Three & Out: The Big Board – Defense Edition, early visitor reaction has been positive, and Nebraska recruiting potpourri

Three & Out is Nebraska On3’s feature in which recruiting analyst Bryan Munson gives his weekly takes on topical issues concerning Nebraska football and recruiting.

In this week’s Three & Out, it’s time to unveil The Big Board – Defense Edition, the early visitor results have been positive, and Nebraska recruiting potpourri. Here is your Three & Out:

Nebraska’s Big Board 1.0 – Defense

A week ago, a long overdue Big Board 1.0 edition was dropped for the offense. We are following it up this week with the defense version. Nebraska has made some recent offers to defensive players in the 2025 class, and I will include some names in future classes on this list, like last week, as well. Here is your Big Board 1.0 for the defense:

Defensive Line

ClassNameCity (State) SchoolRatingScheduled OVPreviously VisitedIn-StateBorder StateRadius2025Tyson Terry – CommitOmaha (Neb.) South3-StarXX2025Jaylen WilliamsPalatine (Ill.)4-StarXXX2025Lucas AllgeyerSaint Louis (Mo.) Mary Institute & St Louis Country DayNRXX2026Titan DavisSaint Louis (Mo.) DeSmet4-StarXX2026Hunter HigginsWichita (Kans.) Maize South3-StarXX

Quick Thoughts on DL Board—Nebraska already has Terry in the boat. Nebraska will be bringing Williams back to Lincoln in June for an official visit.

Edge

ClassNameCity (State) SchoolRatingScheduled OVPreviously VisitedIn-StateBorder StateRadius2025Chad WoodforkHumble (Texas) Summer Creek4-StarX2025Jayden WoodsShawnee (Kans.) Mill Valley4-StarXX2025Kade PietrzakWest Fargo (N.D.) Sheyenne4-StarXX2025Charlie WolebenDe Soto (Kans.)NRXX2025Uchenyo OjataCarmel (Ind.)NRXX2026Kevin FordDuncanville (Texas)4-StarX2026Jake KreulOrlando (Flor.) Bishop Moore Catholic4-Star

Quick Thoughts on Edge Board—There are some improvements here, with Woodfork on top and several other strong candidates that have already visited Nebraska. Pietrzak will be back on campus tomorrow for an unofficial visit.

Linebacker

ClassNameCity (State) SchoolRatingScheduled OVPreviously VisitedIn-StateBorder StateRadius2025Noah MikhailLa Verne (Calif.) Bonita4-Star2025Dawson MerrittOverland Park (Kans.) Blue Valley4-StarXXX2025Elijah BarnesDallas (Texas) Skyline4-StarX2025Christian JonesOmaha (Neb.) Westside4-StarXX2025Landon McComberLas Vegas (Nev.) Bishop Gorman3-StarX2025Pierce MooberryOmaha (Neb.) Millard North3-StarXXX2025Keylan AbramsDe Soto (Texas)3-StarX2025Chase PearsallLee’s Summit (Mo.) NorthNRXX

Quick Thoughts on LB Board—There are four official visitors scheduled on this list, and Mikhail will be in next week for an unofficial visit. Jones hasn’t scheduled an official visit to Nebraska, yet.

ClassNameCity (State) SchoolRatingScheduled OVPreviously VisitedIn-StateBorder StateRadius2025Adonyss CurrieLancaster (Calif.) Quartz Hill4-StarX2025Jahmir JosephMontvale (N.J.) St. Peter’s4-Star2025Zadian GentryMcKinney (Texas) North3-StarX2025Bryson WebberMissouri City (Texas) Ridge PointNRX2025Leo AlmanzaTrophy Club (Texas) Byron NelsonNR

Quick Thoughts on CB Board—There are already three official visitors from this list, and Almanza just received the offer from Nebraska on Saturday and is discussing a visit. I am including Joseph here because he planned to visit Nebraska for junior day in January. We will see if he makes it this spring.

Safety

ClassNameCity (State) SchoolRatingScheduled OVPreviously VisitedIn-StateBorder StateRadius2025Rylon Dillard-AllenPhoenix (Ariz.) Mountain Pointe3-StarX2025Aiden ManutaiWaipahu (Hawaii) Kahuku3-StarX2025Caden VerMaas – CommitOmaha (Neb.) Millard North3-StarXXX2025Zion JonesKaty (Texas) TaylorNRX

Quick Thoughts on Safety Board—This is another board that Nebraska seems to be in very good shape on at the moment. The Huskers have an in-state commitment and a couple of other highly touted targets taking official visits this spring/summer.

Early visitor results have been positive for Nebraska

Nebraska started hosting visitors again on Sunday and Monday this week, and the results have been very positive. The two visitors in Lincoln earlier this week were offensive linemen and top targets for the 2025 and 2026 classes.

Jack Lange was in Lincoln on Sunday and had a terrific opportunity to see how the machine in Lincoln works. He’s been to games and junior days before, but the day-in-the-life type of visit was needed to understand how things worked and continue to connect with the staff.

Coach Raiola established himself as an excellent recruiter last year by pulling Grant Brix away from Oklahoma, Kansas State, and even Alabama. Gibson Pyle picked up his first offer from Stanford as a sophomore and had well over 20 offers before he visited Nebraska. The visit to Nebraska set a high bar for the rest of Pyle’s process.

