Nebraska has just landed its highest-rated prospect in the entire history of its football program. The 6’6”, 275-pound edge rusher, Williams Nwaneri, committed to Missouri last year as the No. 7 overall recruit in the 2024 class. At the time, he was a 5-star+ player and held a rating of 99. For reference, former Nebraska star edge rusher Randy Gregory had a rating of 81 coming out of his recruiting class, so it’s safe to say Nwaneri has an incredibly high ceiling. During the 2024 recruiting cycle, just about every major school in the country made offers to Nwaneri. Missouri even changed laws to make it more advantageous for him to commit to the Tigers. Ultimately, Nwaneri committed to Missouri over Georgia, Tennessee, and Nebraska.
Fast forward to today, Nwaneri is now a Cornhusker. While many factors played into him coming to Lincoln, I believe a few reasons stand out. The first is that Jamar Mozee, his former high school head coach, is now on staff at Nebraska. Add this to the connections he made last year during his visits, and you have solid relationships on all levels at Nebraska that you can’t beat. The second reason is playing time; with a lot of projected starters now having entered the transfer portal, Nwaneri should be seeing a lot of playing time. Lastly, Nebraska used its NIL to its advantage, so now Nwaneri won’t just see scarlet and cream but lots of green.
