Nebraska Football Recruiting Update: Commit Number 8 Is a Steal

Nebraska received its eighth commit last night from Scout 3 star offensive lineman Dan Samuelson of Plymouth High School, in Plymouth Indiana.  According to the Lincoln Journal Star, Samuelson loved the Midwest feel of Lincoln and really connected with Garrison. He also loved the fact Nebraska used two offensive line coaches.  Samuelson had initially committed to Pittsburgh, but withdrew his commitment in favor of Nebraska.

Nebraska was able to steal a great offensive lineman from Pitt. Samuelson likes to hit and has a knack for driving defensive linemen into the ground.  He is a great pickup for Nebraska and can apparently play at either guard or tackle.

Nebraska now has eight commitments on the year, but only two on the offensive side of the ball.  The other is tight end Greg Hart, who committed last week.  Not a bad thing, but Nebraska will probably be looking for more players to fortify their offense.  

Nebraska has lost out on some of its top targets for quarterback, including some to rival Big Ten schools.  However, I would not be too worried.  Tommy Armstrong, Nebraska's QB recruit from last season, didn't commit until September. 

Another area would be Nebraska's need to find its running back of this class. It's always good to have a running back in each class, and Nebraska has recruited some top running backs that have shown interest, like Alvin Kamara and Corey Clement.

Nebraska is quietly stringing together a top notch class.  Three 4 stars and five 3 stars, which puts Nebraska at number 16 nationally on Scout.com.  This is good for third in the Big Ten behind Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State, respectively.  They are just behind Florida State and ahead of schools like Miami, Michigan State and South Carolina.

However, one thing of note is that Samuelson is the sixth recruit to come out of Big Ten country. Three players are from Ohio, one from Wisconsin, one from Nebraska and one from Indiana.  Only two players are from outside of the Big Ten region—one from Texas and one from Louisiana. 

Trevell Dixon (3 star safety) from Louisiana committed back when Corey Raymond was still part of the staff, but has remained committed.  Christian Lacouture (4 star defensive tackle) is the only recruit from Nebraska's second biggest source of players, Texas.

I'm not saying that it's bad Nebraska is getting recruits out of Big Ten country, but Nebraska also needs to keep its recruiting roots in Texas, California and the Southern states in order to remain competitive.