The Nebraska football team is holding their first practice of the fall this morning. Head coach Scott Frost and several of his players met the media yesterday. The Huskers open the season with a Week-Zero road game at Illinois, Saturday August 28th. Kickoff will be at noon.
In other college football news;
– The 14 SEC presidents and chancellors voted unanimously on Thursday to extend invitations to Oklahoma and Texas. The board of regents for both schools are expected to accept the invite sometime this morning.
The rich keep getting richer! The No. 1 rated 2023 prospect according to PrepVolleyball.com, Harper Murray, verbally committed to NU on her social media yesterday. The addition of the 6-foot-1 outside hitter from Michigan extends Nebraska’s dominance on the recruiting trail. The Huskers have now landed Prep Volleyball’s No. 1 recruit in the 2021 class (Kennedi Orr), 2022 (Hayden Kubik) and 2023 (Murray). Fifth-year senior Lexi Sun was the top player in the 2017 class. Murray joins Caroline Jurevicius (a right-side hitter and the No. 6 rated recruit in the nation), setter Bergen Reilly (ranked 14th best in the nation) and middle blocker Andi Jackson as part of the Huskers’ 2023 class. All four took part in the junior national training program last week.
Dalano Banton is heading to the NBA. The Toronto Raptors took the 6-foot-9 former Husker with the 46th overall pick of the NBA Draft last night. Banton played in all 27 games last season, and had 22 starts. He finished in the top 20 in the Big Ten in assists (ninth), blocked shots (15th) and rebounding (18th) and became the first Husker since 1974 to lead NU in both rebounding and assists in the same season. Banton becomes the seventh Husker basketball player overall selected in the first two rounds of the NBA Draft, joining Marvin Stewart (2nd, 1971), Rich King (1st, 1991), Eric Piatkowski (1st, 1994), Tyronn Lue (1st, 1998), Venson Hamilton (2nd, 1999) and Isaiah Roby (2nd, 2019). Born in Toronto, Banton is the first ever Canadian picked by the Raptors.
Yesterday the Nebraska Shrine Bowl Executive Board announced the coaching staff selections for the 64th annual Shrine Bowl of Nebraska. The following Nebraska High School football coaches will represent the North and South teams respectively:
NORTH TEAM
Head Coach: Tim Johnk – HC, Creighton Prep (A)
Asst. Coach: Seth Mruz – HC, Archbishop Bergan (C2)
Asst. Coach: Nathan Wells – HC, Ord (C2)
Asst. Coach: David Stoddard – HC, Stanton (D1)
Asst. Coach: Bob Sledge – OL Coach, Creighton Prep (A)
Asst. Coach: Jake Schmidt – DC, Papillion/La Vista (A)
SOUTH TEAM
Head Coach: Brett Froendt – HC, Westside (A)
Asst. Coach: Ty Twarling – HC, Norris (B)
Asst. Coach: Randall Rath – HC, Hitchcock County (D1)
Asst. Coach: Kurt Earl – HC, Lincoln Christian (C1)
Asst. Coach: Craig Secora – OC/QB Coach, Westside (A)
Asst. Coach: Justin Haberman – DC/DL Coach, Westside (A)
The 64th annual Nebraska Shrine Bowl game will be played at the University of Nebraska-Kearney’s Ron and Carol Cope Stadium Foster Field in Kearney on Saturday, June 4th, 2022. All proceeds from the game benefit Shriner’s Hospitals for Children.
