Husker Signee Analysis: The Wide Receivers

New assistant Mickey Joseph helped engineer an infusion of talent

Mickey Joseph has made an immediate impact on Nebraska's wide receiver room. In his first few weeks in Lincoln, he added two players from the transfer portal; Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda (New Mexico State) and Trey Palmer (LSU). Then he went to work on the recruiting trail. At the time, Nebraska had two receivers committed. After resetting the Huskers' board, Joseph decided to move on from Fairview (CO) High School's Grant Page, who ended up signing with in-state Colorado.

Joseph wasn't done adding to his room. By signing day, he helped the Huskers grab two more extremely talented kids.

This is the fifth in Jeremy Pernell’s series. • National class rankings • Husker signee rankings • Quarterback Richard Torres • The running backs

With essentially an entire new offensive staff, it's no real surprise we've seen the Huskers make such a concerted effort to bring in several new skill-position players to Lincoln. One guy the staff remains extremely excited about is Victor Jones Jr., who Joseph knew from his time at LSU.

Victor Jones Jr / Nebraska Athletics via Twitter

The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Jones had been a longtime target for the Huskers. In fact, head coach Scott Frost and his staff began recruiting him while they were still at UCF and gave Jones his first scholarship offer when they were still with the Knights. The two sides stayed in regular contact even after Frost left for his alma mater, and on April 29, 2020, Husker tight ends coach Sean Beckton reoffered Jones. Between Frost, Beckton and former offensive coordinator Matt Lubick, the Huskers contacted Jones daily. With the recruiting dead period not allowing for in-person contact, the staff conducted countless Zoom calls. They prioritized him and let him know he was the top receiver on their board.

The persistence and long-term relationship paid off. After three years of being recruiting, Jones committed to the Huskers on April 1, 2021, and despite the turnover on the offensive staff, decided to stay loyal. Several teams in the region circled back on Jones, but he stuck with Nebraska because of his relationships with Frost and Beckton. At the time of his commitment, Jones had over 15 offers, including Arkansas, Cincinnati, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, South Florida, Wake Forest and West Virginia.

Jones was a mainstay on the camp circuit and routinely stood out. He showed well at The SHOW, a NextGen camp that took place Dec. 28-30, 2020, at IMG Academy and featured some of the top underclassmen from across the country. He was also one of the top performers at the Underclassmen Report Elite Camp held in Orlando in April 2021, where around 250 recruits from the classes 2022 to 2025 were in attendance.

Jones played in the highest classification in the talent-rich Sunshine state and was a four-year starter for Olympia High School in Orlando. Considered one of the best players in central Florida, Jones was named an all-metro selection as a senior after catching 53 passes for 847 yards and seven touchdowns while also averaging 30.3 yards on six kickoff returns. He had only six attempts because teams were afraid to kick the ball to him. Jones returned two kickoffs for touchdowns as a junior and teams stopped kicking him the ball in both kickoff and punt return situations. As a junior, Jones had 43 catches for 718 yards and 10 touchdowns in only seven games. He also added two rushing touchdowns.

Watching his film, you immediately notice his speed. He participates in track, and that speed translates onto the football field. He reportedly runs a 4.38-second 40-yard dash and has posted impressive times on the track. Jones has run a 10.86 100m, 22.06 200m, 35.49 300m and 54.16 400m. He was also a member of a 4x100 relay team that qualified for the Sunshine State’s 4A track meet after running a 42.29. His ability to get behind a defense might be his best attribute at this stage in his development.

Nebraska will be able to line Jones up inside or outside. He was used in a variety of ways offensively for Olympia: jet sweeps, post routes, screen passes, curl routes. On film, you see him catch a lot of short passes and then use his speed and impressive change-of-direction skills to do damage in the open field. He's a fluid runner with good body control and nice balls skills. For a track guy, Jones does a good job of absorbing and running through contact. From all accounts, he's a very humble kid and a hard worker. He is well put together and as an early enrollee will try to establish himself this spring and work his way into the rotation this fall.

If you've ever wondered how important relationships were to recruiting, look no further than Decoldest Crawford. The 6-foot-2, 190-pounder now becomes the answer to the trivia question, “Who was Mickey Joseph’s first recruit at Nebraska?”

The standout wide receiver out of Green Oaks High School in Shreveport, Louisiana, had been committed to Joseph and LSU since October 2019. Even after the coaching change in Baton Rouge, he'd planned on sticking with his commitment to the hometown Tigers - as long as Joseph remained on staff.

Decoldest Crawford / Nebraska Athletics via Twitter

When Joseph took the job at Nebraska, Crawford would later admit he intended to follow him to Lincoln. On Dec. 7, he officially reopened his recruitment hours after receiving an offer from Joseph on behalf of the Huskers. Nebraska wasn't the only one to come calling, though. After his decommitment, Crawford began hearing from several top programs around the country. He received interest from Texas, Cincinnati, Auburn, Baylor, Florida and Houston among several others. Ultimately, Crawford had a final four that also included Texas, Florida and Auburn.

Crawford never had time to take a visit to see Lincoln in-person. That didn't stop him from signing with the Huskers on the first day of the early signing period in December. He publicly announced his commitment two days later during a ceremony at Green Oaks. The fact he signed with a school sight-unseen tells us all we need to know about the complete trust he and his family have in Joseph. That's what happens when you spend three-plus years investing in a relationship with a kid and his family. It's the same situation we saw with Victor Jones Jr.

