The Nebraska football team isn't done with its 2020 class just yet. That doesn't mean the coaching staff isn't working hard to make the 2021 class just as good. While there are still a few openings in the current class, recruiting for next year's group has officially swung into full gear.
Scott Frost and company have been working the phones and taking visits to some of the top prospects in the 2021 class over the last few weeks.
Those efforts have paid off for Brashard Smith in that Nebraska is officially among his 10 favorite teams.
The player announced his official list on Christmas Day. That group is a who's who of some of the historically best programs in the country.
Nebraska football fighting off powerhouses
Smith's list hasn't been pared down all that much, but it's likely to get thinned out over the next year. In addition to the Huskers, the 3-star all-purpose back named Alabama, LSU, Auburn, Tennessee, Syracuse, West Virginia, Miami, Penn State, and Florida.
Two interesting details stick out from that group. The first is that Nebraska and Penn State are the only two schools that are competing for Brashard Smith's services from the Big Ten.
There is also the fact that the Cornhuskers are the farthest west team of any on his final 10. While his list is all up and down the eastern seaboard, Nebraska is the only team that couldn't be described as being on the East Coast.
It's entirely unclear whether or not proximity to home is something that is going to come into Smith's thinking.
The announcement of the 10 favorites cuts his list down from the original 29 teams that have offered him. Smith might only be a 3-star prospect according to 247's composite rankings but he's the fourth-ranked all-purpose back and the 50th best player in the state of Florida. The Huskers have had good luck recruiting players like this, with Wan'Dale Robinson being in a similar mold last year.
Smith plays both running back and receiver in high school, but he's looked at as more of a wide receiver option at the next level. Cornhuskers fans might remember that Robinson came to Lincoln as a running back out of Kentucky but the coaching staff wanted him to mostly play receiver this season. An ineffective running game at the beginning of the year forced the team to give Wan'Dale more carries on the ground than they had expected coming into 2019.
Success in Florida
The Nebraska football team's making Brashard Smith's top 10 comes after a 2020 recruiting cycle that saw quite a bit of winning in Florida and around the Miami area. The Huskers beat out the Miami Hurricanes for several top-level prospects. In fact, the team had so much success pulling away guys like Jaiden Francois that the Cornhuskers were accused of paying players by some opposing fans.