Dr. Susan Elza has played a significant hand in getting Texas back as a recruiting resource and true battleground state for Nebraska football.

The Texas recruiting pipeline that Nebraska tapped into in yesteryear (“the good ole days of Nebraska football” some may call it) used to be a heavy-flowing oil rig akin to one you’d see Daniel Plainview operating in the early 1900s.

That is, to say, it was quite profitable for the Huskers.

Up until November 26, 2022 – the Saturday when Matt Rhule officially put pen to paper (or maybe it was fingers to keyboard via DocuSign) and became Nebraska’s head coach – that pipeline had long been dried up after bursting several years prior.

Rhule signed his contract, and everything has changed.

Just about everything has changed within Nebraska’s program on a macro level. But on the micro level, when examining just the team’s recruiting in the state of Texas, it’s been like night and day compared to what it had been in the years leading up to Rhule’s arrival. It has trended back to look more like the flow of those yesteryear days.

Dr. Tom Osborne must be proud.

He wouldn’t be proud of just Rhule, either. There’s another “Dr.” in the house these days, and she’s helped the Huskers surgically operate in the state of Texas and systematically pluck players to pull them to Lincoln.

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