The Nebraska Huskers Volleyball recently drew an A1-grade battle card for themselves in the form of Taylor Landfair. The star outside hitter will be joining the ranks of the Huskers after playing for three years with Minnesota. While this is a moment of joy for Nebraska fans, the Golden Gophers fans are still in a state of shock. 

Minnesota fans never thought that Taylor Landfair would ever leave their side, especially since she chose them after very careful consideration. Several questions were raised the moment Landfair entered the trading block despite leading the squad to the postseason. While there was no response from the outside hitter so far, she has now broken her silence on the matter.

A change at the end of 2022 that led to a change at the end of 2023

Taylor Landfair recently posted several stories via her Instagram page reasoning what transpired for her to make the decision to the hungry fans. She opened by thanking the fans for giving her the time she needed and the programs that reached out to her. Speaking about Minnesota, Landfair revealed that she became a Golden Gopher after narrowing her options down to three universities.

Her story revealed that while every university offered her great prospects, what really attracted her to Minnesota was the program’s head coach. Taylor Landfair wrote, “I decided on Minnesota in large part due to the connection I felt with Hugh (McCutcheon). I came from highly demanding programs in my prep years and felt his approach of teaching the game, knowledge of volleyball, and his experience would help me grow my all-around level of play.”

Although Taylor Landfair joined Minnesota because of McCutcheon, the head coach left the program after the end of the 2022 season. This was a big blow to Landfair, who had bagged the first-team All-American honors and Big Ten Player of the Year title under him. Keegan Cook came in as a replacement for McCutcheon and gave his best to the team, but things didn’t work out quite well.

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Although the Gophers did reach the postseason, they had barely made it after enduring 13 losses. This was a major downfall since Minnesota enjoyed a 22-9 season in 2022 and reached the third playoff round. 2023, however, saw the Golden Gophers clear just one playoff round. In fact, even the performance numbers of Taylor Landfair took a hit despite fans expecting more out of their star, who ruled 2022.

The slipping offensive numbers of Taylor Landfair 

The 2022 season saw Taylor Landfair score 479 kills in 31 matches, taking her average kills per set count to a whopping 4.35. While this figure easily beat the attackers of several powerhouses, it plummeted hard in 2023. Landfair could only manage 361 kills this season in 30 matches, trailing by a massive difference of almost 100 kills. Although she did improve her digging ability—improving from an average of 1.63 to 2.03 digs per set, it would have been laudable if it appeared as an additional attribute. 

Although she earned the first-team All-Big Ten honors for 2023 season, the digging numbers didn’t justify her loss of specialization in attacking. This definitely took a toll on the outside hitter. Answering the question of her departure in a nutshell, Landfair wrote, “The answer for my decision to leave Minnesota is simple; it is no longer the right fit for me.” This means that the offensive expert does believe that Minnesota was the right choice for her when she joined. 

Although she hasn’t singled out Keegan Cook as the reason for her departure, she now believes quite the contrary. She wrote, “Neither side is right or wrong, both coaches and athletes have decisions to make and each should be true to what they feel is best.” Thus, choosing what was best for her, Taylor Landfair decided to join the camp of John Cook and the Nebraska Huskers.

But why did Taylor Landfair choose Nebraska?

Coach John Cook charioted the Nebraska Huskers to the finals of the NCAA Volleyball Championship with a really great season record. Although his team lost to Texas in the finals, everyone commends the journey undertaken by Nebraska in 2023. While the players of Nebraska have considerable talent, it takes a good coach to lead a fresher-heavy team to the finals.

Unlike Minnesota, however, Nebraska didn’t just barely make it. The Huskers entered the postseason as the number one seed with just one defeat on their tab. This must have highly attracted Taylor Landfair to Nebraska’s program. So much so that she even rejected the offer she received from Kelly Sheffield’s Wisconsin Badgers.

It is almost inevitable that Taylor Landfair saw the same fire in John Cook. Nebraska’s Bergen Reilly bagged the title of 2023 Big Ten Setter of the Year and also became a part of the All-American second team. A similar feat was achieved by outside hitter Harper Murray, who became an All-American third-team member. 

While this was just the fresher unit of Nebraska, junior Lexi Rodriguez earned her place in the All-American team for the third time. Cook has already groomed his players to a great extent in their formative years. In fact, Nebraska isn’t losing a single player due to their collegiate career eligibility. Thus, Taylor Landfair may have just picked the right spot for herself. Will John Cook and the Huskers be able to win the finals in 2024 with their latest star addition? Time will tell.

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