Nebraska Football Tickets

Nebraska's invasion of Texas continues

Texas has a long and storied history for being a hotbed of recruiting activity in college football, and it appears Nebraska is getting serious about invading the Lone Star State for future recruits.

Evidence is the recent commitment of Emerson Evans, a defensive end from Houston, to play football for Nebraska in 2009. The 6-foot-1, 235-pounder at Alief Taylor High School is the fifth Texas senior-to-be to say yes to the Huskers and the eighth verbal commitment coach Bo Pelini has received from the Class of 2009.

Evans had 87 tackles and 16 quarterback sacks last year and had offers from Utah, Texas-El Paso and Ole Miss. Big-name schools like Ohio State, LSU and Texas A&M were also looking at Evans, according to the Lincoln Journal-Star.

Evans is an explosive player with good technique, according to his high school coach, Trevor White. Evans was sold on the Huskers' tradition and the fact that their head coach knows a thing or two about defense.

Evans is the fifth Texas recruit to commit to Nebraska and the third in the past week. Other Texas recuits include offensive lineman Jess Coffey of Denton, quarterback Cody Green of Dayton, defensive tackle Thaddeus Randle of Galena Park and running back Dontrayevous Robinson of Euless.

Overall, eight players have verbally committed to Nebraska. The other recruits planning on coming to Lincoln include linebacker Shawn Bodtmann of Scranton, Pa.; defensive tackle Cole Pensick of Lincoln, Neb.; and fullback C.J. Zimmerer of Omaha, Neb.

Nebraska gets another Texas recruit

The Nebraska football team is adding to their list of verbal commitments for the 2009 recruiting campaign, and they got a big one earlier this week when Jesse Coffey III announced his intentions of signing with the Huskers.

Coffey, a starting right tackle at Guyer High School in Denton, Texas, isn't big on recruiting lists. He is listed as the No. 80 prospect among Texas football players by rivals.com.

But he is big on some numbers that are more important -- he is 6-foot-7 and 290 pounds, scored a 28 on his ACT test and is the top student in his class of 500 students.

And according to the Lincoln Journal-Star, the young man isn't done growing yet.

"I have a lot of room to put on a lot of weight, a lot of muscle," he told the Journal-Star. "As it is, I'm 290 and I'm pretty quick on my feet, and that' simportant for O-lineman in today's college football."

Coffey is the seventh player to verbally commit to the Nebraska football program, and the fourth from the state of Texas. Of course, verbal commitments don't mean anything until signing day in February 2009, but this has the potential to be a huge pick-up -- literally and figuratively -- for coach Bo Pelini and his staff.

Huskers land prime quarterback recruit

One of the top quarterback recruits in the country, Cody Green of Dayton, Texas, announced Wednesday that he has verbally committed to play football for the Huskers.

Of course, verbal commitments are nothing until letter-of-intent signing day in early February. However, coach Bo Pelini seems to have landed a young man that is being touted by many recruiting experts as one of the best quarterbacks in the Class of 2009.

Green is a 6-foot-4, 220-pound senior-to-be, and is being chased by a number of schools, including Texas A&M, LSU, Baylor, Alabama, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Miami. He put up some impressive numbers as a sophomore, passing for 1,429 yards and 19 touchdowns while completing over 60 percent of his passes. He also rushed for 689 yards on 95 carries and four touchdowns. Last year, he missed most of the season due to torn ligaments in his ankle.

His high school coach says he's about 85 percent healthy, and when at full strength he has 4.57-second speed in the 40-yard dash. Green is a student of the game who spends a lot of time watching game film, and his high school coach calls him a "high-character kid" who will be a class act.

Green is the sixth verbal commitment coach Bo Pelini has received from the Class of 2009. Other verbal commitments have come from Shawn Bodtmann of Scranton, Pa.; Thaddeus Randle of Galena Park, Texas; Dontrayevous Robinson of Euless, Texas; and Nebraska standouts Cole Pensick of Lincoln Northeast and C.J. Zimmerer of Omaha Gross.

