Jeremy Pernell: Matt Rhule’s Recruiting Operation Continues to Impress

Taking stock of Nebraska football’s early signees for 2024

Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports

Matt Rhule wants to re-establish Nebraska as the premier developmental program in college football. He's going about it the right way and not cutting corners.

He always intended on signing two large classes of predominantly high school players with his first two recruiting classes, with the goal in mind of them being the foundation of his program moving forward. The updated roster shows 60 scholarship underclassmen, with 48 being true or redshirt freshmen.

He signed a class of 28 last year, with 27 being high schools players. The only junior college addition was Kai Wallin, who strategically played just four games this fall and will be a redshirt sophomore next season.

Last week during the early signing period, Rhule and his staff inked a 29-member class - all coming from the high school ranks - in his second go-round.

Nebraska's class is currently ranked No. 19 nationally according to the 247Sports composite. Eleven of its members are rated a four-star prospect by at least one of the four prominent recruiting services, not including five-star quarterback Dylan Raiola.

The list is fluid, but by my count, Nebraska could have upwards of 16 on campus in January as midyear enrollees able to take part in winter conditioning and participate in spring ball.

Rhule's first class was put together under chaotic conditions that are the hallmark of every transition class. Nineteen of the 28 signees were added after Rhule got to Lincoln in late November. Twenty if you include Malachi Coleman, which I'm inclined to do since Coleman decommitted five days after Rhule was hired and initially intended on flipping to Georgia before Rhule got the Huskers back in it.

Rhule grabbed seven more players after the early signing period and also added 11 players from the transfer portal in his first 9½ weeks on the job.

Luckily, this time around the hay is in the barn. When the contact period opens up between Jan. 12 and Feb. 3, I expect Husker coaches to dedicate all of their time on the 2025, 2026 and 2027 classes. I wouldn't be surprised if they put together a Junior Day event during the last weekend of the contact period too.

January will also be spent targeting priority transfers. The staff will be bringing in Oregon running back Dante Dowdell and Wake Forest wide receiver Jahmal Banks for official visits Jan. 5-7. These would likely be your RB1 and WR1 if Nebraska can close on them, so expect the staff to roll out the red carpet.

With the coaches turning their focus toward next year's class, let's take a look at the work they did this cycle and the talent they brought in last week. Keep in mind I will dive much, much deeper into this class when I do my individual player write-ups in February.

First things first. I continue to be impressed by Rhule's recruiting operation. I wrote about his impressive early hit rate with the 2023 class and also about the way he deftly handled an ambitious month of June.

One thing that impressed me that isn't talked about is despite putting together a huge class, Nebraska suffered only two decommitments that stung (RB Kewan Lacy and DL Carlon Jones). Others like Callen Barta, JD Crisp and Jaxon Lee were situations the staff was okay with.

I'd be remiss, however, if I didn't mention that I think Rhule took a couple of reaches early this summer, but that's probably a case where he's still getting accustomed to the caliber of player he can attract to Nebraska compared to Temple and Baylor.

All in all, I think Nebraska did a great job of adding versatile, athletic talent across the entire roster. Every position group has a large contingency coming in to replenish the ranks. Only RB and D-line aren't being addressed the way the staff had planned and that's due to Lacy and Jones.

What a crazy final week heading into the early signing period. For several days, Nebraska was the epicenter of quarterback recruiting. The entire college football landscape was paying attention to the developments in Lincoln. It was the most unique recruiting week leading up to signing day that I've ever seen involving Nebraska.

I was impressed by how Nebraska initially attacked the transfer portal in an effort to bring in a top-level signal-caller. They were the most aggressive team out of the gate when the portal officially opened - and for good reason.

Nebraska started three different quarterbacks in 2023 and each of them threw at least three interceptions and lost a fumble. For the season, Nebraska's quarterbacks accounted for 17 touchdowns (10 passing, 7 rushing) and 25 turnovers (16 picks, 9 fumbles). The Huskers didn't have a 200-yard passing game for the first time since joining the Big Ten. The team's combined 52.1% completion rate ranks as second-lowest in the Big Ten era and the 6.1% interception rate was the highest since the 2004 season. Nebraska finished No. 126 in passing yards per game. The only teams the Huskers finished ahead of were the three service academies and Iowa.

How bad does Nebraska need a difference-maker at QB? Since 2018, Nebraska has had 31 drives across 28 games where they had a chance to win the game late. Of those 31 drives - which includes nine different quarterbacks - Nebraska won only one of those games. They scored only three times and had 11 drives end with a turnover.

