In the end, the pull to continue his career in nearby Lincoln was too much to sway Maverick Noonan to the West Coast or anywhere else for college. The Class of 2023 Elkhorn South (Neb.) star defensive end has committed to Nebraska.
“I just felt like they were the best for me and my family, the best choice for me in both football and academics, and I just felt I could see myself going there for the next four years," Noonan told Inside Nebraska.
Noonan, his parents and his sister visited with Scott Frost, Erik Chinander and Mike Dawson on Friday afternoon, and he informed the Huskers coaching staff of his intention to commit.
“I just said that I’d like to go there. I’ve already been to all these places, and I feel like it’s the best for me. So I just told them I’d like to commit there, and they were pretty happy," said Noonan, whose father Danny Noonan was an All-American defensive lineman at Nebraska before becoming the 12th overall pick in the NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys in 1987.
"[My family is] all pretty proud," Noonan said. "My dad is proud, too. He never wanted me to go to any specific place. I guess I just, at the end of it, ended up in Lincoln. That’s what was best for me. It’s pretty cool going to the same school, but that didn’t really play any part in my recruitment at all."
Noonan's decision came into clear focus during the final official visit of his recruiting process. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound defensive end took one last visit to see Stanford this past weekend (June 18-20).
Noonan told Inside Nebraska prior to that visit that he had already taken Minnesota off of his list of serious considerations, and he also told us that Iowa had slipped down the pecking order as well heading into his West Coast trip.
That made this recruitment a Huskers vs. Cardinal battle at the very end, and Stanford was going to have to put on a knocked-it-out-of-the-park show in order to move Noonan's mind off of leaving the state for college. When it came down to crunch time for his decision, though, home turned out to be where the heart is for the borderline four-star prospect.
“Nebraska was pretty much my top school for the longest time," Noonan said. "But I wanted to take those other visits such as Stanford, Iowa and all those other places just to confirm — or just look around and see what else is out there before my decision. I just wanted to check every box and just go through the process really thoroughly."
Noonan is commitment No. 10 in the Huskers' 2023 cycle, and he is their second defensive lineman commit as he joins Texas three-star defensive lineman Riley Van Poppel, who committed in mid-June.
Follow this link for our in-depth analysis on what Noonan brings to the field for Huskers, the role that Chinander and Dawson envision him fulfilling and how he impacts Nebraska's 2023 class.
As a reminder, we are running a special promotion June 24-27. Get free access to all Inside Nebraska content through August 6 by clicking this link or the link below.