Zimmerer, Robinson commit to Nebraska

The Nebraska football team got two more verbal commitments from the Class of 2009 last week.

Omaha Gross standout C.J. Zimmerer was the first to announce his intentions last week. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound senior for the Cougars was an all-stater at linebacker last year, but is being looked at as a potential fullback by the Huskers.

Also committing to Nebraska is Dontrayevous Robinson, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound running back from Trinity High School in Euless, Texas. He helped Trinity claim the state's Class 5-A championship last year with 18 touchdowns and over 1,000 yards in total yards.

Zimmerer and Robinson are the fourth and fifth members of the Class of 2009 to verbally commit to play at Nebraska.

Houston defensive lineman commits to NU

Nebraska got its second recruit on the defensive line with the announcement that Houston, Texas prep standout Thaddeus Randle has committed to play for the Huskers.

A 6-foot-1, 255 pounder, Randle is the third defensive commitment for the Class of 2009 and the second defensive tackle to verbally commit to Nebraska. He joins Lincoln Southeast defensive tackle Cole Pensick and Shawn Bodtmann, a linebacker from Pennsylvania.

Randle is solid fundamentally, but is a bit undersized and will need to get bigger before he can develop into a college-level type of lineman.

The Huskers will have a definite need for defensive lineman after this season. Five seniors make up the defensive line this year, including ends Zach Potter and Barry Turner and tackles Ty Steinkuhler, Kevin Dixon and Shukree Barfield.

Bodtmann says he is coming to Nebraska

Nebraska will be getting a talented linebacker from Pennsylvania with the recent announcement that Shawn Bodtmann has committed to play for the Huskers.

At 6-foot and 205 pounds, Bodtmann was a standout on both sides of the ball in helping West Scranton High School to a 12-2 record last season. In addition to his defensive contributions, he ran for 1,452 yards as a running back.

Bodtmann was recruited by the Huskers as a linebacker and should fill in well at the Will linebacker position. He was in Lincoln for the Red-White Spring Game and was impressed by the fact that the team could draw a packed house for what amounted to a practice.

Bodtmann is a very talented individual, according to the Lincoln Journal-Star. In addition to his efforts on the field, he can bench 225 pounds 12 times, runs a 4.62 40-yard dash and also sings in the school choir. The day after announcing his commitment, he went with his school choir to a performance in Maryland.

Spring Game tickets a hot commodity

If early ticket sales are any indication, the Red-White Spring Game is going to be one hot commodity for Husker fans wanting to get an early look at the start of the Bo Pelini era.

Reserved tickets are selling at a very brisk pace for the Saturday, April 19 game at Memorial Stadium. Getting reserved seats for the intra-squad scrimmage is going to be difficult as University of Nebraska officials are hopeful that the stadium will be close to its 81,067 capacity for the contest.

The current record attendance for the spring scrimmage is 63,417 in 2005, and Jeff Jamrog, assistant athletic director for football operations, is hopeful that number can be eclipsed with this year's game.

"Nebraska is known nationally for its tradition of selling out football games," he was quoted on Huskers.com recently. "And I know Coach Pelini wants that to include the spring game. Hopefully our fans will take the chance to spend a great day in Lincoln and get a preview of the 2008 Huskers."

And if that's not enough for Husker fans, the Nebraska baseball team will host Kansas at Haymarket Park later in the day. You can get a preview of the 2008 Husker football team AND see one of the top baseball teams in the country as the Huskers take on the Jayhawks.

Tickets for the Red-White Spring Game and the Nebraska-Kansas baseball game are both available at Ticket Express, where no Husker home game is ever sold out.

South Korean project to walk on with Huskers

He didn't start playing football until two years ago. He is a big, strong kid who can bench press over 400 pounds. He comes from a small-school football program.

