On3 Roundtable: Jacory Barney commitment shocked insiders

Over the weekend, Nebraska landed a commitment from wide receiver Jacory Barney. This caught plenty of people by surprise, though. A Miami native, Barney had been widely thought to be a shoo-in to commit to the Miami Hurricanes.

During an On3 Roundtable with Andy Staples, Sean Callahan of HuskerOnline said that the commitment was a shock to insiders.

“Yeah, Nebraska picked up Jacory Barney on July 1st, on Saturday,” Callahan said. “Even our guys down at CanesSport and Miami, Gary Ferman and his crew, they know that area well, they had their picks in for Miami. I had a pick in for Miami.”

Callahan added that Barney’s commitment just goes to show how good of a run head coach Matt Rhule and Nebraska have been on. He was even able to land a recruit that experts were sure he’d miss on.

“Jacory Barney did not tell any of the teams what he was gonna do. In fact, I know at On3 we have our social media graphics. They had a commit to Miami graphic ready. So, this was kind of a shocker to folks in that area that he picked the Huskers over the Hurricanes,” Callahan said.

“But that kind of gives you some perspective of the run that Nebraska’s been on here, starting in early June to here we are now in July.”

Jacory Barney is a three-star recruit in the Class of 2024, according to the On3 Industry Rankings. He is the 71st wide receiver overall in the class and the 416th player overall in the class. Currently, Nebraska has the 19th-ranked class in the 2024 cycle.

Jacory Barney said Nebraska has been all in on him since the start

As Jacory Barney explained, he knew early on that he liked Nebraska, and that largely had to do with the effort the Huskers have put in to land the young wide receiver.

“I just knew from the beginning. Nebraska has been on me and they knew I was special. They have been all-in on me since the beginning. I have been talking to the coaches, they are my guys, they have league experience, and I felt like I should be listening to them. I felt like they could develop me into what I wanted to be,” Barney said.

“Coach McGuire played a huge role in my commitment. He’s my guy. He’s real. I know that people say that he’s young. He’s got something going and that’s who I connected with at Nebraska.”