***2017 In State Recruiting Thread***

[spinner4]

however, all things being equal, ie staff evaluates an instate and out of state recruit as being equal the tie should be in favor of the local kid (which I believe will be the case)

This should always be the case and really a no brainier.
1. The risk of the "instate kid" leaving the program is far less likely
A) he won't be home sick
B) he already knows the culture so won't feel like an outcast

2) this is good for fans and for the program. look at the love Jano received from fans these last couple of years. Sure we love him if he's from Texas but is he one of the most popular on the team as far as fans and local media goes?

3) producing in state talent helps the next generations confidence. Confidence plays a big role in being successful at sports. Keep telling Nebraska kids, Nebraska HS football sucks and they will believe it. Let them believe they can play with anyone and they will play at a much higher level.

 

[anon_umk0ifu6vj6zi]

This should always be the case and really a no brainier.
1. The risk of the "instate kid" leaving the program is far less likely
A) he won't be home sick
B) he already knows the culture so won't feel like an outcast

2) this is good for fans and for the program. look at the love Jano received from fans these last couple of years. Sure we love him if he's from Texas but is he one of the most popular on the team as far as fans and local media goes?

3) producing in state talent helps the next generations confidence. Confidence plays a big role in being successful at sports. Keep telling Nebraska kids, Nebraska HS football sucks and they will believe it. Let them believe they can play with anyone and they will play at a much higher level.

And when the roster is filled with kids like that, you will be one of the first to bitch about talent level. Are you now just posting to set up future gripes?
Besides.... these kids would not be very smart to not come and walk-on. Everyone knows Riley is too old, and his Lord and Savior Scott Frost will be here soon. So in all actuality, they would be traitors if they went somewhere else on scholarship.

 

[nebcountry]

I thought we were locking down the 500 mile radius?

I've never really known if the "500-mile radius" was literal, maybe someone knows for sure and can comment. I've always taken it to mean that we will apply extra energy, time, and resources in the recruitment of a prospective P5 player that is within a days drive of Lincoln.

If you were to draw a 500-mile radius circle with Lincoln as the center, you will find that there are Rivals top 250 players that we have not even offered. But, maybe the staff doesn't agree with the rating service ranking, they may have a more promising target based on staff evaluation, the player doesn't "fit" into our program, or maybe 500-mile radius is not to be taken literally.

Now, taking your question into context with this thread, it appears to me that we have offered the current, clear-cut, in-state P5 prospect. Maybe there will be more in-state players that get offered down the road. If nothing else changes, I'm guessing we offer around 20 scholarships this year. How many scholarships can we afford to give to players that don't appear to be legitimate Power 5 prospects?

 

[huskerfan1414]

I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a few of these kids to get offers. Not just because they are from nebraska but they are also good. Not all of them will nor should they. Personally I don't think we should offer Vedral at this point (but if they did I wouldn't be unhappy). It's also not crazy to simply wait until their senior seasons shape up. While we can't just expect kids to walk on, with good recruiting and communication we have a Better chance getting nebraska kids to hold off committing to another school before we see some senior film than we do out of state kids. Personally i think they will offer a few this summer after camp, which they should.

 

[6thdegree]

Arnold showed very, very well at the Kansas City testing.

 

[Cloud@Heart]

Should we take every kid that gets a D1 offer? Or should they maybe be a little more realistic?

I will go with the latter, but some will want everything with a pulse within the radius.

 

[jflores]

People are saying things like "assuming all other things equal". And then assuming all other things are equal. They do not seem to be.

Like Begley. I said earlier any other year, he'd be a good offer. But in this year and last year in particular, NU has been lights out recruiting DB's and has some of the top talent nationwide looking at attending here. I think that is a "not equal" situation that he might be slighted on. At corner we might take Lenoir and Holmes, but we still have Pickett and now Elijah Blades (both of whom could play safety) pretty seriously interested.

I think Kittrell and Arnold will see offers soon as they are as solid a pickup as we're going to find anywhere.

Cieruj, Vedral, they might see offers, but they might not. Vedral is a great athlete and a legacy, but I have to think that he is no more than an emergency lifeboat in the coaches mind in case they struck out on all three previous QB's that fit their system, and possibly a candidate to use his athleticism on the field elsewhere if he's not going to get reps behind Lee, Gebbia and O'Brien. Not sure if the kid wants to be in that position here, or head down to UCF and be "the man".

