Husker Football Tickets

Will he or won't he? Only Bubba knows

One of the big questions fans with Husker football tickets is asking about this upcoming season is the status of freshman recruit Bubba Starling.
The phenomenal multi-sport standout from Gardner, Kan., recently arrived on the University of Nebraska campus in Lincoln to begin voluntary football drills, but many are wondering just how long he'll stay in Lincoln.
Starling is a standout in both football and baseball, and earlier this summer he was the fifth pick overall in the Major League Baseball entry draft, taken in the first round by the Kansas City Royals.
Starling has until Aug. 15 to decide whether he wants to stay in Lincoln and play football for the Huskers, or sign a multi-million dollar deal to play baseball in the Royals farm system. And as easy a decision as that might sound, it's certainly not one that anybody involved in Starling's future is taking lightly.
Starling told the Lincoln Journal-Star earlier this year that he wasn't sure if he was ready for professional baseball, but after a tremendous spring of high school baseball, he's certainly got the Royals' attention and he has hired noted pro sports agent Scott Boras, who no doubt will broker a very nice deal for Starling if he chooses baseball over football.
There is a lot of anticipation as to how this will all play out for Starling, who looks every bit the athlete that could step into a leadership role and be an outstanding athlete for the Huskers the next four years. If he decides on college football, Nebraska fans will no doubt have a lot of exciting opportunities to watch this young man develop.
And even if he decides on baseball, there's a good chance fans living in the Lincoln and Omaha area could one day see Starling play for the Omaha Storm Chasers on his way to the big league club in Kansas City.
No matter where Starling ends up, you'll get a great chance to see Husker football in action this year with great seats from Ticket Express -- where no Husker football game is ever sold out.

Tenth recruit commits to Huskers

Nebraska got another verbal commitment for 2009, this time coming from the football-rich state of Florida.

The Tallahassee Democrat reported Tuesday that DeAndre Byrd has committed to the Huskers, where he is expected to play cornerback. He is 5-foot-10, 170 pounds and pretty much had his mind made up this summer.

Byrd met Pelini last year when Pelini was still the defensive coordinator at LSU, and is turning down offers from several schools, including Big 12 schools Colorado and Iowa State, as well as South Florida, Ole Miss, Michigan State and Iowa, among others.

"It wasn't that hard to call them," Byrd told the Democrat, "because I know where I want to go."

Huskers get another Texas recruit

Texas has a long and storied history for being a hotbed of recruiting activity in college football, and it appears Nebraska is getting serious about invading the Lone Star State for future recruits.

Evidence is the recent commitment of Emerson Evans, a defensive end from Houston, to play football for Nebraska in 2009. The 6-foot-1, 235-pounder at Alief Taylor High School is the fifth Texas senior-to-be to say yes to the Huskers and the eighth verbal commitment coach Bo Pelini has received from the Class of 2009.

Evans had 87 tackles and 16 quarterback sacks last year and had offers from Utah, Texas-El Paso and Ole Miss. Big-name schools like Ohio State, LSU and Texas A&M were also looking at Evans, according to the Lincoln Journal-Star.

Evans is an explosive player with good technique, according to his high school coach, Trevor White. Evans was sold on the Huskers' tradition and the fact that their head coach knows a thing or two about defense.

Evans is the fifth Texas recruit to commit to Nebraska and the third in the past week. Other Texas recuits include offensive lineman Jess Coffey of Denton, quarterback Cody Green of Dayton, defensive tackle Thaddeus Randle of Galena Park and running back Dontrayevous Robinson of Euless.

Overall, eight players have verbally committed to Nebraska. The other recruits planning on coming to Lincoln include linebacker Shawn Bodtmann of Scranton, Pa.; defensive tackle Cole Pensick of Lincoln, Neb.; and fullback C.J. Zimmerer of Omaha, Neb.

Green says he's coming to Nebraska

One of the top quarterback recruits in the country, Cody Green of Dayton, Texas, announced Wednesday that he has verbally committed to play football for the Huskers.

Of course, verbal commitments are nothing until letter-of-intent signing day in early February. However, coach Bo Pelini seems to have landed a young man that is being touted by many recruiting experts as one of the best quarterbacks in the Class of 2009.

Green is a 6-foot-4, 220-pound senior-to-be, and is being chased by a number of schools, including Texas A&M, LSU, Baylor, Alabama, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Miami. He put up some impressive numbers as a sophomore, passing for 1,429 yards and 19 touchdowns while completing over 60 percent of his passes. He also rushed for 689 yards on 95 carries and four touchdowns. Last year, he missed most of the season due to torn ligaments in his ankle.

His high school coach says he's about 85 percent healthy, and when at full strength he has 4.57-second speed in the 40-yard dash. Green is a student of the game who spends a lot of time watching game film, and his high school coach calls him a "high-character kid" who will be a class act.

Green is the sixth verbal commitment coach Bo Pelini has received from the Class of 2009. Other verbal commitments have come from Shawn Bodtmann of Scranton, Pa.; Thaddeus Randle of Galena Park, Texas; Dontrayevous Robinson of Euless, Texas; and Nebraska standouts Cole Pensick of Lincoln Northeast and C.J. Zimmerer of Omaha Gross.

Teafatiller arrested for third time

A Husker football player is in trouble with the law for the third time in less than two years.

