One of Nebraska's top recruits has spurned the Huskers and will play pro baseball instead.
Wide receiver Monte Harrison of Lee's Summit (Mo.) West was a top-five high school recruits for the Huskers in their 2014 class. But Harrison also is a superb outfielder and was taken 50th overall by the Milwaukee Brewers in last week's Major League Baseball first-year player draft.
Harrison signed with the Brewers over the weekend, receiving a $1.8 million signing bonus, $700,000 above the value slotted for that pick. Obviously, the Brewers felt they needed to overpay in order to make the decision easier for Harrison.
Harrison, who had planned to play baseball at Nebraska, had the talent to play right away at receiver for the Huskers, who have a proven go-to guy in senior Kenny Bell but lack depth at the position. Junior Sam Burtch likely will start opposite Bell, with junior Taariq Allen the frontrunner to be the No. 3 receiver.
Harrison's mentor, Danan Hughes, told the Lincoln Journal-Star that Harrison reached a deal quickly because he was scheduled to report to Nebraska this past Monday for summer classes and didn't want to leave coach Bo Pelini wondering what he would do.
Harrison can only hope his baseball career goes as well as Carl Crawford's, who signed with Nebraska as a quarterback out of high school in Texas but ended up bypassing college after he was a first-round pick by Tampa Bay. Crawford became an all-star with the Rays and now plays for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