I thought the RB from Bell West, Bradley is it? might get an offer, but it doesn't really look like we've shown a whole ton of interest there.

 

[jlb321]

People are saying things like "assuming all other things equal". And then assuming all other things are equal. They do not seem to be.

Like Begley. I said earlier any other year, he'd be a good offer. But in this year and last year in particular, NU has been lights out recruiting DB's and has some of the top talent nationwide looking at attending here. I think that is a "not equal" situation that he might be slighted on. At corner we might take Lenoir and Holmes, but we still have Pickett and now Elijah Blades (both of whom could play safety) pretty seriously interested.

I think Kittrell and Arnold will see offers soon as they are as solid a pickup as we're going to find anywhere.

Cieruj, Vedral, they might see offers, but they might not. Vedral is a great athlete and a legacy, but I have to think that he is no more than an emergency lifeboat in the coaches mind in case they struck out on all three previous QB's that fit their system, and possibly a candidate to use his athleticism on the field elsewhere if he's not going to get reps behind Lee, Gebbia and O'Brien. Not sure if the kid wants to be in that position here, or head down to UCF and be "the man".

I thought the RB from Bell West, Bradley is it? might get an offer, but it doesn't really look like we've shown a whole ton of interest there.

absolutely correct ... the fact of the matter is if we start competing with the top programs in the nation for recruits the number of instate recruits is going to drop ... when there is an instate recruit where most of the top tier BIg and Big12 schools have offered then that is our guy .... like it or not the quality of offers a kid has is a reasonable metric ... probably better than the star rating

I would rather have a 3* with offers from Alabama, Stanford, and OSU than a 4* whose top offers are Minnesota, Kansas and Iowa State

 

[jflores]

Here would be the other thing. If NU builds all this momentum throwing top rated kids into the boat from Cali in particular, and then fills out its class with 7 homegrown kids when they could have got equal or better talent from elsewhere, its going to look like a momentum kill.

Holmes and Kittrell will basically offset each other in the Rivals rankings, but if we take 6 more scholarship kids in the state this year because everyone in a Nebraska coffee shop likes the look of the local athletes, we aren't going to finish the year with a Top 15 class.

As pertains to Vedral, I have to wonder if the Ryker Fyfe situation hasn't soured them a little on the "local hero" QB thing, you know, the hard working in-state kid that throws a decent spiral but isn't going to seriously threaten the established depth chart.

I think at this point, its basically gotten to where we should accept that the staff is going to be very choosy about who they take in-state, and then fish elsewhere. The proof is in the pudding. They are not looking to rebuild the Osborne "island of misfit toys" that no one else wanted and let them marinate 3 years. We had people wanting them fired after 6 games, any serious long term strategy that TO put into place over decades is dead on arrival for the modern NU fan timeline.

 

[jflores]

I haven't looked, but assuming we stopped at Allen, Arnold and Kittrell, wouldn't that be our biggest in-state class in a number of years? It seems like most years we get one, maybe two.

 

[bomber89]

Saw an article posted or maybe it was by a poster here but his research was proven 100 % accurate. Since 2000 his research showed the starting rate of a Nebraska kid who received a scholarship vs a non resident who received one. The Nebraska kids had proven more than 30% better of starting than non Nebraska kids. His research just proved Nebraska kids are better bets at starting than non Nebraska kids. Nowhere was he comparing the quality just the starting percentages.

If your a legacy or a Nebraska kid doesn't automatically earn you a scholarship, nobody said that. If you have D1 talent and are a legacy and have earned other Big 10 offers, History and facts prove that Nebraska kid would do better here than non Nebraska kids.

 

[jflores]

Saw an article posted or maybe it was by a poster here but his research was proven 100 % accurate. Since 2000 his research showed the starting rate of a Nebraska kid who received a scholarship vs a non resident who received one. The Nebraska kids had proven more than 30% better of starting than non Nebraska kids. His research just proved Nebraska kids are better bets at starting than non Nebraska kids. Nowhere was he comparing the quality just the starting percentages.

If your a legacy or a Nebraska kid doesn't automatically earn you a scholarship, nobody said that. If you have D1 talent and are a legacy and have earned other Big 10 offers, History and facts prove that Nebraska kid would do better here than non Nebraska kids.

