![Nebraska football's recruiting goes on despite the viral outbreak. [Image Source: Kiley/Wikimedia Commons]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2020/3/30/660x290/b_502x220x82/nebraska-footballs-recruiting-goes-on-despite-the-viral-outbreak-image-source-kileywikimedia-commons_2429591.jpg "Nebraska football's recruiting goes on despite the viral outbreak. [Image Source: Kiley/Wikimedia Commons]")
The Nebraska football team is among the six favorite teams for one of the best running backs in the 2021 class. Prophet Brown, a running back out of Elk Grove, California, announced over the weekend the teams he is narrowing his list down to and the Huskers have some rather staunch competition. Brown took to Twitter to make the announcement, singling out USC, Oregon, Notre Dame, Michigan, and Oklahoma, along with the Cornhuskers.
The good news is NU only has one other Big Ten school to battle. The bad news is the teams from outside the conference are the who's who of NCAA Football.
Hunting the big fish
Brown is ranked as the 23rd best running back in the class, according to 247Sports. It should say something about the depth of talent in California that he's just the 29th best player in the state according to the same composite rankings.
Even if his rankings aren't going to impress some Nebraska football fans, the fact that Michigan, USC, and Notre Dame are all going after him should show he's a talent that quite a few of the bigger schools want a piece of. He has 16 total offers, so that means 10 schools have been kicked to the curb.
It's not clear when he might narrow that list down further, but it's a decent bet the coronavirus outbreak is going to slow things down a bit.
Recruiting in the new age
In the good old days, the next step for the Huskers would have been to schedule a visit to Lincoln. That's obviously not the priority for the team or the recruit these days. Everyone is staying home. Recruiting has changed by mandate. The NCAA isn't allowing teams to go visit recruits and isn't allowing prospects to visit the campus, even if both sides want to host physical visits.
Now there's stuff like FaceTime and, of course, texting takes the front seat when it comes to talking to players and winning them over to one team's side or another. It will be the same trying to reel in Prophet Brown. The running back is going to be getting plenty of attention from other schools and the Huskers will have to find ways to stand out, without being able to really meet with him and show him what Nebraska has to offer.
The home run threat
When looking at Prophet Brown, the thing that sticks out the most is just how much of a big-play guy the all-purpose back is. On the ground, Brown carried just 64 times last fall but gained 779 yards and 11 touchdowns. For those who don't want to do the math, that's 12.2 yards per carry for Brown.
Because he is also an all-purpose back, he was a threat through the air as well, though he didn't have a ton of catches. Brown logged 17 catches for 343 yards and added another five touchdowns. That means the prospect averaged 20 yards per reception. He was also a star on defense, logging three interceptions. Nebraska football is among his favorites and will be working hard as the calendar turns to summer, to stay there.
