Nebraska Football Recruiting: Grading The 2017 Class

Before we dive head-first into the 2018 Nebraska football recruiting class (and we will), let’s first review the 2017 bunch and grade it out properly.

First, let’s have a look at where the recruiting services felt the Big Red finished nationally.

Rivals: 19th overall (No. 5 Big Ten; 1st in the West division)
Scout: 18th overall (No. 6 Big Ten; 2nd in the West division)
247Sports: 23rd overall (No. 5 Big Ten; 1st in the West division)

Average: 20th overall (No. 5 Big Ten; 1st in the West division)

A good place to start. Now let’s break things down and talk about the positions themselves.

Quarterback

Tristan Gebbia, (1)

A+Gebbia is a prototypical quarterback for Nebraska football head coach Mike Riley and offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf’s offense. During his senior season, he played 15 games going 341-for-485 throwing for 5,338 yards and 61 touchdowns to 11 interceptions while completing 70 percent of his passes. Not bad. He also carried the ball 77 times for 293 yards and 10 touchdowns. He’ll be fun to watch when it’s his time to be The Man.

Running back

Jaylin Bradley, 1

B-Bradley likely would’ve had more offers if his academics were in order at the beginning of the cycle. Fortunately for the Nebraska football coaches, he busted his tail and the advisors at Bellevue West High School helped Bradley achieve the necessary scores to attend. As a senior, he ran for 2,915 yards on 324 attempts tallying 50 touchdowns for Class A champion Bellevue West. That’s good for an average of 224 yards per game. It would’ve been ideal to sign another back in this class as it’s questionable whether or not Bradley will be able to best Devine Ozigbo, Mikale Wilbon or Tre Bryant. He should push them to become better at the very least.

Fullback

Ben Miles, 1

AYes, the lone fullback gets his own grouping which should make Run The Ball Guy® happy. Miles is everything that both Langsdorf and Husker fans want in a fullback. He’s nasty, he blocks viciously and you can expect him to tote the rock for some hard-fought yardage. It doesn’t hurt that Les Miles may put in a good word for the school down the line, either.

Wide Receiver

Tyjon Lindsey, Jaevon McQuitty and Keyshawn Johnson, Jr., 3

A+Call Savage Professionalism or end your tweets with #W4L. The fact is that Nebraska wide receivers coach Keith Williams brought in one of the best hauls of wide receivers in recent history despite the defection of Jamire Calvin. Tyjon Lindsey may very well be an immediate contributor and Jaevon McQuitty has the talent to see playing time as well. Slot receiver Keyshawn Johnson, Jr. may require some time with the strength and conditioning coaches, but he’ll be a prime target for whoever is throwing passes in 2018. Lindsey has an infectious motivational streak and he gushes positivity. He’ll push all other receivers while McQuitty is a little more reserved, but he’ll let his talent do the talking.

Tight Ends

Austin Allen, Kurt Rafdal, 2

B+The twin towers, Allen checks in at 6-8, 210 pounds while Rafdal’s only 6-7, 230. These gets might remind you Patriots fans of what Bill Belichick is fond of. He has tight ends on his roster that measure 6-6 (Gronkowski and Bennett) and 6-7 (Lengel). Imagine staring at these two in the red zone or trying to block them if they bunch to one side. It has to be a little extra sweet for Nebraska football fans that the Big Red stole Rafdal from Iowa, too.

Offensive Linemen

Broc Bando, Brenden Jaimes, Matt Sichterman, Chris Walker, 4

BThe Huskers get two in-state kids in Bando and Walker while dipping into Big Ten country for Sichterman and steal a Texas want in Jaimes. Overall, it’s a solid class and offensive line coach Mike Cavanaugh described all of these guys as “smart” which is good because he likes his players to master multiple roles. It may take some time for these guys to get ready to contribute at the Power Five level whereas last year’s crop should be ready to produce after only one year.

Defensive Linemen

Guy Thomas, Damion Daniels, Deontre Thomas, 3

B+A big part of this grade is how defensive lineman coach John Parrella was able to keep everyone in the fold. There was a big worry that Guy Thomas would bolt, but when that National Letter of Intent came across the wire, he had to feel good. Thomas will make an excellent defensive end in defensive coordinator Bob Diaco’s new 3-4 scheme. As for the two others, Thomas may slim down and take a defensive end role while Daniels may get early playing time as a nose guard in 2017.

Linebackers

Avery Roberts, Andrew Ward, Willie Hampton, 3

A-An early enrollee, there’s an argument to be made about Avery Roberts being the best prospect in this class. He’ll certainly have every opportunity to show Diaco that he can play an interior linebacker role in his 3-4 defense. It wouldn’t be a shock to see him on the field this year, especially since he has the added benefit of going through spring practice. Andrew Ward and Willie Hampton both are likely redshirts, but they both have excellent frames and size. Diaco has shown that he likes his front seven to be big, so these guys may put on 15-20 pounds during their first year in the program.

Defensive backs

Elijah Blades, 1

A+The Huskers didn’t exactly need a bevy of new secondary members, but they made their lone commitment count. Four-star cornerback Elijah Blades was committed to the Florida Gators for seven whole months before Nebraska swooped in and caused him to flip. I’m going to guess Donte Williams had a little something to do with that. If Blades is able to handle going up against Nebraska’s older wide receivers, don’t be shocked to see him on the field come kickoff.

overall

20 commits, High Three-Stars

B+This is a solid class and I have to agree with the overall rankings given by the services. This isn’t a class that will win championships by itself, it’s more of a foundation class. That said, there are some true stars sprinkled among it and 2018 is already looking to be star-studded. Overall, call this a high three-star class and give it a solid thumbs up.