The Nebraska football team is among the favorites for Jimari Butler. The weakside defensive end had been considered a Husker lean for a while now by recruiting analysts. The 3-star prospect out of Alabama made that official on Sunday.
Butler tweeted out his final two teams, while adding he was going to be announcing his commitment on Monday. If he does end up choosing Nebraska, it would be the seventh commit the program has gotten since November 26.
That would be quite the run for a team some claimed was in a kind of freefall after finishing the season with a last-second loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes.
If the Huskers can pull off the get, it would also mean winning a recruiting battle against a team it's gone head to head against quite a bit since Scott Frost and company arrived in Lincoln.
Tennessee's loss could be Nebraska football's gain
As recently as last week, Jimari Butler had named another school as the one he intended to play football for. The edge rusher committed to the Tennessee Volunteers on November 8 and about a month later, he decided the SEC wasn't where he wanted to end up.
After a visit to Lincoln, he officially rescinded his commitment. "Thankful for coach Tee Martin for giving me the opportunity to play at Tennessee and for recruiting me," Butler wrote in a note he posted to Twitter. "But with that being said I will be decommitting."
In part because the new Nebraska football coaching staff has roots in the Southeastern part of the country, they've long had a foothold in SEC-land. The Huskers have gone up against the Vols for a number of recruits the last couple of years. That includes JUCO running back Greg Bell, receiver Jaron Woodyard and quarterback Adrian Martinez.
Another defender committing?
The Cornhuskers are attempting to finish the 2020 recruiting cycle strong.
Just days ahead of the early signing period, the team has seen its commit numbers go from 14 to 18 since last Monday. On Sunday, Scott Frost and company nabbed two new defenders. One of those was JUCO weakside defensive end, Niko Cooper. That edge rusher has been talked about as someone who might move to linebacker at Nebraska.
It's not entirely clear what the Huskers' plans for Jimari Butler would be. He might stay on the defensive line, or he too could be added to a recruiting class that the coaching staff has made clear needs linebackers. The team also added the commitment of Keyshawn Greene to the fold on Sunday afternoon.
The recent commitments have seen the Cornhuskers climb into the Top 25 recruiting classes after starting the month of December right around number 30. Should Jimari Butler pick the Nebraska football team over TCU, the other final candidate, it would grow the team's 2020 commit list to 19.