Three & Out: Plethora of new offers, baseball preview, JR Day highlights

This is HuskerOnline.com's feature in which recruiting analysts Mike Matya and Bryan Munson give their weekly takes on topical issues concerning Nebraska football, baseball and recruiting.

Today in our next installment of "Three and Out" we hit on a plethora of new offers, baseball season preview, and junior day highlights.

I don't know about you, but the Nebraska staff the last two weeks should remind us all about how a staff hits the road and recruits. I didn't bother to count how many offers were extended and, of course, there is the risk of missing some, plus those recruits that don't publicize that information. And even if my number is unofficial it's impressive.

78

That's right, there have been (at least) 78 new offers in the past couple of weeks. I spent the better part of Tuesday afternoon going through my feed, going into each player's profile and making the update.

Obviously, this total is significant, but why? Just two weeks ago I started a personal project. I wanted an inventory of Nebraska's offers so I could start figuring out how quickly they were going to get to work.

That total just two weeks ago?

33

That number was the total of 2023 offers (being tracked in the Rivals database). The 78 number has 2023, 2024 and 2025 offers. Breaking that down:

2025 - 1

2024 - 13

2023 - 64

So almost twice as many offers in the last two weeks to 2023 players than what there was before.

And there were some very easy things to see in the numbers as well such as location. Coach Mickey Joseph was obviously doing work in Louisiana to start things out, but what about Bill Busch doing his best Johnny Appleseed from Kansas across to East St. Louis? There were 14 offers that I would attribute to Busch in that area.

And what about Bryan Applewhite in Texas? The effort by Applewhite got lost in Louisiana, the Sun Belt and in the neighboring states. I count 15 offers to Lone Star State prospects. If there is music to these ears, it's the Huskers trying to regain a footing in Texas when it comes to recruiting.

Here's another number: 1.

That number has a name and it's JJ Kohl. I would throw out Taron Dickens (likely more of an athlete offer) and Reese Mooney (since he's committed to Vanderbilt) and would say that when Mark Whipple came to Nebraska there was one valid offer and that was to Kohl.

Over the past two weeks, I would say that the offer total has jumped to five more quarterbacks. One of those recruits is already committed to Purdue (Rickie Collins) and probably the most heralded of those new offers came off of the board in the last 48-72 hours when Jackson Arnold committed to Oklahoma.

Making sense of the quarterbacks board isn't as easy as it was when just one name was there like there was with Kohl. However, I do think that one player is standing out and should be considered Nebraska's No. 1 quarterback prospect: Avery Johnson.

Johnson has gotten very popular very quickly with the Nebraska staff. He picked up the offer from the Huskers just a couple of weeks ago when coach Busch came by his school to see him. Busch has returned to see Johnson since then and Frost will actually be back through to see Johnson before junior day this coming weekend when Avery will be in Lincoln.

This is already after William Watson attended Nebraska's junior day this past weekend and picked up an offer from the Huskers. Watson has been training with Nebraska's offensive coordinator since he was in 6th grade.

NU just reminded all of us what a staff can do when they are out on the road working. The downside? They are working their way out of a hole. Some of these offers should have been made months ago, particularly to the recruits in neighboring states.

Expect things to get quieter after this weekend until junior days pick back up again in March. When Nebraska gets on the other side of this coming dead period, I would expect some dedicated weekends to a small number of recruits. Maybe even weekends when Nebraska just brings in one recruit. Expect Avery Johnson to get one of those red carpet weekends.

- Bryan Munson

The Nebraska baseball team begins its defense of their conference championship in earnest when the Husker squad starts practicing for the 2022 spring season on Friday.

HuskerOnline.com caught up with NU assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Lance Harvell to get his thoughts on how the team came through winter conditioning and what their focus will be as they prepare for their opening series of the season at Sam Houston, with the first game of 2022 on Friday, February 18.

How did winter conditioning go for the team and what do you think you got accomplished?

LH: "Whenever we have to send guys home for winter break and they're not going to be around us, that's probably the most stressful time of the year for a coach because you've spent three months getting them trained up and in a good routine with good habits. Then you have to trust that they're going to do it on their own away from us and away from their teammates. You pray they're going to have the self-discipline to do it, and the guys came back in great shape and ready to go. So, that was really encouraging.

