Nebraska volleyball held its annual spring match on Saturday against Kansas at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

Afterward, first-year head coach Dani Busboom Kelly and stars Andi Jackson, Rebekah Allick and Ryan Hunter held a post-match press conference to answer questions from the media.

Watch Inside Nebraska’s video highlights from the match and the full press conference via the links below or on the Inside Nebraska YouTube channel. Subscribe to our channel for FREE to get even more daily content on all things Nebraska.

Nebraska football’s NFL Draft drought continued a bit longer than expected Friday night.

Despite having a third-round graded draft prospect, the Cornhuskers failed to hear any of the program’s 2025 NFL Draft prospects’ names called during the first three rounds Thursday and Friday. The Huskers haven’t had a day two selection since 2022 and have not had a first-round pick since cornerback Prince Amukamara’s selection in 2011.

The last day two selection came in 2022 when Cam Jurgens and Cam Taylor-Britt were selected by the Philadelphia Eagles and Cincinnati Bengals, respectively. Jurgens signed a recent extension with Philadelphia, making him the higest paid center in the NFL while Taylor-Britt remains a projected starter with the Bengals.

Defensive lineman Ty Robinson had a mixed bag of NFL draft grades, with some analysts projecting the former Blackshirt as a second-round prospect. Others had him around the third- to fourth-round range, as ESPN lists Robinson as the tenth best prospect remaining entering Saturday’s final three rounds.

“Robinson started 47 games at Nebraska, and he worked out well at the combine. Among defensive linemen, he had the fastest 40-yard dash (4.83), second-best broad jump (9 feet, 11 inches) and fourth-best vertical jump (33.5 inches). His tape reflects the testing,” Steve Muench of ESPN wrote about Robinson.

“He explodes off the ball, shoots his hands and pushes the pocket. He tracks the quarterback well and has active hands. Robinson is also effective picking blockers and looping around when running line stunts. He slips blocks and gets into gaps as a run defender. And he can set the edge when he lines up on the outside,” Muench wrote.

Robinson is the second-best projected defensive lineman available behind Florida State’s Joshua Farmer. USA Today projects Robinson as a selection in the fourth round at pick No. 135 to the Las Vegas Raiders.

Defensive back Tommi Hill remains in the top 50 remaining on ESPN’s big board despite missing six games in 2024 with a foot injury. Hill did not run at the NFL combine and was unavailable for Nebraska’s spring Pro Day activities.

“Hill is at his best reading receivers and breaking on passes in off-coverage. He attacks the ball as soon as it’s in the air in zone, and he has the tools to develop into an effective press corner. Hill is a natural hands catcher who tracks the ball well and picked off four passes in 2023. He has the long arms to get his hands on passes without having to go through the receiver. As a run defender, Hill steps up, chases and wraps up productively,” Muench wrote about Hill.

USA Today lists Hill as a projected fifth-round selection to the Minnesota Vikings at pick No. 139.

Nebraska receiver Isaiah Neyor is listed as the No. 145 best prospect remaining after spending one season in Lincoln in 2024 following stints at Wyoming and Texas. Neyor impressed scouts in his pre-draft process with his physical traits, running well at the Nebraska Pro Day in March.

“His blend of size, speed and length is rare. He can get off press and create late separation on vertical routes. Defenders frequently hold him to prevent him from getting behind the coverage. Neyor runs away from coverage and plucks on the run when running crossers. He moves into pockets in zone coverage. He’s tough going over the middle and can hold on after taking a big hit,” Muench wrote about Neyor.

USA Today projects Neyor as a sixth-round selection to the Baltimore Ravens at pick No. 183.

Council Bluffs native and former Husker tight end Thomas Fidone II enters Saturday as the No. 63 available prospect by ESPN. The 6-5, 243 pound tight end was ranked just outside the top ten in his pre-draft position ranking.

“Fidone is a crisp route runner for his size. He finds pockets in zone looks, and he can make the first defender miss after catching the ball. Fidone’s arm length is outstanding, and he has big hands. He can extend and pluck passes out of the air. Fidone needs to get stronger and fill out his frame, but he can wall off defenders in space and develop into an effective blocker over time,” Muench wrote on Fidone.

USA Today projects Fidone as a sixth-round selection to the Baltimore Ravens, selecting him at pick No. 203.

Another potential selection is defensive lineman Nash Hutmacher, who is not projected on ESPN or USA Today’s mock drafts for the final three rounds. Hutmacher is also not listed as one of the top prospects remaining on either site, but had received top 300 prospect grades from other pre-draft analysts.

If three Huskers are selected in Saturday’s final three rounds, Nebraska would match 2022’s NFL Draft output with Jurgens, Taylor-Britt and receiver Samori Toure. Four selections would be the most since the 2016 NFL Draft, when defensive linemen Vincent Valentine and Maliek Collins, offensive tackle Alex Lewis, and fullback Andy Janovich were chosen.

The fourth round begins Saturday at 11 a.m. CDT with coverage available on the NFL Network and ESPN.

Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.

“Allowing special interests or individuals to oppose ballot measures without disclosing their spending undermines our citizen initiative process.”