Behind closed doors with Lange, Raiola could share with one of his top targets in the 2025 class what Lange and his high school already do that he would continue to do in Lincoln. He also showed him that he had his best interests in mind and that Lange could develop into the best possible player and person if he came to Nebraska.

Top 2026 OL prospect Gregory Patrick saw practice on Monday morning and some of the early enrollers in action. After the visit, Patrick was well aware of Brix and Pyle, and he also knew Dylan Raiola and had an eye out for him.

How Patrick wrapped up his interview with me on Monday night said a lot. This is a recruit who has ties to Nebraska, actually has stronger ties to Michigan State, and has also seen Michigan, Notre Dame, and Oklahoma multiple times. The facilities at Nebraska were second to none of those other places.

Patrick and Lange were already talking about returning to Lincoln after their recent Nebraska visits. Lange knows the June 21st official visitor date is being pushed as Nebraska’s big official visitor date. And Patrick knows that a game day visit this fall parlays itself into an official visit next year.

Nebraska has to feel great about where it is with both recruits. What’s more, Nebraska needs to feel good about its process when a recruit is on campus. They are ready to start hosting recruits in Lincoln.

Nebraska Recruiting Potpourri

I wanted to put together a Potpourri section of Three & Out today that included a few recruiting-related items but had no common theme except Nebraska. Maybe I should have called it “Other Nebraska recruiting news” or quick hits, nuggets, or something else, but I wanted to aggregate several things that have caught my eye recently.

Two new 2026 offers to TEs—Nebraska has already offered 2026 in-state tight end target Isaac Jensen from Omaha (Neb.) Millard South will host Mack Sutter from Dunlap (Ill.) in the coming weeks. And after grabbing multiple tight ends each of the last two years, it’s a little surprising to see a run on new offers out to junior tight ends.

However, there could be some significant roster turnover that year, driving some new offers to additional 2026 targets. The Huskers offered Ian Premer from Great Bend (Kans.) and JC Anderson from Decatur (Ill.) Mt. Zion. I have already caught up with Premer, a two-sport athlete (he also plays basketball), and he has given some thought to playing both sports at the next level but hasn’t had that conversation with Nebraska.

New offer to 2025 ATH Leo Almanza—Nebraska offered talented athlete Leo Almanza Jr. this past weekend. The Huskers aren’t limiting Almanza to a side of the ball yet, but it’s feeling like he could be a top defensive back prospect for the Huskers (hence him making the Big Board today). Almanza was the Texas 4-6A unanimous utility player of the year as a junior, and here’s why: Four interceptions, one pick-six, and 38 tackles to go along with 26 catches, 518 yards, averaging nearly 20 yards per catch, and scored nine touchdowns. Almanza is talking to his parents about visiting Nebraska very soon.

Nebraska is in a good position with four-star Edge—A name that hasn’t been out there a lot because he’s been trending to other schools, such as Channelview (Texas) Edge Chad Woodfork. Woodford just put in a solid performance in Houston at the UnderArmour Next camp, and he’s getting a lot of interest from Texas and Texas Tech. The Huskers have emerged as a player for Woodfork. He told me on Wednesday that he has set an official visit date for April 17th.

Jamarion Parker decommits from Arkansas/is set for an official visit to Nebraska—Jamarion Parker was a new name for Nebraska fans to get to know. He visited Nebraska for their elite junior day on January 20th and was very impressed. The four-star tailback was committed to Arkansas when he visited, and he confirmed an official visit to Nebraska nearly a month before backing off his commitment (confirmed the official visit on February 27).

In the class, Parker makes a lot of sense to go along with Conor Booth, an in-state running back commitment. Booth is a solid first and second down running back, while Parker can also do the first and second down carries and has a little more of an all-purpose skillset. Booth is undervalued (he can also catch the football as a big back), which makes the two a great pair of running backs if the Huskers can add Parker to the class.

UnderArmour Next camp in LA notes—Chad Simmons published an article recapping the UnderArmour Next camp in Los Angeles this weekend on Sunday. There were a few Nebraska newsworthy notes to take away from the weekend. Here is a bit of a new name: Four-star cornerback Adonyss Currie. Currie has four official visits set up, including one to Nebraska for the spring game on April 27th. Currie seems likely to take at least five official visits and could go beyond that with the interest he’s receiving from Oregon, Texas, and others.

Quarterback Madden Iamaleava was in Los Angeles and he’s feeling the love from the new UCLA Bruins staff. He visited UCLA earlier in March and told Chad this weekend he’s being recruited by Nebraska. The Huskers are definitely in the picture, and he included that he’s finalizing a visit to Lincoln. Alabama and Missouri are also mentioned here, but it feels like Nebraska wants to see how things are going with the next recruit I am about to talk about.

TJ Lateef was also in Los Angeles this weekend, and Simmons made it clear that Nebraska seems to be the team that is trending with Lateef. The four-star quarterback is set to visit Nebraska for the spring game on April 27th. This is a great date to bring in your top quarterback target because you would love to sell him on the idea of joining the class now and being a part of the process with the staff to help recruit the rest of the class that will join him in Lincoln. Lateef feels like a name that could get more popular as other quarterbacks continue to come off of the board and new teams enter the picture.

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