2018 roster breakdown and recruiting needs

[Tuco Salamanca]

Ok - this is a work in progress. As spring practice comes along and players are put into positions, by the coaching staff, the distribution may change. I tried to match up, as best I could the skill sets of the players to the required skills needed for Diaco's defense, or at least how he ran it at Notre Dame. The offense didn't really change a whole bunch.

QB - Have 4 Need 5 - 2018 take 1
RB/FB- Have 6 Need 6 -2018 take 1
WR - Have 7 Need 8 - 2018 take 2
TE Have 5 Need 5 - 2018 zero
OL. Have 17 Need 16 - 2018 take 2

The above counts Darlington as a QB even though he is listed as a WR on the official roster. There are only 5 senior scholarship players on offense and 3 have played minimally.

On the defensive side of the ball. As I said I put players in positions based on comments from the staff along with my research of their skill sets.

NT - Have 4 Need 4 - 2018 zero
DE - Have 7 Need 7 - 2018 take 1
Cat -Have 5 Need 4 -2018 take zero
Dog - Have 5 Need 4 2018 take zero
ILB - Have 7 Need 8 2018 take 2
Sa - Have 5 Need 7 2018 take 3
CB - Have 8 Need 8 2018 take 3


Specialist
K - have 1 Need 1 2018 take 0 walk on Frahm or Lightborne to replace Brown
LS - Have 1 Need 1 take zero
P - Have 1 Need 1 take zero

That puts us at taking a class of 15. Obviously there will be attrition so we should be able to take up to 18 minimum in 2018 class.

For those interested this is the breakdown by position for defense

NT (4)- Newell, Stoltenburg, Watts, Daniels
DE (7) - Natter, King, C. Davis, K. Davis, Neal, Stille, D.Thomas
Cat (5) - Newby, Freedom, A. Davis, Miller, G. Thomas
Dog (5) - Gifford, Barry, Domann, Alexander, Hampton
ILB (7) - Weber, Young, Ferguson, Simmons, Jefferson, Roberts, Ward
S (5) - K. Williams, A. Williams, Reed, Anderson, Dismuke
CB (8) - Jones, Kalu, Joseph, Jackson, Lee, Bootle, Butler, Blades

I am sure it isn't perfect and there will be changes that need to be made. For instance I am not sure Jefferson can play on the inside, or that Alexander can cover in passing downs. But it was fun to do the exercise.

Edit- the need and take numbers etc are just a guideline. I took 85 scholarships gave 40 to the offense 42 to the defense (to account for special teams coverage) and 3 to specialists. Take them for what they are designed. Just a guide

 

[NYC-Husker]

Thanks for putting that together. The only thing I would note is that we already have one TE committed, so we will take one (unless he's projected at another position in college). I hope you're right about taking 18, though!

Edit: I also wonder what position Masry will play - is he projected at NT? Or maybe on OL?

 

[DudznSudz]

Excellent analysis so far! I think you just went ahead and proved two things:

1.) Next year's class will definitely be smaller than this years, though not by a lot, and because of that and our MUCH better recruiters, we can afford to be very picky and hopefully wind up with a bunch of talent. We're already well on our way. Oh, also, I like that you said we don't need TE's, yet we have Jurgens on our commit list already; I for one think that if he's as big of a freak athlete as he's touted to be, then throw his big ass on the defensive side of the ball and turn him loose.

2.) We have a VERY young team now that is loaded with talented players; most of our starters next year will be 4 star recruits. It will be exciting to see where this takes us, particularly because 2017's schedule is tough but not horrifying, like 2018's schedule is.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

I personally think Jurgens ends up on defense. One of the other sites has him as an athlete and not a TE. But either way he is a stud so you take him regardless.

Obviously, this is fluid so changes will be made.

Thanks for the reminder on Jurgens.

 

[DudznSudz]

Thanks for putting that together. The only thing I would note is that we already have one TE committed, so we will take one (unless he's projected at another position in college). I hope you're right about taking 18, though!

Edit: I also wonder what position Masry will play - is he projected at NT? Or maybe on OL?

See above about Jurgens in my post. Masry is absolutely projecting to NT. Look at the SIZE of that kid. I can't WAIT to see how 2018's class settles! And we already have 1 incredible WR commit. Keep in mind, we have a great shot at landing Bookie, too, as well as Avery Roberts's brother, Grahm, who is a consensus 3 star RB. It's nice to see that some positions are already being taken care of, so in reality we can afford to be REALLY choosy on the remaining spots.

