• Video Below: NU coach Bo Pelini speaks at Thursday's practice

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LINCOLN — On the eve of one of the biggest recruiting weekends in recent program memory, John Papuchis won't say Nebraska aimed low in previous years. After all, 49 of NU's last 58 signees came from outside the state's borders.

But the Huskers' first-year recruiting coordinator will say this: His "big board" — the list of wants and needs in any given year — has no limits on names. No untouchables. No guys crossed off because they're just too good.

"Our big board includes everybody," Papuchis said.

And Nebraska's coaching staff — which includes four new assistants — has no limits on its desire, either.

"Not to say guys didn't before," Papuchis said. "But you can see nine guys, plus the head coach, make a concerted effort to go after the big dogs. ... Doesn't matter where they're from — we're going to shoot our gun at them and see what happens."

Said offensive line coach Barney Cotton: "JP is an extremely organized guy. Extremely conscientious guy. We have a very definite plan. Very ambitious."

And as NU hosts Ohio State on Saturday night on ABC, Papuchis and Co. have their sights set on five uncommitted 2012 targets making their official visits:

• Brandon Beaver, a 6-foot-1, 180-pound cornerback from Compton, Calif.

• Jordan Diggs, a 6-2, 190-pound safety from Cape Coral, Fla.

• D.J. Foster, a 6-foot, 185-pound athlete from Scottsdale, Ariz.

• Devin Fuller, a 6-foot, 185-pound quarterback from Old Tappan, N.J.

• T.J. Neal, a 6-1, 225-pound linebacker from McKeesport, Pa.

All but Neal have at least a four-star ranking from 247Sports, a recruiting partner with The World-Herald. Fuller is a five-star player. Rivals and Scout have Neal ranked a three-star linebacker, while the others earned four-star rankings.

Throw in official visits from four of NU's seven 2012 verbal commits — four-star players Jordan Westerkamp, Michael Rose, Greg McMullen and Paul Thurston — and a second game emerges on Saturday night: the one where Nebraska tries to secure success for the future while trying to win its first Big Ten game in the present.

"When the schedule came out last year, and we saw we were going to get Ohio State in our first-ever Big Ten conference game, we knew that'd be a marquee game from a recruiting perspective," said Papuchis, who's helped land several of Nebraska's best recruits — including running back Rex Burkhead — from far-flung locales.

Can Nebraska's ambition sync up with a low-pressure recruiting style to land some of the nation's biggest recruits? Lincoln doesn't have a flashy nightlife. And while NU's facilities and fan support are special, players say, the coaches don't try to put potential targets on the spot.

"It was calm," 2011 commit and freshman running back Aaron Green said. "They won't sell you anything."

That worked for Green — Nebraska's best-ranked recruit in the 2011 class — who already had an older brother, Andrew, playing corner for the Huskers.

And it's worked in convincing Beaver — perhaps the last pure corner among NU's biggest targets — to visit a school in the Midwest. All of his other top schools — Arizona State, UCLA, Utah, Washington — are in the Pac-12.

"They're completely straightforward," Beaver said of defensive coordinator Carl Pelini and secondary coach Corey Raymond, his two primary recruiters. "They tell you like it is." Even to the point, Beaver said, of Raymond giving a few coaching pointers over the phone.

NU junior safety P.J. Smith, who's hosted more than a dozen players while in Lincoln — he's a go-to guy for Louisiana and Texas prospects — said that honest approach jibes with most recruits.

"I'll tell them good things and I'll tell things I don't even like about being here," Smith said. "That's why I get guys to come here. I'm straight-up honest with them. I don't sit there and lie for nobody. I'm not going to make it seem like 'Oh, it's the greatest place in the world.' I tell them the truth.

"Not one coach has ever told me 'Hey, tell him this' or 'tell him that.' It's always good things and bad things."

Some recruits don't quite believe it. So Smith calls up a teammate, hands the prospect the phone and lets him hear it from a Husker teammate.

"They're shocked by that," Smith said.

Whatever recruits want to do — go to a party or go back to a house and just play video games — Smith will do. If prospects come in on Friday night, they'll come meet him at the hotel. They get a closer look at the team dynamics before and during the game, but the best reflection of team chemistry is after the game.

"They're usually surprised how close the team is," Smith said. "They'll visit these other schools and see a bunch of different groups. Here, we're pretty close, you know? They like that."

While Saturday night games make it tougher for recruits to see players in their off-the-field element, they do allow kids who have Friday night high school games to fly to Lincoln on Saturday morning.

Many programs — like Texas, Florida or Ohio State — don't often have to use paid official visits to lure recruits who might live a few hours away. Those kids just drive to campus, get their VIP access and spend minimal dollars for the day.

Most of NU's top prospects live nowhere near Lincoln. Among the five prominent uncommitted visitors this weekend, Neal is closest at 930 miles. The Huskers generally get one good shot at wooing recruits on campus, so the 36- to-48-hour experience has to be memorable.

Beaver said he's in no rush to commit.

"I am excited to see the tradition," he said. Of the quintet, Fuller could be the most interesting target. Built like current wide receiver Jamal Turner, Fuller — who has offers from Alabama, Penn State, TCU and Rutgers, among others — appears more intent on playing quarterback than Turner was coming out of high school. NU already has one 2012 commit from suburban San Antonio quarterback Tommy Armstrong.

Papuchis wouldn't rule out a second quarterback commit.

"It certainly is a possibility," he said. "We're probably the only Division I team in the country that has two scholarship quarterbacks. I would think we're going to have to beef that area up."

Contact the writer:

402-202-9766, sam.mckewon@owh.com

twitter.com/swmckewonOWH

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• Video: NU coach Bo Pelini speaks at Thursday's practice:

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