Now that the early signing period has come and gone, the Nebraska football team knows what it needs to fill out the class. Perhaps because the staff feels it did so well in reeling in its primary targets, the team is now going after players that are or were committed to other teams recently. Brandon Mack was committed to the Pitt Panthers up until this week. The Cornhuskers appear to be in the mix for him now that he's a free agent. DJ James isn't a free agent yet, but Scott Frost and company are hoping to change that.

James is a commit to the Mississippi State Bulldogs but the Nebraska football team gave him an official offer on Friday, December 21.

The Huskers are now hoping that despite he's been a commit to the SEC school since last February, they can turn him into a lover of the Big Ten by the time this year's signing day rolls around.

DJ James is in familiar territory

The first thing that stands out about the newest Husker offer is that he is yet another player hailing from Alabama. The staff has made no secret about the fact that they like what the South has to offer when it comes to players. They have been hitting the state rather hard lately. Even when they are traveling around Alabama, they are hitting players around the area like Georgia's Tavian Mayo.

It makes sense the Huskers would be going after players like DJ James, especially with rather limited time to reel in a prospect like this time of year.

The entire staff spent the last three years recruiting the region for UCF. They've built relationships with coaches and players in the area and they have had pretty decent success convincing players from the south to come up north to Lincoln.

Nebraska football working quickly

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the offer to DJ James is how fast the Cornhusker staff is working in order to fill it's 2019 class.

During the post-signing day press conference, Scott Frost talked about how they had pinpointed the kind of players they still wanted to add. For the most part, it was understood those additions weren't going to be coming right away but would need to be worked on over the next few weeks. The fact that the staff picked out a player like James, who has been quite loyal to Mississippi State for almost a year is interesting even if it doesn't work out.

The team has taken this kind of gamble before. The Cornhuskers threw the kitchen sink at wide receiver Winston Wright Jr. They thought they had seen an opening for the player but he eventually stayed true to his word and signed with West Virginia. The Nebraska football team is hoping things will turn out differently with DJ James.
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