So you have to tip your cap at the way the staff set out to address the QB position.

Marcus Satterfield visited Daniel Kaelin and top 2025 target Alex Manske when the contact period opened Dec. 1. Then as soon as the portal officially opened on Dec. 4, he was on a private jet flying around the country to meet with portal targets in person. In a three-day span, he flew to visit Will Howard (Kansas State), Sam Leavitt (Michigan State), Blake Shapen (Baylor), Kyle McCord (Ohio State) and Cam Ward (Washington State).

After those visits the Huskers zeroed in on McCord, quickly setting up an official visit for Dec. 11 in an attempt to lock him down as QB1.

Little did the staff know at the time, but the No. 1 QB in the 2024 class would be circling back to the Huskers. Dylan Raiola called Matt Rhule the day before McCord was scheduled to be in town to express interest in visiting. The following afternoon while the staff was lining up Raiola's trip, McCord began his two-day visit with the Huskers.

That evening, the Raiola bombshell exploded and McCord left Lincoln the next day with news breaking he was no longer considering Nebraska.

Rhule made it a point to mention that no offer was ever made to a portal QB, but it's safe to assume the visit by McCord and his camp was a formality. Had Raiola not had a change of heart with Georgia, Kyle McCord would be at Nebraska.

Instead, Matt Rhule had a choice to make. He pushed his chips into the middle of the table on Raiola, knowing the chain reaction would cost him his top portal target and possibly his class QB, Daniel Kaelin. But make no mistake, it was the right move.

His decision caused consternation with some fans who would have preferred bringing in McCord, a third-team All-Big Ten selection, to be a one-year bridge for Kaelin. Those concerns intensified after Kaelin considered taking a visit to Michigan State the weekend before signing day and was on the fence for a couple days over his commitment. In the end, Kaelin canceled his visit to East Lansing and stuck with the Huskers.

Kaelin being part of this class is great and it alleviates some concerns, but regardless, Rhule had to say yes to bringing in Raiola. Even after Chubba Purdy entered the portal roughly 12 hours after Raiola signed his NLI, it was still worth it.

Raiola’s flip to Nebraska enhances the perception of the offseason. More importantly, he's the sort of generational talent that will accelerate the timetable of this program's rebuild.

In terms of arm talent, Raiola's the most physically gifted QB I've evaluated since Trevor Lawrence in the 2018 class. He has it all: size, arm strength, pocket awareness, decision-making, accuracy, touch, anticipation, ball placement, the ability to make off-platform throws and just overall improvisational savvy. He has first-round draft pick tools.

Given his history and the way Rhule's building this roster, if everything goes right, in Year 3 or 4 the Huskers could make a run at the 12-team playoff. But that hope is contingent on getting the quarterback position right. Rhule knows this and his program took a big step toward that. With the additions of Raiola and Kaelin, no other team in the country is infusing its QB room with more talent in this recruiting class than the Huskers.

With only three scholarship guys left in the room, Nebraska will still need to grab a QB from the portal. It's going to be a bit tricky, though. Whoever it is will need to be content being QB2 because Raiola is your starter.

Heinrich Haarberg, who started eight games in 2023, just doesn't fit what Rhule and Satterfield want the offense to become. He's a guy you play in an emergency or bring in for sub-packages. So that really just leaves Nebraska with two true freshmen, and Kaelin will be redshirting.

The staff needs to find someone capable of winning games but is satisfied being more of a mentor than contributing on the field. Not easy. Guys are generally in the portal because they aren't happy in that role where they were already at. You'd prefer to have a guy before spring ball, but you might have to wait until the portal reopens May 1 when those guys have fewer options.

With elite arm talent in place, the onus is now on the staff to surround the quarterbacks with playmakers at the skill positions and big men up front to keep them clean and create holes in the running game.

I think they did a tremendous job of laying the groundwork in this class. I really like the wide receiver haul. Jacory Barney, Dae'vonn Hall, Isaiah McMorris, Keelan Smith and Quinn Clark have a ton of upside. You add them to a room with guys the staff is really high on from the 2023 class like Malachi Coleman, Jaylen Lloyd, Jaidyn Doss and Demitrius Bell and you've got a really nice young foundation in place.

