It’s a reminder that, if this state does something particularly well at a prep/youth level, it produces good linemen. A seasoned Husker fan already knows the biggest names — Crick, Hochstein, Parrella, Wiegert, Noonan, Steinkuhler, Rimington — but the following recent numbers should bring it home:
Since the 2004 recruiting class, Nebraska has signed 17 in-state offensive or defensive linemen to scholarship. Out of that 17, 12 have exhausted their eligibility. Out of that 12, 10 — Andy Christensen (nine starts), Mike Huff (23), Ty Steinkuhler (21), Zach Potter (24), Ricky Henry (28), D.J. Jones (17), Jared Crick (33), Baker Steinkuhler (28), Andrew Rodriguez (21) and Cole Pensick (14) — became starters. They combined for 207 starts. Toss fifth-year senior Jake Cotton in there, and it’s 218 starts. Juniors Zach Sterup and Ryne Reeves, and true freshmen Jerald Foster and Mick Stoltenberg are still in the Husker pipeline.
Still, 10 of 12 — 11 of 13 once Cotton graduates — is a terrific hit rate. Much better than NU’s hit rate with in-state skill players.
And that doesn’t include the 92 combined starts from in-state walk-ons Spencer Long, Seung Hoon Choi, Justin Jackson and Mike Caputo. Nor does that include the in-state linemen who signed elsewhere and have started, like Kyle Dooley at TCU, Drew Ott at Iowa, Harland Gunn at Miami (Florida) or Trevor Robinson at Notre Dame.
