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Jeremy Pernell’s Mailbag: Husker Football Recruiting, the Michigan Game and Nebraska’s Bowl Hopes
One of the unexpected byproducts of contributing as a columnist at HuskerMax has been the email interactions I've had with Husker fans.
I receive a lot of emails and have had some good discussions with people regarding various Husker topics. I thought it might be a fun idea to share some of the questions I get and answer a few of the most common or interesting ones. I'm not sure how often I'll do this, but for now, here are a few questions I've gotten in the past couple of days that I've edited for succinctness.
Any news on the recruiting trail? - John (Omaha, Neb.)
*I received this email last Sunday after Brandon Baker committed to Texas and John wanted to know more about O-line recruiting specifically. I expanded on the original premise in the wake of recent developments.
Well, five-star offensive tackle Brandon Baker committed to Texas this past Sunday. That had been expected for several weeks now. The Huskers did a really good job recruiting Baker and there was a lot about Nebraska that intrigued him. But it's just too early into the rebuild to realistically expect coach Matt Rhule to beat out teams like Texas and Ohio State head-to-head for guys like this. Give Rhule time to show proof-of-concept on the field and I think he'll start winning some of these high-profile recruitments in a year or two.
There's still a huge hole at tackle in this recruiting class, however. I've talked about this before, but there isn't much in terms of young tackle depth on this roster and there isn't a true tackle among the four current O-line commits.
The staff has missed out on a few other top targets like Kaedin Massey (Kansas State) and Gage Ginther (Tennessee), both of whom had Nebraska in their top three. The Huskers continue to push for Grant Brix, a top 100 recruit out of Iowa who's also a priority target for Oklahoma, Kansas State and Alabama.
The staff really likes true freshman Gunnar Gottula, but in a perfect world you're not asking him (or potentially Brix) to hold down a spot until 2025. Fellow true freshman Brock Knutson is struggling right now and is a long ways away.
Georgia transfer Jacob Hood is out of shape - something that's plagued him since he was in high school. And to make matters worse, he's been bothered by the same ankle injury that required surgery at Georgia last year. What's his long-term outlook?
Utah transfer Tyler Knaak also still has a ways to go, but that was expected. Regardless, you can bet the staff will look to add another couple of tackles from the transfer portal in the offseason. They're paper-thin at that spot.
Along with offensive tackle, the other glaring need in this class remains pass rusher. The top target here is four-star Jayshawn Ross, who was in Lincoln for an official visit for the Northern Illinois game.
Ross is out of the Kansas City metro and is high school teammates with Husker commit Keelan Smith. Ross was in Lincoln back in June as well and has been the top edge target for this staff since. In early July, Ross announced a top five of Nebraska, Michigan, Penn State, Tennessee and Oklahoma, but has seemingly rebooted his recruitment since. Nebraska remains one of his top suitors, and Wisconsin has also recently gotten heavily involved.
There was also the unexpected commitment from multi-sport athlete JD Crisp out of Houston (Texas) Second Baptist on Sept. 20. Crisp can play wide receiver or safety and plans to play baseball for Will Bolt as well.
Then came the flip on Wednesday from Papillion-La Vista tight end Eric Ingwerson, who had been committed to Pittsburgh since receiving an offer from Pat Narduzzi in late-March. I talked about this recruitment a bit in my June recap.
Rhule offered Ingwerson on April 11 and had him on campus for the spring game a couple weeks later. The two sides were in the process of setting up an official visit, but Narduzzi closed the door on that when Ingwerson visited Pitt the first weekend of June. Rhule and the Huskers circled back recently and were able to add their 26th commitment of the class. At 6-foot-7 and around 250 pounds, Ingwerson could grow into a tackle for the Huskers. He's expected to be in Lincoln for tomorrow's game against Michigan.
Ingwerson isn't the only in-state recruit expected to join the class soon. Omaha Westside safety Caleb Benning, who was back on campus for the Northern Illinois game, is also closer to a decision after initially planning to wait until after his senior season. Benning also likes Kansas State quite a bit, but at this point it would be a pretty big shock if he wasn't part of this class, sooner rather than later.
Can Nebraska beat Michigan? - Jim (Sioux Falls, S.D.)
They could, but it would take a monumental effort. I don't see it happening. This will be the best defense Nebraska faces all season, and the Husker offense simply isn't good enough to help the team pull off an upset over the No. 2 Wolverines.
Not only is the offense limited, but it's hamstrung because the quarterback run game is the only thing that's been reliable through the first four games of the season. Whether its been Jeff Sims or Heinrich Haarberg handling the reins, offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield hasn't been able to scheme any semblance of a reliable passing game. That may come at some point this season, but it certainly isn't here yet. You can't be one-dimensional against an elite defense like Michigan's and Nebraska is the very definition of it at this stage.
We're also going to find out just how good this Husker defense really is tomorrow. The Blackshirts will be going up against arguably the best O-line and running back in the country. It's going to be a great measuring stick for them. Even if Nebraska loses this game, if the Blackshirts can persevere and play well, I think that'd provide a good outlook for the rest of the season.
I'm expecting the Blackshirts to keep Nebraska competitive for two or three quarters, but the dam will eventually break. I think we're going to see a lot of three-and-outs from Nebraska's offense and eventually the defense will wear down. I envision a final score in the neighborhood of 27-10.
Will Nebraska make a bowl game this year? - Ray (Grand Island, Neb.)
Man, that's a tough one. I had them going 6-6 before the season started and thought they would be 3-1 at this point. So you can see my dilemma.
I'm assuming Nebraska will be 2-3 after this weekend, so if they're going to make a bowl game, the next four games on their schedule are going to be crucial.
The Huskers face Illinois (2-2) on the road Oct. 6 and then have back-to-back home games against Northwestern (2-2) and Purdue (1-3) after a bye week. Then they open up November with a road game against Michigan State (2-2). They have to go 3-1 against those teams.
Nebraska has a short week when they face Illinois, and that's not ideal coming off a game against Michigan that's going to exact a physical toll. Fortunately, through four games at least, Bret Bielema's team has closer resembled the one that lost four of five to close out last season than it has the squad that started 7-1 and was ranked No. 14. This game could be a turning point in the season, one way or the other.
Northwestern and Michigan State have interim head coaches and their programs are dealing with a lot of distractions thanks to separate scandals their head coaches created.
Purdue has a first-time head coach in Year 1 of his regime and the Boilermakers have gotten thumped the last two weeks.
Nebraska has to be at least 5-4 coming out of that four-game stretch because they close out the year against Maryland, Wisconsin and Iowa. I'm not going to sit here and pretend I know how those three teams will look in late November, but looking at them heading into October has me squinting really hard to see Nebraska winning more than one of those games.
But I'm optimistic so I'll say yes. I think Nebraska finds a way to squeeze six wins out of this season.
