Blades apparently gone for good

[TruHusker]

Im not missing the point. He is pissed he didn't qualify, he blames Nebraska. If he had qualified, he wouldn't be pissed at Nebraska. He wants to play right away and didn't want to sit out a an academic redshirt year. It's no different than when your girlfriend broke up with you for cheatingbon her. You say things about her to make yourself feel better but in reality you know it's your fault.

This

All of the "theories" on here are plain ridiculous. Colleges do not help kids get qualified - that is up to the student, teachers, administration and parents. Can you imagine the scandal of a university "assisting" a HS football player to become eligible? As I have said before, been through this with kids and you can't believe the amount of denial that goes on by parents and the student.

IF he would have qualified, it would have been a great win and there wouldn't be any of this "discussion" on the board with all of the inside information and deep throat reasoning. Going forward, one has to ask if the problem is even solved IF a test score would have been obtained - one still needs to maintain in.

 

[jlb321]

Just curious, do you feel the same about Bubba Starling and Monte Harrison. We accepted their commitments basically knowing full well they weren't coming... I get that he was a long shot, but it was a long shot that didn't hurt us in any way whatsoever to try for. And the worst case scenario with Blades is happening right now...and all that means is he isn't coming. Move on to 2018 and let DW earn his pay. Maybe look for a potential transfer or juco to try and balance the classes a little better. But I hope that if this exact same scenario happens again, Riley and co do the exact same thing and gamble to get a game changing athlete

Yep you sign them to let the kids and the university get some free pub. Understanding that if you are going to have a class size of 20 they are commitments #21 and #22

 

[DukeOfSorrow]

According to Jib's thought process we should have let Bradley go elsewhere. AFAIK, other schools and even scouting services ignored him because his chances of qualifying were so slim. Anyone think he will make it on campus?

Oh wait, he's already there. /s

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

Can all of you who knew Blades had no chance of qualifying please show me your posts from signing day where you warned the fan base of this common knowledge?

 

[jlb321]

According to Jib's thought process we should have let Bradley go elsewhere. AFAIK, other schools and even scouting services ignored him because his chances of qualifying were so slim. Anyone think he will make it on campus?

Oh wait, he's already there. /s

We told Bradley we really want him and once he was qualified or well on his way to being qualified we would take his commit - not before

 

[Skerz4Life50]

Yep you sign them to let the kids and the university get some free pub. Understanding that if you are going to have a class size of 20 they are commitments #21 and #22

Fair enough. While I don't agree with your view I have no problem with you having that opinion. I think there would be more potential people agreeing with you if the class was full and he kept someone out or we have someone fairly comparable to replace him. However, we didn't have that luxury and so it really was a harmless gamble imo

 

[jlb321]

Can all of you who knew Blades had no chance of qualifying please show me your posts from signing day where you warned the fan base of this common knowledge?

Personally had no reason to suspect was told he was an amazing player. When some of the red flags started popping up I inquired about academics and then started to get the story.

 

[inWV]

It's simple. You are under the 85 limit, if for some reason he gets the necessary test score and GPA to enroll, even with your undocumented 0% chance, you have a steal. When you consider that no one else was on the hook at that position, you have nothing to lose. You either leave the spot empty or take a flyer. Nothing is lost. If he doesn't qualify, you use the scholarship in a small 2018 class, if you leave it empty, you use the scholarship in the 2018 class, but if a miracle happens and he qualifies, well you have a top 50 player on your roster. I am really looking hard to find the negative.

If you can show me who Nebraska had, as a DB recruit, that was passed over and had an offer pulled so that Blades could be part of the class, I will be glad to reconsider my position.

The staff could be criticized for DB recruiting generally last year as Blades was the only signee. However, as of now, we have four scholarship guys with 3 years left and 3 with four years left. They have Bookie for Fall, 2018 so far and it is hoped that he makes a bid for snaps right away. So the two that aren't going to make it open two more spots for this small class.