When you describe a young man preparing to walk on and play college football at Nebraska, it's not unusual to read these descriptions. After all, the walk-on program has a long history of drawing kids like this to Memorial Stadium, some of whom go on to become All-Americans who play in the NFL.

This one, though, is a bit unusual. For we are not describing a TYPICAL Nebraska boy, but one who comes from South Korea.

The Lincoln Journal Star reported earlier this week that Seung Hoon Choi, a senior at Lincoln Christian High School, accepted an invitation to walk on and play football at Nebraska. At 6-foot-2 and 320 pounds, he has the perfect kind of physical tools to develop into an offensive lineman for the Huskers.

Choi didn't really know much about football. He saw kids playing the game one day while riding with his parents past a school football field, and figured he'd give it a shot.

But there were problems when he first started working out for the Crusaders. It took some time for him to get comfortable with lifting weights, despite his big frame. It was even more difficult for his high school coaches to find a helmet big enough for him to use. They had to settle for the biggest helmet they had, taking out the regular padding and using the lightest pads they could get a hold of.

Choi's English wasn't the best at the time, either, forcing coaches to keep things simple when explaining what they wanted him to do.

He's lived with a different host family each year during his time at Lincoln Christian, but he has warmed up well to the community and, after talking with a couple of coaches on the Husker staff, decided to walk on with the Huskers.

Big Differences in Nebraska Running Back Recruits

National Signing Day last week went great for the Nebraska football program.  The Husker recruiting class had dwindled down to 15 recruits after news of Bill Callahan's imminent firing caught wind, but was at a strong 27 recruits last week.  Part of the recruiting class that stood out to me were the running backs.

The two running back recruits that committed to the Huskers for the 2008 season are Collins Okafor and Lester Ward.  Okafor was one of the earliest Husker recruits and stayed committed amidst the turmoil of the coaching switch.  Ward is a late addition to the Husker recruiting class, originally committed to Baylor, the lanky running back switched just in time for National Signing Day.

Okafor is the obvious choice coming from Omaha Westside in Omaha.  He led the state in rushing for the past two years and was watched like a hawk his senior season after everyone knew he committed to play for Nebraska.  This didn't much faze him though, Okafor impressed all disbelievers this past season while with Westside.  Okafor is a small but stocky back, with time he should become a great blocker and short gain running back.

Lester Ward on the other hand is a tall and lanky running back from Texas that fits the role of wide receiver almost as well as he does the running back role.  At 6-3, his High School coach describes him as a long-stride runner.  This could be good for Ward, he is not the highly touted recruit coming in but could make a splash once he proves himself to the coaches.  A young Cody Glenn did the same thing a few years ago.

National Signing Day Goes Well For Nebraska

When former Nebraska coach Bill Callahan left the Huskers and took half of the recruiting class with him, I thought that whoever came in as head coach would never be able to build the class back to what it was.  But somehow, on national signing day for seniors all across the country, I find myself looking at a Nebraska recruiting class that is just as good as the one we had earlier in the season.

Bo Pelini and his staff have confirmed 27 scholarship commitments and 18 walk on recruits for the 2008 Nebraska football squad.  The recruiting class does not look at all like the one we had earlier with top name national commits like QB Blaine Gabbert (Missouri) or RB Jonas Gray (Notre Dame), but since Pelini has taken over at Nebraska we have plenty to brag about on Super Wednesday.

What stands out in the Nebraska football recruiting class are the Wide Receivers.  Four Wide Receivers have committed to the Scarlet and Cream for 2008 and they should provide ample targets for future Quarterbacks (Kody Spano).  Khiry Cooper is the star of the Wide Receiver's group.  Cooper, along with all of the other WR recruits, is lanky and tall...imagine that.  But Cooper is set apart from all of the rest because he has the speed to play for the Huskers as early as this season.

I'm already excited to see the new Huskers play in the 2008 Nebraska football season, they are paving the way for the new generation of Nebraska football.