There was a time when it seemed as though Rashee Rice was a shoo-in to be a member of the Nebraska football team. Rice might not have been on the tip of most Husker fans' tongues, but the wide receiver out of Texas was someone the new staff wanted to reel in. On August 7, the receiver out of Dallas made his commitment to the SMU Mustangs. That announcement came one day after Rice said he was "committing soon."

When he made that announcement, there were plenty of people who thought he might be planning on being a Husker. Interestingly, the one area where the Huskers are struggling a bit in recruiting for the 2019 class is at the wide receiver spot.

Rashee Rice is an underrated target

According to 247Sports, Rice is just a 3-star prospect that is the 114th best player in Texas and 104th ranked receiver in the 2019 class. When you look at those numbers, you might decide that he isn't someone the Huskers wanted. What those rankings don't show is just how many teams wanted to bring Rice into the fold.

The receiver has a total of 22 offers already. That includes quite a few Power 5 schools and some of the best of the smaller programs like Houston and Boise State. This is not a player that was overrated. It appears that Rice has the tools and the speed to be quite underrated.

Out of the Pac 12, Arizona State, Cal, Washington State and Colorado were all in on the player. In the Big Ten, Illinois, Minnesota, and Northwestern were all going after Rashee Rice as well. Rice's final unofficial visit to the Nebraska Football team in June capped off what had been a whirlwind recruiting cycle for the receiver.

Nebraska football and the wide receiver position

There is very little doubt that the current Huskers roster has plenty of talent at the receiver position. When looking to the future, the 2019 class has just one wide receiver commit so far. Jamie Nance might be plenty talented, but when you're talking about an offense as good as Scott Frost's, it seems unlikely the staff isn't going to be trying to reel in at least one more player at that position.

Rashee Rice wasn't someone the Cornhusker staff was ignoring or "didn't want" no matter how hard some people will work to claim that after the fact. This was a player that has the tools to be explosive at the next level. Certainly, he has a better shot to start at SMU next season than he would in Lincoln. In some regard, the loss of this recruiting battle means it's a bit of a "back to the drawing board" for the Nebraska football coaching staff.
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