The University of Nebraska just completed a week of satellite camps and one thing is certain: Mission Accomplished. Mike Riley brought all nine of his assistant coaches on the road with him, as well as graduate assistant and de facto tight ends coach Tavita Thompson. He also brought key members of his support staff, including Chris Brasfield, Ryan Gunderson, Kenny Wilhite, Andy Vaughn, Todd McShane and Dan Van De Riet. It was a long, demanding week for the coaches and staff members, but well worth their time. There were former Husker players and coaches at a few satellite stops. There were also former players and coaches of Riley's, as well as current commits who made it out to Atlanta (2015 signee Mohamed Barry), Dallas (Terry Wilson) and Los Angeles (Patrick O'Brien). The only hiccup on the tour was the scheduled stop in Houston being cancelled because of weather. It's unfortunate because running backs coach Reggie Davis and defensive backs coach Brian Stewart have deep recruiting ties to the area. It is still unknown if or when that camp will be revisited.
The SEC and ACC conferences don't allow their schools to participate in satellite camps. In the meantime, coaches from both of those conferences continue to gripe about schools outside of their footprint coming in to evaluate "their" local kids. The bottom line is that it benefits the kids themselves. The kids receive more exposure and appreciate the chance to work with a variety of coaches with whom they normally wouldn't have the opportunity. Mike Riley said it himself following the Huskers' first stop in Atlanta this past Monday, "All it is, is opportunity for kids. It's kids that get maybe a new door opened up because of a chance to work with some coaches that are from a different part of the country. There's nothing wrong with that." Coach Riley is absolutely right. If the NCAA isn't smart enough to evolve with the ever-increasing speed of recruiting, and allow for paid official visits during the summer months, this is the best way for schools like Nebraska to sell their brand and build relationships with kids. Most of whom can't afford to pay their own way to visit Lincoln. More and more kids are deciding on their college futures before their senior years and that sped-up timeframe is hurting isolated schools like Nebraska.
In all, between the four stops (Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Los Angeles), Nebraska was able to evaluate roughly 800 prospects. There were a few kids who earned immediate offers following their camp performances. Among the known offers to be given out already are 2016 WR Tyler Simmons (Atlanta), 2017 CB Trajan Bandy (Miami) and 2016 CB DiCaprio Bootle (Miami). It's still not known how many offers will ultimately be extended to the kids who attended these camps. Coaches and support staff members are likely rewatching video from these camps as you read this. Mike Riley and his coaches and staffers will discuss and dissect the players that impressed them ad nauseam to decide on that. Between the 2016, 2017 and 2018 classes, I would estimate that you will see around 30-40 offers eventually being given out. More importantly, Riley laid the groundwork for future recruiting efforts in these areas. Expect Nebraska to return to all of these places next summer when they again embark on their satellite tour. You can also bet that they will continue to be regular visitors during the evaluation period.
It's unfortunate that Nebraska hasn't been doing this for years, but it doesn't surprise me. Bo Pelini decided to take his two best recruiters (Tim Beck, John Papuchis) off of the road - under protest from both - after they were promoted to coordinators. Bo wasn't an enthusiastic recruiter during his 5-years as a defensive coordinator prior to his opportunity at Nebraska, and it was reflected in several recruiting-related areas. He wasn't much of a forward-thinker, but luckily for Nebraska, Mike Riley and his staff are. Thanks in part to Director of Player Personnel, Ryan Gunderson, Mike Riley and his staff at Oregon State were among the first schools to utilize satellite camps and had been involved in them for several years prior to coming to Lincoln. They know first-hand the kind of exposure and relationships they help to build.
Mike Riley has wisely decided to make the 500-mile radius around Lincoln his recruiting priority. Riley knows that Nebraska is the alpha dog in the region and that the Huskers have the potential to reap huge benefits by concentrating on recruiting hotspots in that radius like Chicago, St. Louis, Denver, Kansas City, Oklahoma City and Minneapolis. But Riley also knows that he needs to tap into fertile recruiting grounds like California, Texas, Florida and the Southeast in order to augment that core recruiting territory. Nebraska could very well see a few commitments from this satellite tour with their 2016 class, but more than anything, it laid the groundwork for future recruiting efforts in areas that will be vital to the Huskers going forward. At these four stops, more often than not it was a 2017 or 2018 recruit who caught the attention of the coaches. And truthfully, that is more beneficial for Nebraska. It gives coaches the time needed to build relationships with kids. These coaches have been on the job at Nebraska for roughly seven months. It takes 2-years to properly evaluate and recruit a signing class. All of these coaches are coming from parts of the country outside of the Big Ten footprint and relationships will need to be cultivated over time. These coaches have recruited California and Texas before, but they are new to areas like Florida, Georgia and Nebraska's all-important 500-mile radius.
We have seen plenty of evidence already of Riley and his staff eyeballing the future, and these camps will aid in those efforts. According to 247Sports, to date, Nebraska has made 231 scholarship offers to the 2016 class. They have already offered 44 class of 2017 kids. You can expect those numbers to rise, thanks to these camps. Riley and his staff are already looking towards 2017 and even 2018 (6 known offers) and are building relationships with kids. The fact that Riley and his coaches can get "in" on kids from these satellite areas as they head into their sophomore and junior years, only increases their chances of building pipelines into these places for the future. Because of the efforts of this past week, Nebraska will be on the ground floor with several underclassmen who will eventually be considered blue-chip recruits. Many of them are currently without offers, which benefits Nebraska. In many cases, the Huskers will be their first offer and will be seen as the school that "found" them and helped to put them on the national map. That fact goes a long way with a lot of kids. With Nebraska and these players being on each others radars this early, it helps coaches build a rapport and will get kids interested in trying to make it up to Lincoln for unofficial/official visits over the next few years. Indeed it will be interesting to see what fruits are harvested with the seeds that were planted this past week.
Here are a few players that are a part of the 2017 class that participated in these camps whom Nebraska has either already offered, or I expect them to offer in the near future: QB Tristan Gebbia, CB Trajan Bandy, WR Terrell Bynum, DE Michael Allen, DB Stuart Head, WR Jeremiah Hawkins, OT Chris Sibilia, LB Tyler Taylor and WR Nate Shelton. There were also a handful of 2018 kids who were extremely impressive that I also expect to receive Husker offers relatively soon: LB Raymond Scott, CB Joshua Jobe, QB Brevin White, DE Zachary Gilson and WR Tyrone Legette Jr.
Prior to contributing to HuskerMax, Jeremy Pernell co-founded the all football website N2FL.com. He served as the editor in chief of the college football portion of the website which focused heavily on recruitment and talent analysis, including the NFL Draft. You can email him at N2FL@hotmail.com.
HuskerInTideLand - 5 Hours Ago
Great article, Jeremy!