GTK: TE Chase Androff committed early to Nebraska

Chase Androff was one of two recruits from the state of Minnesota, along with running back Emmett Johnson, Nebraska signed in their Class of 2022. He was the third commitment for the Huskers in the last cycle, and excelled as a blocking tight end.

Husker head coach Scott Frost gave his signing day comments about Androff:

“Chase Androff is a guy that is from Minnesota, a tight end for us that Coach (Sean) Beckton identified early on as somebody that he thought fit what he wanted to do. We are excited about him and love his size and his potential. We have got some good young tight ends in the program right now and would not have taken one there if we did not think he was a talented kid that could come in and help us. So he is coming down from Minnesota and we are really excited to see what he can do.”

Below is the last in our series of "Getting to know you" features on the members of Nebraska's 2022 recruiting class. Quarterback Richard Torres and receiver Janiran Bonner declined to partake in the series.

Chase Androff

Position: Tight end

Lakeville, MN

Current size: 6-foot-6, 230-pounds

Rankings: Androff is rated a 5.6 three-star by Rivals, as well as the No. 5 recruit in the state of Minnesota.

Statistics: Androff helped lead Lakeville South to an undefeated season (13-0) and won the Minnesota Class AAAAA state championship in 2021. As a senior, he had 10 receptions for 171 yards with two touchdown catches, and two total tackles on defense. Lakeville South only had 32 passing completions in their entire 2021 season.

Other schools offering scholarships: Michigan State, Iowa State, Kansas State, UCF, Colorado State, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Miami of Ohio, Yale, Dartmouth, Princeton and Penn.

What do you do in your spare time?

"I don't do too much. I work on my vehicle or I golf. I hang out with friends. Probably just relax, too. I have a 2015 Ford F-150. I try and do some off-roading when I can and go in the snow."

What food do you like the best?

"I love Mexican food. I will eat anything, really."

What is your favorite television show?

"I have three close ones. I would have to go with Parks and Rec. That's over The Office and Breaking Bad. I watch all of those."

Do you have a favorite movie?

"I would say Cars. Going back to my childhood a little bit."

What type of music do you listen to and who is your favorite musical artist?

"Recently I am more country. I would have to say Morgan Wallen."

Who is your celebrity crush?

"Don't tell my girlfriend this, but probably Jennifer Aniston."

Who has provided great inspiration to you in your life?

"I would say my dad or my teammates. My dad has pushed me to be great since I was little and really guided me."

What person(s) from history or alive today would you most like to sit down and have dinner with?

"I am a Rob Gronkowski fan, so I think that would be pretty fun."

Do you have a nickname?

"I go by Droff because of my last name."

What is something very few people know about you?

"If you met me you probably wouldn't even know I was going to play college football or going to Nebraska. I have a private Instagram account. I rarely add people back. I keep to myself. I am actually pretty shy, honestly."

If football wasn’t an option, what would your dream career be?

"Either something to do with engineering or cars or business or something like that. I am not sure."

Do you have a major picked out yet?

"I was going to go into engineering, but I am not sure I will have the time with football, so I will probably say business."

Have you met all the academic requirements to enroll at Nebraska?

"Yes, I am good."

Who is your favorite football player of all-time?

"Gronk."

Who is the best football player you've personally played against in a game?

"I couldn't think of one when I have been asked this before. In the All-Star game every single one of them was good. Other than that, I would say Martin Koivisto from Shakapee and he's going to Central Michigan."

What has been the most memorable moment on the football field so far in your career?

"There are two. Last year as a junior when we beat STMA and we won the mythical championship when they missed a field goal. I was on the field and I saw the whole team rushing the field and there were helmets flying in the air. It was that and then this year and we played at US Bank Stadium. It was 4th down and their quarterback ran it. He got tackled a yard short to give us the win. I looked at one of my friends and we realized we won. There were some bad calls on that drive that kept giving them hope."

Which school are you most looking forward to playing against in college?

"Easily Minnesota. That's not even a question. I am not going to stay on this much, but Minnesota doesn't recruit in-state kids. Same thing happened with my teammate last year that ended up at Wisconsin. He was the top player in the state and didn't have an offer until he was ready to commit to Wisconsin. Minnesota does it later and it's only a committable offer. That's just not my style. I was much more comfortable with how coach Frost handled things."

Do you have a pre-game ritual?

"A general one. I would say I try to get taped first, go get Subway or Jimmy John's, and then get there an hour or two early to hang out and spend some time with my friends."

Did you play other sports growing up or in high school?

"I played basketball from fifth grade all the way to this year. I stopped playing and am now doing Olympic weightlifting. It was kind of hard to let it go."

What is the one thing you most need to work on to play at the next level?

"I would say my strength and size. I lacked strength this past season and I felt like I did OK, but it was lacking."

How often do you work out and what is your routine?

"I workout four days a week. It's Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. It's mainly after school, but some is in the morning. I work out for about 90 minutes."

What did you know about the Nebraska football program before they offered and started recruiting you?

"I watched a couple of games from the season before and obviously I watched all of them for this season. I had a good relationship with Beckton and Frost and that helped. I knew that they were close. They were one play away from winning so many of those games. They really showed how close they were this year. People gave me shit for their record, but I told them about how well they were playing and how close they were. They are ready to flip. I think that it can change fast."

