Bubba Starling may never touch the football in Husker red.

But a simple pledge given Saturday — to roam the field at Memorial Stadium if he decides to play college football — is enough to create excitement for Nebraska fans.

Now comes the wait.

Starling, a four-star quarterback prospect out of Gardner, Kan., pledged to NU on Saturday. The senior-to-be chose the Huskers over offers from defending national champion Alabama, Notre Dame, Arizona, Louisville and Texas Tech, among others.

“I’m real excited,” Starling said Saturday night. “(Nebraska) just felt like home, like family. I fell in love with the place.”

But Starling is a projected first-round pick in next summer’s Major League Baseball draft, and he could have a multi-million dollar deal thrown his way at this time next year.

“He’s probably going to be tempted with several dollars,” Gardner Edgerton baseball coach Jerald VanRheen said. “I don’t know how that is going to shake out.”

Nebraska fans have been through a situation like this before. Carl Crawford signed with NU in 1999 to play quarterback, but was chosen high in the MLB draft and elected to play baseball. He’s since become one of the top outfielders in the game for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Starling said he’s planning on being at Nebraska a year from now.

“It’s going to be hard for me to step away from college football and college baseball,” he said. “I’ve visited all these places and done all this stuff for a reason.”

Starling stands 6-foot-4, weighs 193 pounds and touched 95 mph on the radar gun numerous times this spring, even getting to 96 once, VanRheen said. The coach wouldn’t be surprised to see the right-hander hit 97 or 98 next season.

Starling followed up a sophomore season in which he hit .581 by hitting .508 as a junior.

“And that was a down year,” the coach joked.

Some scouts think he could be dominating on the mound. VanRheen says Starling would make a pretty good everyday center fielder, too.

What about football?

Starling took the Trailblazers to the state championship game last fall in Class 5A, the second-largest in Kansas. He threw for more than 1,400 yards, ran for 1,300 more (the second year in a row he went over 1,000 in both) and scored 37 touchdowns. He’s grown to love the sport more with that success, too.

“Baseball was first a couple of years ago, but they’re right there with each other now,” he said.

Rivals.com ranks him as the No. 3 dual-threat quarterback in the country, and the No. 99 prospect overall.

He also has highlight-reel dunking ability on the basketball court.

“He’s not just really good at all three,” VanRheen said. “He’s hands down the best player on the baseball field when he plays a game. He’s hands down the best on the football field. He’s as good as they come in basketball.”

Gardner Edgerton football coach Marvin Diener takes it one step further.

“I don’t know if Kansas will ever see a three-sport athlete like him,” Diener told the Kansas City Star.

Starling would figure to join a logjam at quarterback. Cody Green saw action last season in his first year, but he could be pushed for snaps behind Zac Lee in the fall by redshirt freshman Taylor Martinez and true freshman Brion Carnes.

Mix in Starling and fellow 2011 recruit Jamal Turner and NU could have four quarterbacks who are freshmen or sophomores competing for the starting job a year from now.

Starling visited NU in late February for Nebraska’s junior day, but got an in-depth feel for both Lincoln and the program while in town the last two days for a baseball tournament with the U.S. under-18 national team.

He said he’s spent time with Husker baseball coach Mike Anderson and feels confident about that program, as well.

“It’s nice because it’s not going to waste a scholarship on that side,” Starling said. “I’m just really excited.”

Contact the writer:

850-0781, nickrubek@hotmail.com

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