11:34 a.m.: Don't be so quick to think the Husker football coaches can't maintain a legitimate presence in Texas' high schools, even though Nebraska's headed to the Big Ten.

The NU staff has made a concerted effort lately to establish relationships with high school coaches in Texas, which, as a result, has made it easier to pluck talented prospects out of the nation's most fertile football factory.

Why does that have to change now?

If Nebraska's staff stays committed to its newly formed connections in the Lone Star State, Jeremy Crabtree, national recruiting analyst for Rivals.com, doesn't see why the Huskers couldn't keep the pipelines open southward.

“The good news is, they've got great relationships built with the high school coaches across the state.” Crabtree said. “The coaches are the gate keepers. Right now, when (Nebraska's coaches) walk through the door, the high school head coach isn't going to be shy about letting them in.”

Will that change in two or three years? Depends on Nebraska's strategy, Crabtree said.

Obviously, the NU coaches will soon lose one significant bullet point in their outline for Texas-tailored recruiting sales pitches – no longer will Nebraska be guaranteed at least one regular season game in that state. Even those every-other-year road trips to Oklahoma are canceled now, too.

So if a Texas prospect signs on with the Huskers, his family and friends have to travel to see him play.

… Or, they can watch the Big Ten Network.

“That's the question. Are they going to be able to continue to sell the kids, sell mom and dad alone on the Big Ten Network?” Crabtree said. “Is watching TV is going to be enough?”

Maybe. ... Maybe not.

Allen Wallace, the founding editor of SuperPrep magazine, told the Houston Chronicle a couple weeks ago that Nebraska will likely lose out on more Texas recruits now that it's headed to the Big Ten.

"They will have to focus more on the Midwest, but they have always recruited nationally," Wallace said. "They will probably emphasize California more, too."

Hard to imagine coach Bo Pelini and his staff giving up on Texas, though.

Out of the 70 players signed by NU since 2008, 22 have been Texas natives. The Huskers have 12 known members of their 2011 recruiting class. Two are Texans.

Something to think about, though Pelini doesn't seem to be focusing on it yet. Pelini said this regarding potential changes to his recruiting strategy two weeks ago: “That's for another time.”

We'll leave you with these facts (random, but interesting), courtesy of the Houston Chronicle:

-- A little more than 48 percent of the 287 high schoolers signed by Big 12 schools in February were prospects from Texas. The SEC signed 14 Texans. Big Ten schools took 10.

-- Over the last five years, Colorado and Kansas State are the only old Big Eight schools that have signed more athletes from their own home states than recruits from Texas.

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