"Everybody's up and running and good to go. We've been doing skill instruction for a couple of weeks, just kind of gearing up and getting ready for our full-team practice that starts on Friday. There's been some pretty encouraging signs since the guys have been back. It's been roughly an hour a day we've been able to have them for the past couple weeks and there haven't been any tired legs or sore arms. So, we've been able to keep the foot on the gas and just keep building, building, building."

How do you sense what the tenor and focus of the team is as you get ready for Friday's official start of practice?

LH: "Again, I think a good measuring stick about that is how they came back from the winter break. Like I said, having that discipline on the team will show you the character of the team; and also, it shows you how hungry they are. How focused and determined they are to set out and do what we're trying to do.

"We don't make any bones about it: we want to go out and win the Big Ten again. We want to host a regional this year and take that next step as a program. Host a super-regional and have a chance to go to Omaha and be the last man standing.

"To do that, you really start to separate yourself at this time of year. When Friday rolls around, now we will have 4 hours with them [each day], so in one day we will get what we have been having in one week. That's when you really start to make those gains and those jumps as a team. From top to bottom, this might be the most in-shape, ready to go pitching staff I've ever seen. That's going to, hopefully, allow you to get off to a good start and really get rolling."

Who are some of the new leaders who have emerged on the team?

LH: "Kyle Perry is a guy who's grown up and taken on more of a leadership role. He's always stirring the pot. Cam Chick is another one. Efry Cervantes is another guy. He's probably the hardest working guy who's been in this program the last two years. That's rubbing off on everybody. Griffin Everitt is another one who has been on a mission this year. Brice Matthews is another one who I think guys are just drawn to anyway just because of his personality and the type of talent that he is. Those guys have done a pretty good job of it, I would say. Shay Schanaman is another one.

"And then a guy who's coming off of injury who deserves to be mentioned is Colby Gomes. He's been on a mission since he's been back. He's cleared now and fully healthy and he threw really well the other day, which was the first time in two years he's thrown to hitters. He was really good! I think he's even a little better than what he was after making some adjustments. Coach (Jeff) Christy has been working with him on cleaning up his arm action. He's actually going to pick up the bat again and hit for us, and maybe play a little bit of first base. He hit live a couple weeks ago for the first time in 2 & 1/2 years, and he hit a 430-foot bomb to left-center that was 108 [velo] off the bat."

I know you don't work with the pitchers, but could you sketch a broad outline of what Husker fans should expect when it comes to the weekend rotation this season?

LH: "In some way, shape or form, I think the two guys battling for that Friday No. 1 spot are Schanaman and Kyle Perry. The way those two guys are going right now, it's really 1a and 1b, honestly. It may just come down to matchups that first weekend and who we feel will match up better out of the gate.

"Then there's Dawson McCarville who's a transfer from Grand Canyon who's been really good. Jake Bunz has been good. Koty Frank. We've got probably five or six guys that are all in contention for those three spots. Mason Ornelas and Emmett Olson as well. Those guys are probably making the hardest push for that other [third] starting spot. Bunz was such a key guy for us last season coming out of the bullpen, that it may just be he's better suited to stay in that role for us instead of starting.

"There are so many options for us on the pitching staff this year and so many quality arms that really, top to bottom, we've got several guys who can step into those roles and not miss a beat."

With Spencer Schwellenbach gone, how are you going to handle the closer this season?

LH: "It could be Gomes and it might be Emmett Olson. It also could be Ethan Bradford, Drew Christo or CJ Hood or Braxton Bragg. Everybody has just been so good, I'm telling you. It's almost like an embarrassment of riches by what they've shown and the way they've thrown. We could have one closer on Friday and another one on Saturday. In a weekend have multiple guys filling those roles because they've all got good stuff."

Barring injury, who seems to have locked in starting positions in the field?

LH: "Everitt will start behind the plate. Max Anderson will start at third, Brice Matthews at short, and I'm pretty sure right now the freshmen Canadian Core Jackson will probably play second base. First base is probably going to be (Jack) Steil or Gomes. I would say it's going to be (Leighton) Banjoff in right field and Luke Sartori in center.

"Left field is kind of a tossup right now because you've got Cam Chick, Luke Jessen and Garrett Anglim. So, that spot's open and I'm sure a combination of whoever is not that third outfielder will probably be DH-ing. We've also got Josh Caron, the freshman catcher, who will be in the mix to DH as well. First base, the two corner outfield spots, and DH are probably the question marks right now, just as far as who's going to go take those jobs."

