Elkhorn South senior Jace Piatkowski committed as a preferred walk-on to Nebraska. The 6-foot-4, 174-pound guard announced his decision via Twitter on Wednesday.
“Ever since I was a little kid it has always been a dream of mine to play there,” Piatkowski said. “My dad played there and to follow in his footsteps is something that I am looking forward to.”
Piatkowski’s father, Eric, played at NU from 1990-94 and was a two-time All-Big Eight first-teamer. He scored 1,934 career points, second in program history to Dave Hoppen. His No. 52 jersey was retired in 2006.
“We could not be more proud of the man our son has turned into,” Eric Piatkowski said. “The next four to five years will be amazing watching him and the Husker basketball program transform. He has worked extremely hard for this and he deserves it.”
While some may not want the pressure of playing at the same school as their legendary father, that didn’t faze the younger Piatkowski.
“I guess it just came to the point that it’s normal for people to look at him differently and as a legendary figure,” Jace said. “At this point, that is how it’s been my whole life. To me he’s just my dad or Eric.”
Piatkowski had some early interest from lower-level schools, and chose walking on at Nebraska over walking on at Grand Canyon University.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to play Division I basketball, and I made it clear that is what I wanted to do in the recruiting process.”
He averaged 18.6 points and 3.3 rebounds per game his senior season.
“Coach (Fred) Hoiberg said he want to play fast and have a bunch of shooters,” he said. “I feel like that fits me pretty well.”
Piatkowski will be the third walk-on from Elkhorn South to play for NU. Senior Johnny Trueblood appeared in 17 games and redshirt freshman guard Justin Costello 10 during the 2018-19 season.