Tight End Ryan Otton Gets First Big Ten Offer From Nebraska Cornhuskers

The Nebraska Cornhuskers have been making some moves on the tight end front recently. That includes an offer to Olympia, Washington native Ryan Otton over the weekend. Otton announced the news on Twitter, saying he was thankful to get the scholarship offer.

While Nebraska’s offer to another tight end doesn’t stand out — considering they’ve been reaching out to tight ends from all over the country recently — interest in Otton has mostly been from Pac 12 area schools. In fact, the Huskers are the first Big Ten team to come calling.

Nebraska is the seventh team to make an offer to Otton — with Arizona State, Boise State, Cal, Oregon State, Washington, and UNLV being the others. While 247Sports hasn’t rated him through their composite rankings yet, he is considered a 3-star prospect by the service. That site also considers Otton to be the 10th best player in the state for the 2022 class and the 28th best player in his position group.

The recruiting service believes the tight end is a shoo-in for Washington. However, it’s still relatively early in the recruiting process, and Otton is still garnering interest from other schools.

Earlier this month, the tight end talked to Sports Illustrated about his process and the family’s football resume. His grandfather, Sid Otton, is the winningest high school football coach in the state of Washington. Sid’s statue sits just outside the stadium at the school he coached, Tumwater High. That’s also where Ryan has put together a career that has him being courted by FBS power schools.

“There are two pains in life,” Otton told SI.“There’s the pain of regret and hard work.”

The young tight end has more than his grandfather’s legacy to lean on. There’s also his older brother, Cade, who has played the last three years for Washington. Ryan told the publication that Cade is his idol and inspiration. That’s one of the many reasons analysts believe Otton is leaning heavily toward the Huskies for his school choice.

If Nebraska is going to change his mind, they’re going to need to find a way to get Otton on campus. There is some time before they’ll have to do that, though, as Otton can’t sign on the bottom line until December of 2021.

The NCAA has limited in-person recruiting from all schools for the foreseeable future because of the coronavirus outbreak. Nebraska and other schools have had to find different ways to appeal to recruits during this time, including virtual visits to show off the campus and facilities. It’s not known if Otton has had one of these virtual visits to see what the Cornhuskers have to offer.