The Omaha Skutt junior gave his verbal this afternoon, giving Nebraska its second commit for the 2025 class

In a big boost to their 2025 recruiting class, the Huskers got the best in-state prospect to stay in the state.

A junior for Omaha Skutt, Cade Ziola announced this afternoon that he was picking Nebraska over Oklahoma, NC State, Iowa State, North Carolina and Rutgers. Ranked No. 46 on the FloWrestling 2025 Big Board, Ziola is currently ranked No. 10 in the country at 182 pounds.

As for his Nebraska high school results, he won a state title as a sophomore at 170 pounds in 2023. As a freshman, he finished as a runner-up at 152 pounds. This season, he’ll be bumping up to 190 but has expressed his intentions to eventually be a heavyweight in college. I think he could be more effective in college at 197, but who am I to decide?

The guys over at NEwrestle, who do a great job with in-state wrestling coverage, interviewed Ziola after his decision, check it out.

As for his results nationally, Ziola has wrestled some of the best in the country and done well. He’s had a few close matches against top 2023 recruit Angelo Ferrari who’s going to Iowa. He also wrestled Penn State commit Connor Mirasola very tough this fall.

Ziola has All-American honors from Ironman, Super 32 and Fargo Nationals — three of the toughest tournaments in the country each year. He recently finished seventh at Super 32 and runner-up at the PNL Chicago Folkstyle Nationals, losing to Mirasola 9-4 at 189 pounds. Mirasola is ranked No. 2 at 195 and No. 11 on the 2024 Big Board. The future Nittany Lion is the real deal, meaning so is Ziola.

Ziola will get another crack at Ironman next weekend. I’ll be interested to see how he finishes as he moves up in weight.

Ziola is the second commit for Nebraska in 2025, joining blue chip recruit Tyler Eise out of Colorado who is ranked No. 10 overall on the 2025 Big Board. He’s ranked No. 2 in the country at 170.

This is a big addition for the Huskers. Not only did they keep the best talent in house, they also added a very talented upperweight prospect that coach Tervel Dlagnev and company can mold. Nebraska needs big bodies — I’m excited to see Ziola in a Husker singlet soon.