3/19/2024 football Edit

The Top 225 Underclassmen: The 15s (2016)

A 1,400-yard passer as a freshman, breaking the school record for passing yards in a game, Lincoln Lutheran sophomore Zach Clausen makes our list of top Nebraska high school underclassman football players for 2016.

Bob Jensen • HuskerlandPreps

Publisher

@HuskerlandBob has been publisher of Huskerland Prep report, Nebraska's high school sports weekly, since 1990. He's a graduate of Arnold High School and also publisher of huskerlandpreps.rivals.com

Every year since 1996 Huskerland Prep Report has released its Top 225, the ranking of the top seniors and underclassman football players in Nebraska for the upcoming season. We begin our on-line release of that feature with the players we have ranked No. 15 among underclassmen in their respective classes; keep in mind we ranked as deep as No. 15 in only these four classes.

What you really should to do, IMO of course, is to call our office at 800-323-3929 and order your 2016 print subscription to Huskerland Prep Report, the only high school publication of its kind in the United States. Our complete Top 225, along with team previews of all teams in the state, plus player feature stories, preseason top 10s, preseason all-state teams, and all the schedules, they all appear in our preseason magazine.

For $32.00 you receive our preseason magazine along with weekly regular season issues which take you right through the end of the season.

Thanks for your support of what we do...Huskerland Bob.

And with that, it's on with the countdown (thank you, Casey Kasem)...

Class B

15. Jake Knott, QB, Ralston, Jr. 5-10, 170. Bench - 225, Squat - 305, 40 - 4.4. Fast and athletic, Knott got his feet wet as a varsity starter in 2015 and figures to give the Rams a quality dual threat under center.

Class C-2

15. (tie) Tige Calleroz, RB-LB, Arcadia-Loup City, Jr. 5-9, 175. Bench - 240, Squat - 450, 40 - 4.9. Quick and agile with good balance, Calleroz isn’t very often stopped by the first tackler. A returning all-district player, he last year rushed for 531 yards and eight touchdowns, adding 57 tackles on defense.

15. (tie) Brenden Johnston, L-LB, Shelby-Rising City, Jr. Other stats NA. All-district as a sophomore, he finished the season with 124 tackles from his middle linebacker spot. Great instincts and physically tough, as witnessed by him playing six games with his broken hand in a cast.

15. (tie) Zach Clausen, QB-S, Lincoln Lutheran, Soph. 6-3, 185. Other stats NA. Passed for 1,456 yards and 8 TDs, broke school single game passing yardage record. Could be we have him 10 places too low on the countdown, we'll see...

Class D-1

15 . (tie) Jack Rush, QB-DL, and Blake Schwarz, RB-LB, South Loup, Jrs. Rush: 6-4, 170. Bench - 215, Squat - 300, 40 - 4.9. Schwarz: 5-10, 170. Bench - 300, Squat - 350, 40 - 4.9. This isn’t as much a homer pick as you might think, me being from Arnold, which is part of the South Loup co-opt. Rush has the makings of someday becoming the best quarterback in this class given his size, smarts and skills, while Schwarz is one tough dude, leading last year’s team in tackles, tackles for loss, forced fumbles and fumbles recovered. South Loup will be a 2016 darkhorse team, here’s two big reasons why.

Class D-2

15. (tie) Kole Prososki, L-DL, Fullerton, Jr. 6-2, 280. Bench - 265, Squat - 385, 40 - 5.35. Other stats NA. A starter since his freshman season, Prososki has great size and is powerful, especially as a run blocker.

15. (tie) Tyler Pawloski, RB-DB, Pleasanton, Soph. 5-7, 150. Bench - 215, Squat - 300, 40 - 4.6. A defending state wrestling champion, Pawloski is strong, fast and smart, plus he’s going to get a lot of opportunities with the football in his hands this fall. Look for him to cash them in on a regular basis.