Three & Out: New offer to 2025 running back, important week for visitors, and the 2026 quarterback picture

Three & Out is Nebraska On3’s feature in which recruiting analyst Bryan Munson gives his weekly takes on topical issues concerning Nebraska football and recruiting.

In this week’s Three & Out , a new offer was extended to a 2025 running back, this is a sneaky-important week for visitors, and the 2026 quarterback picture will be fascinating to watch. Here is your Three & Out:

Intel: New offer out to 2025 RB

Nebraska offered another 2025 running back on Monday. Mekhi “Buddha” Nelson from Oakdale (Conn.) St. Thomas More announced the offer over X/Twitter from Nebraska assistant coach EJ Barthel .

The Huskers have made it clear to Conor Booth that they intend to take two running backs. Nebraska has been trending for former Arkansas running back commitment Jamarion Parker . Parker, who has visited NU twice in 2024, has an official visit set up to see Lincoln again on June 21 ^st .

Things have been trending toward Nebraska, with Parker 96% to Nebraska and 1% back to Arkansas. There are a couple of other programs in play here, however. Jimmy Smith , the running backs coach at TCU , left Arkansas for TCU, which has put the Frogs in the picture.

There was also a late offer from Alabama for Parker. Parker took an unofficial visit to check out Alabama right after his last visit to Nebraska. Parker has been quiet ever since; no new official visits have been set, and there is not much information about the Alabama visit or upcoming visits.

This brings us back to Nelson. The Huskers might be warming up another target because of the need for multiple running backs in the 2025 class. As a reminder, the Huskers lost 2024 commitment Kewan Lacy late in the process last year, which directly led to the Huskers not taking another high school recruit last year.

Last season, Nelson carried the ball 212 times for 1,824 yards, averaging 8.6 yards per carry, and scored 25 touchdowns. Nelson’s running style makes a lot of sense based on what we have seen under Matt Rhule. Nelson puts his foot in the ground; he can cut and get to his top gear quickly. He seems to outrun the angles of would-be tacklers regularly in his film.

There is a history here with Nelson and Nebraska running backs coach EJ Barthel . First, Barthel worked Nelson out at a UConn camp and offered Nelson years ago. Nelson recently transferred from Wilkes-Barre (Pa.) and re-classified from a 2024 to a 2025 recruit (repeating his junior year).

Nelson never fell off of Nebraska or Barthel’s radar, but what pushed this offer over the top for Nelson and Nebraska was Nelson winning the Under Armour Underclassman in back-to-back years. Mekhi has 10.7/4.4 speed, verified by his coach, and will be visiting Nebraska on June 6 ^th and 7 ^th, during which he will schedule an official visit.

St. Thomas More is the same school as former Husker Alante Brown and current Husker Marques Buford .

Important week for visitors

Nebraska had a quiet weekend in Lincoln last weekend. The Husker coaches were on the road the week following the spring game, but that and the new offers were about all that was fit to print regarding recruiting last week.

Broderick Shull

Slowly, Nebraska’s offensive tackle targets have been falling off the board. Recruits such as Andrew Babalola , Jack Lange , Nick Brooks , Will Kemna , etc., have all fallen off the board either by committing to other schools or not including the Huskers in their top or final list.

Shull recently visited Nebraska and loved it. That was huge because Nebraska is a player here despite Auburn being a heavy favorite. Shull has four official visits set up, and there is a feeling that he won’t take any other visits. Nebraska has another chance to impress him this weekend.

Nicolas Clayton

Also, Clayton is coming in this weekend. There aren’t many pin-your-ears back pass rushers on Nebraska’s visit list, so Clayton is a very valuable target. He has official visits set up for Nebraska, UCF , Duke , Tulane , and USF . He may also consider changing some things around and trying to get to Wisconsin instead as his last official visit.

Clayton finished his junior season with 52 total tackles, three sacks, three tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, and 13 quarterback hurries.

Jaden Mangham

The Huskers are expected to be in the home to visit safety transfer Jaden Mangham on Wednesday. The Nebraska coaches will follow up on that visit and have Mangham visit Lincoln for an official visit starting on Monday.

NU hosted Mangham on June 24-26 in 2021. The Huskers were recruiting Mangham to play either defensive back or wide receiver.

Jaden logged ten starts at safety in 2023, on his way to All-Big Ten honorable mention honors, after totaling 53 tackles, seven pass breakups, four interceptions, and a fumble recovery. Mangham appeared in eight games as a freshman, making two starts, and totaled 20 tackles that season.

The 2026 Quarterback Picture

Things are getting interesting with the 2026 quarterback picture and Nebraska. Two short weeks ago, Nebraska hosted two 2026 quarterbacks for the spring game. Additionally, there is a very talented in-state quarterback who is doing well at the Regional Elite 11 at the moment to consider. And Nebraska just made another offer to a 2026 quarterback earlier this week. Let’s break all of this down.

The legacies

Two short weeks ago, Nebraska hosted two 2026 quarterbacks for the spring game. Dayton Raiola , from Buford (Ga.), is the son of former Husker Dominic Raiola and the brother to current Husker Dylan Raiola . And Case Vanden Bosch from Phoenix (Ariz.) Brophy College Prep is the son of former Husker defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch .

The previous staff offered both Dayton and Case, but one had to assume that both recruits still had offers based on how Rhule has previously treated these situations and that both are legacies.

Local recruit doing good

Jett Thomalla from Omaha (Neb.) Millard South had a monster sophomore year. Thomalla threw for 2,800 yards, with a 60% completion rate, 26 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. And Thomalla is prototypical. He’s 6-foot-4 and 180 pounds going into his junior year. Need more proof? Jett was the Panini Accuracy Challenge co-winner for an underclassman on May 5 ^th in Las Vegas at the Elite 11 event.

Nebraska is interested in Thomalla. Marcus Satterfield and Glenn Thomas came to Millard South HS in January to watch him throw. He’s also visited Nebraska several times, including for the elite junior day in January. Nebraska hasn’t offered Thomalla. Thomalla is looking for his first offer, but that could come at any moment with performances like he’s had at Elite 11.

The new guy

After all of that, two legacy quarterbacks that just visited, and a very good signal-caller in the state, it wouldn’t seem like another offer for a 2026 quarterback would be extended anytime soon. Brodie McWhorter , from Kingston (Ga.) Cass reported that he received an offer from Nebraska on Sunday.

McWhorter has a strong list of offers: Georgia , Ohio State , Oregon , Florida State , Auburn , Florida , North Carolina , and others. He has visited Georgia, Florida State, and Ohio State three times each. He’s also visited Arkansas , Mississippi State , USF , Clemson , and Alabama twice each.

It was already an interesting scenario to watch play out. In fairness, very similarly to the 2025 quarterbacks, it feels like coach Thomas will make new offers to his quarterback targets. It’s going to be an interesting year.

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