 

[headcard]

I can't imagine we would only take one player in the entire front 7. Plus we already have a NT recruit.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

I can't imagine we would only take one player in the entire front 7. Plus we already have a NT recruit.

Those are just how the numbers work out. They are not set in stone. Just a guideline.

I think Maprieu is a DE like Stephon Tuitt or Kapton Lewis-Moore. Both of those guys were 6'5" and 300.

 

[DudznSudz]

Those are just how the numbers work out.

I think Maprieu is a DE like Stephon Tuitt or Kapton Lewis-Moore. Both of those guys were 6'5" and 300.

Yeah you could be right, he's a little tall to be a true NT. On the other hand, if he packs on another 30 pounds before he enrolls, NT it is!

 

[inWV]

Is JoJo big enough to play LB? And as far as Jurgens is concerned, where would he best project at the next level?

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

Is JoJo big enough to play LB? And as far as Jurgens is concerned, where would he best project at the next level?

I slotted Domann as the Dog backer. They play on the field side. Responsible for the D gap in run support and has to cover the slot and TE in the passing game.

Personally I don't know if he is big enough, but I do believe he can fill the D gap and I do believe he can cover the slot and TE. What I don't see is anyone else in the LB room that can do all of those things. Ha ha so I went with him.

 

[OO Snipes]

I personally think Jurgens ends up on defense. One of the other sites has him as an athlete and not a TE. But either way he is a stud so you take him regardless.

Obviously, this is fluid so changes will be made.

Thanks for the reminder on Jurgens.

Agreed.. I think Jurgens will be in the LB room

 

[dinglefritz]

Darlington is going back to WR and staying there.

 

[daddy mack]

I can't imagine we would only take one player in the entire front 7. Plus we already have a NT recruit.

Guy Thomas has a great shot too start year one at cat or dog.And I would move AkA and D Neal inside too DE ,With Davis s 3 . D Daniels Stolt Watts at Nt .Also Like PJefferson Q Alexander MBarry at a OLB .The ILB would be Roberts Ferguson Hampton J J Domm.Sure is nice having talent everywhere again . C Miller and D Thomas I could see at DE and OLB sometimes

 

[headcard]

Guy Thomas has a great shot too start year one at cat or dog.And I would move AkA and D Neal inside too DE ,With Davis s 3 . D Daniels Stolt Watts at Nt .Also Like PJefferson Q Alexander MBarry at a OLB .The ILB would be Roberts Ferguson Hampton J J Domm.Sure is nice having talent everywhere again . C Miller and D Thomas I could see at DE and OLB sometimes

I think Ferguson will be OLB and Jefferson will be ILB. Agree it would be nice to see Domann at LB too.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

The Dog backer doesn't rush the passer much at all. I can't see putting an OLB with pass rushing skills at that spot.

 

[headcard]

The Dog backer doesn't rush the passer much at all. I can't see putting an OLB with pass rushing skills at that spot.

Does the dog play on the TE side and often cover the TE? I was thinking Newby would be a natural fit there.

 

[inWV]

Newby has been projected at Dog LB.

 

[inWV]

JoJo seems a bit small to play LB, but could be a situational guy there. He could also be at safety. In HS he played nearly every psn.
http://www.omaha.com/huskers/jojo-d...cle_35cf7ef3-691d-5790-ab24-5af145604b76.html

 

[dockentwo]

JoJo seems a bit small to play LB, but could be a situational guy there. He could also be at safety. In HS he played nearly every psn.
http://www.omaha.com/huskers/jojo-d...cle_35cf7ef3-691d-5790-ab24-5af145604b76.html

So HCMR said he wants an even higher rated class next year. To do that we have to basically net out a pretty spectacular 20 for the recruit rating base. So does that mean taking 23 into signing day, to be sure on the net out? Some great work here; but it reads like a lot of people at some positions. So one school of thought is Ala moves people out if they aren't at second team level by sophomore year. Will we move more that way; and are there any apparent easy calls in our numbers? There is legislation to further tighten up on over signing coming on board in the next couple years. GBR

 

[NikkiSixx]

I'm not sure what coach's strategy will be, but I would in general be looking only at 4 stars and above. If you have a specific need or feel a guy is not rated correctly etc, then sure sign a 3 star, but the meat and potatoes of your class needs to be 4 star players and above. Can't be undersigning either, so maybe aiming for 20 isn't a bad idea. You want to be the school where the story line is that you are 'running out of room' instead of 'trying to fill'.

