In-State Tour: Oakland-Craig
2022 is the 19th year of the HuskerOnline In-State Tour. Every February since 2004, HuskerOnline profiles the top up-and-coming prospects in the state of Nebraska.
This year our In-State Tour was broken up into two events in Omaha and Lincoln as we profiled all the top prospects in the state.
Our next stop of the 2022 In-State Tour takes us to Oakland-Craig, who has a very impressive lineman to keep tabs on for 2024.
2022 In-State Tour: Gretna | Elkhorn South | Omaha North | Elkhorn | Omaha Burke | Scottsbluff | Omaha Westside | Bellevue West | Omaha Central | Creighton Prep | Pierce | GI Northwest | Lincoln East | Millard South | Lewis Central | Papillion-La Vista | Omaha Skutt | Lincoln High | Lincoln Southwest | Fremont Bergan | Lincoln Southeast | Aurora | Lincoln Northeast | Lincoln North Star
Head coach: Joe Anderson
2021 record: 5-5 (First round of Class C-2 playoffs)
Season rewind: "After reaching at least the semi-finals (champions in 2019) the last three years, we took a little step back this year. We had a very challenging schedule, where all 5 losses were to teams in the end of the year top 5. We were still very competitive losing to runner-up Norfolk Catholic in OT and to Aquinas by 1 point. We fought through a lot of injuries, but our young kids got a lot of experience which should help us this year.
"We lose eight seniors off of last year's squad (10 of the 22 starting spots), so we have some holes to fill. We will look to quite a few sophomores and juniors this year to fill spots, but we have some quality kids there. They were 9-0 in JV last year. I feel up front will be a strength of ours. We return three starting offensive linemen, Grant Seagren (6-5 245), Trevor Wetizenkamp( 6-1 215, also our leading tackler and LB), and All-State Lineman JT Brands (6-2 260)."
Brands a name to watch closely for 2024
Anderson on DL JT Brands: "JT is already the strongest kid I have coached, and he is only 16 years old. He is very explosive off the ball, and he plays with such a high motor. He was double-teamed a lot during the year and still made 92 tackles from his DT spot. He does a great job of shedding blockers and making plays. His skill and work ethic are going to make him a pretty special player."
Recruiting: Brands is currently being recruited by South Dakota, South Dakota State and North Dakota State after his sophomore season. He plans to camp at Nebraska, Wyoming and SDSU this summer.
By the numbers: As a sophomore, Brands was a first-team Class C-2 All-State selection. He finished with 92 tackles, 14 tackles for loss and five quarterback sacks.
In the weight room, Brands already has very impressive numbers with a bench max of 340 pounds, a squat max of 445 pounds and 30.5 inch vertical. He also threw the shot put 48-5 as a freshman.
In the classroom, Brands carries a 3.9 GPA.