LINCOLN - Nebraska linebackers coach Trent Bray had been on the job for less than two months when NU reached out to a highly touted prospect from Delaware.
It was all the way back on Feb. 2, 2015. That afternoon, Avery Roberts tweeted that he'd received a scholarship offer from the Huskers, essentially the first step in the recruitment of any elite-level athlete. What occurs in the months following is always the key, and it appears - particularly in this case - those relationship-forming moments between Bray and the linebacker made the difference.
Roberts revealed Thursday on Twitter that he plans to attend Nebraska, becoming the seventh known member of NU's 2017 recruiting class. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound prospect from Wilmington, Delaware, is one of the most talented within NU's already impressive haul.
He's a consensus four-star prospect, rated in the top 10 nationally at his position by all four major recruiting services (Rivals is the only one that lists him as an outside linebacker, instead of an inside linebacker). According to 247Sports' composite rating, Roberts is the nation's 185th-best overall prospect.
Quarterback Tristan Gebbia (No. 155) and receiver Keyshawn Johnson Jr. (No. 222) are the two other 2017 NU pledges ranked inside the composite top 250.
Like Gebbia and Johnson, Roberts has been high on Nebraska's list for some time.
And for good reason, his high school coach said.
Roberts, after contributing as a freshman, had a breakout sophomore season for Concord High School two years ago. More than 100 tackles, coach Greg Mitchell said.
"By the third or fourth game of his freshman year, we knew he was going to be pretty good, and he had a big sophomore year," Mitchell said.
The nation's powerhouses had all expressed interest as the spring and summer unfolded. Roberts did miss a little more than two games with an injury last season, but he still recorded more than 70 tackles. Roberts also played fullback for Concord.
"He's a big hitter," Mitchell said. "Very physical. He really pursues downhill very well."
It appears to run in the family.
Roberts' older brother, Grant, just finished up his second season as a linebacker at FCS-level Delaware. Younger brother Grahm is a 2018 running back recruit who already has a scholarship offer from Nebraska.
Perhaps the early identification will pay off for NU with Grahm, the same way it did with Avery.
Husker coach Mike Riley can't comment specifically about recruits, but he did mention Thursday night on his radio show that he and his staff have further emphasized the evaluation process since taking over Nebraska's program. It's critical for a school with a coast-to-coast recruiting plan to carefully manage where it invests its time and energy.
"If you're not on the right guy - either the right person who you want on your team and who you want at your university, or the right player - then the recruiting doesn't matter," Riley said on "Sports Nightly" on the Husker Sports Network. "It's a two-fold process. The first one gets you started, the evaluation. And then the recruiting is the educating and the building of the relationship that is going to be the key factor."
Their hard work has paid off so far in this 2017 cycle.
Willie Hampton, out of West Palm Beach, Florida, was the first recruit to make a nonbinding commitment to Nebraska on March 9. He joins Roberts as the only two linebackers, to this point.
The entire group, though, has attracted national acclaim. The attention seemed to be at its peak when Johnson committed about a month ago, but the Huskers are still giving analysts, fans and prospects reasons to keep NU in the conversation. Since Johnson's announcement, Nebraska has added a quarterback (Gebbia), an in-state tight end recruit (Austin Allen) and an offensive tackle (Brenden Jaimes). Receiver Jaevon McQuitty has also pledged to NU.
"There's a little bit of a buzz about us right now in recruiting," Riley said. "And that's a really good thing. That momentum can help us continue to build."
↧