NU Notes: Fisher Leading Foothold In Florida

Credit defensive backs coach Travis Fisher for helping Nebraska re-establish its recruiting foothold in the talent-laden state of Florida.
 
After being shut out of the Sunshine State in last year's recruiting class, Nebraska has signed seven players from Florida. Two are coveted four-star players who announced their decisions on Wednesday, the first day of the early signing period, giving the Huskers' overall class a big late boost.
 
Nebraska coach Scott Frost said Fisher, a Florida native, did yeoman's work on the recruiting trail in his home state, labeling him a "super star" on this year's recruiting staff.
 
"He knocked it out of the park this year," Frost said. "That's really valuable to our football team, to have a coach that can go out of state like that and bring in the type of talent that he brought in."
 
Longtime relationships and recruiting ties in Florida are one reason Fisher is successful in the state. Even bigger, Frost said, is Fisher's ability to establish relationships and connect with players.
 
"Coach Fish cares about his guys deeply," Frost said. "He doesn't just stop into high schools and tell kids we want them at Nebraska. I think the relationships he builds are strong, and it takes a lot of that to pull kids out of a state like Florida to come to Lincoln, Nebraska.
 
"He's the type of guy people want to play for. I'm just glad Coach Fish is going to be with us for a long time."
 
Fisher and the Nebraska staff overcame challenges, for sure. Of the seven Florida signees, four are from the Miami area, and all had offers from Miami. In fact, three of them were, at one point or another, committed to the Hurricanes.
 
Nebraska has signed 15 players from Florida under Frost, who's entering his third season. Prior to his arrival, Nebraska had signed a combined 16 players from Florida over the previous eight recruiting classes, and never more than three in a single class.
 
"Recruiting in Florida for a long time, there's some kids that I don't think it serves them well to leave the state," said Frost, who spent two seasons coaching at UCF. "There's others that probably the best thing in the world for them is to get out of the state and go be their own man somewhere else.
 
"I think we focused on the right kids. We focused on kids who were anxious to get out and experience something else."
 
Frost mentioned a few of the Florida signees during his signing day news conference. Marcus Fleming, who announced his decision Wednesday, is a speedy receiver from the Miami area who helped Northwestern High School to a state championship this fall.
 
"He can really go," Frost said. "Gosh, you talk about a kid that just oozes his love for football. He just loves being out there. I think if you asked him to play on a parking lot cement track, he'd go out and play football. He has a chance to help us, and help us quick."
 
Keyshawn Greene, a former Florida State commitment, will help solidify the linebacker spot. Frost said Greene, from Crawfordville, in the Florida panhandle, recently visited Lincoln "and fell in love with it" and is eager to return.
 
"Keyshawn is an unusual athlete," Frost said. "When you watch his tape, just his ability to close to the football and make plays is pretty special."
 
Frost also said running back Marvin Scott III, from Port Orange, Florida, "is as physically developed" as any player in this class, and expects him to be able to contribute right away.


 
Receiving Corps Gets Boost
 
When Frost and his staff arrived in Lincoln, a mere four scholarship wide receivers were on the roster. That number would normally be 10 or 11, Frost said.
 
"That was a position just by numbers that we kind of had to rebuild," Frost said. "We feel good about this class and where it's going to take us."
 
In addition to Fleming, another player who has a chance to make an immediate impact is Omar Manning, a Texas native and former TCU player who became the nation's top-ranked junior college wide receiver at Kilgore Community College. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Manning caught 35 passes this past season and averaged 21 yards per catch.
 
"Omar is a player I'm really excited about," Frost said. "All year we kind of wished we were a little more productive at our outside receiver spots, and that's one place where we thought we wanted a guy who could come in and potentially help us right away.
 
"There wasn't a better guy in the country, in my opinion, for what we were looking for than him. He looks different than anybody I've ever coached and has the tape to match. He's got a little work to do before he gets to campus, but I think he has a chance to change our offense."
 
Wide receiver Alante Brown, a four-star recruit, announced his decision on Wednesday. Frost said Brown's a versatile player who could also carry the football.
 
"He changes direction really well and has really good hands," Frost said. "But he's also physical."

Also among the four signed receivers is Will Nixon, another Texas native whose father, Jeff, is co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach at Baylor. Will chose the Huskers over Baylor, Kansas State, Notre Dame and Penn State.
 
"I love coaches' kids," Frost said. "I think he's already starting to learn our offense because of what Jeff knows about it. I think he's a guy that could play multiple spots for us -- inside receiver, outside receiver, running back, a bunch of different places. I think he's going to pick it up fast."
 
Building Walk-on Depth
 
Nebraska also announced 19 players who will join the program as walk-ons, as Frost continues to aim to build the walk-on program.
 
"The walk-on class helped us a lot this year," Frost said. "I think starting next year it's just going to get to a point where it's helping us more and more. I think that level of support from the walk-on program and contribution from the walk-on program is going to increase every year."
 
Highlighting the walk-on class, Frost said, are Lincoln native and Southeast graduate Isaac Gifford, the brother of former Husker linebacker Luke Gifford, and former eight-man star Ty Hahn, a receiver from Johnson-Brock High School. Both announced their decisions earlier this week.
 
Gifford, a defensive back ranked the No. 3 prospect in Nebraska, will enroll in January.
 
"We're so excited to have him on the team," Frost said. "Just as excited as anybody else we got today."
 
The 6-foot-2 Hahn, who led Johnson-Brock to the 2018 Class D-2 state championship, also had an offer from Wyoming and several FCS schools.
 
"Ty Hahn is as good as a lot of scholarship guys around the country," Frost said. "Guys like that are going to come in and help."
 
Of the 19 new walk-ons, 16 are from Nebraska. That number doesn't include Colorado State transfer and Norris High School graduate Nouredin Nouili, who's from Frankfurt, Germany.
 
"I think this might as good a class since we've been here," Frost said of the walk-ons.
 

Seeing Triple
 
Sophomore point guard Cam Mack made headlines Sunday when he recorded the first triple-double in 123 years of Nebraska men's basketball. He secured his 10th rebound in the final minute of Nebraska's 70-56 victory over Purdue, to go with his 11 points and 12 assists.
 
Some of the headlines, though, may not have been specific enough. Mack's triple-double isn't the first in school history – not when including the men's and women's programs.
 
Point guard Lindsey Moore has that honor. She recorded 12 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists on Jan. 2, 2011, in a 73-57 victory over Florida A&M. Since then, two other Huskers had accomplished the feat before Sunday.
 
Natalie Romeo had 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists on Feb. 28, 2016, in a 78-67 victory over Northwestern in the final game of the regular season. And center Kate Cain has the only triple-double in school history with blocked shots. As a freshman, she finished with 22 points, 14 rebounds and a school-record 11 blocked shots in an 86-69 victory over Florida Atlantic on Dec. 19, 2017.
 
It's also worth noting Brennon Clemmons had a triple-double before any of the aforementioned players. Of course, it didn't count, because it came in an exhibition game against Sports Tours on Nov. 14, 2002.
 
Back to Mack: His 10 rebounds and 12 assists were both career highs, and he's the first Husker in at least 30 years to have back-to-back double-doubles in points and assists – for the men's team.
 
Reach Brian at brosenthal@huskers.com or follow him on Twitter @GBRosenthal.