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Nebraska's recruiting picking up


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Nebraska's recruiting picking up

 

BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star

Sunday, Jul 01, 2007 - 12:10:41 am CDT

 

Blaine Gabbert, at Big Red Football School's Elite Quarterback Academy, has committed to the Huskers for 2008. (Gwyneth Roberts)

 

It’s a problem hard-core followers of Nebraska football recruiting might enjoy. Sort of.

 

What happens if the Huskers fill their 2008 recruiting class by the end of the summer? Who’s left to track? For whom should they now wish?

 

Easy. The high school juniors, of course.

 

A stretch? Not by much. The college football recruiting calendar has been advancing in recent years, and Nebraska, too, is picking up the pace.

 

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Today is July 1, and the Huskers have 14 known oral commitments for 2008, the most ever for a Nebraska recruiting class by this date. Ten are high school seniors; four are junior college transfers.

 

From a national perspective, having more than half a recruiting class filled by July is anything but groundbreaking. Around here, it’s a bit of a brow-raiser.

 

Consider that Nebraska’s 14th commitment for its 2007 class came on Oct. 13 of last year. The Huskers didn’t get No. 14 for their 2006 class until Dec. 5, 2005.

 

This year, it’s possible No. 15 could be celebrated with holiday fireworks.

 

“That’s what a lot of schools are doing. It’s par for the course now,” said Allen Wallace, national recruiting editor of Scout.com and publisher of SuperPrep magazine.

 

“You generally have to work incredibly hard at this stage, and you have to establish some really strong footing with kids, even if they don’t commit to you.”

 

Impressed with Nebraska’s commitment number? Three other Big 12 Conference schools have more — Texas (20), Texas A&M (19) and Oklahoma (15). Nationally, UCLA has 21.

 

“It’s a sign of the times,” said Tom Lemming, a veteran national recruiting analyst. “I remember just a few years ago, it was Texas and just a couple of other schools doing it. With that said, Nebraska was prepared and started zooming in on everybody.”

 

Nebraska’s recruiting picked up steam in June. Half of the Huskers’ commitments have come in the last three weeks; four came in the last week alone. It’s a pace that would fill the 2008 class by the time fall camp starts.

 

That’s not likely, of course.

 

“But,” Lemming said, “it does help if you can get your class done (early). Texas, the last couple of years, has spent the entire fall recruiting juniors in the state. By January, Texas knows who they’re going to offer already. Normally, you’re still going after seniors.

 

“If Nebraska is done by September and October, they can bring in juniors for official visits.”

 

Lemming said he remembers being in Lincoln last year when then-juniors Baker Steinkuhler, Trevor Robinson and Arthur Brown were visiting. Steinkuhler and Robinson, two of this state’s top high school players, are committed. Brown, from Wichita, Kan., is highly touted but not yet committed anywhere.

 

Steinkuhler, the heralded lineman from Lincoln Southwest, got the 2008 class going with his commitment last September. Another in-state player, Omaha Westside running back Collins Okafor, followed with his October commitment. By December, when lineman Dan Hoch committed, the Huskers had three members.

 

“Schools have had to adapt to the fact if they don’t offer early, you’re going to be left in a lurch,” Wallace said. “It doesn’t matter how powerful you are. The bottom line is, you’ve got to build a stronger list of commits earlier, if at all possible.”

 

Nebraska isn’t exactly going for quantity over quality, either. Rivals.com recently rated Nebraska’s high school recruiting class No. 10 nationally, behind Texas (2), Oklahoma (4) and Texas A&M (9). The recruiting service rates five of the 10 high school players with four or five stars on its five-star system.

 

“The guys they’ve got are just outstanding ball players,” Lemming said. “They’ve got All-Americans coming at them.

 

“They’ve got everyone they wanted in state. All their questions are being answered perfectly. They’re a top-10 recruiting class right now. There’s nothing wrong with what they’re doing.”

 

In discussing the strength of Nebraska’s class thus far, Lemming and Wallace both pointed to quarterback Blaine Gabbert and a slew of talented offensive linemen, led by high school standouts Steinkuhler, Robinson, Hoch and Bryce Givens.

 

Gabbert, rated by Scout.com as the nation’s No. 4 quarterback and No. 2 by Rivals.com., committed in May.

 

Said Wallace of the 6-foot-5, 230-pound Gabbert: “He’s everything the program could be looking for.”

 

Gabbert, from suburban St. Louis, has been trying to reel in other recruits, texting and phoning other high school seniors who are high on Nebraska’s list. It’s a practice, Wallace said, that’s become a “bigger deal” across the nation.

 

Among players Gabbert has been helping recruit are linebacker Will Compton, a linebacker from Missouri, and Jonas Gray, a running back from Detroit.

 

Could they become the next players to join the early recruiting parade?

 

Compton visited Lincoln last week and has Nebraska high on his list. Gray said he’s narrowed his list to six or seven, with Michigan State and Nebraska on top.

 

Gray said he and high school teammate Kenny Demens, a linebacker, are taking an official visit to Lincoln this month and an official visit in September, when Nebraska hosts USC.

 

Is there any truth to talk Gray and Demens want to attend the same college?

 

“There’s definitely truth to that,” Gray said. “It’s a huge possibility that will happen. It’s not definite, but it’s pretty much set in stone that we will, though.”

 

Said Gray of Demens: “He definitely likes Nebraska. A lot.”

 

Gray said he’s heard often from Gabbert, and also from Nebraska commitment Doug Rippy, a close friend.

 

“They just say, ‘We want you to do what’s best for you, but we want you to take a serious look at Nebraska, and once you get here, you’re going to realize what kind of place it is.’

 

“They always say to me, ‘If your dream is to go to the NFL, then Nebraska is the place for you.’”

 

Compton and Gray, both four-star players according to Rivals.com, would give Nebraska’s class another jolt, if they commit.

 

And should they do it sooner than later … well, there’s always 2009 to follow, too.

 

Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.

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If you reach your maximum by let's say by September, then perhaps 85-90% of recruiting is over. There would likely be four or five who decide to go elsewhere and have to be replaced. Hopefully this time all the decommiters come sooner than later -- that messed us up some last time.

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Nebraska isn’t exactly going for quantity over quality, either. Rivals.com recently rated Nebraska’s high school recruiting class No. 10 nationally...

Early recruits, and TOP NOTCH too! Our recruiting has improved tremendously over the past several years. The days of getting beat in February by CU, Mizzou, KSU and even Iowa State are gone!

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