Recruiting on the South Plains | RB Jamal Nero

I figured that since I had done profiles on the other two preferred walk-ons (OL Connor Grooms and FB Michael Pearson) that I should go ahead and prepare one for Nero as well. Last week, I ran across this note in the Abilene Reporter about how Cisco RB Jamal Nero would be a preferred walk-on at Texas Tech and for a preferred walk-on, this isn't a bad get.

I'm not thinking that this is going to be a huge deal, but I do think that this is a fairly talented player that has had some injuries issues, but because of those injuries, this may have cost Nero an opportunity at a four year university. First things first, I thought I'd shed a little bit about Nero's history. Nero was named 1st team all district in 4-5A in 2008, which would have been Nero's senior year. As you'll note in his Rivals profile which is from high school (as is his ESPN profile), his statistics don't jump off the page, a bit over 1,000 yards as a junior and a bit under 1,000 yards as a senior.

He was interested in a handful of schools, but you would think that he'd get some sort of scholarship offer, but that never happened. I think I've been doing this long enough to know that if a player is reasonably talented, but doesn't get an offer from a school, the problem is most likely grades. Really, really bad grades. The other one interesting note was that Nero was included in the recruiting pamphlet provided by recruiting guru Will Lyles. I don't think this means anything other than Nero was included in a pamphlet.

The Player Speaks

I haven't been able to find anything, so you're out of luck.

Scouting Report

Nero's highlight film (you can also watch him in high school) doesn't necessarily stand out to me. He's okay. Not great, just not a lot of shake in the bake if you know what I mean. He's fine catching the ball out of the backfield and he looks fluid doing that. He can be a hard runner and I do like his size. I did find this bit from December from JCFootball, which had this about Nero, which includes an injury in 2010 and that it has taken him some time to get back:

RB Jamal Nero - "Through five games when he was a freshman back in 2010, he was leading the nation in rushing, but then he injured his knee and he was out for the rest of the year. He still had a great year, but there were times when you could see he wasn't fully back to 100% health and that is probably why some teams haven't offered him yet. I know that the Texas Tech coaches have talked to him and there are a few other schools looking at him, but he can move on right now and we want to find him a place where he can help someone out right away."

I've got two different clips in his profile, but the 2nd clip is from Nero's Hudl profile and much better video. If you're going to watch it, then that's where I would go.

Nero averaged about 75 yards rushing a game on only 16 carries and he essentially did this two years in a row. He led Cisco in rushing and there really wasn't any other competition while he was at Cisco. If Nero did have grade issues, then I'm glad that he took advantage of an opportunity to work on his grades at Cisco and then get an opportunity at Texas Tech, where there will be an opportunity to get some carries this spring.

Jamal, welcome to Texas Tech and Git Your Guns Up!