12/11/2017 football Edit

Former UCF pledge McGriff talks Nebraska commitment

Tampa, Fla. receiver Justin McGriff became commit No. 10 for Nebraska Monday night. (Nick Lucero/Rivals.com)

Nate Clouse and Sean Callahan

HOL Staff

The Nebraska football team picked up commit No. 10 on Monday night from Tampa (Fla.) Jefferson wide receiver Justin McGriff.

The 6-foot-6, 190 pound McGriff was once committed to NU head coach Scott Frost at UCF and took an official visit to Lincoln this past weekend. He announced his decommitment from the Knights earlier in the day before making his final decision public roughly eight hours later.

McGriff said he got the feeling Nebraska was the right fit for him towards the end of his official visit. After evaluating the programs at NU and UCF he made the decision to become a Husker, much to the delight of the Nebraska coaching staff.

“I kind of looked over it and evaluated both schools and I just felt that Nebraska was the better fit for me with the coaching staff and everything,” McGriff said. “I called Coach (Sean) Beckton first and let him know what I was doing. Then I talked to Coach (Ryan) Held right after that and then just announced it (on Twitter).

“They were excited. They wanted me to post it as soon as possible so that the whole staff could know. I haven’t talked to (Scott) Frost yet personally, but they said that Frost was very excited by my commitment.”

The big-bodied athlete says the plan is for him to start out as a wide receiver in Frost's offense. However, depending on his development, he could transition into a tight end down the road.

“They plan to start me off at receiver first then they want to see how my body develops and see if I can grow into more of a tight end," McGriff said.

McGriff joins defensive back C.J. Smith as Husker commits from the state of Florida under Frost. The Tampa native thinks NU has a good chance of adding more players from the Sunshine State to the 2018 class in the coming weeks.

Now that McGriff is committed to Nebraska, he says his recruitment is shut down. As an early enrollee, he plans to sign with the Huskers on December 20 and be on campus getting to work in January.

“They’re getting a special play-maker out of me,” McGriff said when asked what Nebraska fans can expect out of him. “They can expect to see me going to get the ball and using my body to the best of my abilities.”