 

[jlb321]

Fair enough. While I don't agree with your view I have no problem with you having that opinion. I think there would be more potential people agreeing with you if the class was full and he kept someone out or we have someone fairly comparable to replace him. However, we didn't have that luxury and so it really was a harmless gamble imo

While other programs continue to oversign and then scramble to make things work .. We continue to undersign ... I understand DW was brought in late so maybe it is an anomaly but blades should have been a +1 scenario if he qualified and not a minus 1 if he didn't

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

Personally had no reason to suspect was told he was an amazing player. When some of the red flags started popping up I inquired about academics and then started to get the story.

I don't understand. If he had no commitable offers except Nebraska and Florida backed off because of his academics, and this was supposedly common knowledge at the time, why didn't we hear more about him being a risk in March or April?

 

[jlb321]

I don't understand. If he had no commitable offers except Nebraska and Florida backed off because of his academics, and this was supposedly common knowledge at the time, why didn't we hear more about him being a risk in March or April?

I have no idea. My guess is that isn't something you advertise if you are the kid or the school. We knew about the hurdles with Bradley because he was local

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

The staff could be criticized for DB recruiting generally last year as Blades was the only signee. However, as of now, we have four scholarship guys with 3 years left and 3 with four years left. They have Bookie for Fall, 2018 so far and it is hoped that he makes a bid for snaps right away. So the two that aren't going to make it open two more spots for this small class.

Ok cool. I blame the guy who is unemployed and the guy who is the DC at Rice. Ha ha. The only guys we are talking about became serious targets after Dante Williams was hired.

 

[nebcountry]

Or, it might have been that the push for Blades and his subsequent commitment pushed Onyemoaobi to TCU. Don't know the exact timing but Onyemoaobi made his decision on signing day.

Well Tom......'s Wife, we didn't fill our class last year. The most obvious answer to me is that Onyemoaobi went to where he wanted to go.

We signed 4 DB's in the '16 class. Some people view RS freshman as their own entity, some people view RS freshman as simply freshman. So, maybe there was a sense of urgency to have 2 or more DB's in the '17 class, maybe there wasn't. To say we were "happy" with one DB that won't qualify or that we "needed" three DB's, are both conjecture. I don't know about the rest of Husker Nation, but I'm hungry for talent on the roster. Losing Blades is significant.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

I have no idea. My guess is that isn't something you advertise if you are the kid or the school. We knew about the hurdles with Bradley because he was local

Please, everyone and their brother knew why Nebraska hadn't offered Bradley and it was openly talked about. Every recruiting analyst in the country talks to high school coaches and they have a good idea on who is or isn't an academic risk and they don't have an issue stating the kid is an at risk recruit. That didn't happen in this case until after he received his second semester grades.

 

[coachDubs]

While I would have never put it as bluntly as you did .... We are in agreement. Nebraska shouldn't be recruiting functioning dipshits

Academic risks have been a part of Nebraska football for a very long time. I didn't intend to mean Blade is illiterate, I do believe he's a dipshit for not holding up his end of the bargain.

Did he not attend the spring game, on his own dime?

There has to be more to it, luckily for him Nebraska won't comment.

 

[ExpatHusker]

While other programs continue to oversign and then scramble to make things work .. We continue to undersign ... I understand DW was brought in late so maybe it is an anomaly but blades should have been a +1 scenario if he qualified and not a minus 1 if he didn't

This is exactly my thoughts as well. We're always undersigned. That hurts us. I'd much rather we oversign and let attrition ("processing" if necessary) sort out the rest.

 

[jlb321]

Please, everyone and their brother knew why Nebraska hadn't offered Bradley and it was openly talked about. Every recruiting analyst in the country talks to high school coaches and they have a good idea on who is or isn't an academic risk and they don't have an issue stating the kid is an at risk recruit. That didn't happen in this case until after he received his second semester grades.

I don't know what else to say. Other than blades wasn't going to qualify here or anywhere partial or otherwise

I regret sharing anything. In fact you got me ... It was all a hoax

The real truth is that I score ACT tests and blades inadvertently multiplied rather than dividing by the square root of 7.15368 on one of the math problems. Otherwise he would be in Lincoln today.

Apologies that my info didn't fit the narrative. Will be more considerate in the future.

