HUSKER FOOTBALL LANDS COMMITMENT FROM TOP 2027 QB PROSPECT TAYLOR:
Nebraska football’s depth at quarterback is now cemented for the next several seasons.
Trae Taylor, a four-star QB in the class of 2027, has committed to Matt Rhule and the Huskers. Taylor picked the Big Red over Illinois, LSU and Texas A&M.
A 6-foot-3, 186-pound rising junior at Carmel Catholic in the Chicago area, Taylor is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 2 prospect in Illinois and No. 35 prospect in the 2027 class. He’s rated as the third-best QB in the class.
Nebraska’s quarterback room now looks set for the next several seasons. The Husker return starter Dylan Raiola who is entering just his sophomore season. The rest of the room includes redshirt freshman Marcos Davila and true freshman TJ Lateef, both of whom were four-star prospects in high school.
NEBRASKA BASEBALL OPENS SERIES WITH MINNESOTA IN QUEST TO GET BACK TO .500:
Riding a three-game winning streak and on the brink of getting back to .500, Husker baseball welcomes a similar looking Minnesota squad to Haymarket Park for a three-game weekend series.
The series between the Huskers and Golden Gophers starts today, with first pitch set for 6PM. KGFW will join in progress after the conclusion of Kearney/Hastings baseball.
Today’s probable pitching matchup is Nebraska’s Will Walsh (4-6, 5.27 ERA, 56.1 IP, 33 ER, 53 H, 46 SO, 14 BB) vs. Minnesota’s Joe Sperry (1-1, 4.93 ERA, 42.0 IP, 23 ER, 40 H, 29 SO, 12 BB).
NEBRASKA WOMENS BASKETBALL RECIEVES CONFRENCE SLATE
Nebraska will play six of its nine home Big Ten games against 2025 NCAA Tournament qualifiers, the Huskers announced on Wednesday, April 30 with the conference’s release of its home and away plays for the 2025-26 women’s basketball season.
The Huskers, who earned their second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, will play a loaded 18-game schedule again in the coming season, including home games against fellow 2025 NCAA qualifiers UCLA, USC, Iowa, Maryland, Illinois and Indiana. The Big Red will round out its home Big Ten schedule against Rutgers, Purdue and Northwestern.
Nebraska’s road schedule also features six battles with 2025 NCAA qualifiers, including Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Oregon and Washington, along with trips to Minnesota, Penn State and Wisconsin. The Huskers will be making their first Big Ten trips to both Oregon and Washington during the regular season.
In 2024-25, Nebraska finished with a 21-12 overall record that included a 10-8 Big Ten mark. The Huskers also won two games at the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis before taking on Louisville in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Fort Worth, Texas.
NSAA RELEASES CLASS B SOCCER SUB-DISTRICTS, CLASS A EXPECTED TO BE RELEASED TODAY:
The NSAA released the boys and girls soccer sub-districts for Class B.
Grand Island Northwest will host the B-7 Girls Subdistrict, featuring Aurora, Hastings, Northwest, Seward and York. Kearney Catholic will host the B-8 Girls Subdistrict with Gering, Holdrege, Kearney Catholic, Lexington and Scottsbluff.
On the boys side, York is at the B-6 Subdistrict hosted by Crete. Hastings will host the B-7 Subdistrict with Aurora, Kearney Catholic, and Grand Island Northwest. Lexington will host the B-8 Subdistrict with Gering, Holdrege, and Scottsbluff.
YESTERDAY’S BASEBALL GAMES:
Grand Island 4, Lincoln Southwest 3
St. Paul/Palmer 13, Aurora 3
Holdrege 2, Centennial 1
Central City/Centura 10, Twin River 4
TODAY’S BASEBALL GAMES:
Hastings @ Kearney
Crete @ Aurora
SATURDAY’S BASEBALL GAMES:
Grand Island @ Elkhorn North
Grand Island @ Gretna East
Omaha Northwest @ Adams Central
Douglas County West @ Adams Central
York @ Holdrege
Norfolk @ Kearney
Hastings @ Fairbury
MAN WHO FELL OVER A RAILING WEDNESDAY AT PNC PARK IS IN CRITICAL CONDITION:
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A man who fell from the 21-foot-high Clemente Wall in right field at PNC Park during Wednesday night’s game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs remained in critical condition on Thursday morning.
Pittsburgh Public Safety, which includes Pittsburgh Police and EMS, posted on X Thursday that the “incident is being treated as accidental in nature.”
The man who fell was identified Thursday as Kavan Markwood, according to information supplied by the Southern Alleghany School District. District Workforce Development Coordinator Laura Thomson said in a statement that the district is keeping the “former student and standout athlete” in its thoughts and prayers. She identified Markwood was a 2022 graduate who “made a lasting impact” on the district community as an athlete and a “man of character,” and said he was MVP of the football team during his senior year.
MICHIGAN STATE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR ALAN HALLER LEAVING, TOM IZZO WILL BE CO-INTERIM AD
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan State athletic director Alan Haller is leaving the school and deputy athletic director Jennifer Smith and men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo will serve as co-interim ADs, university president Kevin Guskiewicz announced Thursday.
Haller’s last day will be May 11. Guskiewicz did not disclose the reason for Haller’s exit.
“I’m grateful for Alan’s leadership since I joined the university and appreciate the success our programs have seen under his leadership,” Guskiewicz said in a statement. “He is deeply committed to this university and has led with honesty and integrity.”
Guskiewicz said a national search would begin to find a successor to Haller, who was promoted from deputy athletic director in 2021.
It has been a tumultuous decade for Michigan State athletics off the field of play. Haller was an associate athletic director when a female Michigan State graduate filed a complaint about disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse in 2014. MSU agreed to pay $500 million to settle claims from more than 300 women and girls who said they were assaulted by Nassar, who is serving a life sentence in a federal prison.
Three months into his tenure in 2021, Haller signed off on a $95 million, 10-year contract for football coach Mel Tucker. Two years later Tucker was fired after he was said to have sexually harassed activist and rape survivor Brenda Tracy during a phone call in April 2022.
FRIDAY’S TIME SCHEDULE:
MLB
Washington at Cincinnati, 6:10 p.m.
San Diego at Pittsburgh, 6:40 p.m.
Arizona at Philadelphia, 6:45 p.m.
Kansas City at Baltimore, 7:05 p.m.
Tampa Bay at N.Y. Yankees, 7:05 p.m.
Cleveland at Toronto, 7:07 p.m.
Athletics at Miami, 7:10 p.m.
Minnesota at Boston, 7:10 p.m.
L.A. Dodgers at Atlanta, 7:15 p.m.
Houston at Chicago White Sox, 7:40 p.m.
Seattle at Texas, 8:05 p.m.
Chicago Cubs at Milwaukee, 8:10 p.m.
N.Y. Mets at St. Louis, 8:15 p.m.
Detroit at L.A. Angels, 9:38 p.m.
Colorado at San Francisco, 10:15 p.m.
NBA Playoffs – First Round
Western Conference
Houston at Golden State – Game 6, 9 p.m.
NHL Playoffs – First Round
Western Conference
Winnipeg at St. Louis – Game 6, 8 p.m.
NWSL
Angel City at Washington, 8 p.m.
Louisville at Houston, 8 p.m.
Kansas City at Seattle, 10:30 p.m.