Husker Hurry Up: OL continues to be key focus, another WR comes off board
Good morning, and welcome to the Husker Hurry Up! This is your guide to news, analysis and other tidbits as we get you caught up and prepared for everything that’s going on in Nebraska football, recruiting, volleyball, basketball and more throughout the week. So grab your coffee and sit down to read up on your favorite Huskers players and teams.
We will be back to doing daily HHU podcasts beginning Monday.
Offensive line continues to be core focus for Husker offense
Donovan Raiola was the latest Nebraska assistant to appear on "Sports Nightly" as the offensive line coach broke down his room on Thursday night.
Raiola spoke a lot about the buy-in from his unit. That's about as crucial of an aspect that this Huskers program needs heading into fall camp next week.
Offensive line is arguably the biggest focus for the Huskers in Scott Frost's most pivotal season of his Nebraska tenure.
That's a notion that Inside Nebraska staff writer Steve Marik agrees with, as he appeared on 93.7 The Ticket earlier this week and spoke about what he is focused on the most as the Huskers gear up for the season.
"There's a lot of different ways you can probably go, but I'd have to go with the offensive line. What's the offensive line gonna look like?" Marik said. "What I'm wondering is Donovan Raiola, he's got such a hard task in front of him with that offensive line, trying to mix and match. I'm wondering what that's gonna look like.
"Once the season gets here, how smooth Mark Whipple's offense is gonna look and how this offensive attack is gonna look is gonna be primarily dependent on how well the offensive line can run block and how well they can keep Casey Thompson, Chubba Purdy, Logan Smothers – whoever winds up winning this quarterback job – clean."
Listen to the full segment by following this link.
Another receiver comes off board
Lincoln High School three-star receiver Beni Ngoyi committed to Iowa State on Wednesday.
On Thursday night, another local receiver with a Huskers offer committed elsewhere: four-star Lee's Summit (Kansas City) wideout Joshua Manning made a late-night pledge to Missouri.
Manning's decision did not come as a surprise, as Inside Nebraska staff writer Greg Smith – who dropped a FutureCast earlier on Thursday for Mizzou to land the No. 49-ranked receiver – wrote on our Insider's Board.
The Huskers hosted Manning for an official visit June 3-5 and put in some hard work recruiting him, but he ultimately chose to stay in-state.
Countdown to Kickoff: 36 Days
No. 36: Defensive back Blake Closman, kicker Chase Contreraz and wide receiver Taveon Thompson
Quick facts on Closman: 5-foot-10, 175 lbs., redshirt freshman from Millard North (Neb.) High School, did not play in a game in 2021 season
Quick facts on Contreraz: 6-foot-1, 185 lbs., junior from Missouri Valley (Iowa) and Iowa Western CC, started Nebraska's final four games of 2021 season, finished 2-for-4 on field goal attempts and 11-for-11 on extra points
Quick facts on Thompson: 6-foot-4, 205 lbs., redshirt freshman from Lincoln Southeast, did not play in a game in 2021 season
Site Stuff
– Inside Nebraska staff writer Geoff Exstrom recapped the latest episode of "Kicking it with the Cooks" and that will be live on the site this morning.
– Check out the first weekly live chats from our senior recruiting analyst Greg Smith and staff writer Steve Marik on our Insider's Board. Also, be on the lookout for Greg's recruiting rundown later this morning.
– Please subscribe to our YouTube page and subscribe to the Inside Nebraska Podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.