The 3-2-1: The calm before the June storm for Nebraska

Nebraska will have one quiet weekend before things really pick up with an expected 15 official visitors on June 3. We hit on that and more in the 3-2-1 column.

1 - This will be the only quiet weekend in Lincoln until July

Enjoy this weekend, because it will be the only quiet one until July for the Nebraska football program.

NU hosted four official visitors this past weekend and they are scheduled to host JUCO DL Taylor Lewis from the College of the Canyons on May 31.

After that, they are expected to host up to 15 official visitors on the weekend of June 3. HuskerOnline has confirmed 13 of those names already.

This next month is going to set the stage for what the 2023 Husker recruiting class is going to look like.

The big question I have is what will the total number of high school recruits be with the NCAA eliminating the 25 scholarship cap?

A safe guess was always 15 to 18, but maybe it can push 20 if it's the right 20. Schools are going to be much more aggressive with this number, knowing they will no longer lose a spot on their 25. You will also see a lot more players not living up to expectations pushed out of programs as well.

2 - Trev says NU will no longer provide balloons in Memorial Stadium

You never know what you are going to get from an Athletic Director's radio show.

On Monday, NU Athletic Director Trev Alberts announced that Nebraska will no longer provide balloons at home games to release after the Huskers' first score.

This is a long-standing tradition that dates back at least 30 years. Alberts gave all the right reasons why they were no longer going to provide balloons, but the question is will they allow you to bring balloons into the stadium on your own?

This situation reminds me of when former Husker AD Bill Byrne tried to get rid of Herbie Husker and make Little Red the official mascot. That idea backfired completely and Herbie made a comeback. In fact, I feel like you don't see Little Red nearly as much at events, and the old-school version of Herbie is as popular as ever.

It will be interesting if we hear any more regarding the decision to get rid of the balloons.

3 - Wisconsin is the only Big Ten West team ranked by Athlon

There are four Big Ten East teams ranked in the Athlon preseason top 25 poll and just one from the Big Ten West.

For people advocating for the league to get rid of divisions, this is exactly why. Wisconsin, the only Big Ten West team, is ranked at No. 19. They carry an over/under win total of 8.5 for the 2022 season.

Meanwhile, Ohio State came in at No. 2 (10.5 over/under), Michigan No. 6 (9.5 over/under), Michigan State No. 14 (7.5 over/under) and Penn State No. 25 (8.5 over/under).

Nebraska currently sits at an over/under win total of 7.5, as does Iowa. The Big Ten West really does feel wide open right now, but the Badgers continue to be the safe money bet to win the division.

1 - How and when will NU's roster attrition go down?

Nebraska is now three over the 85-man scholarship limit for the 2022 season. How will the roster attrition play itself out?

The reality is you are probably going to see a medical retirement or two in there, a player looking to grad transfer, and maybe someone will just move on all together.

This is the hard part about college football. Numbers and spots have never been at more of a premium than now.

2 - Will the NCAA allow private workouts in 2022?

One of the nice things the NCAA added a year ago were private workouts during the month of June.

This allowed guys to get individual workouts at the campus of Division I schools without having to pay to attend their camp. In 2022, these will no longer be allowed by the NCAA.

Would it be nice to have them again? Sure. But I think the fact coaches have been able to be out of the road from Apr. 15 to May 31 and they also had all of January to evaluate puts things in a much different place than a year ago.

The private workouts were added because coaches didn't get the chance to see any of these guys in January, April and May. They were also a ton of work. Nebraska conducted well over 90 workouts last June on different Fridays, and the work really didn't yield much other than eventual commitments from Jake Appleget and Gage Stenger. Appleget's offer came on June 1, and Stenger's didn't come until later in the fall when he was already committed to K-State.

A year ago, Nebraska finished with 20 quarterback sacks in 12 games. That's an average of 1.67 sacks per game.

When you look at what the Huskers return upfront and what they have added, I predict that number will make a big jump in 2022. Today, I predict you will see at least 30 sacks from the Blackshirts in 2022, which would be 2.5 or more per game.

Sean Callahan can be reached at sean@huskeronline.com and he can be heard each day at 6:45 am and 5:05 pm on Big Red Radio 1110 KFAB in Omaha during the football season. He can also be seen on KETV Channel 7 in Omaha during the fall and each week he appears on NET's Big Red Wrap-Tuesday's at 7 pm.