Since 2000 NU has basically "sucked" compared to historical standards. He may not be making the point he wished made. Like an analysis that takes into account quality of starter.

 

[bomber89]

Well a starter is still a starter! Are all starters Big 10? No but a starter still is theoretically better than everyone else at that position. My numbers as far as year may be off (might of went back since Solich 1st year) but it was over 30%. That's meaningful.

 

[jflores]

Come to think of it, I've been pretty disappointed by many of the hyped in-state players we did take.

Since 2000, we've taken guys like Grixby out of Central, Paul out of North, Steinkhuler (one of the few five stars we've gotten) out of Lincoln, Bando, etc. They were good players for us, but none ever lived up to the expectation that their 4 or 5 star ratings would have us believe, considering in the years before, local Nebraska kids were performing at an extremely high level.

We haven't had anyone approach the level of an Ahman Green for example.

Come to think of it, quite a bit of our higher end talent from anywhere ended up not doing as well on the field as we thought. Alot of our best players seem to have been the diamond in the rough walk-ons we get occassionally, and 3* players that over play their Rivals rating.

 

[jflores]

Well a starter is still a starter! Are all starters Big 10? No but a starter still is theoretically better than everyone else at that position. My numbers as far as year may be off (might of went back since Solich 1st year) but it was over 30%. That's meaningful.

One factor, being the tallest munchkin won't meet expectations at a school like NU. And two, no doubt the hit rate is higher for homegrown kids. But I think it was Clouse that said something like, Nebraska doesn't need to be fighting with the ISU's and Wyoming's and FCS schools for a kid that might be a marginal level starter, NU needs to start getting those 3 and 4 star kids that are tendering big time offers from peer schools.

 

[Husker69]

If Nebraska wants two quarterbacks in the 2017 class, Vedral looks solid. Very good athlete who has nice touch and works at his craft. Looking at his Hudl Junior film and Gebbias' hudl Junior film one striking difference was Vedral rolled out much more than Gebbia. In fact I did not see one roll out from Gebbias Junior film. Shot gun all the way with one to no backs all the time. He has a strong arm, accurate with very nice touch. Can't tell if Gebbia has any running ability or at least escapability. His competition level is about 150 degrees better though. Don't underestimate that. He diligently works at his craft too. A high quality QB recruit. Do we want 2 for 2017? Barring attrition, if NU took 2 quarterbacks in 2017 the following fall would have 5 qbs' on the team. No seniors.

 

[Husker69]

Begley is just such a stud and has good size. I just don't want him to turn into a Jeff Tarpinian at Iowa. He would have been nice to have in the late 2000's.

Vedral is such a game changer, I know it's at the C1 level but he's a legacy kid and works at his craft everyday from what I've heard. If we take a second QB I wouldn't be upset if it were him.

I personally thought Engelhaupt deserved an offer earlier last year. Kid will be a playmaker at Nebraska IMO.

I'm thinking if Brett Kitrell shows his knee is sound and close to 100 percent at camp, he will get a Nebraska offer. DT maybe offensive lineman. His limited Junior film, he looked good at both. Arnold and Ciurej are interior offensive linemen. Both are very similar prospects. Their Junior hudl film is solid and promising. But both need to show better agility and flexibility. Not so stiff in movements, more natural. OT Walker from Lincoln East too. His Junior film is solid but he looks to robotic at times. It makes him look not physical enough. The interesting one is Jack Begley. The comparison to Tarpinian is a good one. If Begley runs well at Nebraska, shows good change of direction I would think he could be offered by NU too. It seems the 2017 class has around another 5 to seven players close to what NU is looking for. Summer camp at NU is very important for these in state players as is their senior years. I agree with you on Egelhaupt. IMO he is not a b list player. Barring injury he'll be a player at NU. Fant might have a quicker first or second step, but Engelhaupt is his equal as a prospect IMO.

