As we get closer to the beginning of the early signing period on December 19, the dominos are beginning to fall. On Monday morning (December 17), Nebraska football target Amare Barno announced where he would be playing football next fall. Barno, a pass-rushing linebacker from Butler Community College, announced that, instead of heading to Lincoln, he will be a Virginia Tech Hokie in 2019. The announcement was a bit of a surprise, though the writing was on the wall just hours before the commitment.

Interest in Amare Barno exploded

It was less than a week ago that the Nebraska football team was the first FBS squad to make an offer to the junior college linebacker.

Before that, he had garnered some decent offers but had mostly been scouted out by the likes of Florida Atlantic and Marshall. Barno was actually supposed to be taking a visit to FAU this weekend, but abruptly changed his plans and went to see Virginia Tech, instead. It appears that was a schedule change that paid off very well for the linebacker, as he managed to get an offer from the Hokies while he was visiting. One day later, he announced he was going to be playing football there next year.

Despite standing at 6-6 and weighing in at 220, Barno went most of the 2019 recruiting cycle getting very few offers from good schools. When Nebraska came calling, it appears the rest of the college football world wondered if maybe they had missed something.

Virginia Tech's head coach is former Memphis head man Justin Fuentes. Fuentes was the coach of the Tigers when Scott Frost first arrived at conference rival UCF.

Back to the drawing board for Nebraska football?

It's clear the Huskers have been trying to shore up some holes on the roster by going the JUCO route. The problem has been that after a flurry of offers going out to junior college stars, it's not clear if any of those offers will pay off in commitments or letters of intent.

The Cornhuskers went so far as to make offers to teammates Nick Figueroa and Vic Viramontes on the same day.

It appears Scott Frost and company hoped they could score the pair as a kind of package deal. At the moment, it doesn't appear either defender is leaning toward Lincoln. All of that could change in a matter of days. Amare Barno might even decide he made his call too hastily.

There is bound to be a bit of signing day drama for the Nebraska football team. That includes drama surrounding several unsigned, uncommitted players, such as Lloyd Summerall, who has already come out and said he won't announce a team until the morning of December 19. Husker fans just have to hold their collective breath and hope some defensive studs emerge. An improved defense could help Nebraska from getting run over again by Ohio State, as they did during the 2018 season.
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