NCAA investigating possible violations by Nebraska Cornhuskers, football coach Scott Frost
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska announced that the NCAA is looking into its football program after a report said Cornhuskers staff improperly used analysts and consultants with the knowledge of coach Scott Frost and even moved workouts off campus last year when such activities were banned during the pandemic.
"We just wanted to acknowledge that there is an NCAA investigation that is currently engaged with our athletic department and our football program specifically," Nebraska athletic director Trev Alberts told reporters Wednesday. "We want you to know that we have complied 100% with the NCAA and been very collaborative with our approach with them with all of their investigation.
"We will continue to do whatever the NCAA asks us to do. Our coaches, including Coach Frost, have done a great job and been very accessible working with the NCAA as we work through these investigations."
Citing unidentified sources, The Action Network reported that Nebraska has "significant video footage" confirming that practice violations occurred in the presence of Frost and other assistants.
Frost told reporters on Wednesday that any workouts held by the Cornhuskers were approved by his superiors.
"Everything we did through COVID was in the best interest and health of our players in mind and everything we did was approved by athletic department administration and campus administration,'' Frost said.
Then-athletic director Bill Moos unexpectedly announced his retirement in June, and Alberts was hired as his replacement in July.
Moos did not respond to a text message from The Associated Press seeking comment.
The NCAA has interviewed Frost, current and former staff members, administrators and football players, and Frost has hired an attorney. The alleged violations occurred in the past 12 months.
The NCAA investigation includes Nebraska's impermissible use of analysts and consultants running special teams drills, according to the report. Analysts are not among the 10 full-time on-field assistants and are not allowed to speak with players.
A year ago, the NCAA prohibited organized workouts because of the pandemic. According to the report, Nebraska allegedly relocated its strength workouts to an undisclosed off-campus location to avoid detection at the direction of NU's strength and conditioning staff.
Alberts would not confirm whether there are multiple NCAA investigations. He was aware of the investigation, which began before his hiring as athletic director last month. Alberts said he wasn't "at liberty" to provide more details or context about the investigations.
Frost, who has a 12-20 record in his first three seasons at Nebraska, begins his fourth season against Illinois on Aug. 28. Under his leadership, the Cornhuskers have never finished higher than fifth in the Big Ten West. The program has had four straight losing seasons, its longest streak since the late 1950s.
The quarterback for the Huskers' 1997 national championship, Frost returned to his alma mater after being named national coach of the year for leading Central Florida to a 13-0 record in 2017. He is under contract with Nebraska through 2026, and his current buyout is $20 million.
The special teams analyst, Jonathan Rutledge, was fired in January. Gerrod Lambrecht, Frost's chief of staff, resigned two weeks ago.
ESPN's Adam Rittenberg and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Texas A&M Aggies land college football commitment from Swedish tight end Theodor Ohrstrom for 2023
Texas A&M added its fourth ESPN Junior 300 commitment to its 2023 recruiting class Wednesday with Theodor Ohrstrom, the No. 2-ranked tight end in the class despite him never having played football in the United States.
The 6-foot-6, 250-pound Ohrstrom, who is ranked No. 86 overall by ESPN, attends RIG Football Academy in Stockholm.
Ohrstrom has only played football for four years and has yet to play a game for RIG Football Academy in two years. He played last season for the club team Tyresö Royal Crowns and will play for the Täby Flyers this season.
"It was a shortened season because of the pandemic, but I think we played six or seven games last season," Ohrstrom said. "RIG can't play against other Swedish teams, because they accept the 10 best players from all around Sweden every year, so we can only play against other teams in Europe. So since I've been at RIG Academy, we've had trouble playing teams because of the pandemic."
The pandemic has made recruiting a difficult process to navigate in the United States, too. From March 2020 to June 2021, recruits were not allowed to visit campuses and could only have communication with college coaches over the phone, video calls and social media to try to build relationships.
That made it even more difficult for Ohrstrom, who had little film to show coaches and had not received any scholarship offers until this past June.
Brandon Collier is the founder of PPI Recruits, an international American football placement organization that has helped European players receive scholarship offers to play college football. Collier brought Ohrstrom over to the United States for the first time in June to participate in college camps and take a tour of campuses, but because of the travel restrictions, Ohrstrom had to take a winding path to get to his final destination in Atlanta.
"In April, I didn't really know if I was I going to be able to go on the tour or not, so I remember being really stressed about that," Ohrstrom said. "In order for me to be able to get into the United States, I had to go to Costa Rica and quarantine for two weeks at my godmother's house. Then I flew to Atlanta from there, because I couldn't get into the U.S. directly."
Collier has worked with Ohrstrom and has seen quick progression. His time in the 40 has improved from 5.0 seconds to 4.65 seconds.
"The turning point for him was we had a megacamp in America where he got four or five offers in June, but the next day I took him to Alabama to see what Alabama thought," Collier said. "They never saw any film on him, so I took him there and Coach [Nick] Saban saw three routes from him and offered him a scholarship. The next day we went to Ohio State and Ryan Day saw four or five routes and came up to me and said he had seen enough, and it really took off from there."
Ohrstrom went to Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State, LSU, Texas A&M and Oklahoma among others on that tour and saw his scholarship offer list continue to grow.
After visiting Texas A&M twice, Ohrstrom felt as though he had enough information to make a decision and picked the Aggies as his college destination. It was a process that spanned only 2½ months, but he's confident he has made the right choice.
"I just felt like the relationship I've created with Coach Coley and Coach [Jimbo] Fisher and the staff at Texas A&M ... I'm going to be embraced very well by the whole culture that they have there," Ohrstrom said. "I know moving across the Atlantic Ocean, there's going to be a lot of new things and I'll have a support staff around me that fits me very well."
Spring 2024
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