Husker Recruiting Tales of Woe: The Decommitments That Hurt the Worst

An examination of the hardest decommitment pills Husker fans have had to swallow during the last 25 years.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell with Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert, the 10th pick in the 2011draft. / Howard Smith-Imagn Images

National signing day is fast approaching, a day that was once held sacred in collegiate circles but now grows quieter with each passing year. The advent of an early signing period and college football’s seismic shift toward the transfer portal have diminished its significance. Some might even call it a relic of a bygone era. You forgot it was even still a thing, didn’t you?  

But it’s still an annual reminder of the wild highs and lows schools and their fans face in the ever-expanding battle for talent. The worst lows often involve decommitments, prospects that once pledged their services only to break that vow and matriculate elsewhere.  

The Huskers have weathered their fair share of broken covenants in the last 25 years. Many of them speak to both Nebraska coaches’ scouting talents and the Huskers’ diminishing brand.  

Here’s a look at the ten most painful decommits since 2000, either because of what they went on to do, because of what it cost Nebraska, or both. 

Let’s begin.  

DT Haloti Ngata | Oregon Ducks (2002) 

Haloti Ngata was Oregon's top recruit in the 2002 recruiting class. / Statesman Journal file

Before he was a perennial Pro Bowl lineman in the NFL, Haloti Ngata was the nation’s number two overall recruit, displaying generational talent in summer camps where he dominated overmatched competition. Nebraska, one of the premier programs in college football circa 2001, wowed him on a September visit, earning his verbal commitment by December.

But Ngata, a devout LDS member, was being pulled in several different directions by family. He switched his commitment to BYU briefly before ultimately signing with Oregon. The decorated Duck finished his Hall of Fame career in 2005, going on to a storied professional career with the Baltimore Ravens.

Ngata was the type of transcendent talent that would have kept Nebraska firmly in the win column during tumultuous campaigns in 2002 and 2004.  

OL Seth Olsen | Iowa Hawkeyes (2004) 

Jan 17, 2009; Houston, TX, USA; East offensive lineman Seth Olsen (71) against the West in the first quarter of the 84th Annual East-West Shrine Game at Robertson Stadium. / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Seth Olsen was the top ranked offensive line recruit in Nebraska for the 2004 class, a Millard North grad unfortunately caught between both Solich’s staff restructuring in early 2003 and Bill Callahan’s messy succession in early 2004.

The 6-f5 interior lineman expressed displeasure with his Husker recruiting process, lamenting that his contact with an evolving coaching staff had been scant. He still committed in the fall of 2003 but chose to decommit after Callahan showed lukewarm interest upon his hire.

Olsen had a late courtship with Iowa and signed with them, earning All-American honors before playing in the NFL. His loss was an ominous sign of the Huskers’ loosening grip on Omaha and a growing disinterest in homegrown players by Husker coaching staffs. Sadly, Olsen was also the first of many Nebraskans Kirk Ferentz would turn into decorated athletes.  

QB Josh Freeman | Kansas State Wildcats (2006) 

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell introduces Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman as the No. 17 pick in the 2009 draft. / James Lang-Imagn Images

Husker fans still bear the scars of this recruiting saga. Josh Freeman was the anointed signal caller of his class, a 6=foot-6, 250-pound athlete with a howitzer for an arm who some thought could challenge 2005 signee Harrison Beck as the QB of the future. But a less-than-stellar recruiting visit and the sly maneuvering of newly appointed Wildcat coach Ron Prince lured Freeman to Manhattan just before the dead period, leaving the Huskers in the lurch.

Freeman famously texted Callahan that he was reneging on his commitment, after which Callahan reportedly called Freeman a prima donna before scrambling in vain to find a replacement. Freeman started for three straight years in Manhattan, finishing 0-3 against Nebraska, and then had a bright but strangely brief time in the NFL.

Beck and Freeman’s flameouts precipitated the muddled QB situation Nebraska found itself in in 2009 and late-2010 post-Martinez injury.  

LB Travis Lewis | Oklahoma Sooners (2007)  

Oklahoma Sooners linebacker Travis Lewis hoists the 2011 Insight Bowl championship trophy. / Jennifer Hilderbrand-Imagn Images

Lewis was a longtime commit who curiously dropped the Huskers on signing day for the Sooners of Oklahoma, citing his first experience with snow  and proximity to home. But whatever the reasons for the split between Lewis and Big Red, there was clearly no love lost; Lewis had some choice words for the Huskers after their blowout loss to Wisconsin in 2011.

Regardless, the four-star recruit with reputed 4.3 forty speed had a distinguished career in Norman, pacing the Sooners in tackles for three consecutive years and breaking Brian Bosworth’s freshman record in the process. He’d have been a welcome addition to a linebacking corps that was practically barren upon coach Bo Pelini’s arrival in 2008.  

QB Blaine Gabbert | Missouri Tigers (2008)  

Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert calls signals during the 2010 Insight Bowl. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Nebraska was the early winner for Gabbert’s services, a five-star recruit with a number one appendage to his position ranking. But after Callahan’s fate became a foregone conclusion, Gabbert reneged on his pledge to not “pull a Josh Freeman” and elected to attend hometown Mizzou amid a run on Nebraska’s recruiting class by Big 12 rivals.

