Omaha Westside star Jaylen Lloyd stays home, commits to Nebraska

Jaylen Lloyd is staying home. The Class of 2023 in-state star out of Omaha Westside has committed to the Nebraska football program.

Lloyd announced his decision on Saturday afternoon, picking the Huskers with the intention to be a dual-sport athlete in football and track. The 6-foot-1, 160-pounder had Nebraska and Texas Tech in his top five as both schools offered him as a dual-sport athlete.

RELATED: Analysis & impact as Lloyd commits to Huskers

The other three programs on that list (Florida, Georgia and Illinois) offered him a scholarship for track.

Lloyd had initially planned to announce his college decision a few weeks ago, but that came to a screeching halt after Matt Rhule extended a Huskers offer.

He delayed his commitment and subsequently visited Nebraska twice in the first two weeks of December: once for a Junior Day and once for an official visit during the Dec. 9-11 weekend.

That OV weekend helped spark Lloyd's decision to pick the Huskers as he got to spend plenty of time with Matt Rhule.

"I like coach Rhule a lot. He's confident but not arrogant," Lloyd told Inside Nebraska. "Coming from the NFL, he could have come off like really arrogant, but he's not like that at all. He thanked me for coming and my parents thanked him for having his family down. It just feels like he's very comforting."

He also got a lot of face time with Marcus Satterfield, Evan Cooper and safety Myles Farmer. Those meetings allowed Lloyd to gather the information he needed in regard to the different roles and the vision the Nebraska coaching staff has for him. The Huskers see Lloyd as having the potential to play on either side of the ball, using his blazing speed (10.43-second time in the 100-meter dash and 4.4-second time in the 40-yard dash) as a receiver or as a defensive back.

Overall, Lloyd came away from that visit with the feeling that he would be very comfortable and confident at Nebraska.

"Community is the most important thing to me," Lloyd said. "Like my mom always tells me, you don't want to be somewhere where when you're doing good, everybody's with you and when you're doing bad, they're against you. That's huge to me.

“I would love to be at a place that feels like a family. That's what my Omaha Central track team felt like. One big family. We still talk to each other. Even though we aren’t at that same school we still hang out with each other. That's what my Westside football team felt like so I want to continue that."

Llloyd is the Huskers' sixth in-state commitment in the 2023 class. He is the second Westside player to commit to Nebraska in as many days as he joins K Tristan Alvano, who committed to the Huskers on Friday.

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