 

[jflores]

If Nebraska wants two quarterbacks in the 2017 class, Vedral looks solid. Very good athlete who has nice touch and works at his craft. Looking at his Hudl Junior film and Gebbias' hudl Junior film one striking difference was Vedral rolled out much more than Gebbia. In fact I did not see one roll out from Gebbias Junior film. Shot gun all the way with one to no backs all the time. He has a strong arm, accurate with very nice touch. Can't tell if Gebbia has any running ability or at least escapability. His competition level is about 150 degrees better though. Don't underestimate that. He diligently works at his craft too. A high quality QB recruit. Do we want 2 for 2017? Barring attrition, if NU took 2 quarterbacks in 2017 the following fall would have 5 qbs' on the team. No seniors.

I'm less worried about Gebbia's ability to roll out than his ability to deliver a screen pass. I don't think any fascination with the QB run game is going to outlast TA's stay on campus.

In the limited amount of time we have seen TA in Riley's system, people have basically been saying we need to run TA more, because he has a penchant for making a miracle run at a needed time.

Me the casual fan, and certain Riley the veteran coach has to look at the tape and remark "if TA had a screen game, he wouldn't need to be a miracle worker on the ground a handful of times per game, we would have converted a long time ago, or we would have housed it or had a long play to set up a FG".

Edit: Its a bit fuzzy now, but I thought TA started out the BYU game marvelously? He hit a couple nice passes, NU ran a bit. We threw a couple nice screens early for chunks. We felt pretty effortless coming out the gate on opening day, obviously that didn't stick around, but it showed the potential if he could play more consistently.

 

[jflores]

I'm thinking if Brett Kitrell shows his knee is sound and close to 100 percent at camp, he will get a Nebraska offer. DT maybe offensive lineman. His limited Junior film, he looked good at both. Arnold and Ciurej are interior offensive linemen. Both are very similar prospects. Their Junior hudl film is solid and promising. But both need to show better agility and flexibility. Not so stiff in movements, more natural. OT Walker from Lincoln East too. His Junior film is solid but he looks to robotic at times. It makes him look not physical enough. The interesting one is Jack Begley. The comparison to Tarpinian is a good one. If Begley runs well at Nebraska, shows good change of direction I would think he could be offered by NU too. It seems the 2017 class has around another 5 to seven players close to what NU is looking for. Summer camp at NU is very important for these in state players as is their senior years. I agree with you on Egelhaupt. IMO he is not a b list player. Barring injury he'll be a player at NU. Fant might have a quicker first or second step, but Engelhaupt is his equal as a prospect IMO.

Cav has been the one visiting Kittrell mainly hasn't he? I don't know if that mean the staff likes him as an interior lineman better or not. I really haven't seen any smoke about Parella nosing around the kid, and pretty much every other kid across the nation that Parella has been slightly interested in, we've heard about.

 

[cooldude33]

I never understood why traditionally Nebraska made a local kid walk on, to preserve the scholarship for an out of state player when the local player was clearly a high quality athlete. That is some backwards messed up stuff right there.

Because if you pull it off correctly, you end up with 2 quality players instead of one, and it gives you additional room to work around the scholarship restrictions imposed by the NCAA.

You weren't exactly an honor student, were you?

 

[cooldude33]

Begley is just such a stud and has good size. I just don't want him to turn into a Jeff Tarpinian at Iowa. He would have been nice to have in the late 2000's.

Tarpinian barely contributed at Iowa.

He only saw significant PT for one year, and was injured for much of that season anyway.

On the list of players who "got away", he is way, way, way down the list.

 

[NikkiSixx]

Because if you pull it off correctly, you end up with 2 quality players instead of one, and it gives you additional room to work around the scholarship restrictions imposed by the NCAA.

You weren't exactly an honor student, were you?

That is exactly my point, and if you don't see anything even a little bit wrong with that, then you aren't looking at things from the perspective of the local athlete and how we treat our own people.

 

[SevoHusker]

That is exactly my point, and if you don't see anything even a little bit wrong with that, then you aren't looking at things from the perspective of the local athlete and how we treat our own people.

It's not the 80's anymore. You want to compete you have to go after the big fish and take risks. Giving schollys to local kids cause they 'look good' will never win us anything, nor keep us competitive. Honestly, this recruiting the home state kid thing is overrated. I want the best player, regardless of origin. If there are zero NE kids worthy of an offer, then so be it. If there are 10 then so be it. We can't be worried of kids leaving NU and flourishing someplace else.

