Signee Analysis: Wide Receiver Isaiah Mozee

How one of the top playmakers in the Midwest became a Husker instead of a Duck

Isaiah Mozee / @IsaiahMozee2 on X

When Nebraska head football coach Matt Rhule made Dana Holgorsen the permanent offensive coordinator following the 2024 regular season, the one request Holgorsen had was to add his previous wide receivers coach to the staff. Daikiel Shorts worked for Holgorsen at West Virginia and Houston and played for the Mountaineers while Holgorsen was the WVU head coach.

Shorts, who spent the 2024 regular season as the wide receivers coach at Kentucky, arrived in Lincoln in time for bowl game prep.

Those hands-on practices allowed Shorts to assess the room and likely confirm what Holgorsen also concluded: the room needed an influx of talent.

Not long after the season, Nebraska saw several underclassmen enter the portal as coaches looked to remake the roster.

Nebraska added the No. 1 WRs at Kentucky (Dane Key) and Cal (Nyziah Hunter) to pair with returning freshman phenom Jacory Barney to give the Huskers — on paper — its best starting trio in years.

The Huskers also added former four-star recruit Hardley Gilmore IV from Kentucky, a promising youngster who decided to follow Shorts to Nebraska.

When you throw in veteran Janiran Bonner and impressive youngsters like Demitrius Bell, Quinn Clark and Keelan Smith — whom the staff all love — the room is really starting to come together.

That doesn't mean there won't be opportunities for members of the 2025 class to hit campus and take a job in the rotation. In fact, I think you can count on it.

Lee's Summit (Mo.) North wide receiver Isaiah Mozee is one of the top playmakers in the Midwest and one of the best players in the area regardless of position. He received his first scholarship offer before his freshman season and piled up more than 40 tenders as a national recruit.

He's been a mainstay in the rankings since the 2025 class was unveiled in August 2022, after taking the momentum of his freshman campaign into the 2022 camp season.

That April, he was named wide receiver co-MVP as a 15-year-old at the Under Armour Next Camp series in Kansas City. It was just the beginning. Mozee would go on to be a top performer at several camps he attended over the next several offseasons.

The following spring, Mozee was a standout at ESPN's The Underclassman Report Camp series held in Kansas City and was selected to participate in Under Armour's All-America Future 50 event with his dominant performance. The invite-only camp took place June 24, 2023, at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., with 52 of the top prospects in the country for 2025 on hand. Mozee had one of the best performances of the camp.

Mozee was originally offered by Mickey Joseph and the previous Nebraska staff on Jan. 27, 2022, a few days before attending the Huskers' junior day, and he was Joseph's top receiver target for the 2025 cycle from the get-go.

The Huskers were one of his top schools as his recruitment took off, and he was back on campus for the Oklahoma game in September 2022. When the season went sideways and Scott Frost was fired, the Huskers took a backseat as other prominent programs like Oregon, Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee and Arkansas took precedence.

Matt Rhule re-offered Mozee in January 2023 after arriving in Lincoln and hitting the road to see players in person during the contact period. The new staff made him a priority, getting him on campus for a junior day March 24, and for the Iowa game in November.

As the 2023 season concluded, Nebraska had repositioned itself nicely in Mozee's recruitment, being included in his top eight along with Oregon, Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee, Kansas, Arkansas and Georgia.

Nebraska got him back on campus for another junior day on Jan. 20, 2024, where quarterback Dylan Raiola took an active peer recruiting role. But by mid-February, Oregon had become the heavy favorite, taking momentum away from Oklahoma, who had been considered his longtime leader.

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning — who is from Missouri — had made Mozee a priority since he attended Oregon's Saturday Night Live camp in July 2022, and was one of the top participants regardless of class.

Their relationship goes back much further than that, however. Lanning has known Isaiah since he was a toddler. He cut his teeth as a young coach alongside Isaiah's father, Jamar, at Park Hill South High in Kansas City.

Mozee silently committed to Oregon over Missouri and Nebraska in early April, but was actually back in Lincoln for a visit the weekend before he publicly pledged to the Ducks on April 17.

The Huskers never stopped recruiting him after he committed and Mozee continued to make visits, taking official trips to Oregon, Missouri and Kansas and was back at Nebraska on June 14.

After months of chipping away at the Ducks' lead, the most significant momentum swing came when Matt Rhule hired Jamar Mozee away from UCF on July 14 to be a senior analyst working with offensive skill position players. Speculation was rampant Isaiah would join his father in Lincoln. A return visit July 27 just before the dead period essentially sealed the deal for Nebraska. Mozee officially flipped his commitment to the Huskers on Aug. 9.

A three-time first-team all-state honoree, Mozee finished his career with 233 receptions for 3,241 yards and 42 touchdowns. He also carried the ball 78 times for 665 yards and 11 scores. Mozee is rated a four-star prospect by Rivals and ESPN, and is ranked as the nation's No. 175 and No. 296 overall player, respectively.

Mozee's addition further pushes the rebuild and re-imagining of Nebraska's wide receiver room. At 6-foot-1 amd 200 pounds, Mozee has a ton of natural tools to work with. He's a polished player who runs excellent routes and has good ball skills and quickness.

He could play on the outside, but I'd work him primarily out of the slot because he's so dangerous with the ball in space. He has great suddenness and changes of direction and can be used on jet sweeps or motioned into the backfield and used as an occasional runner. Rhule likes to talk about having a positionless offense, and Mozee fits that mold perfectly. Holgorsen will be able to move him around the formation to create mismatches.

For several years, Nebraska's offense has been missing someone who can take a low-risk short pass to the house. Mozee will bring that dynamic to Holgorsen's offense. He will step into a position room that loses some veterans, while also trending toward a youth movement on offense built around Dylan Raiola.

As an early enrollee, Mozee was able to join the Huskers on their bowl trip and took part in a few practices as well. He finished his high school career playing in the Under Armour All-America game. He enrolled at Nebraska in January and is participating in winter conditioning. He'll head into spring ball with the goal of solidifying an early spot in the rotation.

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The signees

More from Jeremy Pernell’s series

• Top 40 Recruiting Classes for 2025
• Ranking Nebraska's 2025 Signees
• Signee Analysis: Quarterback TJ Lateef
• Signee Analysis: Running Back Jamarion Parker
• Signee Analysis: Running Back Conor Booth
• Signee Analysis: Wide Receiver Jackson Carpenter
• Signee Analysis: Wide Receiver Jeremiah Jones
• Signee Analysis: Wide Receiver Cortez Mills

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