For the second day in a row this week, Notre Dame football received a 2020 recruiting verbal commitment from a state the Fighting Irish have seldom mined.
On Friday, Omaha wide receiver Xavier Watts selected Notre Dame over the in-state Nebraska Cornhuskers, who are attempting a renaissance under second-year head coach Scott Frost.
A day earlier, Mississippi cornerback Caleb Offord gave his pledge to the Irish. He was the first student-athlete from The Magnolia State to choose Notre Dame in 23 years, and only six from the state had ever seen football action at the school.
Meanwhile, Watts is only the second player from The Cornhusker State to commit to Notre Dame the past 24 years. By our count, only 21 players from Nebraska have seen action with the Irish.
“Big Red” football is the only game in town in Nebraska, and most every elite prospect the Cornhuskers really wanted through the decades have stayed home, although probably more so during the halcyon Bob Devaney/Tom Osborne years from 1961-97 when they captured five national titles and consistently vied for numerous others.
The most successful college player from Nebraska to matriculate to Notre Dame was the most recent: 2008-11 offensive guard Trevor Robinson (Elkhorn), who started 40 games, including all 13 each of his last two.
An early entrant in the spring of 2008, Robinson started several games as a freshman, a rare achievement by an offensive lineman. Part of an overall class that ranked No. 2 nationally while including the likes of five-star prospects such as quarterback Dayne Crist, wide receiver Michael Floyd and tight end Kyle Rudolph, Robinson wasn’t drafted after his senior year but started at center as a rooke for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2012 and lasted five years in the NFL.
Defensive lineman Junior Bryant (Omaha) arrived with the most fanfare in 1989 and ended up having the best NFL career, despite also not getting drafted after making 43 career tackles with the Irish. He and quarterback Rick Mirer were USA Today All-Americans (Bryant on the second team) in 1988, but the undrafted free agent had a better NFL career, playing six years with the San Francisco 49ers from 1995-2000 (plus two years on the 1993 and 1994 practice squads) before a neck injury ended his football days.
The 1994 and 1995 recruiting hauls also produced back-to-back heralded prospects in Parade All-American wide receiver Ty Goode (Lincoln) and offensive lineman Tim Ridder (Omaha), a USA Today first-team All-American selection with Irish freshman line teammates Mike Rosenthal and Jerry Wisne.
Goode shifted to defensive back, where he played mainly as a reserve his last two years. Ridder started at guard as a 1998 senior, and previously also filled in as a blocking tight end.
Interestingly, no recruit from Nebraska who played at Notre Dame has ever been drafted by the NFL. With Watts, there could be another first for everything.
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