Ask Farrell: Why does Nebraska have so few 2020 commits?
There are only five Power Five programs that do not have double-digit commits for their 2020 class.
The Big Ten has three of them.
Virginia Tech with nine pledges is the lone ACC team and Utah, the lowest among all Power Five teams with five commits, is the only Pac-12 program on the list.
Then in the Big Ten, Nebraska (8), Illinois (7) and Rutgers (9) are the three conference programs yet to break the double-digit mark. Having the Illini and the Scarlet Knights struggle in recruiting is not much of a surprise since they’ve struggled on the field, but the Huskers having such a slow start deserves a second look.
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In his first recruiting class in 2018, Nebraska coach Scott Frost closed well shortly after getting the job in Lincoln and the Huskers finished third in the Big Ten team rankings behind only Ohio State and Penn State.
In Frost’s first full recruiting class in 2019, the Huskers again finished third in the conference behind Michigan and Penn State as Nebraska signed 11 four-star prospects.
But now heading into the season with some chatter that Nebraska is the favorite to win the Big Ten West and play for a conference title, the Huskers find themselves slow out of the gates with only eight total commits and only three four-stars.
That’s still more four-stars than Iowa, Minnesota, Northwestern, Indiana, Maryland, Wisconsin, Michigan State and Rutgers but the Huskers drastically trail Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State.
FARRELL'S TAKE
We ask Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell if he sees Nebraska coming on strong through this season and still finishing with a strong group or if Frost needs to ramp up the pace of his recruiting class to keep up with the best teams in the Big Ten?
“I like the approach Frost is taking. When people say ‘only three four-stars’, they have to understand the geographical disadvantage that Nebraska has to overcome every recruiting cycle. When talking about quality classes you have to include Nebraska in there in 2020 even with the smaller numbers. I don’t worry about Frost because he’s a great talent evaluator and will find guys who will work hard and last at Nebraska and often those aren’t the highest rated players. He’s about fit.”