A familiar name was in attendance for Nebraska's summer camp on Saturday in Lincoln. Asa Newsom, a 2023 linebacker from Waverly (Iowa) Waverly-Shell Rock, was making an impression.
The brother of current Husker defensive lineman Mosai Newsom picked up an offer days after that performance.
“I was so excited,” Newsom said. “It really caught me off guard. I got their call when I was playing Call of Duty. About two years ago I went to one of their camps and my body was built very different. So they saw me and they didn’t recognize me at first this weekend. I had a great conversation at first with coach (Sean) Dillon. He introduced me to a few more coaches.
Newsom definitely had the eyes of the right people on Saturday at camp. He was moved from inside to outside linebacker and was compared to another current Husker that plays that hybrid spot.
“I worked with coach (Erik) Chinander a lot at the camp on Saturday. Really I worked a lot with all of the linebacker coaches at the camp. They started me off at inside linebacker and then moved me to outside linebacker. They told me after camp, nothing for sure, but that they saw me as kind of a JoJo Domann and moving all over the place.”
Newsom had high hopes his freshman year. Those hopes were crushed by a season-ending injury, but the injury was life-changing.
“At the start of my freshman year, at the very first game, I was 6-foot-0 and 230-pounds. Now I am 6-foot-3 and I am right about 210-pounds. When I tore my ACL I was expecting to be on the varsity team by the end of the season. I have always told people that the injury was a bit of a blessing in disguise. When something is taken away from you that you love you find out a lot about yourself.
“I learned a ton from that injury. I look at life in a whole different way and I look at the sport in a whole different way. I am more grateful for things in my life. I just thank God every day that I get the opportunity to do something that I love. I decided to go plant-based after a lot of study when I still could barely walk. I wanted to find a way to condition my body, put the right fuel in it, and really recover without any movement. I feel really good about my body. I still keep that diet up.”
Newsom had been to Nebraska a number of times before. This was a business trip to get in front of the coaches and perform.
“I think that a big part of the weekend was just showing the coaches what I can do and seeing how they coached,” Newsom said. “Mosai has shown me around. The weekend wasn’t about seeing the facilities or anything. The weekend was mainly to show the coaches what I can do.”
The Huskers were actually the second school to host Newsom this month and the visits will continue starting with tomorrow.
“I was at Iowa State for camp before Nebraska. I will actually be at Missouri tomorrow on the 10th. I will be at Kansas State on the 11th. I will be at South Dakota on the 15th and I will end my camp season with Iowa.”
The fact that there is now an opportunity for the two brothers to play together in college has been talked about in the past. Asa says he will keep his eyes open and continue to look around at other schools.
“Yeah for sure,” Newsome said. “My brother and I have talked about that opportunity to play together. That would be really cool. I am very excited to see other places around the country and I can see myself playing anywhere to be honest with you. It was for sure a topic my family and I discussed like making a tackle together. I know that he was excited when they told him they were giving me an offer.”
