Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.

• Player Card: NU recruit Michael Rose
• Meet the commits: NU's 2012 recruiting class
• Bookmark it: Signing day coverage
• Video Below: See NU commit Michael Rose

* * *

LINCOLN — Are you the next Lavonte David?

Nebraska linebacker recruit Michael Rose gets that question from Husker fans a lot. On Twitter. On Facebook. Face-to-face.

Rose smiles and shrugs.

The inquiries continue.

You know, Michael, the guy who wore No. 4? The leader of the NU defense? The agile-but-physical playmaker who mastered Bo Pelini's complex scheme in a month after arriving in Lincoln from junior college and needed just two seasons to etch his name all over the Nebraska record book? That's you, right Michael?

Rose appreciates the flattering conjecture. He committed to NU 18 months ago, and he's immersed himself into the Nebraska football culture since. He understands Husker Nation's desire for greatness — he wants that, too.

But the next Lavonte David?

"Kind of tough to be putting all that on me," Rose said, smiling again. "I'm just trying to go in there and maybe play my freshman year. Lavonte's set the mark for linebackers at Nebraska. I don't know if I can do all that."

Don't mistake Rose's humility for self-doubt. He's been purposefully doing his best Lavonte impression on the football field back at Kansas City's Rockhurst High School for two years.

When he takes visits to Nebraska, whether it's a Husker practice or game, the only guy he's watching is David. He has a YouTube channel set up to collect David's best highlights.

The 6-foot, 225-pound Rose is highly rated by every recruiting service, and his stock's been rising since his appearance in the Under Armour All-American game on Jan. 5. The World-Herald's recruiting partner, 247Sports, ranks him eighth among the nation's inside linebackers and the third-best Missouri prospect overall.

On Wednesday, Rose will sign a letter of intent with the Huskers, belonging to a 2012 recruiting class that he's openly been touting for weeks as the group that will help Nebraska regain its standing among college football's elite.

Rose is expecting success — he just knows how much work it's going to require.

"I'm just excited about the opportunity we do have," Rose said. "I just hope to do my best to further that (Nebraska) legacy."

Like many people his age, Rose had a vastly different world view two years ago. He was sort of innocently ego-driven, as described by Rockhurst coach Tony Severino.

This was a kid whose first game as a high school freshman was nationally televised by ESPN — and he forced a late fumble. (Rose thought that earned him more playing time. He didn't get it, which frustrated him.) Rose went to a Nebraska camp in the summer after his sophomore season and received a verbal offer. (Severino didn't believe it until Carl Pelini called to confirm a week later.)

"I've been watching Michael grow as a person. It's almost like a 180," Severino said. "Not from a talent standpoint ... just all the other intangibles. To see him grow, as a leader and as a worker, it's just been amazing."

What changed?

As a sophomore, Rose's grades fell below standards set by Rockhurst, a private Jesuit school oriented toward placing students into four-year colleges.

"A mistake," Rose said. "Just me being dumb."

He was suspended for the first six games of his junior year.

Severino told Rose he could consider transferring. Rose stayed.

Rockhurst won every game that Rose missed — a humbling occurrence for a star athlete, Severino said. But Rockhurst did need Rose, and his return helped the team win a state title.

"He just turned the corner," Severino said. "That was the turning point here for him. It showed him that if you don't do your job, the things you're asked to do — there are always people who're going to replace you."

Rose knows that now.

He's well aware of the challenge that awaits him in Lincoln. He can recite the prospective depth chart just as accurately as any diehard Husker fan. And he's one of four linebackers in the 2012 recruiting class. Shoot, Rose even helped lure some of those guys to Nebraska.

He got his first taste of the next level during a week in Florida for the Under Armour All-American game. Day 1 of practice was rough. It quickly got easier.

In the game, he sifted through traffic and dragged down highly acclaimed running back Johnathan Gray for a loss. He sat in zone coverage, jumped up and tipped a pass with his right hand — the deflected football was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. Rose picked off one of his own later, gaining control of a tipped ball as he dove to the ground.

Tom Luginbill, ESPN's national recruiting director, was at every practice. He called the Under Armour game for TV. Rose was one of the first players to get an invite to the event for a reason, Luginbill said.

"He's savvy, instinctive. Has some of that rugged toughness that you want from the linebacker spot," Luginbill said. "As I watched him throughout the week — I knew he could sift through trash, find the alley and get to the football — but he was great in pass coverage.

"He was one of those guys that's always in the right place at the right time."

Again, cue the Lavonte David comparisons.

But this is the nature of sports commentary — on couches, at bars, around water coolers. One superstar sets a standard. Who will match it?

Rose gets it. Few teenagers seem to have the perspective he has.

At the Under Armour media day, some of the nation's best players sat at tables while reporters clamored over their potential collegiate stardom.

Rose was in his own world, in and out of personal phone conversations via an ear piece plugged in under his sweatshirt hood. He sported black-framed glasses that conveyed sophistication mixed with a hint of self-confident swagger. His black practice jersey was slung over his shoulder — his "pre-Blackshirt," he'd later say.

Rose is trying to avoid the hype, presumably aiding him in clinging to a realistic mind-set.

He's not Lavonte David.

That doesn't mean, however, that he can't strive to reach David's status.

"I look at his game — he does so many things well," Rose said. "Made me a better player just looking at him. All the drills, how he goes through that in practice. His work ethic. Man, I definitely wish I was playing with him so I could see it first-hand."

The two have talked. Rose estimates he took "at least 20" unofficial visits to Nebraska. He missed only one home game in 2011. He wished David well in the NFL when they chatted earlier this month.

Rose vividly remembers one thing David said, a source of motivation for the soon-to-be Husker who'll arrive in Lincoln this summer.

"When you come here," David told Rose, "the system is made for you to excel. You've just got to do it."

Contact the writer:

402-473-9585, jon.nyatawa@owh.com

twitter.com/JonNyatawa

* * *

• Video: 2012 Husker commit Michael Rose:

« Sports - Big Red Today

Share