By Zach Wendling, Nebraska Examiner

A nonpartisan watchdog and a Lincoln state senator filed requests this week to learn more about private and state resources spent against 2024 ballot measures, namely medical cannabis.

The first complaint came from executive director Gavin Geis of Common Cause Nebraska, a nonpartisan organization focused on government accountability.

Geis filed a complaint Thursday with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission (NADC) requesting an investigation into whether John Kuehn, a former Republican state senator and a lead opponent to medical cannabis in the state, failed to disclose related legal expenses in his late 2024 challenge of the related ballot measures before and through the election.

Kuehn filed an initial lawsuit in September on his own behalf seeking to declare the ballot measures “legally insufficient and invalid.” The Lancaster County District Court sided with the ballot measure, and Kuehn is appealing to the Nebraska Supreme Court.

After the election, Kuehn filed a second lawsuit seeking to invalidate the laws, citing federal preemption. Thirty-eight other states have approved medical cannabis and lawmakers continue work to help implement additional regulations.

The NADC confirmed receipt of a complaint from Geis. Under state law, neither the NADC nor Geis can speak about the investigation further until its conclusion, or if Kuehn speaks out.

A 2001 advisory NADC opinion said expenditures against a ballot measure not related to its qualification, passage or defeat, such as constitutionality, are not a campaign service.

Public disclosure laws

Geis said in a news release that “Nebraskans deserve to know who’s working to influence our elections,” whether that is Kuehn or someone on behalf of Kuehn.

“Allowing special interests or individuals to oppose ballot measures without disclosing their spending undermines our citizen initiative process,” Geis said. “If we want to ensure Nebraskans’ voices are heard, we must enforce disclosure laws that show the public who stands against them.”

Geis’s complaint cites state law requiring an individual challenging the “qualification, passage or defeat of a ballot question” over $250 to report such expense.

Geis said that if lawsuits are not covered in this way under current disclosure laws, the Legislature should strengthen them.

Elections lawsuit continues

Kuehn, approached Thursday afternoon by a reporter, said it was the first he had heard of the complaint. He did not respond to multiple requests for comment, including on whether he or someone else funded the election-related challenge.

As part of that first challenge—Kuehn v. Secretary of State Bob Evnen and the three sponsors of the ballot measure campaign—the Attorney General’s Office joined Kuehn in seeking to invalidate the measures before the November election, alleging widespread fraud.

Lancaster County District Judge Susan Strong rejected those arguments.

More than 200,000 signatures were collected between the campaign’s legalization and regulatory petitions. They passed with 71 percent voter approval and 67 percent voter approval, respectively.

Kuehn’s legal team included an attorney from Texas, and his team hired the services of an out-of-state cloud-based petition validation service, Signafide, to review the petitions. Artificial intelligence and manual labor were used in that process.

‘Politically charged litigation’

State Sen. Danielle Conrad (D) of Lincoln sent a Wednesday request to Attorney General Mike Hilgers (R) “in the interests of government transparency and legislative oversight.”

“As always conscious stewards of taxpayer funds and in light of the present fiscal situation, it is important for senators to appreciate the expenses your office has incurred in pursuing an aggressive politically charged litigation agenda under and within your sole discretion,” Conrad wrote in her two-page letter shared with the Nebraska Examiner.

The state currently faces a projected budget deficit for the next two fiscal years of $457 million, as the Appropriations Committee has worked to whittle that down to $0.

As of Thursday, when the baseline budget advanced 7–1, it was still $124 million short under state law. Two bills advanced Thursday would help build a positive $7 million, if passed.

That’s before the Nebraska Economic Forecasting Advisory Board returns Friday afternoon, where many senators expect to be hit with an additional $100 million hole, at the least.

Specific cases targeted

Conrad narrowed her request to expenses regarding ballot measures last year, including:

• Staff time.
• Filing fees.
• News conferences.
• Administrative costs.
• Social media or other paid advertising.
• Mileage, travel, lodging or related expenses.
• Litigation expenses such as deposition costs, discovery expenses, expert consultation, outside counsel (or co-counsel, experts or outside attorneys needed to be hired to defend other state actors).

She specifically asked for related costs to State ex rel. Brooks v. Evnen before the Nebraska Supreme Court in September (abortion), State ex rel. Collar v. Evnen before the Nebraska Supreme Court in September (school choice), Kuehn v. Evnen and others in Lancaster District Court and now the Nebraska Supreme Court through 2024 and into 2025 (medical cannabis) and Kuehn v. Gov. Jim Pillen and others in Lancaster County District Court (medical cannabis).

The AG’s Office hired a forensic document examiner from Colorado as a handwriting expert to review a handful of petition pages in the election-related case from Kuehn last year.

Conrad also included the state’s criminal case against Jacy Todd of York in Hall County District Court and Hall County County Court. Todd is a public notary who helped the medical cannabis campaign and is believed to be the first notary ever criminally charged in this manner. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

Hall County District Judge Andrew Butler this week questioned the extent of resources being used to pursue 24 counts of “official misconduct” against Todd, when looking at the current climate of the state and voice of its residents.”

The Attorney General’s Office did not respond to multiple requests for comment. It has traditionally not disclosed specific litigation costs.

This story was first published by Nebraska Examiner.

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