Nebraska coaches will spend a significant portion of the time between now and Dec. 15's early signing period on the road recruiting and hosting players on visits back in Lincoln.Â
The Journal Star will be updating the latest on the recruiting front regularly in the recruiting ticker.Â
Here's the latest from Thursday:Â
The portal offers continue to pour out for Nebraska.Â
NU jumped into the mix for a transfer defensive back, making an offer to former Temple safety M.J. Griffin.
In 2021, the Owls starter had 65 tackles (three for loss), a sack and four breakups. He finished this fall as a third-year freshman when factoring in the extra year of eligibility that everybody received from the NCAA. That means he was originally a class of 2019 recruit like Husker defenders Nick Henrich and Ty Robinson, for example.Â
Griffin (6-foot-1 and 200 pounds) was originally a three-star prospect and is from Saline, Michigan.Â
Griffin also quickly picked up offers from Georgia Tech and Kansas after appearing in the portal.Â
Nebraska's been evaluating and offering transfer and junior college defensive backs for months. Earlier this week, the Huskers offered Abilene Christian cornerback Ryan Stapp.Â
Later in the day, the Huskers extended an offer to FCS Albany pass-rusher Jared Verse.Â
The 6-4, 250-pound redshirt freshman racked up 11.5 tackles for loss and nine sacks this fall in 11 games for Albany. Â
Part 1! Takeoff! 🚀
— Jared Verse (@JaredVerse1)
He's been a popular target since entering his name in the portal on Nov. 30, compiling more than a dozen offers already. That includes Utah and Colorado from the Pac-12, West Virginia, Purdue, Kansas and several others.Â
Nebraska also made an interesting move and offered another Class of 2022 high school defensive lineman in Brendan Flakes out of Florida.Â
Flakes is listed at 6-4 and 250. He is considered a three-star prospect and also has offers from Northwestern and several other Group of Five schools.Â
Flakes had 11.5 sacks this season for West Orange High and recently decommitted from Marshall.Â
Nebraska is also in on Brodie Tagaloa (San Francisco) as far as high school defensive linemen in the 2022 class. Tagaloa has already arrived on campus for his official visit and is currently in the midst of it.Â
Familiar names: One of the interesting things about Nebraska offering so many high school players in each class — the Huskers regularly rank near the top of the country in how many offers they extend — is that there are a lot of familiar names that surface later in the transfer portal.Â
A couple of defenders who had Nebraska as finalists popped up on Thursday alone, for example.Â
One is North Carolina inside linebacker Eugene Asante, whose older brother, Larry, played for the Huskers. Nebraska has solid, young depth at inside linebacker, but was interested in Asante back in the 2019 class when he was ranked the No. 178 overall player in the country.Â
Another is former four-star pass rusher Lloyd Summerall (Lakeland, Florida), who had appeared in 16 games over three seasons at Florida before entering the portal Thursday. Summerall (6-5, 245) had NU in his final three back in high school, though most thought he realistically was picking between Florida and Miami.Â
Summerall appeared in 12 games for the Gators this fall, but saw limited duty and finished with eight tackles.Â
2023 offer: The Huskers aren't just recruiting for next year's team, of course. They also continue to evaluate talent in future classes and on Thursday morning extended an offer to 2023 linebacker Leviticus Su’a. Listed at 6-2 and 220 pounds, Su'a is considered a four-star prospect by both Rivals and 247Sports, and is the No. 199 overall player nationally according to the 247Sports Composite.Â
GOD IS GOOD! ALL THE TIME! HAD A GREAT CONVERSATION WITH THIS EVENING, SO BLESSED TO HAVE RECEIVED AN OFFER FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA! â¤ï¸ðŸ–¤ 🌽🌽
Check out my uncle in the 2nd pic!!
— Leviticus Su’a (@_leviticussua_)
Su'a's uncle is former Nebraska offensive lineman Tonui Fonoti.Â
The turning point in every Nebraska football game in 2021