Portal season: Nebraska makes offer to Michigan State transfer O-lineman

Portal season has begun early for Nebraska as the Huskers made an offer to a Michigan State transfer Wednesday.
Former Spartans offensive lineman Keyshawn Blackstock announced an NU tender on social media a day after officially leaving his previous team. The 6-foot-5, 315-pounder has seen four games and 74 offensive snaps this season as a backup left tackle but none since coach Mel Tucker was fired Sept. 27. Blackstock can preserve his redshirt and would have two seasons to play two.
The native of Covington (Georgia) Newton was a three-star prep prospect and four-star junior-college recruit out of Coffeyville C.C. last year. Then rated a top-10 national juco player, Blackstock fielded 40-plus offers with finalists including Oregon, Tennessee, USC and Oklahoma.
Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said on his radio show Tuesday that recruiting is always part of his daily rhythm and the sole focus of multiple team staffers. Five regular-season games remain for the Huskers before the portal opens for everyone Dec. 4.
“I’m focused on the season, I’m focused on this team, I’m focused on each player and their well being and their future,” Rhule said. “But we do recruit and we recruit nonstop.”
Blackstock has reported more than half a dozen other offers in his first 24 hours as a free agent including Memphis, Cal, Pittsburgh, Houston and Texas Tech. He has been a swing player at tackle and guard and could be another future option for a Nebraska unit currently stocked with fourth- and fifth-year blockers.
The Huskers took upwards of a dozen transfers in Rhule’s first offseason including one starting O-lineman (Ben Scott) and two others — Tyler Knaak and Jacob Hood — who cracked the depth chart this week.
“Recruiting has a couple different pieces to it,” Rhule said. “Obviously it’s evaluation — we have to bring the right players in. We also have to bring the right people in. Then it’s also making people want to come here, having real conversations. It’s how we’ll build the program.”