Christmas in February

And so, after a long (at least when it comes to Husker standards) football layoff, we finally get something new to talk about in the form of Signing day, which has become a holiday of sorts for football fans hungry for new developments and something to break up the off-season. While some may view grown men celebrating high schoolers picking a college as kind of creepy, I for one am thrilled that we managed to assemble a relatively strong recruiting class despite a coaching change. With only one month to convince all of Callahan's recruits as well as add new commits, Pelini's staff has done an excellent job salvaging the 2008 class after an initial flood of decommits when Callahan was fired. While we lack the star power we used to have under Callahan, this class has a great deal of depth and targets many of our need positions (i.e., DEFENSIVE GUYS). Sure, we don't have the all-star offensive line class we originally would have had this year with Cally, but on the flip side, these kids might actually be coached into good players, something the last staff proved completely inept at.

In addition to the scholarship guys, the new staff has managed to get a lot of under-the-radar kids to walk on. These guys might not be highly recruited, but they all have the size and mentality to contribute to the program and eventually have a shot to star. You never know where studs might come from, and Nebraska has had more than a few guys go from walk-ons to All-Americans.

The list of commits (table comes from the OWH):

In-state
Sean Fisher	Millard North	LB	6-5	210
Ricky Henry	Omaha Burke	OL	6-4	300
Micah Kreikemeier	West Point Central Catholic	LB	6-4	215
John Levorson	Crete	Safety	6-3	186
Collins Okafor	Omaha Westside	RB	6-1	210
Baker Steinkuhler	Lincoln Southwest	OL	6-6	290
Out-of-state
Antonio Bell	Daytona Beach, Fla.	WR	6-2	175
Will Compton	Bonne Terre, Mo.	LB	6-2	214
Ben Cotton	Ames, Iowa	TE	6-6	225
Khiry Cooper	Shreveport, La.	WR	6-2	185
Alfonzo Dennard	Rochelle, Ga.	CB	5-10	190
David Grant	Killeen, Texas	OL	6-6	280
Tyson Hetzer	Redding, Calif.	TE	6-7	265
Tim Marlowe	Youngstown, Ohio	RB	5-10	165
Cameron Meredith	Santa Ana, Calif.	DE	6-4	225
Courtney Osborne	Garland, Texas	Safety	6-2	170
Steven Osborne	Garland, Texas	WR	6-4	180
Kyler Reed	Overland Park, Kan.	LB	6-3	204
Justin Rogers	Birmingham, Ala.	RB	5-11	180
P.J. Smith	New Orleans	Safety	6-2	205
Kody Spano	Stephenville, Texas	QB	6-2	200
Brandon Thompson	Woodlands, Texas	OL	6-6	280
Quentin Toailoa	Highland, Calif.	DT	6-6	285
Lester Ward	Brenham, Texas	RB	6-3	186
Alonzo Whaley	Madisonville, Texas	LB	6-foot	210
David Whitmore	Port Arthur, Texas	DB	6-2	190
Josh Williams	Denton, Texas	DE	6-4	220

***Late note: Word has gotten out that Mason Wald, the Alabama safety whose talents I wrote about a couple of days ago, has accepted a scholarship offer to play for the Huskers. I haven't been this pumped since I got a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle van for Christmas when I was 8.

I'll have more on signing day tomorrow when everything is finalized. I'll be looking at what needs we filled, what positions we could have used additional guys at, and which players have a chance to make an impact immediately next year. For additional coverage, go to Huskerpedia.com, who has links to several sites with links to individual stories and capsules.