Amare Sanders commits to Nebraska: 'Great things are going to happen at Nebraska'

Amare Sanders grew up playing football and basketball. Heading into high school, he decided to give up football and focus on basketball. The football coaches at Miami Gulliver Prep didn’t give up. After sitting out two years, Sanders returned to the gridiron his junior season. It was the right decision.

Over 30 schools ended up offering Sanders a scholarship to play football. One was Nebraska. The Cornhuskers came in with an offer on May 11. From that date on, Evan Cooper prioritized Sanders, and the versatile athlete will play his college football in Lincoln.

“From day one, Coach Coop recruited me hard, he didn’t sugar-coat anything and that communication and trust paid off,” Sanders told On3. “Trust is big for me and my family and we have that with Coach Coop and Coach [Matt] Rhule. That was a big part of why I chose Nebraska.”

Nebraska beat out Duke, Louisville, Miami and Virginia. He cut his list on Dec. 1, but Nebraska was already on top before the cut was announced.

“I knew during the season that Nebraska was the top school. Around the middle of the season, because of the communication and the relationships I had, I felt good about Nebraska.”

The 6-foot-2, 167-pound cornerback out of south Florida is excited about who is going to play for and the program’s future.

“Great things are going to happen at Nebraska and I can’t wait to be a part of it. I believe in Coach Coop and his ability to develop players. Coach Rhule is building something from the bottom up and it is going in the right direction. Nebraska is a brotherhood and I believe in Coach Rhule and his coaching staff.”

Nebraska believed in Sanders, Sanders believed in the staff

At first, the recruiting process was exciting for Sanders. He was knew to it as a junior. The offers came in, coaches starting calling and things happened fast. At the end, it got a little stressful, and even after he had made his decision, coaches from schools like Oregon and Texas A&M came calling.

Nebraska was too far out front. The process is over and Coach Cooper was a big reason it ended the way it did.

“Coach Coop believed in me early,” Sanders said. “He came down to my school in the spring and he kept it real from the beginning. He was real with me, he was serious about me and that meant something. The interest he showed was different and how much he wanted me made a difference.”

After the relationship with Cooper was established, Sanders decided to take an official visit to Nebraska. It happened over the summer, so he has yet to see a game, but the visit was key in his decision.

“It was big to get out there. I think you have to visit to know where you want to go. I loved the environment that will be around me out there. It is a family structure under Coach Rhule, I learned how they do things and that visit showed me a lot.”

Now Sanders has made it official. He is headed for Lincoln and he is a big believer in the leader of the program.

“Coach Rhule is an amazing guy. He didn’t sugar-coat things with me from the jump and I trust in him and believe in him. He is a great person who believes in me and I am about everything that he stands for.”