3 commits from 1/25 weekend

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

Huskers add three recruits

By BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star

Monday, Jan 28, 2008 - 10:49:34 am CST

 

With the timer about to ding on college football’s recruiting season, the Huskers scored big this weekend by adding three fleet-footed commitments to their class.

 

It’s hard to say what Nebraskans will like best: that two of the recruits are named Osborne or that the other one from Florida is said to run 40 yards in 4.4 seconds.

 

The two Osbornes, Courtney and Steven, are twins from Garland, Texas. The other recruit is Antonio Bell, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound wide receiver from Daytona Beach, Fla., who set the career pass receptions record at Mainland High School.

 

Courtney (6-2, 170) will likely come aboard as a safety and Steven (6-4, 180) as a receiver.

 

“Both sides of the ball, they both love to hit,” said Mickey Moss, the Osbornes’ coach at South Garland High School.

 

Moss said he saw Courtney deliver one of the most brutal hits he’s seen in a game at any level. On special teams, while setting up a wall for a punt return, Courtney hit a kid so hard that the player’s helmet came off and flew 10 yards in the air.

 

The other Osborne apparently isn’t any easier on foes.

 

“Steven’s mindset is he’s going to whip you so bad black blocking-wise on the field and demoralize you there,” Moss said. “He’ll try to take you off the field and into the stands, out of the end zone.”

 

Husker head coach Bo Pelini was impressed.

 

“When Coach Pelini saw them on film, he just loved their speed and attitudes that they brought to the game,” Moss said.

 

Courtney had offers from Kansas and UNLV. Steven had offers from KU, UNLV, SMU and Utah.

 

But ultimately it was Nebraska, which now has 21 known commitments in its 2008 class. Eight of those 21 are from Texas.

 

Asked what he liked about his visit, Courtney said “everything,” especially the coaches.

 

“They’re players’ coaches,” he said.

 

They’re coaches, no doubt, hungry to add a few more commitments to this class, with national signing day on Feb. 6. With the deadline so close, the addition of Bell was huge.

 

“A dominant player,” is how Bell’s high school coach, John Maronto, described the receiver.

 

“He’s the whole package because he’s a good possession guy. He’s got good hands and will get those short, intermediate balls. But he’s also a weapon downfield. He can leap. He’s a high jumper and triple jumper.”

 

As for his wheels … “he’s a 4.4, 4.5 guy,” Maronto said.

 

As a senior, Bell had almost 800 yards receiving and nine touchdowns, earning him first-team all-area and second-team all-state honors.

 

And, according to his coach, Bell had some of college football’s elite programs taking looks at him throughout the recruiting process.

 

Bell originally committed to Tennessee, before backing away to take a look around. Maronto said Florida and Georgia were also “on him pretty hard” before both schools’ recruiting classes filled up.

 

So Bell took a visit to Lincoln this weekend, one of 11 official visitors to the campus.

 

Bell said one selling point about Nebraska was it seemed a place he could step in and help right away. The Huskers lost some key senior wideouts from last season – Maurice Purify, Terrence Nunn and Frantz Hardy — and were lacking receivers in this class before this weekend.

 

On his trip, he got the chance to talk with Cruz Barrett, a former teammate at Mainland and current Husker.

 

“He told me a lot about the coaches,” Bell said. “It’s a good program. I know they’re on the rise because they got these new coaches.”

 

And the Nebraska cold didn’t even really seem that bad to the Florida native.

 

Of course, he did get a kick out of the people.

 

“They’re happy it’s 40-some degrees,” Bell said. “Back at home, people think it’s the end of the world if it’s 40 degrees.”

 

 

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