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Jeremy Pernell: Examining Nebraska Football’s Big Month of June
First of three parts. |
June is the busiest offseason month on the recruiting calendar and I would argue it has become the most important recruiting month of the year.
The advent of the early signing period in 2017 has resulted in the recruiting process being sped up to adjust to the new calendar. More and more, coaches are wanting to get the bulk of their classes finished by the time the season starts.
Nebraska started from ground zero. Matt Rhule spent the past three years in the NFL. So did half of his coaches. When this regime took over in late November, there were basically no pre-existing relationships between the staff and high school juniors and seniors.
Rhule has built an incredible recruiting operation, but that's a hurdle that won't be completely cleared until the 2025 class signs. It just further exemplifies the outstanding job this staff has done thus far.
When Rhule arrived, his primary focus was putting together the 2023 class. However, he and his staff also worked ahead during the contact period in December and January to put out offers and identify key 2024 targets.
In his first spring at Nebraska, during the months of March and April, Matt Rhule was able to get visits from five 5-star players and twenty-four 4-star players. That's just incredible, and it's a testament to his well-deserved reputation.
At the same time, it served as a sobering reminder of just how much work needs to be done in Lincoln. The overwhelming majority of players who visited this spring loved what Matt Rhule presented to them. There was a sincere belief from recruits that Rhule was going to rebuild Nebraska into a formidable program.
The reality, though, is that highly-rated guys generally want to play at programs that are already established. It's hard to get elite players to sign up to play for a program that is this early in a rebuild - not in large numbers anyway. Especially when they don't have longstanding relationships with the coaches. In most cases, the kids who visited in spring have built relationships with coaches at other programs for years. It's just hard to compete with that right now.
That's going to change soon. Once Nebraska starts winning on the field and showing proof-of-concept, more and more blue-chip prospects will be looking to come be part of the change.
With Rhule's reputation as a program-builder, it's not like recruits need to see 8+ wins in Year 1. Nebraska is the only Power Five team that hasn't played in a bowl game since 2016. These kids just need to see progress being made and what they are being told on the recruiting trail is translating on the field. I think they'll see that this fall. I continue to believe the 2025 class will be a special, foundation-building class for Matt Rhule.
The staff spent the May evaluation period stopping by schools, making evaluations and setting themselves up for an important June. You just have to love Matt Rhule's organization and work ethic. Nebraska had several objectives to work on last month and this staff absolutely attacked it.
Tomorrow, I'll highlight several of the things this staff set out to do and how they knocked it out of the park.
