Can Mickey Josephs Nebraska recruiting efforts ease upheaval of coaching transition?

April 18, 2024

LINCOLN, Neb. — Who knows what Nate Swift, Terrence Nunn and Joe Ganz, Will Compton and Baker Steinkuhler, Stanley Morgan, Devine Ozigbo and Mohamed Barry, and Cam Taylor-Britt and Adrian Martinez have in common?

Aside from playing at Nebraska in the past 20 years, which means that together they won a total of zero league championships, all of the above-mentioned standouts signed with the Huskers during coaching transitions.

Transitions wreck recruiting classes. From Frank Solich to Bill Callahan, Callahan to Bo Pelini, Pelini to Mike Riley and Riley to Scott Frost, they played out similarly. For every Morgan or Martinez, there were about 10 signees who didn’t work out in Lincoln and five who flat-out flopped.

The introduction of a December signing period in 2017 only increases the odds stacked against the success of a transition class. That a winning culture never took hold for Frost, the only coach to preside over a transition class while grappling with the early signing period, is likely no coincidence.

Frost’s first class, re-ranked four years after it came together, sat last among all Power 5 programs.

It speaks to problems with development and retention but also in the evaluation phase of recruiting with relationships, communication and the recognition of players who fit at Nebraska.

Mickey Joseph is out to reverse the trend lines.

No. 1️⃣ Player in Nebraska ✅

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— All-American Bowl (@AABonNBC) October 13, 2022

Even in the age of the transfer portal, Nebraska can’t afford another class of misses amid a coaching transition. Fortunately for athletic director Trev Alberts — or perhaps he considered this as far back as last December — Joseph’s specialty and strengths as a coach mesh exceedingly well with what’s required to recruit in a strained environment.

Whether he is on staff next year as the head coach, is back in the role of ace recruiting assistant or has moved on from Nebraska, Joseph expects to have positioned the Huskers better than when he found them last winter.

Not many coaches in his spot, if any at Nebraska over the past 20 years, can say the same about the final season of a failed regime.

Saturday in Lincoln, Malachi Coleman of Lincoln East plans to announce his college decision. At No. 79 in the 247Sports Composite, he’s the highest-ranked prospect to come out of a Nebraska high school since Steinkuhler 15 years ago.

At 6-foot-5 and 205 pounds, Coleman posted times last spring of 10.46 and 21.31 seconds in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, respectively. His athleticism and promise as a wide receiver or defensive end earned him scholarship offers from the likes of Georgia, Oklahoma, Michigan, Oregon and USC.

Long before Joseph took over as Nebraska’s interim coach on Sept. 11, he prioritized Coleman. Joseph spent time with Coleman on campus when the prospect visited for home games in September and October. Joseph also went to Lincoln East and put it in time.

“Mickey’s been great,” Lincoln East coach John Gingery said. “He’s really honest, sometimes brutally honest, and you have to be in recruiting. But I’ve been impressed with his communication, the way he works with kids.”

If Nebraska lands Coleman this weekend, know that it wouldn’t have happened without Joseph.

Not much about this 2023 class would have come together without him.

Joseph recruited in Louisiana during Nebraska’s bye week after his first game in charge last month. But his primary work over the past six weeks has focused on the Huskers’ home territory. As it should in this uncertain time.

Major limitations exist for Joseph. He can’t sell anyone on the pluses of the next coach at Nebraska or on the schemes the players will operate.

He can sell the school, though, and its commitment to winning again. And he can build connections with prospects whom Nebraska needs to form the core of teams that win in Lincoln.

Recruiting inside state borders, especially in the talent center of Omaha’s Metro Conference, lagged in the past two years under Frost. Joseph worked to fix poor communication even while Frost still ran the show. But since Joseph took charge, he has conducted a blitz to repair relationships.

Take wide receiver Dae’vonn Hall and quarterback Danny Kaelin, 2024 prospects from Bellevue West. Both were offered by the Frost staff before Joseph arrived. But in the months before this season, the Huskers fell out of their favor.

Why? They weren’t feeling the love from Nebraska.

“Dae’Vonn was leaning away from Nebraska,” Bellevue West coach Mike Huffman said. “Mickey spent one morning here, and now Nebraska is toward the top.”

Kaelin had heard almost nothing from the Huskers since they offered him in May 2021.

“(Joseph) told us point blank that they were messing up Danny’s recruiting and they were going to fix it,” Huffman said. “I like that he’s a 100 percent straight shooter. Danny’s been down there twice since Mickey said that, and he’s had a great experience.”

When Huffman sends Joseph a text about one of the Nebraska targets, it’s always returned, the Bellevue West coach said. Joseph reached out before Huffman’s team played Metro power Omaha Westside to wish the Thunderbirds well.

A similar message, no doubt, landed at Westside, which has a 2024 athlete in Caleb Benning with a Nebraska offer and other prospects worthy of attention.

The role of a head coach is a little like a politician: He has to shake hands with everyone.

Joseph has mastered the practice.

“I’d say he’s just genuine,” Omaha North coach Larry Martin said. “He’s energetic. He has a knack for being able to relate to people, all the kids. And he recruits that way, very genuinely, open and honest about the process, where they’re at on it. I picked up on that right away with him.”

Martin’s top prospect, 2025 defensive lineman Tyson Terry, earned a Nebraska offer last year. Like some others in close range of Lincoln, he felt a bit taken for granted by Nebraska, Martin said.

Not anymore. Joseph has made Terry feel wanted.

The Joseph-directed staff at Nebraska has extended offers to 2026 wide receiver Champ Davis at Omaha, 2025 athlete Caden VerMaas at Millard North, 2024 offensive tackle Caleb Pyfrom at Omaha Central and 2023 lineman Mason Goldman of Gretna.

Nebraska counts five of its 13 pledges for the 2023 class from Nebraska high school players.

Goldman, previously offered by Kansas, Missouri and Kansas State, stands among two remaining uncommitted in-state prospects with a Nebraska offer.

The other is, of course, Coleman, set to come off the board this week. He represents a potential big win for Nebraska and Joseph, who’s intent on breaking a bad pattern with transition classes for the Huskers, one conversation at a time.

(Photo: Steven Branscombe / Getty Images)

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