Nebraska makes first offer to 2025 Millard North safety Caden VerMaas
For the better part of the early 2000s, Division I football coaches flocked to Millard North High School in Omaha. The Mustangs are home to former Heisman Trophy winner Eric Crouch among others.
However, it’s been nearly 15 years since Nebraska offered or signed a player out of Fred Petito’s program (Sean Fisher – 2008). That changed with one phone call on Monday. NU interim head coach Mickey Joseph called Petito to let him know the Huskers were offering his standout 2025 prospect Caden VerMaas.
The 6-foot, 190-pound VerMaas plays free safety and an all-purpose role out of the backfield on offense.
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VerMaas has a bright future in the Millard North program
Petito is one of the winningest coaches in Nebraska high school history. When he looks at his group of sophomores, he sees potentially another championship run.
VerMaas is the first to get a Division I offer, but Petito thinks there could be more.
“Our freshman group last year was quite the bunch,” Petito said. “We made sure we sent out quite a bit of stuff (to schools) about them. Nobody played them within 28 points.”
Besides VerMaas, Petito said lineman Henery Rehberg and defensive end/tight end Pierce Mooberry are two other names to get familiar with in the Mustangs 2025 class.
Petito currently starts 10 sophomores on his team that sits 2-4 heading into this week’s game at Omaha Bryan.
“We’ve seen some real quality ball out of this group,” Petito said.
Joseph called Petito to inform him about the offer to VerMaas before Monday’s practice. The two coaches have a relationship dating back to the 90s when Joseph first began coaching high school football at Omaha North.
“I’ve known Mickey (Joseph) for quite some time,” Petito said. “He coached at North. It’s nice just to see some interest in our guys. Coaches generally start to become interested when you have dudes. This is good for our kids and good for our team.”
VerMaas has visited NU for the Georgia Southern and Oklahoma games this season. He’s also a standout baseball player.
Petito said he has elite speed, which showed against Omaha Westside when he ran down state 100-meter champion Jaylen Lloyd from behind.
“We’ve played a very tough schedule up to this point,” Petito said, as his team has dropped games to Westside, Creighton Prep, Millard West and Lincoln Southeast. “We will never shy away from competition here.”