 

[spinner4]

And when the roster is filled with kids like that, you will be one of the first to bitch about talent level. Are you now just posting to set up future gripes?
Besides.... these kids would not be very smart to not come and walk-on. Everyone knows Riley is too old, and his Lord and Savior Scott Frost will be here soon. So in all actuality, they would be traitors if they went somewhere else on scholarship.

The roster wont fill up with "kids like that" ever and nor do I wish for that . But you shouldn't fill up with 5.6 3-stars from Ohio either. In other words, if I only have 1 roster spot open and I need to fill it with an OT, I'd take Kitrell over Sichterman. Having said that, I'd take 4-star Vera-Tucker over both of them. And I mean no knock on Sichterman. He's just used for my example.

 

[Larry Hagman's Liver]

I don't know how I never noticed this before, but the best part of this whole clip is the incredulous look on Bo's face when he turns around after the whistle blew. As if to say, "What? What did I do?"

Reminds me of this scene:

 

[anon_umk0ifu6vj6zi]

The roster wont fill up with "kids like that" ever and nor do I wish for that . But you shouldn't fill up with 5.6 3-stars from Ohio either. In other words, if I only have 1 roster spot open and I need to fill it with an OT, I'd take Kitrell over Sichterman. Having said that, I'd take 4-star Vera-Tucker over both of them. And I mean no knock on Sichterman. He's just used for my example.

I will trust Wilhite. He is the product of the whining and gnashing of teeth previously over "not having Nebraska" guys on the staff. The crying and bitching got this result. So the same will apply with Wilhite. Got a problem with in-state recruiting? Blame him.
At least we are past offering coaches family members.

 

[NikkiSixx]

It's not the 80's anymore. You want to compete you have to go after the big fish and take risks. Giving schollys to local kids cause they 'look good' will never win us anything, nor keep us competitive. Honestly, this recruiting the home state kid thing is overrated. I want the best player, regardless of origin. If there are zero NE kids worthy of an offer, then so be it. If there are 10 then so be it. We can't be worried of kids leaving NU and flourishing someplace else.

Who said it was the 80's? I never said we should give schollys to local kids just cause they look good, and there is nothing in my post that doesn't go along with the idea of getting the best player we can. I was merely pointing out that we have not treated the local talent fairly in the past. I am glad that things appear to be more fair lately.

 

[SevoHusker]

Who said it was the 80's? I never said we should give schollys to local kids just cause they look good, and there is nothing in my post that doesn't go along with the idea of getting the best player we can. I was merely pointing out that we have not treated the local talent fairly in the past. I am glad that things appear to be more fair lately.

My bad. I was mistaken in your point. I read it completely differently than intended.

 

[jflores]

The roster wont fill up with "kids like that" ever and nor do I wish for that . But you shouldn't fill up with 5.6 3-stars from Ohio either. In other words, if I only have 1 roster spot open and I need to fill it with an OT, I'd take Kitrell over Sichterman. Having said that, I'd take 4-star Vera-Tucker over both of them. And I mean no knock on Sichterman. He's just used for my example.

Yah, that would be a bad choice, because he's probably not your typical 5.6 3*. This is one kid that Clouse seemed to indicate was certainly under rated.

 

[jflores]

Who said it was the 80's? I never said we should give schollys to local kids just cause they look good, and there is nothing in my post that doesn't go along with the idea of getting the best player we can. I was merely pointing out that we have not treated the local talent fairly in the past. I am glad that things appear to be more fair lately.

Handling Nebraska kids has indeed been touchy in the past. This staff, coming from the outside, seems to be fairly comfortable with telling in-state kids "no" instead of playing around with gray shirts, and walk-on scenarios and a whole bunch of other accounting games to satisfy some sort of "Nebraska Way" ideal.

It would seem that in the past, coaches have been more amenable to be on fans good side and try and give Nebraska kids more of shot than they may have really thought they deserved, thinking that good will would lead to more tolerance of what transpires on the field. All that led to was jerking kids around, because no one really wanted to try and put half a dozen Nebraska kids on scholarship. One or two and some walk-ons was more manageable. Hence the accounting games to hopefully not impact "real" talent you wanted to bring in. Those coaches found out, that NU fans don't give a whole lot of good will for playing accounting games to try and accomodate a more local roster, its all "just win baby" right here.

