Two weeks ago, Cale Jacobsen celebrated with his Ashland-Greenwood teammates at center court of Pinnacle Bank Arena after he set a Nebraska Class C-1 tournament record with 43 points in a win over Kearney Catholic.
Husker assistant coach Nate Loenser just happened to be in the stands that day, and that was all he needed to see to give Jacobsen a chance at being a Husker.
The 6-foot-4, 185-pound 2022 prospect does not hold a Division I offer, but NU was interested enough in his potential to award him a preferred walk-on opportunity.
“I’ve talked with Coach Loenser quite a bit,” Jacobsen said. “He came to a couple of my games this season, and then obviously the state tournament at their place…
“A lot of what they like about me is my ability to do a lot of different things. As a guard, my frame is pretty big and physical, and obviously, I can pass and score. Just being able to do a lot of different things and play within their offense.”
Jacobsen capped a stellar high school career by averaging 17.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, 6.1 assists, and 4.0 steals per game this season while leading Ashland-Greenwood to its first C-1 championship earlier this month.
He was named the 2021-22 Nebraska Basketball Coaches Association Player of the Year for his efforts and just earned MVP honors at the Battle Metro All-Star boys basketball game on Friday night.
It may have happened much later in the process than he would have liked, but Jacobsen is finally starting to garner some D1 attention on the recruiting front after his impressive state title run.
He will play with Nebraska Supreme on the Under Armour AAU circuit in Indianapolis during the first NCAA live evaluation period on April 8-10 to see if he can bolster his recruitment even further.
“If I still don’t love my options, then I’ll play in the second live period of the spring,” Jacobsen said. “That’s the plan.”
While Jacobsen is hoping to earn a full-ride scholarship to a D1 program, he is also well aware of the opportunity he would have as a preferred walk-on at Nebraska.
“Obviously it would be nice to get everything paid for and all the school stuff covered, but Nebraska has a lot of different opportunities that some low- and mid-majors don’t necessarily have with what they can do with your body, strength and nutrition-wise,” he said.
“Talking with their coaches about all that kind of stuff and the opportunities they have there was pretty amazing.”
Jacobsen also saw was former Lincoln (Neb.) Pius X standout Charlie Easley was able to do with a similar situation with the Huskers. After joining NU as a walk-on in 2019, Easley - now at South Dakota State - was placed on scholarship at mid-season as a freshman.
That path has certainly been presented to Jacobsen by Loenser and Nebraska’s staff.
“Yup, 100 percent,” Jacobsen said. “Seeing Charlie go through it, that sets a pretty good example and shows that, obviously you have to work hard at it - he did everything he could and played his butt off - but there’s definitely a chance in that program.”
