Nebraska Football Recruiting: June 18 official visitor preview

Nebraska is welcoming five official visitors during its third group of visitors on June 18. This weekend will be packed with the Big Red BBQ for prospects, the second Friday Night Lights camp and an Adidas pipeline camp Saturday morning.

Here are the four confirmed defensive prospects that the Huskers will be entertaining this weekend.

Inside linebacker Ernest Hausmann committed to Nebraska in March but will be taking his official visit this weekend. During the first weekend of June, Hausmann was at Friday Night Lights connecting with and building relationships with his coaches, future teammates and prospects on their official visits. He is likely to take on a similar role this weekend.

At Columbus (Neb.) high school, Hausmann recorded 69 total tackles and six tackles for loss as a junior. On the other side of the ball at wide receiver, the 6-foot-3, 210-pound athlete had 447 yards on 34 receptions.

Nebraska will also be hosting another in-state star in Lincoln Southeast's Jake Appleget. Appleget received an offer from the Huskers on June 1 but has been in contact with Barrett Ruud for months. Since his offer from Nebraska, Appleget earned one from Minnesota and has been contacted by Iowa State and Kansas State.

Appleget is tall and lanky with a great vision of the field. He has also found success at wide receiver and was on ESPN's SportsCenter Top Ten for winning an in-air battle with a defensive back for a touchdown last season. Appleget told HuskerOnline that his coaches have discussed him playing either inside or outside 'backer.

With his recruitment picking up, this is an important weekend for Nebraska to lockdown Appleget's commitment.

Cornerback James Monds III also has a connection to Nebraska but his is much different than Hausmann's and Appleget's. James is the great-nephew of Wonder Monds, a DB at Nebraska that was named first-team All-American by Football Writers in 1975.

James has 37 offers and is taking three official visits to Big Ten schools. He was at Indiana on June 11 and will be visiting Wisconsin on June 25. He took his first official visit to Mississippi State on June 4. Monds has big shoes to fill but important familial connections take could push the Huskers ahead in a close race against other Big Ten schools.

Safety Nathan Vail visited Georgia Tech on June 11 and seemed to enjoy himself. He has another visit set for Duke on June 24. Vail also has offers from Boston College, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kansas, Liberty and more. Nebraska has had good luck out of Georgia since Frost and Co. arrived in Lincoln especially with defensive backs.

Vail has a good sense of the direction of the ball and is more than capable of swatching the ball out of the hands of receivers or before it even touches their fingers. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound safety creates chaos and plays hard, a brand of football that Nebraska's defensive backs coach, Travis Fisher, is always striving for.