The FB situation is fairly telling. We're going after an out of state kid at a position we typically can find some farm kid to fill, pretty much no issue. The staff just doesn't want to mess with it unless there is an in-state kid worthy of the offer.

 

[cooldude33]

That is exactly my point, and if you don't see anything even a little bit wrong with that, then you aren't looking at things from the perspective of the local athlete and how we treat our own people.

I'm sorry, but is your goal to win games and compete for championships, or to "be nice to the local people?"

Talk about backward ass thinking. Might as well have a roster of 100 Nebraskans on it. You'll never win anything, but you sure will be popular with the local kids.

 

[cooldude33]

The roster wont fill up with "kids like that" ever and nor do I wish for that . But you shouldn't fill up with 5.6 3-stars from Ohio either. In other words, if I only have 1 roster spot open and I need to fill it with an OT, I'd take Kitrell over Sichterman. Having said that, I'd take 4-star Vera-Tucker over both of them. And I mean no knock on Sichterman. He's just used for my example.

Sichterman has like 32 offers and Kittrell has exactly one from the Power 5 and another one or two low-level FBS.

If I were you I'd submit my application for recruiting coordinator at Youngstown State ASAP.

 

[NikkiSixx]

I'm sorry, but is your goal to win games and compete for championships, or to "be nice to the local people?"

Talk about backward ass thinking. Might as well have a roster of 100 Nebraskans on it. You'll never win anything, but you sure will be popular with the local kids.

My suggestion for you is to read this book:

http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/More-Than-Winning,674170.aspx

 

[cooldude33]

My suggestion for you is to read this book:

http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/More-Than-Winning,674170.aspx

Better have a couple of truckloads of those on hand for your next 5-7 season.

I'm sure the fanbase will be forgiving. Of course, everyone at this point is pretty much used to losing and being totally irrelevant nationally, so it might not be that big of a deal anymore.

 

[huskerfan1414]

I don't care how many we take as long as deserving guys get it. What pissed me off about bo was he would find some late two or three star talent from some other state no one has ever heard of instead of going after guys like bazata who was an obvious d1 player and others. Nebraska kids are all under the radar due to some prehistoric beliefs about our talent level. Sure we won't have 100 d1 guys but we will have 5 or ten solid under the radar prospects every year who deserve a hard look. I think this staff will offer a few this summer.

 

[NikkiSixx]

Better have a couple of truckloads of those on hand for your next 5-7 season.

I'm sure the fanbase will be forgiving. Of course, everyone at this point is pretty much used to losing and being totally irrelevant nationally, so it might not be that big of a deal anymore.

I don't think you ever really understood my point. In the old days, Nebraska athletes were not treated too good. Basically, if you were a great athlete, the University assumed you were for the home team, and made guys like that walk on, guys who were likely deserving of a scholarship. Most of those guys were never offered by other programs, because they also knew the kid was probably going to walk on. Some guys, like Scott Frost did go elsewhere, and was systematically ridiculed for it back then. So as a local athlete, if you were really good, you had very little ability to get an athletic scholarship because of the system here, and you were expected to go walk on.

That's not the way things seem to be working today, local guys are going elsewhere, and that is fine with me. I think the current coach is doing a better job of treating local players than prior coaches were.

I don't want a roster full of home grown kids just for the sake of having them on the roster. Be careful of making blanket assumptions.

As to your insight for the next season, I fully expect another disaster, but for different reasons than recruiting.

 

[ssmill777]

What does this even mean? Do you ever post anything of substance that isn't a snide jackass remark? Another quality discussion has to take a break so you can be a child

Bingo! Spot on

 

[Tahoe78]

how good is the kid from York?

class of 18.....think that he will be great...

 

[northeastNebraska]

Looks like Austin Allen tore his meniscus this past weekend playing basketball. Could be out the majority of the fall season. Tough break for the senior.

 

[dockentwo]

Should we take every kid that gets a D1 offer? Or should they maybe be a little more realistic?

Realistic is the answer, and we are. I am fully confident we will play the edge on a few; especially if a Coach Parella sees the frame and intangibles he wants for a walk on. I think we are talented and getting in early on low on the radar potentially vastly underrated players. A big part of this is our projection of what type of player we thing we can develop them too - this was a Coach T O staple. Very few will be taken to quiet the crowd; and they will need the upside. GBR