McKewon: 3 takes on Missouri defensive end Williams Nwaneri transferring to Nebraska

Nebraska received a transfer commit from Missouri edge rusher Williams Nwaneri. Sam McKewon has three takes on the decision of the 6-foot-7, 255-pounder. While it’s accurate that Nwaneri’s high school coach, Jamar Mozee, is now an assistant at NU, a player of Nwaneri’s potential wasn’t headed to Nebraska for pennies.

So whatever he got — a combination of NIL and revenue sharing money — would have been competitive with the SEC and Big 12 schools that would have been interested in a long, lean, former five-star defensive end. NU doesn’t have a ton of wins over the last decade, but it has resources in the form of financial support and willing NIL advertisers. It helped here.



Nwaneri is a tall guy with long arms that can extend from an offensive tackle, shed a block, and play two gaps against the run. He’s probably ideal as an end, but NU moves around its three defensive linemen around so that they play a variety of spots. Some in Huskerville may think Randy Gregory a comp, but Gregory is true speed guy.

Nwaneri’s comp would be more of a Kayvon Thibodeaux, who played at Oregon and now plays for the NFL’s Giants. In a big, big way. Nwaneri played at Lee’s Summit North High School.

So did 2025 signee Isaiah Mozee. Dawson Merritt played at Blue Valley High School, while JuJu Marks played at Olathe North High School. Nwaneri’s addition will mean some of the KC area’s top overall players are playing at NU.

This bodes well for the 2026 and 2027 recruiting classes. KC is a competitive recruiting area — Michigan routinely recruits there, as does Oregon — but Nebraska is more than holding its own..