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Stars Align for Huskers on Signing Day II

Nebraska flips a pair of highly rated skill players as a makeover on offense continues
Joe Hudson|
Stars Align for Huskers on Signing Day II
Stars Align for Huskers on Signing Day II

The February national signing day has lost some of its luster, but don't try telling that to Nebraska.

Scott Frost’s football staff flipped a pair of four-star skill-position players Wednesday to continue an overhaul on the offensive side of the ball.

Ajay Allen, a running back from Louisiana who had been committed to TCU, announced his switch to Nebraska on Wednesday morning. About two hours later, wide receiver Janiran Bonner from Georgia did likewise after having been pledged to Georgia Tech. Together, it was enough to land Nebraska on Sports Illustrated’s list of signing-day winners.

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Allen’s flip had been rumored since mid-January, when Bryan Applewhite, TCU's former running backs coach, joined the Nebraska staff. Word of Bonner’s potential switch gained serious legs only after the consensus four-star receiver made an official visit to Lincoln last weekend.

The two athletes add to Nebraska’s December early-signing class and the Huskers’ substantial arsenal of additions from the transfer portal. Allen becomes the seventh scholarship running back on the roster, and Bonner is the 14th at wide receiver. The two players have new Husker position coaches in Applewhite and Mickey Joseph, plus a new offensive coordinator in Mark Whipple.

Allen, a three-star recruit in 247Sports’ multi-service composite rankings but a four-star according to 247’s own rankings and On3 Sports, joins three other scholarship newcomers at running back: High school signee Emmett Johnson, juco signee Anthony Grant and Texas A&M transfer Deondre Jackson.

At wide receiver, the new faces besides Bonner are high school signees Decoldest Crawford and Victor Jones Jr. and New Mexico State transfer Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda.

Below are highlight reels of Allen and Bonner.

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Joe Hudson
JOE HUDSON

Joe Hudson has operated a Husker-related website since 1995 and joined forces with David Max to form HuskerPedia (later renamed HuskerMax) in 1999. It began as a hobby during his 35 years as a newspaper editor and reporter, a career that included stints at the Lincoln Star, Omaha World-Herald, Philadelphia Inquirer and Denver Post. In Denver, Joe was chief of the copy desk during his final 16 years at the Post. He is proud to have been involved in Pulitzer Prize-winning projects in both Philadelphia and Denver. Joe has been a Nebraska football fan since the mid-1960s during his childhood in Omaha. He earned his bachelor of arts degree in journalism and economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1976. He resides a few freeway exits north of Colorado Springs and enjoys bicycling and walking his dogs in his spare time. You can reach him at joeroyhud@outlook.com.

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