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 the start of the college baseball season, the 2023 quarterback board, and four-star scorecard revisited.

The college baseball season begins across the country on Friday, with Nebraska taking on Sam Houston in a four-game series. NU's first game of 2022 is Friday evening at 6:30 PM, followed by a doubleheader on Saturday, and a single series-ending game on Sunday.

Former Nebraska pitcher Jay Sirianni is the head baseball coach at SHS after serving as the Bearkats’ associate head coach and pitching instructor for the prior five seasons. They were either the Southland Conference regular season or tournament champions seven times in the past decade.

This will be Cornhusker head baseball coach Will Bolt's second full season at the helm in Lincoln. Including the COVID-shortened 2020 season, Bolt has compiled a 41-22 record to date.

As everyone knows, last season ended with Nebraska as Big Ten conference champions and the Huskers came within one game of making it to the super regional level of the post-season.

But Coach Bolt was not satisfied with those impressive results. He said the goal for his program and team will be hosting a regional in Lincoln this season, and ultimately to make it to the College World Series in Omaha.

As the above chart shows, Nebraska has been a well-coached and well-rounded team since this new staff took over under Coach Bolt in 2020, so this will be a good baseline from which to check out how the team is faring in these statistical categories this season.

At the conclusion of the 2021 season, Nebraska was rated anywhere from Nos. 17-21 by the main college baseball web sites like D1 Baseball, Baseball America, Perfect Game, USA Today, and the College Baseball Newspaper.

We shall see if they can match, or even exceed, those results this season. Hopefully, it will be a fun ride for Husker fans.

-Mike Matya

Things are becoming a little clearer when it comes to the recruiting Big Board. I am hoping to try and publish an offensive and defensive board in the next two weeks. If there is a position where it seems a top three have separated themselves from the rest of the recruits holding offers, it’s at quarterback.

And while some of this list will likely be anti-climatic, you need to remind yourself that this list is for the quarterback position and the importance for this spot in the 2023 class.

The Huskers have a great chance to nab a quarterback from a neighboring state or land a quarterback who has worked with Nebraska’s offensive coordinator since he was in sixth grade.

Let’s take a look a the list:

Some quick thoughts – There are plenty of thoughts about Nebraska’s chances. Personally, I think that Arkansas is the leader for Johnson now, but I also believe the Huskers are clawing their way back into the picture with Johnson. I would look for Johnson to visit once basketball is over. It may be a junior day to get him on campus. I would also look for some sort of an exclusive recruiting weekend for Johnson so that the Huskers can roll out the red carpet for him and his family.

Junior Year – 2,550 yards passing, 20 passing touchdowns and six interceptions with 1,080 yards rushing and 22 rushing touchdowns.

Some quick thoughts – Kohl was offered under the previous offensive staff and was back in Lincoln in January at one of the two junior day weekends. Kohl is definitely the biggest of all of the quarterback targets on this list, but that doesn’t mean that he isn’t mobile. Flip on the film and you will see a guy that can tuck it and run it, and also be a player that extends the play by moving up or back in the pocket or moving laterally. Watch his eyes, though, as they are consistently looking downfield. He has a big arm and is very accurate.

Junior Year – 2,185 yards passing and 25 touchdowns.

Some quick thoughts – Not a lot was known about Watson ahead of him visiting Nebraska in January. Despite the recent offer to Avery Johnson by NU and hosting JJ Kohl, the Huskers extended an offer to Watson. Put on the film and you will see what Nebraska, and more specifically coach Mark Whipple, like about Watson. The Nebraska offensive coordinator has trained Watson going back William being in the 6th grade. Watson had an offer from Pitt when Whipple was the OC there. He is not short on confidence as he wants the ball in his hands when the game is on the line.

Junior Year – 2,800 yards passing and 31 touchdowns.

Some quick thoughts – For now, consider Coleman to be the number one guy for Nebraska on their board at wide receiver. Not only is he an in-state product, but his upside is immense. Coleman could develop past the position of wide receiver and end up playing linebacker or even defensive end.

Manning was in Lincoln in January along with Coleman. He clearly knows that Nebraska is very interested, and being from Missouri adds to the importance of Manning to NU. The Huskers must find a way to be more effective in the Show-Me State.

A new name to many will be Harrison-Pilot. I don’t think it would be possible for any wide receiver to vault past Coleman on the wide receiver board, unless Coleman commits elsewhere or is being looked at to play another position at Nebraska. Harrison-Pilot could play about as many positions in college as Coleman could. He has some of the nation’s best programs after him, but says that he will work on getting to Lincoln to see what the Huskers have to offer.

- Bryan Munson

When we last checked in on this, Nebraska did not have any four-star commitments for the 2022 recruiting class. But that changed in the last few weeks of the cycle prior to the December, and then the February, signing dates.

Half of the Huskers' last eight commitments were listed as four-star prospects on at least one of the recruiting services' websites. Decoldest Crawford is listed as a four-star signee on the ESPN recruiting site.

Looking at the below chart, the results indicate that recruiting had started to seriously tail-off under Coach Scott Frost after a promising start in his first couple of full classes.

I started with the 2011 class because that's as far back as the Rivals, 247 and ESPN recruit rankings sync up. To be a "consensus four-star," a recruit had to have been designated as a four-star player by all three services -- Rivals, 247 and ESPN.

[Note: Five-star signee Aaron Green was added to the four-star total and is designated by *; the transition recruiting classes for each of the staffs are designated by **]

Over the past dozen years, when Rivals, 247 and ESPN have all been doing recruit rankings, Nebraska typically had double-digit four-star signees combined from all three services. But that was not the case in the past two classes which had tailed off from those initial successes.

With the recent additions of Vince Guinta, Mickey Joseph and Bill Busch to the Husker staff, I am expecting a significant uptick in the quality of future commitments and signees for Nebraska going forward.

- Mike Matya