Things are heating up for Nebraska football target DJ James. The defensive back, who is currently a commit to Mississippi State is getting a new flurry of attention after the early signing period came and went. It appears there are plenty of schools, including the Huskers that believe he might be poachable. Nebraska is far from the only Big Ten school that believes James might be persuaded to rescind his commitment. The Iowa Hawkeyes issued their own offer of a scholarship just days after Scott Frost and his staff did the same.

Nebraska football's uphill climb gets more difficult

The Huskers were already looking at a rather tall order when it comes to luring DJ James away from the SEC. There hasn't actually been a real indication that the 3-star prospect has been looking around. While there have certainly been rumblings that he might start getting swayed, for the most part, it appears the fact that he didn't sign on the dotted line on December 19 was the reason many of these schools think they see an opening.

Boasting a total of 17 offers now, the most interesting thing about Iowa's latest offer is that it is only the second school in the Big Ten to go after James.

The fact that the Huskers were able to get their foot in the door might be good news in that regard. They will still be fighting off some rather impressive pursuers including Alabama, Oregon, Florida and Tennessee. If the Nebraska football team could find a way to win out, it would show that their post early signing day strategy of going after players that are committed to other schools but might not be 100 percent is paying off.

They've done with the same with former Pitt commit Brandon Mack and it appears they have the inside track on that player these days.

DJ James plans Nebraska visit

Considering that James is planning a January 11 visit to Lincoln and is also talking about seeing Oregon's campus as well as Alabama's, it appears that Iowa might be in the "too little, too late" camp.

That's good news for the Huskers who could certainly stomach losing out on a recruit to the best team in the country, but would find it rather hard to take should they lose out to a recruit to Iowa. Even with that visit on the books in the middle of last month, it's going to be a long wait before fans know where DJ James is going to sign for sure. He does plan to sign on February 6. All of this could be for naught, as he might just end up signing with the school he gave his pledge to way back in February of last year.
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