Rumors had swirled over the past five days following the departure of assistant coach Kenya Hunter, and Nebraska was officially hit with yet another offseason gut punch on Friday.

Three-star point guard Xavier Johnson, regarded by many as the prize of NU’s 2018 recruiting class, told HuskerOnline.com on Friday that he had officially requested and received his release from his National Letter of Intent to Nebraska.

Johnson, who signed with the Huskers in November, said he started to waiver on his commitment to NU after Hunter announced he was leaving to take a job at UConn on Monday.

Head coach Tim Miles and assistants Michael Lewis and Jim Molinari all flew out to Arlington (Va.) Bishop O’Connell High School to meet with the 6-foot-3 standout in person on Thursday.

Though the meeting went well on all accounts, it wasn’t enough to keep Johnson from going through with his release request and re-opening his recruitment.

Johnson said he will still consider Nebraska an option and hopes to continue to strengthen his relationship with Miles going forward.

“I’m still interested in going (to Nebraska), I just wanted to reevaluate my options and build a relationship with Coach Miles and all the other coaches,” Johnson said. “The relationship me and Coach Hunter had was a big part in me going there, and with him moving on, I have to build another relationship like that.

“Coach Hunter, he was like a father figure for me out there while my parents are still in Virginia.”

It’s unclear who else will get involved with Johnson now that he’s back on the market, but he will likely be a hot commodity this late in the 2018 recruiting cycle. He initially chose Nebraska over other finalists Georgetown and Georgia Tech.

Asked if he had thought about the idea of following Hunter to UConn, Johnson quickly responded: “No.”

With the loss of Johnson, the Huskers now have three open scholarships remaining in their 2018 recruiting class.