Nebraska added a late piece to its 2020 recruiting class Friday when it landed a verbal commitment from junior college defensive back Nadab Joseph.
Here are three observations following the former four-star recruit’s pledge to the Huskers.
1. It’s been a long and winding road for the 6-foot-2, 190-pound cornerback from Miami.
Joseph in high school spent time verbally committed to LSU and Alabama. On National Signing Day in December 2017, though, he flipped his pledge and signed with Georgia.
When he didn’t qualify academically, though, Joseph ended up at Independence (Kansas) Community College for the 2018 season. The original plan, according to Independence head coach Kiyoshi Harris, was for Joseph to get qualified in one year and return to Georgia as a four-for-four transfer, essentially using only a redshirt season in juco. That plan was furthered when Joseph sprained his foot in camp.
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However, that never came to pass because of Joseph’s academic standing, so he returned to Independence for another season in 2019. He played in five games last fall and, according to Harris, was planning on signing with Alabama until late in the cycle when the Crimson Tide “dropped him late,†Harris said, over academic concerns.
Many programs want juco players to graduate in December if they’re going to sign, and certainly it’s taken longer than that for Joseph to get to the point where he’s in position to qualify for 2020, but if he does it in the coming weeks, it will be to Nebraska’s gain.
Even through all of that, Joseph has three years of eligibility remaining.
2. Credit goes to several Husker coaches for the identification and recruitment of Joseph.
Harris said both running backs coach Ryan Held and defensive coordinator Erik Chinander had been involved from his end.Â
"Coach Held, juco guy, old Kansas Jayhawk (League) guy, good guy and he recruits us tough all the time," Harris said. "He's the one that kind of made the push."Â
In addition, secondary coach Travis Fisher is well-connected in Miami, where Joseph is originally from.
These situations don’t typically end up going in Nebraska’s favor without early identification, either. It’s how they got in on Keem Green — and did enough due diligence to know he could get eligible at Nebraska but not in the SEC — and Omar Manning and others, too.
Nobody bats 1.000 in recruiting and particularly in junior college recruiting, but consider this list of potential contributors for the Huskers this fall: Green, running back Dedrick Mills, inside linebacker Will Honas, defensive back Deontai Williams, plus incoming players Joseph, Manning, defensive linemen Jordon Riley and Pheldarius Payne, inside linebacker Eteva Mauga-Clements and outside linebacker Niko Cooper.
Needless to say, that's a significant junior college presence.
3. Nebraska continues to take a "best player available" approach to the late transfer market.Â
In the summer of 2019, Nebraska added a trio of transfers in Cal wide receiver Kanawai Noa, Highland (Kansas) Community college defensive lineman Keem Green and Rutgers tight end Travis Vokolek. This summer, NU added Joseph.
Of those four, only Noa, a graduate transfer with connections to multiple Husker staffers, played a position that at the time would have been considered a big need.
In fact, tight end and defensive line were considered among the deeper positions at Nebraska last summer, much like the secondary is this summer.
The depth and experience in the secondary that Fisher has to work with probably tells you all you need to know about what kind of player the coaching staff thinks Joseph can be.
It’s possible now that Green, Vokolek and Joseph could all have at least some role for the Huskers in 2020.