Previewing Upcoming Prep Dig Nebraska Rankings Updates

What better way to celebrate the new year than with a rankings update?   This has been a long time coming. We've experienced a chaotic high school season, a flurry of showcase events, and a host of other high-profile events. Now that we have some space to breathe before the club season begins, it's time for a rankings refresh.   Consider this your primer for the upcoming overhaul. We're giving you release dates, trends, storylines, and numbers to follow before this big development on the Prep Dig Nebraska site.   New year, new rankings. On to 2026!     Marking the Calendar   Here's when you can expect each rankings update to drop:   2027 - Dec. 29   2028 - Jan. 5   2029 Watch List - Jan. 12   This is our typical week-by-week flow, which will give us plenty of time to discuss each update after it's released. We're going to explore a few new feature themes for this one, so be on the lookout for some unique perspectives over the next few weeks.     The New Crew   Of course, this will be our first foray into the Class of 2029. We have a lot to cover.   Every time we introduce a new watch list, we have a lot of points to reiterate. The most important thing to remember is that this is merely a watch list, meaning we're not looking to establish a hierarchy yet. This is just the beginning.   We're just scratching the surface of our evaluations for Nebraska's Class of 2029. Our sample size includes a handful of showcases and a high school season with limited freshman starters at the varsity level. There's so much we don't know about this group, so next month's release will merely be a snapshot of what the 2029 rankings will become.   Then, we immediately pivot to the club season. The 15s campaign will completely transform our player database and bring dozens of new athletes into the fold. It won't be long until the next update is warranted.     The Great 2028 Update   Expect things to look a little different in the 2028 rankings.   Our most recent 2028 update gave us a stacked list of 50 athletes in the ranked list. This was a big step up from our prior releases, but we can aim much higher for this one.   In short, we're targeting triple digits. The 2028s still have a long time left on the prep stage, but we're compiling a significant catalog of scouting reports to overhaul our rankings. Some players in the current watch list will jump into the Top 50. Others who aren't even in our database will immediately join the rankings. Our 2028 list will morph into something bigger, but it will also be a reflection of how athletes have evolved over the past several months. Player development is taking off.   We billed our previous update as the biggest yet, but we're ready to top that.     Uncommitted Spotlight   There's still a lot to discuss with the 2027s.   Nebraska has a seemingly infinite list of uncommitted juniors clearly capable of collegiate impact. National coverage tends to hone in on players who commit soon after the June 15th "kickoff," but the vast majority of recruiting pathways are far less truncated. These journeys take time.   Our next 2027 rankings update aims to pay special attention to those many athletes worthy of competing at the next level. Stock-riser features will be an important bridge toward making that happen.     What's Next?   As soon as this phase of updates is complete, we'll already be looking forward to the next one.   This is our segue into the club season. Early-season regional action will be pivotal as we hope to discover players we missed in our last update. It also exposes us to athletes who made meteoric strides in the offseason and need a rankings boost for our next update. This happens every year.   So, we're targeting another mid-club season rankings update to reflect the ever-changing nature of Nebraska's prep scene. We want to offer the most accurate, real-time depiction as possible, even if "perfection" is impossible to attain.   That's all part of the fun.

What better way to celebrate the new year than with a rankings update?