 

[WHCSC]

The real truth is that I score ACT tests and blades inadvertently multiplied rather than dividing by the square root of 7.15368 on one of the math problems. Otherwise he would be in Lincoln today.

That one got me too.

 

[DukeOfSorrow]

We told Bradley we really want him and once he was qualified or well on his way to being qualified we would take his commit - not before

Oh yeah, I forgot that you somehow have insider knowledge on just how close to qualifying each of these kids were, but can't even say how you would know or provide proof.

Gotchya.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

I don't know what else to say. Other than blades wasn't going to qualify here or anywhere partial or otherwise

I regret sharing anything. In fact you got me ... It was all a hoax

The real truth is that I score ACT tests and blades inadvertently multiplied rather than dividing by the square root of 7.15368 on one of the math problems. Otherwise he would be in Lincoln today.

Apologies that my info didn't fit the narrative. Will be more considerate in the future.

The issue isn't the fact that he didn't make it. Its the fact that you and others act as though this was common knowledge throughout the college football world in January and February when you found out about it in late May, just like the rest of us.

You also said Riley and Williams didn't lie to Blades, then turned around and said they knew he had no chance of qualifying. How can those two theories co-exist? If they knew there wasn't a chance, but told him there was, then they lied. Which is it?

 

[jflores]

The issue isn't the fact that he didn't make it. Its the fact that you and others act as though this was common knowledge throughout the college football world in January and February when you found out about it in late May, just like the rest of us.

You also said Riley and Williams didn't lie to Blades, then turned around and said they knew he had no chance of qualifying. How can those two theories co-exist? If they knew there wasn't a chance, but told him there was, then they lied. Which is it?

Personally I don't see how taking the kid's commitment just shy of fall camp in an undersign scenario betters our situation. Which seems to be what he's advocating.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

Oh yeah, I forgot that you somehow have insider knowledge on just how close to qualifying each of these kids were, but can't even say how you would know or provide proof.

Gotchya.

I totally believe that. In fact many recruiting people in the state would openly discuss him being a borderline recruit because of his academics. Going so far as to say that if he would have been on track in the fall he would have had multiple P5 offers.

I just don't believe that Bradley's status was so openly talked about but Blades was kept in a cloak of secrecy until May.

 

[inWV]

Can all of you who knew Blades had no chance of qualifying please show me your posts from signing day where you warned the fan base of this common knowledge?

I do not remember Blades as a risk coming up until a few weeks back when we found out he was still ACT testing.

 

[jflores]

I'll say this, between this Blades thing and the Bryson Williams butt hurt thing, this has been one of the more riled up off-seasons.

 

[jflores]

 

[inWV]

That didn't happen in this case until after he received his second semester grades.

So it's quite possible he developed a severe case of senioritis and blew chow on his Spring semester grades.

 

[jlb321]

The issue isn't the fact that he didn't make it. Its the fact that you and others act as though this was common knowledge throughout the college football world in January and February when you found out about it in late May, just like the rest of us.

You also said Riley and Williams didn't lie to Blades, then turned around and said they knew he had no chance of qualifying. How can those two theories co-exist? If they knew there wasn't a chance, but told him there was, then they lied. Which is it?

Blades knew what was required to qualify and so did the staff. The staff told him he had a lot of work to do but they would take his commitment. Other programs told him he had a lot of work to do and he likely wouldn't qualify and they wouldn't take his commit until he was qualified and they weren't going to guarantee him a slot while the academic issues get sorted. Maybe by taking his commitment Blades inferred the staff believed he would qualify .. I don't know. But you can see where there may have been a misunderstanding without technically anyone outright telling untruths.

 

[jflores]

So it's quite possible he developed a severe case of senioritis and blew chow on his Spring semester grades.

It was reported elsewhere that he had the grades and had already graduated. I seem to remember him posting his grad picture on twitter. In early June (so signing day +150 days or so) we were still waiting on his updated test scores.

 

[DukeOfSorrow]

The two most popping threads in this place are basically the same argument.

 

[Toms Wife]

The issue isn't the fact that he didn't make it. Its the fact that you and others act as though this was common knowledge throughout the college football world in January and February when you found out about it in late May, just like the rest of us.

