In-State Tour: Millard South

The HuskerOnline team hit the road in February for our 16th annual In-State Tour where we scour the state of Nebraska in search of the best up-and-coming football talent.

In our latest stop of the In-State Tour, we stopped at Millard South, where the Patriots have one of the top linemen prospects in the state for the class of 2020.

In-State Tour: Names to watch | Omaha Westside | Papillion La Vista | Elkhorn South | Elkhorn | Omaha Burke | Lincoln Southwest | Lincoln Southeast | Lincoln East | Johnson-Brock | Omaha Creighton Prep | Omaha North | Omaha Skutt | Omaha Roncalli | Bellevue West |

Head coach: Andy Means

2018 record: 9-2 (Lost in Class A quarterfinals to Grand Island)

Season rewind: "We had some young kids that played pretty well. We didn't have a real large senior group and so the juniors and some of the sophomores had to step up and play. They did a really, really good job. They kept getting better as the season went on.

"They all have this desire to win, they got used to winning from the time youth league level and that. They played with each other, they like each other, they get along with each other. It's a community of purpose that they have, and they want to win it. They're pretty driven in the weight room and so forth. They encourage each other, they get on each other when they have to. That's the thing that I've noticed, it's a pretty cohesive group and when you have that as a coach, you really like that because the more cohesive the team is, the better you're going to be."

Means on OL/DL Kohl Herbolsheimer: "I think as a freshman, he was just trying to survive as the only freshman starter for us. Then as a sophomore, he got better but he was more inconsistent. Last year, he was very consistent, started to assert himself a little bit more on and draw more double teams and things like that. I'm sure we'll get a lot of double teams this year as well.

Herbolsheimer's take: "I really think it is my offensive line and my technique. Since freshman, I always thought that I was defensive minded and always really worked on defense, but I think for this past year that offensive line was really what stood out the most, where I gained the most experience.

"Last year, I was probably about 250, and I know I didn't want to put on too much more. What I was going to put on was going to be muscle and if it was anything else then I would either going to play it off or not put it on and really just work on my agility.

"This is the first year I haven't played a winter sport. Last two years I was in basketball. This year, I decided I was going to stop playing basketball and really work on my weightlifting and agility and working out and everything like that."

Recruiting: Herbolsheimer currently has an offer from South Dakota, whiel Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa State, Wyoming, South Dakota State, South Dakota and North Dakota have all expressed early interest.

"South Dakota has already offered him and Iowa, Nebraska, and some of those places are looking at him," Mean said. "He's probably being offered as an offensive lineman, that's how they project him. He's 6-3 1/2, he'll be probably 6-4 by the times is done growing.

"For last year, I've been to Nebraska and then to Iowa," Herbolsheimer said. "I will be at Kansas State, South Dakota State, South Dakota and then coming up, I'm going to North Dakota State in March for a junior day. The only junior days I've gone to so far are Nebraska and South Dakota State. I mean, I've only really been talking to a lot of South Dakota State and North Dakota State right now. South Dakota State a little less. A lot of North Dakota State right now. Talked to North Dakota. Yes, I mean that's mainly who have been talking to me."

Stat check: Herbolsheimer had 67 tackles, six tackles for loss and five sacks as a junior. He was an All-Metro and first-team Super State selection. He is the only freshman ever to start on the varsity for Means in his time at Millard South.

Means on DB Tyson Gerdes: "He's our quarterback on defense. He's the one makes all the calls, and one of the smartest players we've ever had. He just knows our defense, knows what to do. He gets the defense lined up in the right spot, and he makes plays. That's the one thing we emphasized, it's okay to do your job, but you got to make plays. A lot of these guys were playmakers last year for us."

Means on RB Isaiah Harris: "He's as fast as they are. Northern Iowa is very, very interested and North Dakota State's very interested in him. One thing that they see on film, what they tell me that they like is, when he gets through the line of scrimmage, he keeps accelerating. You watch him on film and defensive players look like they have an angle on him, and he keeps running away from them. There are some teams that have fast guys playing football because they're not football players. He's a football player, who's fast. Three years ago when we went 1-8, that was one of our biggest deficiencies. We just didn't have speed."

Means on QB T.J. Urban: "Hhe matured really, really fast. We weren't real sure how he'd handle it from freshman football to varsity football, that's a pretty big jump. Again, he kept getting better and better and better each week, threw the ball really well and ran it well for us. Between he and Isaiah Harris, it was kind of a pick your poison type of an offense, as far as the running game went.

"He's going to camps and he's taken to some instructional things that we're doing with him and so forth. He just soaks it up, he just wants to learn and he wants to get better. Like I said, the thing that pleased us the most, was he continually got better as the season went on.

"He reminds me of (former Husker recruit) Bronson (Marsh). Bronson could throw a little bit better at this point, but T.J. is working on it, he's getting a lot better at it. He's really good at reading defense and running the zone and read option."

Urban's take: "I think there will be a lot of growth (in my game) because right now I'm still 15. My mom still takes me places (laughter). That's what I hate. I got a lot of arm strength to build off of and just keep going from there.

"I don't really know what the previous (in-state) quarterbacks were like. I think I'm a little different than they are because I've run in this offense since I was in seventh grade. I know the in and outs of it pretty well. Then I just got to keep moving forward.

Recruiting: Urban is being recruited by Oklahoma State, Tulsa, South Dakota State, Wyoming and Iowa State at this point. He plans to camp at OSU, ISU, SDSU, Tulsa and the Elite 11 regional.

"I believe May or April I'm going to the Elite 11 Regional camp," Urban said. "Then Gunslinger one in Knoxville, Tennessee."

Stat check: Urban passed for over 1,000 yards and rushed for over 1,000 yards this past season.