Three takeaways from Nebraska's National Signing Day

If this year’s usual National Signing Day felt a little underwhelming, you better get used to it.

After announcing 23 members of its 27-scholarship player 2019 recruiting class during the early signing period in December, Nebraska only had one true new addition on Wednesday in Oklahoma City (Okla.) Millwood wide receiver Demariyon Houston.

The finalized class technically had a few other names that weren’t there a month ago in Gilbert (Ariz.) Williams Field defensive back Noa Pola-Gates, Garden City (Kan.) C.C. running back Dedrick Mills, and Oklahoma State graduate transfer defensive lineman Darrion Daniels.

But all three players had already been officially announced well before Signing Day.

Head coach Scott Frost said with the early signing period, which is in just its second cycle of existence, the new norm in college football recruiting would likely be for programs to have the majority of their classes locked up in December and then using the next month to address any remaining pieces in February.

"Yeah, I think this is probably where we'll land going forward, and I think most people will," Frost said. "I think people are landing there because that's the trend right now. Like I said last year, there was a good number of good players who didn't sign. There were still some this year, but not the same numbers. If this year's any indication, most people are going to sign their classes early, and you better have the guys in the boat that you really want with these spots in your back pocket if you're really doing it right."

One thing Frost and his coaching staff have prided themselves on since coming to Nebraska is their ability to evaluate players not only on their abilities but also on who they are as people.

Strong character was once again a major theme for Frost as he reviewed his latest crop of incoming prospects. He was obviously happy with the level of new talent joining his team, but he was equally excited about how each of the 27 additions (as well as the 23 new walk-ons) would fit within the culture NU has been building for the past 14 months.

"To be honest with you, I think getting to know kids and getting an honest evaluation of their character on top of their talent leads you to getting the right type of kids," Frost said. "I think the way we recruit lends itself to getting those types of kids. I think those types of kids are attracted to my coaching staff and the guys in our building because when they get to know us, they see the character of these assistant coaches and other people, and those are the type of people they want to be around."

Given how many members of NU’s 2019 class are already on campus and going through winter workouts, Frost he’s already seen the incoming freshmen hit the ground running in fully embracing what he wants the program to be about.

He singled out newcomers like quarterback Luke McCaffery, running back Wandale Robinson, linebacker Nick Henrich, linebacker Garrett Nelson, defensive lineman Brant Banks, wide receiver Jamie Nance, and tight end Chris Hickman as guys who had caught his attention in that regard early on.

"I don't know if I've seen an incoming class in my career that has me as excited from that standpoint," Frost said. "You can go across the board and see kids that were winners in high school, that were team captains, that were champions... I don't think we're going to be short on leadership from this class."

As much work as Nebraska has already done in revamping its roster since Frost and Co. took over, they still aren’t quite caught up to where they want to be in terms of laying the groundwork on future classes.

But compared to where the staff was a year ago, the strides they’ve made so far have been enormous.

Frost said when you come to a school as a new coach, you generally start off about two years behind schedule in recruiting. He said he still thinks NU is about a half cycle behind where it needs to be, but at this time a year from now, things should be completely in place.

"Just being honest, when you come in as a new coach, you're two years behind, because coming in here we were just starting to look at 2019 guys that we could get to Nebraska in December," Frost said. "We're a lot farther down the road now, looking at 2020 guys in January, some 2021s. We're probably still a half a cycle behind, but that's going to be easy to catch the rest the way up in May."