You also said Riley and Williams didn't lie to Blades, then turned around and said they knew he had no chance of qualifying. How can those two theories co-exist? If they knew there wasn't a chance, but told him there was, then they lied. Which is it?

Ummmmm...Blades not making it because of academics was being discussed on RSS on December 22, 2016. People knew about this way before May and before signing day..

 

[jflores]

Ummmmm...Blades not making it because of academics was being discussed on RSS on December 22, 2016. People knew about this way before May and before signing day..

I think in general we knew we were deal with an edge case here, was there anything definitive that said "no chance" he makes it?

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

Blades knew what was required to qualify and so did the staff. The staff told him he had a lot of work to do but they would take his commitment. Other programs told him he had a lot of work to do and he likely wouldn't qualify and they wouldn't take his commit until he was qualified and they weren't going to guarantee him a slot while the academic issues get sorted. Maybe by taking his commitment Blades inferred the staff believed he would qualify .. I don't know. But you can see where there may have been a misunderstanding without technically anyone outright telling untruths.

What I don't see is the words "zero chance of qualifying"

I am pretty confident I know exactly how it went down. I have stated in this thread that there was a chance but he needed to get it done. He didn't.

The higher his GPA the lower the test score needed to qualify. He had an opportunity to raise his GPA in the spring and summer to where the SAT score he received would have been sufficient. Again he failed to do so.

Also goes back to the risk tolerance I spoke of. Nebraska had no risk because they had open scholarships that would go unused. Perhaps the other schools felt filling their class was more important than taking the chance, again to match their risk tolerance.

 

[Toms Wife]

I think in general we knew we were deal with an edge case here, was there anything definitive that said "no chance" he makes it?

It wasn't an edge case. Florida isn't the Ivy League. When they said no to Blades it should have been pretty obvious he wasn't going to make it anywhere.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

It wasn't an edge case. Florida isn't the Ivy League. When they said no to Blades it should have been pretty obvious he wasn't going to make it anywhere.

You are confusing eligibility and acceptance.

Florida's acceptance policies, or whether or not they are the Ivy League is irrelevant.

 

[Hoosker Du]

I hope our coaches learn a lesson from this and adjust accordingly for future classes. Two academic failures in one class doesn't reflect positively on you doing your homework on recruits.

 

[jflores]

It wasn't an edge case. Florida isn't the Ivy League. When they said no to Blades it should have been pretty obvious he wasn't going to make it anywhere.

And I mean edge case in...we aren't dealing with Isaac Newton here.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

Ummmmm...Blades not making it because of academics was being discussed on RSS on December 22, 2016. People knew about this way before May and before signing day..

Academic risk = discussed.
Zero chance of qualifying = not discusses May 2017.

 

[Toms Wife]

You are confusing eligibility and acceptance.

Florida's acceptance policies, or whether or not they are the Ivy League is irrelevant.

No, I'm not. Florida is like Nebraska. If the kid gets eligible he will be accepted. The Ivy League, Stanford, NWU, and a few other places will require higher standards regardless of eligibility. If Yale backed away, it might mean he could get eligible but not get accepted. (Harvard would probably take anyone who simply became eligible, however. They have crapped all over the concept of the student-athlete in the last decade.)

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

No, I'm not. Florida is like Nebraska. If the kid gets eligible he will be accepted. The Ivy League, Stanford, NWU, and a few other places will require higher standards regardless of eligibility. If Yale backed away, it might mean he could get eligible but not get accepted. (Harvard would probably take anyone who simply became eligible, however. They have crapped all over the concept of the student-athlete in the last decade.)

My bad. I misunderstood your point. Too many people on twitter and on the radio were confusing this with Nebraska making a choice not to accept him.

 

[Toms Wife]

No problem. I see the same misunderstanding. However it goes to the point of him not making it to any school if Florida backs out. They think the risk is too great of him taking a spot from someone else.

Rumor is we cooled on Onye because we thought we would get Blades and Lenoir and didn't want all 3 dbs. We ended up with zero. Now we got a bunch of dbs in one class.

In all seriousness Riley needs to manage the roster better.