Husker Hurry Up: Two gold medalists, another football commitment coming?

Good morning, and welcome to 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.

Or, grab that coffee to go and listen to a rundown of today's Husker Hurry Up on the Inside Nebraska Podcast available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Bekka Allick and Lexi Rodriguez are gold medalists.

Allick netted 12 kills in a four-set win over Argentina in the gold-medal match of the Pan American Cup on Sunday night. Allick, a Huskers 2022 signee playing outside hitter/middle blocker for Team USA, will be going into her freshman season at Nebraska having just completed one of the best matches of her young, budding career.

Rodriguez, meanwhile, picked up even more momentum heading into her sophomore season after a star-turning performance during the 2021 regular season. She won a handful of major awards as a first-year starting libero last fall/winter: AVCA (American Volleyball Coaches Association) National Freshman of the Year, AVCA first-team All-American and first-team All-Big Ten and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year chief among them.

Nebraska opened up the official visits season with a bang during the first weekend of June. There were 13 targets who made the all-expenses paid trip to Lincoln for that June 3-5 stretch, and that number made it the largest set of official visitors in one weekend during the Scott Frost Era.

This past weekend didn’t quite reach that same level numbers-wise, but it looks like it is shaping up to yield a similar result. There were six official visitors from Friday through Sunday, and that was highlighted by Teitum Tuioti, the son of former Huskers defensive line coach Tony Tuioti.

Tuioti, however, was not the lone big-time visitor who grabbed headlines. The other headliner was Texas defensive tackle Riley Van Poppel, who has seen his name get bigger and brighter in the college football recruiting world over the past several weeks. And it’s starting to look more and more like he will be adding his name and talent to the Huskers’ depth chart in the near future.

The Huskers took a huge turn in their recruiting efforts for Van Poppel during a March visit, and this weekend’s experience looks like it may have sealed the deal. Inside Nebraska publisher Zack Carpenter and recruiting analyst Nate Clouse are about as close as they can be to locking in a FutureCast prediction for the Huskers.

If Nebraska does net a commitment from the borderline four-star prospect, he will become its third public commitment coming directly out of a June official visit this month. First came receiver Jaidyn Doss’ silent commitment to the staff on May 29, exactly one week after his OV ended on May 22, and then offensive lineman Brock Knutson made his pledge last Monday.

Van Poppel would also be the Huskers’ second defensive commitment in the Class of 2023 and their first defensive line commit at one of their biggest positional needs in the cycle.

So stay tuned.

Frank Solich was nominated for the College Football Hall of Fame last week, becoming one of just nine FBS coaches to be nominated this cycle. The former Nebraska fullback and Huskers head coach, from 1998-2003.

Solich amassed a 58-19 record, two Big 12 Coach of the Year awards and an appearance in the 2001 national championship game during his six-year tenure in Lincoln. He is also the winningest coach in MAC history, racking up an overall record of 115-82 with four conference title game appearances as the head coach of Ohio.

His overall coaching résumé should make him a shoo-in to make it in this year’s class.

If Solich doesn’t make it, the Huskers will already have a Hall of Fame representative.

Former Nebraska women’s basketball coach Paul Sanderford was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame over the weekend. Sanderford, who coached the Huskers from 1997-2002, led them to three NCAA Tournament appearances in six seasons, reaching the second round in 1998 and preceding that March run with a runner-up finish in the WNIT in 1997. Those seasons were part of an 88-69 overall record.

Sanderford’s career highlights out of his time with the Huskers include three Final Four appearances with Western Kentucky and leading Louisburg Junior College to a national championship in 1981.

There were 11 Nebraska track & field athletes who finished in the top 20 in their events at this weekend’s NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Throwers Maddie Harris and Axelina Johansson finished with the highest marks, as Harris finished second in the javelin throw, and Johansson finished third in the shot put.

Freshman high jumper Jenna Rogers had another one of the best finishes of the group, tying for sixth at the event with a jump of 6 feet (1.83 meters), which netted her a first-team All-American honor for the second time this season after nabbing the award at the Big Ten meet.

Their efforts paved the way for a 14th-place finish in the team standings (16 points), which is their highest finish for the Nebraska women’s team since 2006.

On the men’s side, Alex Talley placed sixth in the hammer throw.

The full list of top-20 finishers: Harris (2nd, javelin), Johansson (3rd, shot put), Talley (6th, hammer throw), Rogers (T-6th, high jump), LaQwasia Stepney (13th, long jump), Mirta Kulisic (14th, javelin), Burger Lambrechts Jr., (15th, shot put), Mayson Conner (T-15th, high jump), Darius Luff (17th, 110-meter hurdles), Maxwell Otterdahl (18th, shot put) and Riley Masten (T-20th, high jump).

It’s going to be another busy week for us here at Inside Nebraska as we continue to unpack this official visits weekend and roll out video and written content from the six-man group that was on campus.

On the video/podcast side, Rivals national recruiting analyst Clint Cosgrove will be joining the Inside Nebraska Podcast to break down the Huskers’ first two official visits weekends of June and give his analysis of their recruiting efforts thus far in the 2023 class.

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