One of the central pieces Nebraska added to its 2020 recruiting class late in the process is inside linebacker Keyshawn Greene, a four-star prospect who had all kinds of recruiting attention for multiple years out of Crawfordville, Florida.Â
Greene, a 6-foot-3, 205-pounder, was verbally pledged to Florida State for more than a year before and after Willie Taggart was fired from the school this fall.
NU convinced Greene to take an official visit on the last weekend before National Signing Day on Wednesday, and he committed Sunday morning before his visit ended.Â
On Thursday evening on the Husker Sports Nightly radio program, Nebraska coach Scott Frost detailed what he and the staff thought about landing Greene, who was clocked at a blistering 4.49 seconds in the 40-yard dash this summer at a camp.Â
"We just kind of pulled off a miracle," Frost said. "I think the coaching change at another school probably helped us and the transition there to at least get our foot in the door with Keyshawn Greene."Â
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Frost said when the Husker staff can convince a prospect to take an official visit to Lincoln, that often leads to good things.Â
"They see the fans, the unbelievable fans we have, and they see the facilities and the passion for it around the state and the type of people that are here, we've got a great chance.
"We were able to get Keyshawn on campus, and he fell in love with it."Â
Green played all over the field for Wakulla High in high school and was ranked by the major recruiting services as an outside linebacker -- a good one at that, as 247Sports Composite ranking pegged him as the No. 9 OLB in the nation -- but he's going to begin his career in Lincoln as an inside linebacker.Â
"He's really kind of a freak athlete that we think we're going to be able to utilize in a lot of ways," Frost said.Â
Butler 'just scratching the surface': Frost also had a glowing report on outside linebacker Jimari Butler out of Mobile, Alabama.Â
The 6-5, 215-pounder has only played one year of high school football but drew immediate Power Five interest and was verbally pledged to Tennessee for some of the fall before committing to Nebraska in the final week before Signing Day.Â
"Jimari Butler is a kid we've had our eye on for a long time and was committed to another school for a while. But he has a lot of ability to come off the edge and generate pass rush," Frost said. "I think he's just kind of scratching the surface of what he can become. He has a bunch of the tangibles that you're looking for to have the talent to do that."Â
Corcoran 'a grown-up': Frost complimented four-star offensive tackle Turner Corcoran (Lawrence, Kansas) on Wednesday during his signing day news conference and did so again on the radio Thursday night, calling him a foundational player for the program.Â
"He's a grown-up, both physically and emotionally, and that's going to give him a real chance to come in and hit the ground running and maybe even help us sooner rather than later. We're excited about a lot of guys and Turner is probably the cornerstone of this recruiting class since he was ranked so highly and committed so early, so we were able to kind of build around him."Â