Nebraska football's recruiting season is just ramping up but the coaching staff has already been handed a loss, at least for the moment. 3-star athlete Jalen Cropper announced his commitment on Saturday night and said he was headed to Fresno State. The announcement came on his Twitter account and for the moment, ends the race for the California product. The Cornhuskers had been going toe-to-toe with Boise State, Oregon, and Utah. The Bulldogs were certainly a player but Fresno securing his commitment was a bit of a surprise.

Jalen Cropper never got to see Lincoln

The Nebraska football team had been hoping to get the 21st ranked athlete in the country into Lincoln for the Michigan State game. When that game was moved up to 11 am, he decided he couldn't make the trip. That appears to have been a real blow to the program as they were attempting to get him to make an official visit in December. It even appeared the Cornhuskers had thought they had nailed down the possibility of him coming to see Memorial Stadium next weekend.

Cropper instead pulled the trigger for Fresno State and will be staying home. Coming out of Clovis, California, experts had thought he was going to stay on the West Coast. 247Sports latest crystal balls had him going to Utah.

Some of those same experts had said they thought showing Cropper gameday in Lincoln might be enough to pull him away from the Pac 12 region.

Nebraska football gets another loss on Thanksgiving weekend

The Huskers are dealing with the fallout from their loss to Iowa. They're even dealing with what has to be the most ridiculous controversy of the college football season in "Wavegate." The talk since Friday has been about Scott Frost and the rest of the staff getting on the road.

The only positive in going 4-8 on the season is that there is no chance of a bowl game. That means they can direct all of their resources to try to reload for the next season. Jalen Cropper was part of that reloading.

The good news here is the coaching staff can start to go after players like Cropper who they saw fitting onto the roster as a wide receiver.

During the season the coaching staff has clearly looked at players committing to other schools as being off their radar for good. Now that they are simply trying to get as much talent as humanly possible, they can start retracing their steps and fixing their missteps. The Nebraska football team might have lost this battle for Jalen Cropper to Fresno State but it's not over just yet.
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