Biloxi offensive lineman Hayden Ainsworth signs with Nebraska

BILOXI, Miss. (WXXV) — Few South Mississippi student-athletes can say they played Big 10 football, but Biloxi offensive tackle Hayden Ainsworth is blazing a trail!

Ainsworth signed with the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Wednesday surrounded by family members, teammates and coaches.

The three-star lineman moved up a classification as a junior and will be getting a head start on his college career. Ainsworth received 20 offers and spoke to WXXV about what stood out to him from the Cornhuskers throughout the recruitment process.

“Firstly I prayed about it,” Ainsworth said. “I mean, I put my faith as my first and my founding point, and yet, [Nebraska] hit every single aspect. I talked with my dad quite a bit. It’s like, every question that we had about college and what the experience would be like, they answered correctly, and whenever they did that, that really kind of gave me the home feeling. Everywhere else we went, there was always ‘Well, they’re good here, but they’re sort of good there.’ But Nebraska was, like… they prioritized every little bit about my life. They have excellence in everything. They’re revitalizing engineering which is the only thing somebody could knock — they’re revitalizing that. So at the end of the day, it was more like, ‘What do other teams have against them?’ But it was more like, ‘What does Nebraska have that other teams don’t?’ And that was everything answered, and that was what set them apart.”