 

[Hoosker Du]

I'm not sure what coach's strategy will be, but I would in general be looking only at 4 stars and above. If you have a specific need or feel a guy is not rated correctly etc, then sure sign a 3 star, but the meat and potatoes of your class needs to be 4 star players and above. Can't be undersigning either, so maybe aiming for 20 isn't a bad idea. You want to be the school where the story line is that you are 'running out of room' instead of 'trying to fill'.

I can't tell if you are joking or not. Are you serious with the "I would be looking at 4-stars and above?" I'm pretty sure coaches don't look at things in that manner.

 

[jflores]

Those numbers look awful shaky for a guy like Moses Bryant. If Fuller is a WR, then KW only needs basically one more guy, probably go hard after a guy like Jalen Hall or some other big time guy.

DW has a little more wiggle room at the DB position, but you know he's going to be in on some hot talent out west who are already proven DBs. Bookie for one.

 

[NikkiSixx]

I can't tell if you are joking or not. Are you serious with the "I would be looking at 4-stars and above?" I'm pretty sure coaches don't look at things in that manner.

Serious.. I gave some exceptions for why I would take a 3 star, but for the most part, that's what I think they should be looking at. 4 Stars and up.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

Those numbers look awful shaky for a guy like Moses Bryant. If Fuller is a WR, then KW only needs basically one more guy, probably go hard after a guy like Jalen Hall or some other big time guy.

DW has a little more wiggle room at the DB position, but you know he's going to be in on some hot talent out west who are already proven DBs. Bookie for one.

Understand those are my numbers and position distribution. For all I know Riley may want 10 WR and 4 RB instead of 8 and 6 that I would have. So there is always wiggle room and adjustments can be made yearvto year to accommodate talent at a certain position.

 

[big red22]

I'm not sure what coach's strategy will be, but I would in general be looking only at 4 stars and above. If you have a specific need or feel a guy is not rated correctly etc, then sure sign a 3 star, but the meat and potatoes of your class needs to be 4 star players and above. Can't be undersigning either, so maybe aiming for 20 isn't a bad idea. You want to be the school where the story line is that you are 'running out of room' instead of 'trying to fill'.

I go by offer lists... not stars

 

[DudznSudz]

Those numbers look awful shaky for a guy like Moses Bryant. If Fuller is a WR, then KW only needs basically one more guy, probably go hard after a guy like Jalen Hall or some other big time guy.

DW has a little more wiggle room at the DB position, but you know he's going to be in on some hot talent out west who are already proven DBs. Bookie for one.

I'm kind of wondering about Moses Bryant too. The guy appears to be a beast on the field, and I'm wondering what his star rating is going to wind up being. I know he's listed as an RB right now, and whether or not we take him for that or for DB is a great question. And yeah, I am pretty sure DW is all over Bookie for DB right now (and that Bookie has us as his leading school thanks to Tyjon), and that we probably will only take 2-3 WR's and, if these numbers from Tuco are right, a full 3 DB's. As I stated, I think its a given that we get Grahm Roberts at RB next year (3*, brother of Avery, seems 100% committed to coming here, is a LARGE RB (210 lbs right now)), so what position they would have Bryant play is a great question.

Like I said, I'd love to see what rating Bryant gets after camps this spring and summer; if he's rated as a 4 star and they want him as an RB or DB, even as a WR, I'd say take him with no questions asked. I think he's definitely the kind of local kid the program would want to keep an eye on.

Hey, speaking of local, as in 500-mile radius, I was reading that Missouri is going to have a really great stock of 2018 talent coming up. A few posters have commented on St. Louis having at least 4 hugely talented players for 2018, and then probably KC as well. Does anyone have any info on who we're talking about?

I'm asking because the analysis I read was basically saying Nebraska kind of lucks out in 2018, because there is going to be a TON of 500-mile radius talent for the class to recruit from, and that doesn't happen all that often. This, having commits already pledged, and having ace recruiters like DW being able to focus on California, should yield perhaps not the largest class ever, but an extremely talented one.

 

[big red22]

Understand those are my numbers and position distribution. For all I know Riley may want 10 WR and 4 RB instead of 8 and 6 that I would have. So there is always wiggle room and adjustments can be made yearvto year to accommodate talent at a certain position.