Hunter Tafatiller was arrested early Sunday morning on a drunken driving charge after he was stopped for speeding on Interstate 180 in Lincoln, according to the Nebraska State Patrol. Teafatiller was given a sobriety test and his blood-alcohol level tested at .20, more than twice the state's legal limit of .08.

This is the third time Teafatiller has been arrested for drunk driving in less than two years. He was arrested twice during a three-month period in 2007, pleading guilty to the second charge. He was fined and sentenced to nine months probation, and also had his driver's license impounded for 60 days. He was not prosecuted in the first case.

Teafatiller's arrest puts coach Bo Pelini in a difficult situation. Teafatiller was being looked at as the starting tight end this season, as he had the most returning experience at the position. Pelini said he will face internal discipline and his playing status will be determined as the case runs through the legal system.

Teafatiller caught four passes for 34 yards last year, three of those coming against Wake Forest.

Huskers get two commitments for 2009

Nebraska picked up a pair of verbal commitments from the Class of 2009 last week.

Omaha Gross standout C.J. Zimmerer was the first to announce his intentions last week. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound senior for the Cougars was an all-stater at linebacker last year, but is being looked at as a potential fullback by the Huskers.

Also committing to Nebraska is Dontrayevous Robinson, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound running back from Trinity High School in Euless, Texas. He helped Trinity claim the state's Class 5-A championship last year with 18 touchdowns and over 1,000 yards in total yards.

These two are the fourth and fifth members of the Class of 2009 to verbally commit to play at Nebraska.

Pelini gets commitment from Houston lineman

Nebraska will need to address issues on the defensive line next year with a number of graduations coming, but coach Bo Pelini has gotten a head start.

It was announced recently that Thaddeus Randle, an defensive lineman from Houston, Texas, has verbally committed to Nebraska as a member of the Class of 2009. He is the third oral commitment received, joining defensive tackle Cole Pensick of Lincoln and Shawn Bodtmann, a linebacker from Pennsylvania.

According to the scouting report on Randle, he is a solid fundamental player, but is a bit undersized at 6-foot-1 and 255 pounds. He will definitely need to bulk up if he is going to develop into a force on the defensive line for the Huskers.

The Huskers will have a definite need for defensive lineman next year. Five seniors make up the defensive line this year, including ends Zach Potter and Barry Turner and tackles Ty Steinkuhler, Kevin Dixon and Shukree Barfield.

Pennsylvania linebacker commits to Huskers

Pennsylvania prep standout Shawn Bodtmann has announced that he has committed to play his college football at Nebraska.

The 6-foot, 205-pound talent from West Scranton High School is a hard-nosed player who plays both on offense and defense. In addition to his defensive talents, he played running back and rushed for 1,452 yards for a team that went 12-2 last year.

Bodtmann was very impressed by what he saw at the University of Nebraska, particularly the turnout of fans for the recent Red-White Spring Game.

"The stadium was filled for basically a practice," he told the Scranton (Pa.) Times-Tribune. "The fans are incredible. The coaches are great. The players are great. It was amazing. Just to walk in and see the trophies and awards winners was unbelievable. The tradition and pride in that program is mind blowing."

The Spoils of Recruiting for Huskers

The Husker football program scored big last Wednesday on National Signing Day.  Not so long ago during the coaching transition the recruiting class at Nebraska had been whittled down to 14 recruits.  Most of the high profile recruits left, including Quarterback Blaine Gabbert, running back Jonas Gray and most of the Huskers highly touted offensive line recruits.  But lets take a look at how Husker football coach Bo Pelini transformed a recruiting disaster into a top 25 recruiting class.

The first great thing Bo Pelini did for Husker recruiting was focus the target on Nebraska recruits; in particular, keeping the Nebraska recruits we already had committed, and building the Nebraska walk on program up to Dr. Tom's standards again.

The second thing Bo Pelini did was pick up some greatly needed defensive recruits.  Recruits like Texas DE Josh Williams that were added late will add power and speed to a defense that has seen better years, much better years.  Pelini was lucky in the fact that he recruited the bulk of the defensive recruits.  This allowed him to pick the best recruits possible to play in his unique style of defense.

If you are tired of hearing all of the recruiting hype lately around the Bo Pelini and want to see how he is doing with coaching the older guys on the Huskers squad, check out the White and Red Spring Game.  Get your tickets to the White vs Red Spring Game now, it almost sold out Memorial Stadium last year.

Nebraska Recruiting Class Ranks in Top 25

I have to give it to you Bo, you surprised me with the Husker football 2008 recruiting class that you showed off yesterday on National Signing Day all across the country.  I never expected to be ranked in the top 25 after almost half of the spring Husker recruits left for other schools.  But Scout.com ranked the Huskers recruiting class as #22 nationally, and Nebraska got a few other mentions in top 25 lists.

Just like I mentioned in the last post, the Texas recruits are being targeted by Bo Pelini and his staff.  He even said in the signing day press conference that the recruits will come from Texas after they come from in-state recruits in Nebraska.  Pelini said that Nebraska is where recruiting begins and ends but that Texas will be a primary target for the Husker recruiting staff.

Coach Bo Pelini refused to talk about any one player saying that the class should be looked at as a whole.  Pelini added that only until three years from now should the media even think of asking him if he thinks they are good players or not.  Pelini said they had not proved themselves yet.  Let's hope we can see some of the recruits prove themselves in the 2008 season.  There are spots that need filing in the line up and some of these recruits are more than capable of securing a starting line up spot.