{"id":57826,"date":"2024-02-09T09:00:04","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T14:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=57826"},"modified":"2024-02-08T20:15:30","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T01:15:30","slug":"how-the-nebraska-cornhuskers-fared-on-national-signing-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2024\/02\/09\/how-the-nebraska-cornhuskers-fared-on-national-signing-day\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Nebraska Cornhuskers Fared on National Signing Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

On National Signing Day, head coach Matt Rhule<\/strong> and the Nebraska Cornhuskers added ex-Washington signee Keona Wilhite<\/strong> as well as walk-on safety Kahmir Prescott<\/strong> to the 2024 recruiting class. Let’s take a look at how these late pledges fit inside Tony White’s scheme.<\/p>\n

Can Wilhite Be Another Defensive Star?<\/h3>\n

As a defensive lineman for Salpointe Catholic in Arizona, Wilhite dominated the line of scrimmage when he ended up totaling 60 tackles, 18.5 tackles for loss, and eight sacks in his senior campaign. Sound familiar? That’s because it is. As a senior for Manor High in Texas,\u00a0 current Husker sophomore Princewill Umanmielien<\/a> had similar production. He doubled his tackles with\u00a0 65, and had the same amount of sacks. Wilhite has an edge in taking the ball away and one forced fumble. This comparison would sound good for Husker fans, especially since he earned All-American honors as a freshman under\u00a0 White. And there’s nothing that would stop him from following in his footsteps. He already weighs in at 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds, which lends itself to him rushing the passer. But does he have what it takes to be thrust into a starting role early in his career? All signs point to no, but it has been done before in the Blackshirts’ defense. Just look at how much production sophomore James Williams<\/a> and\u00a0 Nash Hutmacher<\/a> were able to generate inside the scheme along with Ty Robinson<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more about Princewill Umanmielien’s signing\u00a0 with the Huskers in Nebraska’s 2023 Signing Day Class In Review<\/a><\/p>\n

Beating A Big Ten Rival<\/h3>\n

Evan Cooper’s<\/strong> defensive backfield just got a whole lot bigger. On National Signing Day, the Nebraska Cornhuskers beat out the Wisconsin Badgers for three-star safety Kahmir Prescott on Wednesday. He will join the program as a walk-on, but there are plenty of chances for the Philadelphia native to earn a scholarship. As a senior for Neumann Gorretti last fall, he had 15 tackles, one interception, and a forced fumble. These are decent statistics, but the 6-foot-1\u00a0 prospect stands out for another reason. He attacks the football with his physicality. The coaching staff loves this about him, which means that attitude will also serve him well when it comes to competing closer to the line of scrimmage.\u00a0 Most likely, he’ll end up under White learning the details of the rover linebacker spot. Because of this, he should have a perfect mentor to learn from in sixth-year senior Luke Gifford<\/a>. With that kind of help,\u00a0 the Blackshirts could have another star in the making.\u00a0 If not, Cooper could have him fulfill a similar role in the secondary. Most likely, he would back up a player with returning production. In this case,\u00a0 it would be cornerback Tommi Hill<\/a>. He was excellent for the program with four interceptions and nine pass deflections.\u00a0 \u00a0Or could he back up even a smaller player in Malcolm Hartzog<\/a>? All told the Mississippi native was able to set career highs in tackles, pass breakups, and tackles for loss in 2023.\u00a0 Either way, he would have to compete alongside veterans to earn the starting job. Because of this, will the staff redshirt the prospect once he gets to Lincoln?<\/p>\n

What Does These Additions Mean For 2025?<\/h3>\n

On the defensive side of the football, the Cornhuskers signed a solid group of prospects for the 2024 cycle. It started with Roger Gradney<\/strong> in February and grew to add room for defensive talents like Willis McGahee IV, Vincent Shavers, and former Maryland commit Larry Tarver. But what about the prospects that Nebraska is pursuing on that side of the ball in the 2025 class?\u00a0 Granted there’s not much movement in that department, but four-star Omaha (Westside)\u00a0 linebacker Christian Jones<\/strong> should be at the top of the list for linebackers coach Rob Dvoracek.<\/strong> The number one player in the state put together a strong junior season with 62 total tackles and 12 tackles for loss.\u00a0 And with it came plenty of attention from out-of-state schools. Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, and Washington are some. of the schools that he is hearing from.\u00a0 And he should get even more attention in his next season with the Warriors.\u00a0 Who knows?\u00a0 With another strong outing, the 220-pounder could demonstrate enough promise to nab an Alabama or Texas offer in the coming months.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Nebraska
Photo courtesy: Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On National Signing Day, head coach Matt Rhule and the Nebraska Cornhuskers added ex-Washington signee Keona Wilhite as well as walk-on safety Kahmir Prescott to the 2024 recruiting class. Let’s take a look at how these late pledges fit inside Tony White’s scheme. Can Wilhite Be Another Defensive Star? As a defensive lineman for Salpointe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4440,"featured_media":57896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,7316],"tags":[7983,10105,33199,33198,511,9817],"class_list":["post-57826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-bigten","category-recruiting","tag-big-ten-football","tag-evan-cooper","tag-kahmir-prescott","tag-keona-wilhite","tag-nebraska-cornhuskers","tag-tony-white"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4440"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}