I don't like the spacing we have between our DB's. I personally don't think we should ever have to go 6 DB's or on the opposite end of that 1 DB... That is how holes are made, and positions can get exploited

 

[DudznSudz]

I don't like the spacing we have between our DB's. I personally don't think we should ever have to go 6 DB's or on the opposite end of that 1 DB... That is how holes are made, and positions can get exploited

Yeah, I hear that. I was wondering if it was really all that great that we didn't get two DB's or at least 1 S to go with this class.

 

[NikkiSixx]

I go by offer lists... not stars

There is probably some validity to that, meaning more people agree about a certain recruit, but at some point you have to wonder if others are just being lazy and not actually evaluating people too.

 

[DudznSudz]

There is probably some validity to that, meaning more people agree about a certain recruit, but at some point you have to wonder if others are just being lazy and not actually evaluating people too.

I totally understand going that route, in part because that shows serious interest, and another part of that is, some kids just don't go to the right camps (if they camp at all) to earn big time evaluations and star ratings.

I saw Bryant either visited or had interest from Notre Dame, btw.

 

[headcard]

I don't like the spacing we have between our DB's. I personally don't think we should ever have to go 6 DB's or on the opposite end of that 1 DB... That is how holes are made, and positions can get exploited

Agree 100%. That is why I was not heart broken to see us "only" get 3 WR this year and "have" to get another 3 in 2018. That being said, with potentially 3 Sr starting DB's, I bet Donte Williams has a great class next year. Like, four 4-stars.

 

[DudznSudz]

Agree 100%. That is why I was not heart broken to see us "only" get 3 WR this year and "have" to get another three in 2018. That being said, with potentially three Sr starting DB's, I bet Donte Williams has a great class next year. Like, four 4-stars.

I think you're probably right. I'm not trying to count my chickens before they are hatched, but Blades looks like a fantastic player, and then if we get Bookie and 1 or 2 other 4-star talent level guys...we're solid on DB's for quite a while.

 

[jflores]

I believe STL has a couple of nice DT's. Parella should be able to stay in the radius and get all of his guys, is something I've heard recruiting analysts say.

Goodrich is down in KC.

As far as DB's and the numbers, at least one of them will need to be a safety, if not two.

 

[headcard]

I go by offer lists... not stars

 

[jflores]

View embedded media

This should be evidence A in the thread about "is Riley's 20th ranked class really better than Bo's?"

 

[DudznSudz]

Yeah, I'm seeing Goodrich down in Lee's Summit, MO, and Trevor Trout in St. Louis (high 4 star DT).

 

[inWV]

The staff will evaluate Bryant like they do any other kid. Could he end up on the low ball side of things as far as the recruiting services go? Local kid, Class B. Does he do much work on the camp circuit? I watched both of his games against Skutt. The kid made big plays when they were needed by his team. He was the difference in both of those games.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

justbfor clarification, I moved Domann from safety to Dog, so that dropped the number of safeties by 1. Considering that is a guess on my part and may not actually take place, the gap isn't as bad as you think.

Safety has 1 senior (K Williams), 2 juniors (A. Williams and Reed), 2 sophomores (Domann and Anderson) and 1 freshman (Dusmuke). Picking up 2 in the next class is consistent with previous years

CB has 3 seniors (Jones, Kalu, and Joseph) no juniors, 2 sophomores (Jackson and Lee) 3 freshmen Bootle, Butler and Blades). Again picking up 2 in 2018 is probably better than 3 because you can then pick up 2 in the 2019 class and even that up.

Sometimes it looks worse than it is.

 

[big red22]

This should be evidence A in the thread about "is Riley's 20th ranked class really better than Bo's?"

I would agree with this, but in 2013 Bo's class had...

8 with 10+
2 with 9
2 with 8

Those 12 do not include Banderas, Maliek Collins, Cethan Carter or Johnny Stanton

2013 class could be compared to 2017

 

[93sker]

I would agree with this, but in 2013 Bo's class had...

8 with 10+
2 with 9
2 with 8

Those 12 do not include Banderas, Maliek Collins, Cethan Carter or Johnny Stanton

2013 class could be compared to 2017

I wouldn't make this comparison yet. Bo's 2013 class (and his 2011 class) had a number of 4* players that didn't contribute significantly due to a variety of issues. Here's to hoping Riley's evaluation/development & luck to health of his last couple of classes is much better - but way too early to compare.