Welcome to a new chapter of HuskerOnline

Since 2000, I have sat in the press box for all but one Nebraska football game, home and away.

The only one I missed over that period was the 2003 Thursday night game at Southern Miss. I was finishing up my final semester at UNL and I had some very good reasons not to make that trip to Hattiesburg. No. 1, I had an all-day broadcasting class on Thursday that you could not miss, and No. 2 I had a flight to Nashville on Friday morning.

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That trip to Nashville was to interview with Shannon Terry, who purchased Rivals.com after the original company filed for bankruptcy. Terry had a vision. He wanted to invest in each market, and he saw Nebraska as a place that needed a full-time digital writer covering the Huskers. At that time, no full-time digital writers were covering NU Athletics. I’ll never forget him telling me that whoever gets this job is walking into a big opportunity.

After that interview in Nashville, Terry called me back a couple of weeks later with an entry level-job offer to cover the Cornhuskers. I was now a full-time employee of Rivals under Terry. Before that, I was working part-time for the original Rivals under Jeremy Crabtree and Bobby Burton. I also filed practice reports for the Nebraska Rivals site as a part-time employee, and I reported daily on the Huskers for 1620 the Zone and Kevin Kugler on Unsportsmanlike Conduct.

Why make the move to On3 Sports?

Why am I telling you all this? Because 20 years later Terry called me with a new opportunity. After successfully launching and selling Rivals and 247 Sports over the last 20 years, it was time for his final challenge – On3 Sports. 

When Terry began to look at acquiring new sites, HuskerOnline was one of his first calls. Over the years I’ve fielded multiple meetings with every major recruiting network interested in acquiring our brand. This was truly the first time I ever considered leaving Rivals.  

When I saw the vision of what On3 was going to be, along with the talent and websites he was acquiring, it was an absolute no-brainer.

On3 Sports is going to provide innovative content and resources we have never seen before in this industry. Over the last three months, many of you have already seen that as we waited for the site to fully transition.

This is a major win for Nebraska fans. We are going to have tools and resources at our disposal we’ve never had before to bring you better coverage.

College football and recruiting have changed in the last few years. With NIL being a big part of the future, On3 will provide info and data unlike we have ever seen in this space.

On3’s Consensus rating formula will equally weight all four major recruiting rankings into one. This is different than Terry’s previously created composite ranking at 247, which weighed over 50 percent of the 247 ranking into the overall composite score. The Consensus will equally weight On3, Rivals, 247 and ESPN into one ranking.

At midnight, the world's greatest Nebraska Cornhusker expert joins On3 + we release the site's name. 10,000+ members are just around the corner. https://t.co/2BIJduqglI

— Shannon Terry (@ShannonTerry) August 31, 2022

On3’s investment in the Nebraska market

The other thing I’m excited about is the investment On3 has made in this market. Our entire HuskerOnline staff of Robin Washut, Abby Barmore, Bryan Munson, Gregg Peterson, Blake Aerni and Grant Hansen have made the move to On3 with me.

On top of that, we have added market-leading Nebraska writer Steven Sipple to our team, who spent the last 33 years covering the Huskers for the Lincoln Journal Star. He officially began writing for On3 on June 1 and is now part of our staff at HuskerOnline.

Sipple and I have long talked about getting the opportunity to work on the same team, and HuskerOnline’s move to On3 has allowed this to happen.

We will continue our strong commitment to covering the Huskers. Many of the staples our users have grown accustomed to on HuskerOnline will stay with us at On3. The Red Sea Scrolls message board first and foremost is here to stay. Things like our war-room feature Tunnel Talk also will very much be part of our site.

As I reflect on this move, everything about it just makes sense. I came into this industry at Rivals under Crabtree, Burton and Terry. Now I’m back with them again after a great run at Rivals.

We’ve also seen Rivals sites from Michigan, Notre Dame, Penn State, South Carolina, Florida State, Miami, Tennessee, Kansas State, Alabama and North Carolina State transition to the On3 network. Over the next several months, we’ll be joined by more Rivals sites and leading experts from other recruiting networks.

Former Rivals national analysts Chad Simmons and Sam Spiegelman are also part of the recruiting team at On3, led by rating expert Charles Power, who is one of the best recruiting evaluators in the industry.

I’m excited about this more than anything because it’s a win for Nebraska fans. The coverage and commitment to covering Husker Athletics has gotten stronger today thanks to On3’s investment in this market.

Now it’s time to get to work!  

Click here for a limited time, register and get an unprecedented 12 months for only $1.00.