I've flipped my FutureCast to favor the Huskers. Now that we're close to the end, I hope to get him on record soon in order to give you all some additional color as to what went into his eventual decision. But I wanted to take this opportunity to dive into the details of what has been a truly unique recruitment, and hopefully, this will help to make sense of why things turned so quickly from an Oklahoma trend to a Nebraska trend. Let's rewind to some of the things I reported on Brix earlier this month on Nov. 1 and Nov. 13, respectively.
From Nov. 1: "I remain of the opinion that his Nov. 25 visit to Kansas State is very much in jeopardy depending on what happens on his trip to OU." After a conversation with a well-placed source, I can now report that Brix will not be in Manhattan this weekend, which in itself is essentially a dead giveaway. When I visited Brix in late October, he had admitted to me that there was a solid chance that K-State visit wouldn't happen, and indeed, it won't.
From Nov. 13 (two days after Brix's final OU visit): "There are a couple important things to note here. First off, his mom did not accompany him on the visit, as she is recovering from a surgery she underwent a couple of weeks ago shortly before Brix's final Nebraska visit. That is notable because the Sooner staff naturally did not get a chance to make final overtures to Mom, an opportunity they would have liked to have. They may not have that opportunity until (or unless) they go in-home with Brix next month, shortly before signing day." All of this ended up looming very large given the recent trend in the recruitment, as it's long been known that Mom favored Nebraska for the proximity — and seeing his mother laid up for several weeks recovering from surgery likely increased the appeal of the closest geographical option for Brix. Additionally, I do not expect Oklahoma to go in-home with him if the outcome is what we all now surmise it'll be.
From Nov. 13: "On the one hand, sources on the Oklahoma side were overwhelmingly optimistic about how Brix's visit went, but that seems to be the case every time he's in Norman. And on the other hand, one source did acknowledge to me that Nebraska remains a real thorn in the Sooners' side, saying, 'Danny Kaelin and Carter Nelson have their hooks in pretty deep.'" Ultimately, I think the tight-knit nature of Nebraska's class and Kaelin's remarkable ability as a peer recruiter gave Brix an even greater comfort level in Lincoln. One thing I did notice while Brix was on his final OU visit: Michael Boganowski was the only Oklahoma commit that was sitting near Brix in the recruits' section. The camaraderie with his peers did always seem a little stronger at Nebraska, but that kind of tracked with the reality of the recruitment as a whole. Brix either had to take a leap and expand his horizons by jumping on board with Oklahoma, or stay close to home and enjoy that comfort in Lincoln. Bill Bedenbaugh is as demanding and as old-school a coach as you'll find in the business. If Brix came to Oklahoma, it was never going to be for the sake of convenience. It was going to be because he wanted to go all-in with Bedenbaugh and take on the challenges that come with playing for an intense and unrelenting position coach. Bedenbaugh isn't for everybody; he's a rough and tough character. That's why the players that do choose to commit to him and embrace his instruction often end up becoming great collegiate (and even professional) linemen. He coaches his dudes hard, and he expects his dudes to be able to take that type of coaching. But he's just not the type of guy that is naturally going to give recruits a warm and fuzzy feeling about playing for him, and I hardly think he'd have it any other way. Guys like Cayden Green and Daniel Akinkunmi loved that quality in Bedenbaugh. But not everybody is going to get revved all the way up by that type of demeanor. Put another way, Bedenbaugh was always going to have to power past Brix's homebody tendency rather than try to accommodate it — and it almost worked. That said, one well-placed source on the Oklahoma end told me that players of Brix's ilk won't be Bedenbaugh's target crowd hereafter. "[Bill's] just about done recruiting small-town kids," said that source.
Ultimately, as we've said for weeks, Brix has a choice to make. It comes down to the head versus the heart. In all my conversations with him, he's constantly touted Oklahoma's penchant for development and lineage of NFL linemen. He loves Jerry Schmidt, and has incorporated some of Schmitty's exercises into his own routine. He acknowledged to me last month that all the signs seemed to point in Oklahoma's direction, and he did come very close to committing to the Sooners in mid-October before deciding to give all three schools a final shot. On the other hand, I've reported before that he was very briefly on track to commit to Nebraska in August before he had second thoughts and tapped the brakes. This has been back and forth between the two schools for months, and especially in these final days, I figured Oklahoma would win out because of how the two programs have fared in the 2023 season. Oklahoma is 9-2 and has a shot at a New Year's Six bowl. The Brix family watched the win over Texas (in addition to several other OU games), and the post-Red River high very nearly won Grant over. Meanwhile, Nebraska is 5-6 and on a three-game losing streak. The Huskers will miss a bowl for the seventh consecutive season if they fall to Iowa this weekend. Time and again, Grant had reiterated to me that he knew Nebraska was the most uncertain of his options, and his main apprehension was whether the Huskers would indeed turn things around under Rhule after so many years of futility. When you put two and two together, it was hard for me to figure that OU wouldn't prevail in this battle.
I do have it on good authority that Matt Rhule will interview for the Texas A&M job this week, so that could potentially create a wrinkle here. But even if Rhule were to leave Nebraska after one year to head to College Station (and I think that's a farfetched notion), I am of the belief that it probably wouldn't impact Brix's potential pledge to the Huskers. If he does commit to Nebraska, it's much more about proximity and comfort than it is about a coach or a win-loss record. Having gotten to know the kid quite well throughout the process, I couldn't fault him for that decision. I've made a half-dozen trips to see Brix over the course of the recruiting cycle, and he's one of my favorites that I've ever covered. He and his folks have never been anything but honest, hospitable and welcoming to me. I'll add that the process has had enough twists and turns that I can certainly see Brix changing his mind yet again before it's all said and done. But this much I can say: 1) the lean is to the Huskers and 2) Oklahoma's done pushing. The Sooners will have no qualms with whatever decision Brix makes, and will not attempt to change his mind if Nebraska is the pick.
Unless there is another surprise in the works, this will probably be my final post about Brix until I can get him on the record. I do expect him to be a Husker at this juncture.
