LINCOLN, Neb. — In the months before and after Nebraska football trended sharply in a bad direction five years ago, the Huskers signed 11 players from their own state in the 2022 and 2023 recruiting classes.Four remain on the roster. One has played extensively, offensive lineman Gunnar Gottula, with 16 starts over the past two seasons.Coaching changes are messy. Nebraska has endured six such resets in the 29 years since its last national championship in 1997, one of five it won or shared in a 28-year span. Evaluation and development take hits in times of transition.College football has shifted in the past five years. Players transfer with ease and earn seven-figure payments. The value of a geographic component in roster management has diminished.But from where and how Nebraska players arrive in Lincoln still serves as something of a bellwether for the program’s success level. To understand the degree of change since the Huskers last stood atop college football, The Athletic compared Nebraska’s 2026 and 1997 rosters.In 1997, 58.5 percent of the Nebraska roster (110 of 188 players) came from inside state borders. This season, it’s 27 percent (31 of 115). Among first- and second-stringers on the depth chart, 47.1 percent of Nebraska’s championship two-deep in 1997 graduated high school in the state. This year, that number stands at 16.7 percent, based on a depth-chart projection.