There's very little doubt that if the Nebraska football team is going to turn back into a winning program, it's going to need to lock down in-state prospects like Omaha's Avante Dickerson. The star from Westside has quickly become one of the most sought after players in the 2021 class. Not just from schools around the area but from programs all over the country.

In the last week, Dickerson has seen his stock soar even more as a pair of Big Ten programs have come calling. Offers from Indiana and Penn State have driven the number of teams who have come calling to more than 25.

That continues to demonstrate that a state once considered low on native talent, is starting to become a major player in the college football world. The question is whether or not the Huskers are ready to take advantage of that fact.

Omaha talent base continues to impress

While the state, in general, is seeing an influx of talent, the core of Nebraska football and basketball talent is starting to coalesce in the Omaha area. A few years ago it was people like Jacob Hickman. This year it's Avante Dickerson. In basketball, there are players like Teddy Allen even making prep schools and JUCOs look quite good when talking about the national scale.

Dickerson is just the latest player to get quite a bit of attention from programs all over the map.

With those programs being as diverse as Ohio State, Penn State or Baylor all wanting to haul in the defensive back. According to 247Sports, Avante Dickerson is now not only the best player in the state of Nebraska for the 2021 class, but he's the 93rd best player overall and the eighth-best cornerback in the class. It's not the first time an Omaha prospect has been considered among the best of the best and doesn't appear to be the last.

From Omaha to Ohio or Texas is the fear

While there is a certain sense of pride when talking about the Nebraska football team having a ready-made talent pool in Omaha, there is always the fear Scott Frost and company aren't going to be able to close the deal. It's a massive bonus for the program, according to analysts, if the Cornhuskers don't have to travel at all in order to add impact players.

Having top-level talent in their backyard is why programs like the Buckeyes and the Wolverines have managed to build themselves into national powers in the Big Ten. Nebraska would like to emulate that. The flipside is having this much Omaha talent means they have to work twice as hard to keep it. When blue-chip prospects are coming from the area on a yearly basis, scouts and schools have their eyes trained on the area more.

Avante Dickerson's not likely to choose the Indiana Hoosiers over the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The same can't be said about the allure of playing for Penn State, LSU or Texas.
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