Nebraska beat out the likes of North Carolina State, Florida State, Ole Miss, Baylor and North Carolina for 2026 Biloxi (Miss.) four-star offensive tackle Hayden Ainsworth, securing a commitment from the 6-foot-5, 305-pound lineman on Monday.
Ainsworth made his first visit to Nebraska as a recruit June 6-8, but that was all he needed to see before committing to the Huskers. It helps that he has familiarity with the state. Ainsworth spent a few years of his childhood growing up in Omaha and still has family in the area.
“I kind of had a feeling going into the visit,” Ainsworth told Inside Nebraska. “This was a place that I was heavily considering, like all my teams I was kind of that way, but with them, it was a little bit more close to home. I’ve obviously lived up there before, but I also know the type of caliber that they’re bringing in.”
Ainsworth had been in steady contact with the Nebraska staff leading up to the visit. After spending a weekend around the staff, namely head coach Matt Rhule, coming back to Nebraska started to make a lot of sense.
“The presumption that I had about Matt Rhule stood true that he was an awesome guy,” he said. “What you see in interviews is what you get in person and what you get in person is what you’re going to see all the time…I’ve never met a head coach like him.”
The four-star came to the realization during his weekend in Lincoln: the standard applies to everybody, even Rhule.
“He’s super down to earth, every coach is like that. They don’t think they’re above what Nebraska stands for,” he said. “They all want to be held to the same standard that we are.”
His weekend in Lincoln gave him a feel for what being an offensive lineman under Donovan Raiola is like. From hanging out with fellow recruits, like recent offensive line commit Rex Waterman, four-star center target Ryan Miret and four-star offensive tackle Kelvin Obot, to current players like Sam Sledge, Tyler Knaak, Gibson Pyle, Grant Brix and Elijah Pritchett, Ainsworth felt like he belonged, and that he had found his home.
“Seeing him interact with his players was a huge help relationship-wise,” he said. “It helps me understand how he is as a person. He’s very family-centered and I love that because it makes me feel a lot more at ease and maybe more at home whenever I’m around him.”
As Ainsworth dove deeper into what the program had to offer beyond the staff, it became clear Lincoln was the place for him. If Rhule and Raiola didn’t seal the deal, the Osborne Legacy Complex carried Nebraska over the top.
“I’ve never truly seen Lincoln. I went on a field trip there, but I was also in the fifth grade so it was a little bit different,” he said. “Really seeing the facilities, nobody else competes with them if I’m going to be completely blunt with you. I’ve genuinely never seen a nicer facility.”
Ainsworth has been cross-training at all five positions to best prepare himself for whatever is asked of him in college, but is seen as a tackle first by Raiola, specifically a right tackle.
“If I need to, I’ll play any of the five, that’s what I’m kind of used to,” he said. “But he [Raiola] was like, ‘Shoot, if you want to play right [tackle] to start, go ahead and play right tackle and we’re good to go.'”
Ainsworth is the second offensive line commit for Nebraska in the 2026 class, joining Waterman, and the first offensive tackle. He’s the sixth overall commit for the Huskers in the 2026 class and likely won’t be the last to jump in the boat this month.
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