Crawford would eventually take his official visit a month later, the first weekend (Jan. 14-16) after the recruiting dead period ended.
Crawford was rated a four-star recruit by ESPN and garnered over 15 offers, including Arizona State, Arkansas, Louisville, Michigan State, Missouri, Ole Miss, Penn State and USC. Keep in mind he'd been an unwavering commit to LSU since his sophomore year. Had he been on the open market, you can expect many more teams would have come calling.

Crawford's film shows a guy with big-play ability at wide receiver and on special teams. With reported 4.5-speed, you can see that explosion on tape and in camp settings. He has really good ball skills and is dangerous in the open field.

Crawford had a frustrating senior season after enjoying a lot of success on the field as a sophomore and junior. He helped lead his Giants team to three playoff appearances in four years. Green Oaks started a freshman quarterback in 2021 and struggled through a rebuilding season. Crawford’s production took a serious hit as he ended up with only 30 catches for more than 200 yards. A broken finger also ended his season early. As a junior, he caught 50 passes for 813 yards and six touchdowns. That followed a sophomore season that saw him grab 50 balls for 990 yards and eight touchdowns.

December's early signing period has taken a lot of luster out of the traditional signing day in February. Over 90% of kids sign early and most schools spend the majority of January focusing on the next year's class. Generally, there isn't much drama after December. Well, don't tell that to Nebraska fans, at least not this year. Along with the signing day flip of tailback Ajay Allen, coaches were also able to steal away Janiran Bonner from Georgia Tech.

Janiran Bonner / Nebraska Athletics via Twitter

Bonner's surprising eleventh-hour flip was a testament to the connections Sean Beckton has and the work Mickey Joseph did. Another big part was Bonner betting on himself. He had been committed to Georgia Tech since April 2021, choosing the in-state Yellow Jackets over heavy interest in Arkansas and Oregon. Nebraska had actually offered Bonner a scholarship back in April 2019, but weren't a factor in his recruitment until the last part of January.

The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Bonner decided not to sign with Georgia Tech during the early signing period. He wanted to keep his options open and see if any other bigger schools would start to recruit him after resetting their boards. Geoff Collins and his staff didn't concede, however, and continued pushing hard to keep Bonner in their class. Collins had an in-home visit with Bonner and his family, but couldn't get affirmation he would sign in February. Waiting until the last week of January, Collins finally filled Bonner's spot in the class with Jullian Lewis, out of Davie, Florida.

Frost, Joseph and Beckton visited Bonner in-home during the last week of January convinced Bonner to take a last-minute non-publicized visit to Lincoln the weekend of January 28, the final weekend visits were allowed before the dead period returned. The visit went very well and Nebraska situated themselves into his final group of schools, along with Georgia Tech, Memphis and Jackson State. Bonner announced his decision live on ESPN during last Wednesday's signing day coverage, becoming Nebraska's 18th and final member of its 2022 class.

It's not very often you can say a consensus four-star recruit could have been even more heavily recruited. But that's actually the case with Bonner. As a sophomore, most insiders felt he would end up being one of the most sought-after receivers in the 2022 class from the Southeast. Unfortunately, Bonner missed a big chunk of his junior year after injuring his femur in the offseason. He eventually returned to action late in the season, but didn't look like the same player that he had as a freshman or sophomore. Before the injury, he was starting to gain serious traction as a recruit. Even with the injury, Bonner accumulated about 20 offers from Auburn, Baylor, Colorado, Florida State, Georgia, Illinois, LSU, Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Pittsburgh, South Carolina and Tennessee, among others.

The injury setback wasn't helped by the fact that it followed an evaluation period that was shut down because of the pandemic. By the time things opened back up, Bonner was already committed to Georgia Tech.

Back fully healthy this past season, Bonner was recognized as an all-state performer after catching 50 passes for 816 yards and nine touchdowns. He helped guide powerhouse Cedar Grove High School to a 12-3 record and won his third Georgia Class 3A state championship. Bonner caught eight passes for 150 yards and two touchdowns for the Saints in their 56-26 win over Carver High School in the state title game.

Assuming Bonner keeps progressing and doesn't have any additional setbacks from his injury, he very well could be the cornerstone of this class. Despite his size, he has deceptively good speed and an impressive second gear. You see him get behind the defense in a lot of his highlights. He's also used on a lot of short slant and hitch routes where he routinely breaks tackles and gains big chunks of yardage. You see a lot of Bonner going up and getting 50/50 balls. He's adept at high-pointing the football and really competes for the ball in traffic. Bonner is competitive after the catch. He breaks tackles and doesn't go down easily after first contact.

The Huskers will head into spring ball with 13 receivers currently on scholarship, a few more than Nebraska typically kept in past seasons. You have to assume the staff feels really good about Omar Manning, Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda, Trey Palmer, Zavier Betts and Oliver Martin. Those five figure to be the top of the rotation this coming season. That leaves you with about three additional rotation spots. Jones, Crawford and Bonner will be competing with Latrell Neville, Kamonte Grimes, Shawn Hardy II, Will Nixon and Alante Brown for those spots. All but Brown will carry freshman eligibility. Attrition seems inevitable once players start to see where they fit in the pecking order. 

Competition is good, though. When the dust settles, Mickey Joseph should have a pretty talented room to work with.

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Related

• HuskerMax 2022 recruiting page
• HuskerMax recruiting forum

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