Jeremy Pernell: Ranking the Huskers’ 2022 Signees

Things looked bleak in November, but then Nebraska’s new assistants helped generate a strong finish

The 2022 recruiting cycle was one of the more interesting we've seen in several years. The COVID-19-induced recruiting dead period really put the Nebraska football staff behind the eight ball. The groundwork for a particular class is laid at least two years before those players are scheduled to sign. With in-person restrictions in place, Husker coaches were limited to recruiting through FaceTime and Zoom calls. Not getting kids on campus really put a damper on Nebraska's foundation with a lot of their top targets.

The staff did their best to set up their recruiting board and did a good job of getting their top targets on campus in June, when the dead period finally lifted after nearly 15 months. At the time, the staff was coming off their third-straight losing season and prospects had some reservations. Nebraska brought 20 priority targets in for official visits in June. They signed only four of them; Ernest Hausmann, Jake Appleget, Richard Torres and Chase Androff.

With Frost suffering through his worst season yet and questions about his job status swirling, the Huskers struggled to gain traction with several of their top targets. After the season was over and the calendar turned to December, Nebraska's recruiting class was ranked in the 70s and dead-last in the conference. There wasn't much momentum around the program. Fortunately, once Frost completed his staff, new hires like Mickey Joseph, Bryan Applewhite and Bill Busch helped to breathe new life into the team's recruiting efforts. Nebraska gained commitments from 11 of its 18 signees in December or later, with five of them rated as four-star prospects by at least one recruiting service.

This class has the feel of a regime-change class. Those don't typically work out well, but in this case, some of the late additions had long-standing relationships with one or more coaches on staff. Considering where this class was less than two months ago, Nebraska finished about as well as one could hope.

The Huskers signed 18 players to their 2022 class. The 18 recruits hail from 10 states: Georgia (3), Louisiana (3), Nebraska (3), Minnesota (2), New Jersey (2), California (1), Florida (1), Illinois (1), Mississippi (1), Texas (1)

Ranking the signees

1. Jaeden Gould (Defensive Back) Somerset, New Jersey
2. Janiran Bonner (Wide Receiver) Ellenwood, Georgia
3. Ajay Allen (Running Back) Monroe, Louisiana
4. Victor Jones Jr. (Wide Receiver) Orlando, Florida
5. Decoldest Crawford (Wide Receiver) Shreveport, Louisiana
6. Anthony Grant (Running Back) Buford, Georgia
7. Jalil Martin (Defensive Back) Chicago, Illinois
8. Ernest Hausmann (Linebacker) Columbus, Nebraska
9. Javier Morton (Defensive Back) Atlanta, Georgia
10. Jake Appleget (Linebacker) Lincoln, Nebraska
11. Malcolm Hartzog (Defensive Back) Silver Creek, Mississippi
12. DeShon Singleton (Defensive Back) Amite, Louisiana
13. Emmett Johnson (Running Back) Minneapolis, Minnesota
14. Gage Stenger (Linebacker) Omaha, Nebraska
15. Richard Torres (Quarterback) San Antonio, Texas
16. Brodie Tagaloa (Defensive Line) Pittsburg, California
17. Chase Androff (Tight End) Lakeville, Minnesota
18. Justin Evans-Jenkins (Offensive Line) East Orange, New Jersey 

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Related

• Jeremy Pernell's national class rankings
• HuskerMax 2022 recruiting page
• HuskerMax recruiting forum

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