I notice that you have a lot of nonconference games in the state of Texas this season. Was that because of all of your staff's ties down there?

LH: "No, not deliberately. Because of scheduling issues we had to pick up an extra game with Sam Houston. That was already kind of in the works, and so was the TCU series at the Rangers' ballpark. We were originally going to host San Diego State at Haymarket, but they double-booked Arizona State so we were kind of left out in the cold.

"The way it happened to work out, a little bit because of our ties down there and because we know every coach in the state, so we jumped in with Northwestern State and UTA for a series because we know both of those coaches pretty well. It actually ended up working pretty well for us because we picked up another game that we needed. We are going to play four games that weekend because we had lost a March game with Creighton due to a conflict with finals. The way that it worked out is that we're going to go down to Texas for those first three weekends."

Who do you see as your main competition to win the Big Ten title again this season?

LH: "That's a good question. I don't know if it's good or bad, but I'm just going to say it because I think it's good: I don't really pay attention to a lot of other teams. I know the teams that are going to be good, but for me, it's kind of us and everybody else as far as I'm concerned. For us being the defending champs, I think we're going to get everybody's best shot.

"You just never know. I'm sure Michigan is going to be pretty good. Maryland, I think, is going to be good again because they've got some guys back. I think Iowa is going to be pretty competitive. Ohio State may be better and more consistent than they were last year. So, they'll be tough.

"We've got to have the mindset and attitude to play the best brand of baseball, our brand of baseball, as good as we can and we will see what the scoreboard says at the end of the game. We just need to see how well we can go play and execute on any given day."

- Mike Matya

On Thursday, we knew of 23 recruits coming to Lincoln. That number grew by at least one (Dylan Edwards) and I think that I know of another quarterback that was in town (AJ McCall). Out of those 24, which includes Edwards, there were three recruits that didn't make it to Lincoln last weekend for various reasons.

What were the storylines?

The only Nebraska commitment that was in attendance this past weekend was Gottula. He had his first opportunity to meet with the new offensive staff, and in particular Donovan Raiola, his position coach. Gottula still feels great about his commitment to Nebraska.

Maybe the most ready offensive lineman in the state, Sledge picked up an offer from the Nebraska staff on Saturday.The son of former Husker offensive lineman, Bob Sledge, wasn't expecting the offer. The Huskers see Sledge playing inside on their offensive line.

Mentioned previously in my offers section, Watson also picked up an offer from Nebraska. Watson is smooth with the football. His film is fun to watch and he's not afraid to want the ball in a pressure situation.

Herring picked up an offer and it's about time. The Huskers are playing catch up all over their recruiting board and, unfortunately, that is with a number of offensive lineman who are in the radius or from neighboring states. Herring plans on getting back to Nebraska this spring.

Stevens was supposed to visit Nebraska last fall, but suffered an ACL tear and wasn't in a position to be able to travel comfortably. It is a bit of a mystery where the Huskers see Stevens playing, but it seems that coach Barrett Ruud likes Stevens to play inside, at least initially, but since he's still growing, he could be an OLB/Edge or even grow into a DE.

There were nine visitors scheduled to be in attendance that already had an offer and more were extended. The Huskers really put their best foot forward on the weekend and, in my opinion, have really sold Malachi Coleman in a short amount of time.

I have a decent source with Coleman and I know there are a lot of Nebraska fans in Coleman's family, but the attention he was receiving was requiring him to look around. Enter coach Mickey Joseph and things have changed quickly. I would consider Nebraska to be the clear leader, even if Coleman ends up filling out and playing a position other than wide receiver. It's amazing what a change in the recruiting coach can produce.

And while Beni Ngoyi left junior day weekend without an offer, he knows where he stands now with the Husker coaches and he's fine with it. The Nebraska staff is still talking to Ngoyi about playing offense and, as I mentioned in Tunnel Talk last week, the spots in the 2023 class for wide receiver are going to be tough, which may require Nebraska to get creative and talk to Ngoyi about playing defense. For now, though, he's a wide receiver recruit.

Some last thoughts on the weekend: I would expect many of these recruits to be back in Lincoln soon. That would be for another junior day or a spring practice or the spring game or another dedicated, red carpet weekend. Nebraska has done a great job in a short time getting back into the picture with these recruits and the recent offers will allow them to get those weekends in March scheduled.

- Bryan Munson