Lamar Jackson to Nebraska: Cornhuskers Land 4-Star Safety Prospect

Nebraska's secondary has added a nice piece to its future rotation with the announcement that 4-star safety prospect Lamar Jackson will be attending the school. Jackson committed with Bleacher Report on Tuesday, and Nebraska confirmed the decision on Wednesday. 

The 6'3", 205-pound man out of Elk Grove, California, is the fifth-ranked safety nationally in the class of 2016, according to 247Sports. He is also ranked 81st among all prospects in the nation and 16th in the state of California.

In February of his junior year, a showing at the Rivals Camp Series put him on the recruiting map, according to the Sacramento Bee's Joe Davidson:

Jackson holds a fine 40-yard dash time of 4.46 seconds, and he possesses the physique needed to keep up with larger receivers. But the safety is versatile, as Hudl.com shows he was a threat not only in the secondary, but also on the offensive end:

He has a good set of hands that could make him a terror in the secondary, but he will need to work on recognizing coverages and not trying to be the hero. While the safety has the responsibility at times to roam the open field, he needs to make sure he does not commit himself too early and in the process get beat by long passes behind him.

Extremely agile, he is going to be able to stay with the best receivers in the nation if he is put in man-to-man situations.

With the right build and skill set, Jackson is still a work in progress. Once he fully develops his game, including proper tackling, then he will be one tough safety to get by with the Huskers. 

Nebraska needs all the help it can get in its secondary. Last season, only six teams in the FBS allowed more passing yards per game than the Huskers did. 

As a part of a defensive unit that allowed over 400 total yards per game last season, Nebraska allowed 25 passing touchdowns. That's a number that needs to drop drastically if it wants to compete in the Big 10. 

There's no way the Huskers will stay afloat and improve on a six-win season if they continue to allow teams to pass all over them. They'll hope that Jackson can help bring a stop to that and turn things around in Lincoln. 

Stats courtesy of NCAA.com