It’s just how do they make me feel as a person and a player.”
Lange's been to Nebraska multiple times over the last year, most recently for the Huskers' first spring practice. The night before, the four-star went out to dinner with Nebraska's offensive line, and freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola. A family bond within the offensive line room is important to Lange and Nebraska showed him they have that.
"That was a good experience, just to meet everybody," he said. "They meshed really well, you couldn't really tell who the older guys were and who the younger guys were by the way they were talking to each other.”
Lange said he's been hearing from Dylan Raiola for months, and finally got to meet the freshman in person. Raiola opened his dorm to Lange to tour, which allowed him to get a feel for the freshman living experience. While in town, the four-star also connected with Grant Brix, Teddy Prochazka and Bryce Benhart, who provided three different perspectives on offensive line coach Donovan Raiola.
“It was good to get a sense on all three levels," he said. "Raiola recruited Grant so he loves how he coaches him and how he’s going to develop him. Teddy’s somebody who’s been coached by two different coaches, he loves the style Coach Raiola coaches with..... how they [Nebraska] teach offensive line is different but it makes sense."
Lange clarified that different doesn't mean bad. He's a fan of Raiola's coaching style, especially after seeing him in action during spring ball.
“Something I’m taking into account is if the coaches are any different in practice than outside practice. What I liked about Coach Raiola is that he was basically the same guy he was out of practice but louder and just a little bit more intense...he got on guys when he needed to get on them but he didn't scream or yell at a guy for messing up, he coached them and taught them how to do it better.”
Prior to his most recent trip, Lange was last in Lincoln over the summer and he was blown away with how far Nebraska's facilities have come in that time.
“It’s the nicest facilities in the country from what I’ve seen in person and online," he said. "Everything’s so centralized and the amount of resources the players are going to have, it’s unreal.”
As he weighs his final four options, Lange recognizes there's a unique opportunity at Nebraska and Wisconsin compared to a program like Michigan or Missouri.
“Obviously there's a lot of schools at that winning level, but with Nebraska or Wisconsin, they’re not there yet, but in a couple years they will be right there," he said. "So what’s good about those schools compared to let’s say Michigan, at Michigan you can maintain the legacy while at Nebraska or Wisconsin, you can build that legacy. So that’s intriguing to me.”
Lange added that, on the flip side, it's easier to maintain a winning culture than it is to build one up, "nothing's for certain" in a rebuilding program.
The four-star is looking to make a commitment after his official visits in June and has had discussions with NIL collectives at Nebraska and Michigan. He says he'd "be stupid not to take advantage" of the NIL opportunities but it won't be a deciding factor in his recruitment necessarily.
"At the end of the day, I'm going to play football and get an education," he said.
This offseason, Lange is hard at work on the 'little things" in his game, noting hand placement, leverage and pad level as details he's working to improve.
"Last year I was good every nine out of ten plays," he said. "I need to be good every ten out of ten plays.”
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