Group recruiting helps Husker cause
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By BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
In the late stages of recruiting ballyhooed linebacker Will Compton, every Nebraska assistant defensive coach went down to the prep star’s Missouri hometown to visit him.
Compton was in the midst of a tough decision between NU, Illinois or Missouri. Maybe that decision was made a little easier after four Husker coaches spent a Sunday in his living room watching some of the NFC Championship game with him.
Two days after that visit, Compton said he was coming to Nebraska.
Group recruiting was used often by new Husker coaches during the final two months of recruiting season, and you can expect it to continue.
“Our whole emphasis was to get out of the recruiting process as soon as possible and get into the relationship building,” said Ted Gilmore, NU’s recruiting coordinator/receivers coach.
“I’m a firm believer. You have to team recruit. You have to help each other out. Because you never know when somebody else can reach a kid in some areas another coach can’t. And I think the more people that they have a relationship with, and that they have a connection with, it’s a little harder to say no.”
* A coaching nickname: The energy of new Nebraska linebackers coach Mike Ekeler seemed to come in handy for Nebraska on the recruiting trail.
In the process of building the recruiting class, Ekeler’s high-octane personality apparently even earned him a nickname with some recruits.
“Coach Red Bull” is what West Point Central Catholic senior Micah Kreikemeier called him with a smile. “I love that guy.”
When the staff went to visit Compton, Ekeler even put a temporary tattoo of the linebacker’s name on his arm.
“I knew it was our last chance to get in front of him,” Ekeler said. “It built a neat relationship with him. I thought he’d get a kick out of it, and he did. It was fun.”
Adding to Ekeler’s fire is a recruiting class that includes four linebackers: Compton, Kreikemeier, Sean Fisher (Millard North) and Alonzo Whaley (Madisonville, Texas).
Discussing the 6-foot-5, 210-pound Fisher, Ekeler said: “He’s kind of a freak, to be honest with you ... I keep telling him if he eats too much he’s going to put his hands down and be (a defensive end) like Grant Wistrom. The guy’s amazing. He’s got exceptional talent. I don’t care if you’re in Nebraska, or if he’s in Florida. He’s one of the top recruits, in my mind, in the country.”
Ekeler also had some high praises for Kreikemeier.
“He can run, great size, and he’s a 4.0 student,” he said. “And he’s a Nebraska kid, born and raised, dying to play out here on this field — a lot of intangibles.”
* Late additions: The Huskers added several scholarship recruits to their class in the final week before last Wednesday’s national signing day — notably receiver Tim Marlowe, defensive back Justin Rogers and safety Mason Wald.
The Husker recruiting class ended up with 28 players, which is a good size considering the class was once down to 15 commits in December.
Ekeler said coaches were not concerned with how many players ended up in the class, just that they had the right ones. Coaches were more than fine holding onto scholarships for future use if those right ones weren’t around, he said.
“It just so happened we found some guys we really, really liked,” Ekeler said. “There was no panic. When you talk to Bo Pelini, there’s no panic in that guy, and that carries over to all of us.”
* He spent the past four years out of football, serving as the Nebraska State Director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, but Husker tight ends coach Ron Brown didn’t feel that slowed him at all in recruiting when he came back into coaching in December.
“Being able to engage with young men and their families, it’s just something I got right back into the swing of,” Brown said. “Once I took the recruiting test and got re-familiarized, and newly familiarized with all the rules and changes, I felt like I was back in the hopper.”
Of the scholarship recruits, the Huskers added two tight end recruits - Tyson Hetzer, a 6-foot-6, 245-pound JUCO player from California, and Ben Cotton (6-6, 217) from Ames, Iowa.
What do tight ends have to look forward to under the guidance of Brown?
“Our tight ends are going to have to be not only excellent receivers, but they’re going to have to be ferocious run blockers, and I’m going to train them that way,” Brown said. “We’re going to have a lot of physicality in practice.”
* Faith and football: It wasn’t so much visits to other schools that was keeping Louisiana receiver Khiry Cooper from visiting Nebraska during the recruiting stretch run.
It was visits to church camps.
“It was very clear to me and our staff early on, that Jesus Christ was the center of his life,” Brown said. “He was not going anywhere without making sure that that line was checked off. He was probably one of the few top recruits in the country that was going to church camps on weekends instead of recruiting visits.”
Brown visited Cooper several times in Louisiana, even going to church with him on one occasion.
“He’s a leader, that’s the thing I really am excited about,” Brown said. “I just saw him interact with all the kids at his school ... If you’re an athlete or not, Khiry’s got his arm around you. He’s a soft-spoken kid but he’s a great leader.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
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