Nebraska still needs a veteran No. 1 receiver, though. They missed out on Ohio State’s Julian Fleming - residual fallout from Rhule passing on McCord for Raiola. That's why Jahmal Banks is such a huge priority.

So is Dante Dowdell since the staff lost Kewan Lacy and is looking at a running back room with its top two guys from last year coming off  season-ending injuries. Dowdell was a consensus top 10 RB in the 2023 class who is tailor-made for the downhill rushing attack Rhule wants as his trademark.

Nebraska really helped bolster a thin tight end room, too. Carter Nelson is arguably the top tight end in the 2024 class. He's the prototype for the positionless offense Rhule and Satterfield have alluded to. He's an athletic freak who can line up all over the formation. The staff also brought in Ian Flynt and Eric Ingwerson, two in-line guys who fit the mold of traditional Big Ten tight ends.

The best offensive lines are the ones where outgoing seniors are handing the batons to third- or fourth-year guys. Thanks to Bryce Benhart and Ben Scott returning for their senior seasons, that could soon be the case. Nebraska will be able to start a veteran unit and allow youngsters like Gunnar Gottula and Sam Sledge another year of growth behind the scenes. Far too often we've seen promising underclassmen like Benhart, Turner Corcoran and Teddy Prochazka forced into the lineup before they were ready. In many ways it stunted each of their developments.

This O-line class is the best group we've seen brought in by Nebraska in several years. Grant Brix is one of the best linemen in the country and should be a future mainstay at right tackle. Preston Taumua is one of the best linemen in the West region. His best position is probably guard, but he could also project as a tackle. Gibson Pyle is a really good-looking guard prospect who's grossly underrated by the recruiting services. Xander Ruggeroli is a really nice developmental left tackle prospect with huge upside. Landen Davidson reminds me a bit of Henry Lutovsky as a guard prospect, and Jake Peters is someone who probably projects best as a center.

I also like what the team did on the defensive side of the ball.

The return of Ty Robinson and Nash Hutmacher is big for the D-line room. It allows you to maintain a healthy rotation to keep guys fresh and also affords the staff the ability to continue developing the youngsters for another year before they're asked to take over more prominent roles - although Cameron Lenhardt and Princewill Umanmielen are already at that point.

Elkhorn South's Ashton Murphy is a nice addition to the room, but losing Carlon Jones dampens my excitement. I really like his film. Luckily Nebraska is fairly deep at this spot and the presence of several promising underclassmen softens the blow.

The Huskers got good news when John Bullock decided to come back for his senior year. The linebacker spot is still pretty thin even with Bullock returning, and it needed an influx of talent. Willis McGahee IV was brought in with the Jack position in mind, and he'll be joined by fellow Miami native Vincent Shavers, a longtime pledge to the hometown Hurricanes who flipped to Nebraska after visiting the weekend before signing day. Shavers could end up at any of the three linebacker spots. I really like these two guys.

The staff is also looking to add someone from the portal and recently offered Idaho's Xe’ree Alexander, who earned honorable-mention All-Big Sky honors and was named first-team freshman All-America by Phil Steele. We'll see if this recruitment gains any traction in coming weeks.

The Huskers signed a huge defensive back class, but I like the strategy behind it. Nine guys carry the "DB" designation from recruiting sites, but a number of those guys could end up moving up a level. Actually, you can count on it. Remember that next year's starting linebackers John Bullock and Javin Wright came to Nebraska as defensive backs. This staff is great at projecting where a kid could end up. They recruit speed and find where you fit best in this malleable 3-3-5 system.

Mario Buford, Larry Tarver, Amare Sanders and Evan Taylor are being looked at as corners. Caleb Benning and Donovan Jones could play safety or rover. Then you have Roger Gradney who could play safety or rover, but I think projects best as a linebacker. Similarly, Rex Guthrie could be an in-the-box safety, but I see a linebacker in the same mold as Bullock and Reimer. Then there's Braylen Prude who's getting Javin Wright comps because of their similar frames and high school backgrounds as safeties.

The staff also added its first transfer of this cycle, bringing in Blye Hill, who played corner for Saint Francis University in Pennsylvania, a FCS program in the Northeast Conference.

 I'm not going to pretend that every coach, fan and local journalist doesn't love their team's recruiting class on signing day. Optimism is the fuel that drives every offseason. I say that to temper expectations, but at the same time, I can't help but think this recruiting class is going to mesh nicely with key pieces from last year's class to form the nucleus that will be the catalyst that returns this program to national prominence.