Nights games equal big recruiting opportunities.
Nebraska's 7 p.m. kickoff against Northern Illinois on Saturday gave several prospects a chance to make it to Lincoln this weekend, and the Huskers hope it pays off down the road.
NU hosted one its most talented batches of prospects since Scott Frost's arrival. Keep in mind, the Huskers only had one night home game in 2018 (and that was the Akron/weather bugaboo).
Defensive back prospects Henry Gray (Miami) and Myles Slusher (Tulsa, Oklahoma); linebacker prospects Caleb McCullough (Oxnard, California), Tuli Tuipulotu (Lawndale, California) and Regen Terry (Florence, Arizona); and defensive linemen Nusi Malani (San Bruno, California) made their official visits to NU this weekend. All six were standing at the 50-yard line watching pregame warmups, and McCullough moved closer to the outside linebackers to get a closer look.
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The 6-foot-2, 215-pound McCullough was slated to visit Lincoln later in the season, but moved up his official visit this week.
Slusher, who is committed to Oregon, was among the biggest recruits on campus. He's ranked No. 79 overall in the 2020 class by 247Sports.
The Northern Illinois game marked visit No. 2 to Lincoln for Terry, a three-star prospect.
There also was a heavy 2021 presence at the game, the biggest name being quarterback Pete Costelli (Mission Viejo, California), who made an unofficial visit and was standing on the sideline before the game.
Costelli is one of three quarterbacks — the others being Texas' Dematrius Davis and Florida's Santio Marucci — the Huskers are targeting for 2021.
Costelli was in Lincoln less than 24 hours after leading Mission Viejo to a 59-0 win against Villa Park. He threw for 160 yards and two touchdowns.
Other 2021 prospects on unofficial visits included Elkhorn South lineman Teddy Prochazka, offensive lineman Henry Lutovsky (Mount Pleasant, Iowa), and defensive linemen Griffin Liddle (Bettendorf, Iowa) and Ryan Keeler (La Grange Park, Illinois).
Current Husker commits Zavier Betts (Bellevue West), Turner Corcoran (Lawrence, Kansas) and Nash Hutmacher (Chamberlain, South Dakota) also were among the 50 or so official and unofficial visitors at the game.
It also was a big recruiting weekend for a couple of other Husker programs.
The Nebraska men's basketball team hosted 6-10 four-star athlete Zach Clemence out of Texas. Bellevue West standout Chucky Hepburn was on an unofficial visit.
The NU baseball team had a large group of recruits at the game, too.