Gabbert would go on to post an 0-2 record against the Huskers, derailing promising seasons for the Tigers, before being taken 10th in the 2011 draft. Having the top-10 talents of a passer like Gabbert would have given the Huskers a worthy complement to their world-beating defense in 2009 and would have likely delivered a Big XII title and more. Instead, he played with good, not great Tiger teams and has gone on to a long, but undistinguished journeyman’s career in the League.

In a strange twist, Blaine’s little brother would also go on to commit and subsequently decamp to the Tigers. Shawn Watson couldn’t quit that family, man.  

OL Riley Reiff | Iowa Hawkeyes (2008) 

Iowa offensive lineman Riley Reiff during the 2011 Insight Bowl. / Jennifer Hilderbrand-US PRESSWIR

What could have been if the Huskers’ season didn’t drive off the rails in 2007? Their 2008 class was absolutely loaded, so much so that few even noticed Riley Reiff commit, as he did in October 2007, switching from Iowa in the process.

The stoic South Dakota native was an equally nondescript three-star defensive end recruit, not exactly the kind of recruit to light up message boards when your team is landing 5-star quarterbacks (see Gabbert, Blaine). As quietly as he committed, he just as quietly departed, crawling back to Iowa City when Callahan’s tenure collapsed.

Reiff would go on to be yet another stalwart tackle for the Hawkeyes, one that Nebraska desperately could have used, before becoming a starting tackle in the NFL for more than a decade.  

LB Deion Jones | LSU Tigers (2012) 

LSU linebacker Deion Jones during the 2014 Outback Bowl. / Kim Klement-Imagn Images

Like Jason Hall and Texas, this was one of those cases where the Huskers did the scouting work for the home state school, who noticed the commitment to the Big Red and quickly realized they’d missed out. Jones, an obscure two-star recruit at the time he committed to Bo Pelini, jumped ship after a late-November offer from Les Miles and went on to a fantastic career in Baton Rouge, becoming a Butkus Award finalist in 2015. He was a second-round draft pick and still plays in the NFL today, more than a decade after leaving Nebraska high and dry.  

DB/LB Isaiah Simmons | Clemson Tigers (2015) 

Clemson linebacker Isaiah Simmons reacts after his team's loss to LSU in the College Football Playoff championship game on Jan. 13, 2020. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

OK, I’m cheating here a bit, as Simmons was never publicly committed to Big Red. But it was long rumored that Simmons, who was born in Omaha, was a silent commit and would have been a Husker instead of a Clemson Tiger had then-defensive coordinator Brent Venables not swooped in and stolen the versatile athlete at the eleventh hour.

“If Clemson doesn’t jump [in], it’s probably 75% he’s going to Nebraska,” Simmons’ father told the Omaha World-Herald.

Isaiah was a virtuosic performer at Clemson, earning a truckload of honors, including a Butkus Award, while helping embarrass resident bully Alabama in the 2019 championship game. At 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds with verified 4.3 speed, he was heralded as the linebacker of the future by many leading up to his selection as the eighth pick in the 2020 NFL draft. Should Oklahoma struggle again this fall, don’t feel too bad for Coach Venables.  

EDGE Patrick Payton | Florida State Seminoles (2021) 

Florida State defensive lineman Patrick Payton reacts during the 2023 ACC championship game. / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Nebraska elbowed out home state Miami to earn Payton’s commitment in May of 2020, citing his relationship with Scott Frost and his coaching staff as the determining factor. The lanky 6-foot-5, 200-pound Floridian was set to play the edge role in Eric Chinander’s defense. But after seven months in the class and with a rising national profile following a breakout senior year, he switched from Nebraska to Florida State.

As a Seminole, Payton compiled 110 tackles, a whopping 32 of them for loss, which included 16 sacks. He’ll finish his career with the LSU Tigers alongside ex-Husker Jimari Butler. Like Butler, he’d have looked better in scarlet and cream than he ever did in garnet and gold.  

LB Christopher Paul Jr. | Arkansas Razorbacks/Ole Miss Rebels (2021) 

Arkansas linebacker Chris Paul Jr. makes a tackle against Florida International in 2023. / Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

A three-star prospect out of Georgia, Chris Paul Jr was overlooked by his home state school and opted to accept Nebraska’s offer in March of 2020 just as COVID-19 was settling in for the long haul. His commitment was short-lived, breaking it just three months later, saying he was “too hasty” as he was still being courted by SEC schools closer to home.

Arkansas ultimately won out for his services. Paul was a consistent defender in Fayetteville, recording 137 total tackles and rarely letting ball carriers bypass him, per Pro Football Focus. He transferred to play for Lane Kiffin and finished his junior year as a Rebel with first-team All-America honors and as a finalist for the Butkus Award, given annually to the nation’s best linebacker. He’ll hear his name called in this spring’s NFL draft.  

Honorable Mentions 

• OL Trevor Robinson | Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2008) 
• OL Dan Hoch | Missouri Tigers (2008)  
• DB Tevin Mitchel | Arkansas Razorbacks (2011) 
• WR Damore'ea Stringfellow | Ole Miss Rebels (2014)  

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