Huskers get prep linebacker from Texas
digg it!
Facebook
del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit
BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
It was better weather for ice sculpting than recruiting kids from Texas, but still Nebraska succeeded at the latter this weekend.
Alonzo Whaley, an outside linebacker from Madisonville, Texas, committed to the Husker football program during a weekend campus visit.
“It was about the coaches and the people, man,” Whaley said. “It wasn’t even about the facilities. It was about the coaches and people. There’s just something about the people. They’re caring. That’s the type of people I want to be around the next four or five years.”
The 6-foot, 213-pound Whaley turned down scholarship offers from Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Louisiana Tech, UTEP, Arizona State, Houston and Missouri.
One big reason why: He found it easy to communicate with Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini, whose LSU defense he watched closely during the national title game several weeks ago.
The passion displayed in that game by LSU, Pelini’s coaching home the previous three football seasons, got Whaley fired up about what the coach might bring to the Huskers.
“It was just showing me how it would be in Nebraska in a couple of years when we bring the Blackshirts back,” Whaley said.
He was a district MVP this past season and currently gives Nebraska 18 known commitments in its 2008 recruiting class. Defensive back Keelan Johnson (Mesa, Ariz.) reportedly de-committed from Nebraska in favor of Arizona State on Friday because he wished to stay closer to home.
Nebraska probably wouldn’t mind getting another Whaley to commit in the near future. Alonzo’s brother, Chris, is a running back in Madisonville and is considered a top prospect in the 2009 recruiting class.
But first Husker coaches are pushing to add to their 2008 class with national signing day on Feb. 6.
Tim Marlowe — a 5-foot-10, 165-pound athlete — was scheduled to arrive in town on Sunday for a campus visit. Marlowe is a product of Pelini’s high school alma mater, Cardinal Mooney in Youngstown, Ohio.
Other recruits who visited campus this week included tight end Ben Cotton (Ames, Iowa), running back Deleon Eskridge (San Mateo, Calif.), linebacker Micah Kreikemeier (West Point Central Catholic), cornerback Shaun Prater (Omaha Central), defensive end Jacqueis Smith (Dallas) and safety P.J. Smith (River Ridge, La.).
Shaun Prater’s twin brother, Shane, did not visit Lincoln this week. It appears he is strongly attached to Iowa, where both brothers are committed.
Aside from the apparent loss of Johnson, the Huskers have had a positive recruiting month after a December that saw de-commitments shrink Nebraska’s class to 15 recruits. NU once had as many as 24 commitments before a coaching shakeup muddled matters.
The Huskers gained a commitment the first week of January from quarterback Kody Spano, then found out the next week that Omaha Westside running back Collins Okafor and defensive end Josh Williams (Denton, Texas) both planned to sign with them.
And on Friday, the Huskers picked up their first verbal commit of the 2009 class from Cole Pensick, a 6-foot-2, 255-pound lineman at Lincoln Northeast.
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
Most Commented news