Do you have any family ties to the Husker football program or the state of Nebraska?

"My sister visited there and went there her freshman year. She transferred back because of Covid and is now at Minnesota. My dad has a childhood friend that lives there."

How did you inform the Nebraska staff of your commitment?

"I visited with Frost on Sunday right before I left and he knew that I wanted to commit, but I had other visits set up to TCU and Michigan State. Going into the visit I kind of knew that it was the place. I knew that there wasn't any point to take those other trips to second guess anything. I met with Frost on Sunday and he sent me back home to talk it over with my family to make sure it was the right thing to do. It says so much about him. I got back to them on Monday on a Facetime call with him and Beckton and I gave them the news."

What were the major determining factors in your picking Nebraska and signing with the Huskers?

"I was already familiar with the campus. The distance was nice. I felt like I was family. Everyone was super-friendly. Everything was right there or where I thought it should be on campus. For all of the things that I was keeping track of, Nebraska checked the box on everything for me."

Did the Nebraska coaches do anything unique when they were recruiting you that other colleges didn't?

"I probably had a call with Beckton once a week. They wanted me to visit that first weekend for a reason. They told me I was their guy and they loved to have me."

Which Nebraska coach do you feel especially close to?

"Beckton. I mainly talked to him on the phone. I would text with Sean Dillon. They would all watch my basketball games."

What was the best feature of your official visit to Nebraska?

"Walking out into the stadium was very cool. I had been there a couple of years before, but being on the field was so cool. Everything that they showed me was perfect. They were very well prepared. The food was great. They had Wagyu beef on the training table."

Did Nebraska’s weather factor into your recruitment?

"No, I don't think so."

Did you make friends with any current players at Nebraska or incoming freshmen during the process?

"I knew Bryce Benhart because he was from the same town as me. He was my host and he's really nice. There was a group chat. All of the commits were super-welcoming."

What did you think of Nebraska's season?

"It was tough to watch every game. I would be on Twitter reading all of the updates, too. I was at homecoming and saw they were up by a lot and then saw the other team scores, scores, scores and Nebraska loses by three. I will go back and watch and there will be a mistake here or a mistake here. Like a false start here or another tiny little mistake there. Their win-loss record doesn't reflect how good of a team that was."

What's the funniest or craziest thing that happened to you during the recruiting process?

"I got ghosted by Iowa State. The schools that give out 400 offers and then only 10 of them are real. If you get an offer from a school like that you have to commit quick. They stopped talking to me my junior year, got an offer from UCF, and then all of the sudden Iowa State came back into the picture. I am just happy to be going to a better place."

What was your favorite moment during the recruiting process?

"My Nebraska offer. That was on my mom's birthday. She got home and I just had a smile on my face. She was like 'What? What?' And she was so excited. It was my best offer and my first Big Ten offer. That meant so much to me."

What was the worst moment during the recruiting process?

"When I was considering Ivy League schools and before I figured out how much it was going to cost. I think, right before we got our paperwork back, we were told it was going to cost us $80,000 a year. That wasn't going to work. That and calling all of the coaches that recruited me when I committed. It's nice to commit, and at the same time you feel like you're losing all of these relationships and friends, but they are still happy for you."

What is one thing you learned that you would share with a recruit going through the process now?

"Patience and keeping your calm. I got frustrated with the process with guys getting offers and I wasn't getting the offers. And then when you do start getting interest you are getting calls, texts and emails non-stop. And you had better answer all of them to be polite. Just take a step back and realize not many kids are in your position."

Which schools tried to get in the picture with you and wanted you to visit after you committed to Nebraska?

"I got a lot of pressure from Iowa who was ripping on Nebraska pretty good."

Which school would you have chosen if you hadn't decided in favor of Nebraska?

"I never got an offer from TCU, but I really liked it there. I was going to go to camp. We went to visit there and it was beautiful. I knew Nebraska was my No. 1 and there really wasn't a close second."

What position will you be playing at Nebraska?

“Tight+ end."

Are you expecting to redshirt your first year at Nebraska?

"We haven't talked about that at all. I assume that I will. Worst thing is that I would play and lose it."

What number would you like to wear at Nebraska?

"I would love to keep 87, but I don't think that will happen. I like 89 or 83. I think that 88 is open."

What are your goals for your first year in college?

"I would say football IQ. I get that a lot from coaches who I worked with. I knew all of the offensive line responsibilities this past season for my high school team."

What will you bring to Nebraska as far as a strong point?

"Just get bigger, faster and stronger. I know that I won't play too much. I just want to be ready to go if they need me to."

Are you planning to attend the Huskers' Red-White spring game?

"I am sure we will."

What would you like to say to the Nebraska fans?

"I would say thank you for welcoming me to your family and I can't wait to be a Husker."

ILB Ernest Hausmann

S DeShon Singleton

WR Victor Jones

OL Justin Jenkins

DB Jaeden Gould

RB Anthony Grant

QB/ATH Gage Stenger

S Jalil Martin

OLB Jake Appleget

RB Emmett Johnson

CB/PR Malcolm Hartzog

WR Decoldest Crawford

TE/DE Brodie Tagaloa

RB Ajay Allen Jr