LINCOLN, Neb. — When Matt Rhule meets a high school football coach he likes, Rhule knows it.
“They do everything,” Rhule said. “They don’t just coach. They lead. They mentor. They’re not in it for the money. They’re in it because they love the game. They love coaching.”
In 2013 at Temple, Rhule hired Terry Smith out of high school. Smith is now the associate head coach at Penn State. In 2017 at Baylor, Rhule hired three Texas high school coaches, including Joey McGuire, who now runs the program at Texas Tech.
So when Rhule met Jamar Mozee a few weeks after he started at Nebraska in November 2022, he didn’t question his initial observation.
“We were talking about music,” Rhule said. “And we were talking about books. And we were talking about coaching. And I walked out, and I said, ‘I would hire that guy.’”
In July 2024, Rhule did hire Mozee, a former Oklahoma running back who directed Lee’s Summit (Mo.) North to one Missouri Class 6 quarterfinal and two semifinal appearances in the final three of his nine seasons as head coach. Thirteen months later, Rhule envisions an even brighter future in college football for the 44-year-old senior analyst at Nebraska.
Mozee has led a Nebraska recruiting revival in a city 200 miles from campus that has long been an elusive object of the Huskers’ desire.
As they open the 2025 season Thursday night at Arrowhead Stadium against Cincinnati — in front of an expected invasion of some 60,000 Nebraska fans — things have changed. In fact, eight K.C.-area players and two coaches have jumped on board in Lincoln since the start of last year.
Mozee, a graduate of Blue Springs High, helped make it happen.
“I’m forever grateful,” Mozee said. “That’s the sentiment with coach Rhule for me. With everything I do and the way I work, I’m grateful.”
Mozee brought three players with him from Lee’s Summit North: his son, Isaiah Mozee, a freshman running back expected to make an impact for the Huskers this year; Missouri transfer Williams Nwaneri at defensive end, and Southern Illinois transfer Jamir Conn in the secondary.
“Without coach Mo, I wouldn’t have gotten to college,” Conn said. “He gave me a way to get recruited. All I had to do was play ball. He gave me a different type of confidence. He gave me a pathway to get here. All I do is follow everything he said. Follow his lead.”
Nwaneri was a five-star prospect in the Class of 2024.
“Mozee is almost like a second father to me,” he said. “I went on most of my visits with him. He’s a guy I can always lean on and know he’s always got my best interest at heart.”
In its 2025 newcomer class, Nebraska also added Oklahoma transfer Dasan McCullough, a linebacker once committed to Ohio State who started his high school career at Blue Valley North on the Kansas side of the state line. McCullough’s father, Deland, coached the Kansas City Chiefs’ running backs from 2018 to 2020.
Chiefs secondary coach Dave Merritt sent his son, linebacker Dawson Merritt, a former Alabama commit, to Nebraska this year. Defensive line coach Terry Bradden arrived via the Chiefs this year. Offensive lineman Juju Marks came from Olathe (Kan.) South. Wide receivers Keelan Smith, out of Liberty North, and Hayes Miller of Stillwell, Kan., joined the Huskers in 2024.
“It’s cool,” the elder Mozee said. “It’s a neat experience to see Kansas City in the building — strong and contributing. The guys are going to be able to help us win games and make plays.”
Recruiting all over the country. #GBR pic.twitter.com/ZTx79OYoEn
— Jamar Mozee (@MozeeJ43) August 22, 2025
When Rhule got to Nebraska, he said, the Huskers weren’t gaining much traction in Kansas City high schools. He credited former assistant coach Bill Busch for laying a foundation in the area and also for helping refocus the Huskers’ efforts on St. Louis, a fertile ground that had dried up for Nebraska.
Conn, who touted Kansas City high school players as competing with chips on their shoulders, said Nebraska football never came across his radar.
“It’s a blue-collar area,” Mozee said, “and I do think it gets overlooked quite a bit.”
Mozee gives Nebraska credibility in the region, and his character and interactions with players impressed Rhule.
Rhule’s father, Dennis, coached and taught in high school, in addition to his work in the Christian ministry. Rhule’s late uncle, Chuck Sponsky, a longtime coach, was inducted into the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1999.
The Nebraska coach felt strongly enough about Mozee after their first meeting that he hired him as a recruiter. A rule change to remove the NCAA-mandated limit on coaching staff size made the move work for Rhule.
By that time, Mozee had taken a job with Gus Malzahn at UCF, but Rhule pried him away.
“It brought me closer to home. That was No. 1,” Mozee said. “No. 2, it was coach Rhule, somebody who I’m comfortable with. And No. 3, it’s this program. It is a historical place. It’s amazing.”
Mozee said he felt at home early at Nebraska. This month during preseason camp, Rhule asked Mozee to speak to the Huskers. He crafted a message about togetherness, buying into leadership and setting aside selfishness to help better the unit.
“Based on the journey we’re about to go on,” Mozee said, “you’re going to have to stick together and have a sense of us, love each other.”
Rhule described Mozee’s presentation as “absolutely mesmerizing.”
“It would be doing him a disservice to say coach Mozee is a great recruiter or that he’s great with the guys,” Rhule said. “He’s great at everything he does.”
After Mozee spoke to the Huskers, Rhule asked them if they believed Mozee would make a great college football head coach.
“Every kid was like, ‘yes,’” Rhule said, “because our job is really to have a vision to put into place and communicate with the players. He’s amazing at that.”
About his future, Mozee said he knows only that he wants to stay in college coaching. He was unsure when he left Lee’s Summit North.
“Where the journey takes me,” he said, “we’ll see. But I’m in it for the ride.”
Thursday night, it’s taking him home. To Kansas City.
“I’d say it’s almost like a dream come true,” Mozee said. “But I never even dreamed it. It’s surreal.”
(Top photo of Mozee: Williams Paul / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
