ADVERTISEMENT

Blades apparently gone for good

I guess I don't see it that way. Reaching to fill a class with guys like Whitaker doesn't make sense to me.

I would rather have the chance of pushing the open scholarship 1 year, and take a chance that a guy I really want will sign on next year, than sign a long term deal with a guy I don't really want.


B1G rules on oversigning have been around a while. The new 4 year scholarships are new in the last couple of years. The 4 yr scholarships brought the oversigning rule to the forefront because schools cannot just cut a player as easily as they could with annually renewing scholarships.


But hasn't the BiG oversigning rule been in place since last year? At least it seems to me that it was first mentioned here last season. If our staff is not taking advantage of it, they are wasting an opportunity for them to improve the roster.
 
I guess I see Riley's calculated gambles as fairly low risk. He's been here two seasons, and should know within 2 more whether he's staying or leaving.

He could have taken Wallace and Onye last year and let it roll. However, by the time Wallace and Onye see the field as redshirt sophomores, the decision will have already been made as to whether Riley stays or goes.

In other words... Riley's bread is going to be buttered by the kids already on campus that aren't true freshman this year.

In 2018, Riley either takes a heroic contract extension and DW's new recruits and get us to greater heights, or he's issued his walking papers and it doesn't matter whether Onye was going to see the field or not.

That's why I don't really get the epic amount of hand wringing that's being done. This is either going to work well, or some new staff is going to potentially start "processing" players anyway. People pretending about worrying for Riley's sake, is all crocodile tears.
 
Last edited:
I guess I don't see it that way. Reaching to fill a class with guys like Whitaker doesn't make sense to me.

I would rather have the chance of pushing the open scholarship 1 year, and take a chance that a guy I really want will sign on next year, than sign a long term deal with a guy I don't really want.


B1G rules on oversigning have been around a while. The new 4 year scholarships are new in the last couple of years. The 4 yr scholarships brought the oversigning rule to the forefront because schools cannot just cut a player as easily as they could with annually renewing scholarships.

I hadn't referenced Whitaker, but IMO that was a reach by Bo's staff. There should be very few reaches in general. I don't see any reaches in the 2017 class.

Sure, you have to push an open scholarship to the next year for a better player, but ideally there should be no open scholarships to push to next year. I know recruiting is imperfect and you will have those open scholarships sometimes, but the idea is to maximize those numbers each year. We're getting closer than when Bo was here, but still not there.

They can't be right all the time, but unlike Bo, I think Riley and his staff have filled the class with quality commits. We weren't waiting with anticipation on NSD this year for the signature of a Glen Irons. We were waiting for big fish. That is the significant difference between Riley and Bo. Now it's time to take that to the next level, and start utilizing the oversigns to their advantage.

Not a hard and fast rule, but put in the needed effort to secure the 23 talented commits prior to NSD, instead of the 20 that they did this year. Use the oversigns for those that are deciding on NSD. They are less likely to come into the fray anyway, so why have them as part of your core 23 that you need to fill out the scholarships?

We need to be using these oversigns to our advantage, like other schools do. Clear out the dead weight as creatively as you can, and don't waste the opportunities that oversigning allows. They need to be using this every year, and encourage players that aren't making progress to move on.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DukeOfSorrow
People pretending about worrying for Riley's sake, is all crocodile tears.

I'm sure first and foremost most people are concerned with the program, but I would love nothing more than to have coach Riley retire from Nebraska. Could you think of a better person to be the face of your program? IMO with the firing of Bo and the hiring of Riley we went from worst to first in terms of public relations. The man is such an affable character...how could anyone dislike him?
 
I hadn't referenced Whitaker, but IMO that was a reach by Bo's staff. There should be very few reaches in general. I don't see any reaches in the 2017 class.

Sure, you have to push an open scholarship to the next year for a better player, but ideally there should be no open scholarships to push to next year. I know recruiting is imperfect and you will have those open scholarships sometimes, but the idea is to maximize those numbers each year. We're getting closer than when Bo was here, but still not there.

They can't be right all the time, but unlike Bo, I think Riley and his staff have filled the class with quality commits. We weren't waiting with anticipation on NSD this year for the signature of a Glen Irons. We were waiting for big fish. That is the significant difference between Riley and Bo. Now it's time to take that to the next level, and start utilizing the oversigns to their advantage.

Not a hard and fast rule, but put in the needed effort to secure the 23 talented commits prior to NSD, instead of the 20 that they did this year. Use the oversigns for those that are deciding on NSD. They are less likely to come into the fray anyway, so why have them as part of your core 23 that you need to fill out the scholarships?

We need to be using these oversigns to our advantage, like other schools do. Clear out the dead weight as creatively as you can, and don't waste the opportunities that oversigning allows. They need to be using this every year, and encourage players that aren't making progress to move on.

This is just where folks are going to have fundamental differences from Riley as it has come up over and over again.

Riley has said publically he doesn't see a way to process many of these guys ethically. So while we had people on the board wanting Riley to take 20 or 22 commits when he had 15 schollies to give this year, Riley is probably not going to do that to a bunch of HS kids unless he's close enough to the window to see how he closes that gap.

That's just something where, if you want him to do that, it'll be an "agree to disagree" moment with the staff, because they don't appear to be committed to going out too far on a ledge that they may not be able to get off of.
 
"Sure, you have to push an open scholarship to the next year for a better player, but ideally there should be no open scholarships to push to next year. I know recruiting is imperfect and you will have those open scholarships sometimes, but the idea is to maximize those numbers each year. We're getting closer than when Bo was here, but still not there."

Keep in mind here, I think there is a problem, but that problem was fixed. Stewart went through every top corner in the country and couldn't get one of them on the hook.

Its a fairly unique situation then, where you've let another guy move on to another opportunity, and replace him with probably the best recruiter in that position group. (Although I wouldn't mind seeing them replicate this with Davis).

Personally I think Riley made the right call there, and I don't forsee that perfect storm rear its head again. Had he had a more normal class size this year, I think he takes Onye at a minimum last year to help fill the class, and then lets DW go forth and conquer like he already is. 15 is pretty tight though and his gambling appears to be paying off. We may have the top DB group in the country this year. And I'd rather have that, that Onye trying to get on the field 2 years from now just to say we filled the spot.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hoosker Du
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT