Nebraska football has signed a 2023 DL commitment from national powerhouse St. John Bosco

Nebraska has picked up a former Washington pledge Your Rest three-star 2023 defensive lineman from St. John Bosco (Calif.) High School, who announced his commitment Saturday.

Lefotu, the 73rd-ranked player in California, had been committed to the Huskies for just over four months, but decommitted on Nov. 2 and restarted his recruitment.

Lefotu netted nearly a dozen offers, including Colorado, Tennessee, Michigan State and Washington State, along with Arizona and Arizona State.

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He originally had Nebraska, Arizona State, Hawaii, Indiana, Nevada and Washington State in his top eight, and also considered taking the FCS route with Montana State and Weber State on the list.

Lefotu told Within Nebraska, however, senior recruiting analyst Greg Smith settled on Nebraska, Indiana, Nevada and Arizona State as the top group he considered with about two weeks left until the Feb. 1 signing day.

The 6-foot-4, 295-pounder, listed as a strong defenseman on his recruiting profile, offered Matt Rhule and the Huskers’ defensive line coach Terrance Knighton January 14th. The two coaches worked quickly to get Lefotu on campus for an official visit, and he made the trip to Lincoln on the 21st-22nd. January for the weekend exactly one week after receiving the offer.

The biggest thing Lefotu was looking forward to, he told Inside Nebraska, was a visit with the defensive coordinator. Tony White. That meeting happened during the trip, the two were able to build a relationship, and Lefotu felt comfortable enough with White’s view of him that he locked in the commitment.

Lefotu hails from one of St. John Bosco’s most prestigious and well-known high school football programs. This team has over a dozen elite prospects targeted by high-level FBS programs every year. Bosco has four players in each of the Rivals 250 classes for 2023 and 2024, including five-star Oregon signee Matayo Uiagalelei, whom Lefotu played alongside on the defensive line.

He’s gotten some of the best coaching a high school prospect can get, and he’s played against some of the top competition a high school prospect can play against while learning from teammates like Uiagalelei.

Lefotu’s recruitment may have been busier, but he missed crucial time in his recruitment as a sophomore and junior due to an ACL injury. He’s been a standout performer in camps out West, so the potential is there if he can stay healthy.

Lefotu is the 27th member of the Huskers 2023 class. Including 11 transfers, they have added 38 players to the program this offseason and have 102 players on scholarship. Nebraska needs to land 85 scholarships before the 2023 season begins in the fall.

The Huskers 27-man class (1,817 points) is 24 inches national recruitment lists ahead of Colorado (1,782 and 22 commitments) and just behind Mississippi State (1,820 points with 25 commitments). Nebraska ranks 4th in the Big Ten ahead of Iowa (1,648 and 21 commitments) and behind Michigan (1,943 and 23 commitments).