In the afternoon of Saturday, Jackson Carpenter made his pledge to the state of Nebraska, adding to the Huskers’ list of commitments.
The Lincoln Southwest heritage recruit, a prospect with remarkable speed who could be a receiver, received an offer from Nebraska in January.
Throughout the process, he told 247Sports, “I definitely believe the Huskers are heading in the right direction and I’m excited to see what they can accomplish this upcoming season.”
In the end, he chose Nebraska over Kansas.
Carpenter just set a personal record in the 100 meters with a time of 10.68 seconds. He also reportedly boasts a 40 time of 4.48 seconds and a vertical of 39 inches.
In a visit to Lincoln to watch a practice this past week, he mentioned not only his official Nebraska visit plans for June 21 but how much he liked the way Matt Rhule’s team works.
“Liked the tempo of practice and seeing younger guys getting reps for development,” Carpenter said. “The quarterback play was also fun to watch. There’s a lot of talent in that room. Was my first time getting to see the coaches actually coach up close so that was fun to see.”
Jackson is the son of former Husker tight end Tim Carpenter, who played on three national championship teams in the 1990s before ending his career in Lincoln in 1997.
Now that Carpenter has committed to Nebraska, the school will have four in-state prospects in the 2025 class in addition to Tyler Terry, Caden VerMaas, and Conor Booth.
Rhule has made it plain that he believes there are many excellent high school prospects in this state and that his staff shouldn’t hesitate to make those guys offers.
Even as recently as Thursday, he gave a general speech on the same topic.
“There’s been players in the state sometimes in recruiting that … I’ll say, ‘Let’s watch the film, he’s good enough, right? He’s a scholarship player?’ … And they’ll say, ‘Well, he’s a 4.’ Which means we think he’ll be a multiple year starter. And then I’ll say, ‘Well, then we should offer a scholarship.’ And they’re like, ‘Well, I think we can get him as a walk-on.’ Well, if all we do is offer players in the state of Nebraska walk-on opportunities then everyone is going to grow up dreaming of getting a walk-on opportunity.
When we give scholarships to athletes, some of them dream of being scholarship players. Additionally, a few more men are joining us as walk-ons.”
According to Rhule, when you show players that you are willing to take action, such as offering those worthy in-state guys a chance or promoting a man like John Bullock within your 2-deep, it inspires others.
“They start to see that’s possible and then that’s within their realm of possibility.”
