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Can this staff recruit?

Dreinhart

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Aug 25, 2019
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This staff seems to be able to get talent to Nebraska. After 3 seasons with 4,4, and 5 total wins, we are trending towards another top 25 class. It's not where we or the coaches want to be, but I think we can all say this staff has a knack for getting kids to come here.

It will be interesting to see how well things go recruiting wise if we can gain some real in season momentum.
 
This staff seems to be able to get talent to Nebraska. After 3 seasons with 4,4, and 5 total wins, we are trending towards another top 25 class. It's not where we or the coaches want to be, but I think we can all say this staff has a knack for getting kids to come here.

It will be interesting to see how well things go recruiting wise if we can gain some real in season momentum.



1. Still need to really build up depth at WR, LB, RB. Sadly need another 1 to 2 recruiting cycles for LB and WR.

2. OLB needs a major infusion of athleticism.

3. Need to completely hit restart on Special Teams philosophy, coaching, scheming, and evaluation.
 
You serious???

We just got trucked in prime time with College Game Day in town and lost to numerous bad teams and missed a bowl for a third straight season and will end up with a top 20 recruiting class.

...this staff can close! They are coffee drinkers!
 
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wait a sec.. the roster has already been turned over the last two years.. (that was no small feat) so most of the players here are who Scott recruited.

But the last two seasons have been a dud, and some blame it on the quality of players, but Scott recruited many of those players because the roster is mostly turned over.

Seems a bit like a circular reference.

So while on paper the recruiting looks ok, on the field it isn't producing results you would expect.

I wonder if there is an evaluation problem... except we have offered damn near everyone available.

I think we have 1 good recruiter, that's it.
 
1. Still need to really build up depth at WR, LB, RB. Sadly need another 1 to 2 recruiting cycles for LB and WR.

2. OLB needs a major infusion of athleticism.

3. Need to completely hit restart on Special Teams philosophy, coaching, scheming, and evaluation.
Development and less attrition is a different topic.
 
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wait a sec.. the roster has already been turned over the last two years.. (that was no small feat) so most of the players here are who Scott recruited.

But the last two seasons have been a dud, and some blame it on the quality of players, but Scott recruited many of those players because the roster is mostly turned over.

Seems a bit like a circular reference.

So while on paper the recruiting looks ok, on the field it isn't producing results you would expect.

I wonder if there is an evaluation problem... except we have offered damn near everyone available.

I think we have 1 good recruiter, that's it.
His first class gets a mulligan..put together a pretty nice group in a short period of time. Most of the team (his recruits) are freshman and redshirt freshman..going to take longer to access his recruits talents.

You don’t put together top 25 recruiting classes with one recruiter buddy. Especially while only winning 5 games
 
Roster flip yes to a point. Greg Bell was number 1 rated juco running back who couldn't handle adversity or competition is that on Coaches (no) also he begged to come back they said no. The players that were left from Bo and Riley didnt buy in to the work ethic part is that on the coaches come on they can not make someone work that has to be in side of you. Unless you have coached, led a large team of people, or owned a company you have no clue what these coaches are going through with a select group of the players. Work ethic and drive comes from within period.
 
This staff seems to be able to get talent to Nebraska. After 3 seasons with 4,4, and 5 total wins, we are trending towards another top 25 class. It's not where we or the coaches want to be, but I think we can all say this staff has a knack for getting kids to come here.

It will be interesting to see how well things go recruiting wise if we can gain some real in season momentum.
According to the industry I say yes coaches can recruit, but Nebraska seems to always recruit better than the big 10 west. My question is why do we never beat Iowa, Wisconsin, Perdue, etc. is it roster attrition, players being overrated by industry, poor coaching/development, poor schematic fit, poor strength and conditioning program, etc? For years our classes have ranked at the top of the division, but has not translated to division to tiles. Why?
 
1. Still need to really build up depth at WR, LB, RB. Sadly need another 1 to 2 recruiting cycles for LB and WR.

2. OLB needs a major infusion of athleticism.

3. Need to completely hit restart on Special Teams philosophy, coaching, scheming, and evaluation.
Special teams really isn't rocket science. Awhile back people thought it was a waste of a scholarship for a kicker. Still think so? In theory it would only cost you 1 every 4-5 years if handled right because you'll get others riding his coattails until you see the void
 
Special teams really isn't rocket science. Awhile back people thought it was a waste of a scholarship for a kicker. Still think so? In theory it would only cost you 1 every 4-5 years if handled right because you'll get others riding his coattails until you see the void
It is funny how coaches pretend that special teams is 1/3 of the game...but then don't use a scholarship on a kicker or punter...

We all know it is lip service but it still cracks me up.
 
Development and less attrition is a different topic.
They've had less than 2 full years to "develop" guys. We've seen true freshmen come in and have immediate impact at skill positions in particular. A GREAT amoung of attrition given the totally different offense and culture of Riley's system WAS TO BE EXPECTED. IMO, the things we saw us doing late this year speak to the coaching and development. This stuff takes time.
 
Most of the starters on defense were Riley's guys.. other than Wandale on offense, I'm having a hard time finding a Frost recruit that has done much of anything yet.

And yeah, the staff went out to get Greg Bell, and this person and that person and none of them have really panned out.. this is why I question their recruiting strategy. They put so much time and effort into recruits that others don't, and then when those recruits don't work out, we blame the kid. Seems like the staff maybe shouldn't have recruited those guys to begin with. Or were they all we could get?

We don't have a large enough sample size yet, but a pattern is starting to emerge.
 
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It is funny how coaches pretend that special teams is 1/3 of the game...but then don't use a scholarship on a kicker or punter...

We all know it is lip service but it still cracks me up.
IF you can get a kid to walk on who seems to do everything you want well, why the heck would you use a scholarship on a kicker. IMO, the scholarship distribution needs with the 85 man limit probably limits you at most to ONE punter and one kicker. Most of our best specialists over the years have initially been walk ons. How did Caleb Lightbourne work out for us? Huge leg. Highly ranked kid. We would be okay IF Riley's 2 scholarship guys had worked out but so far that hasn't happened. VERY few kids get P5 scholarships to punt. At some point we'll get a kid who sees an opportunity to kick in the B1G and he'll knock our socks off on Saturdays. You know, it's not just us. Bama has struggled at kicker for years and I see punts shanked from just about every college team on TV on any given Saturday.
 
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Most of the starters on defense were Riley's guys.. other than Wandale on offense, I'm having a hard time finding a Frost recruit that has done much of anything yet.

And yeah, the staff went out to get Greg Bell, and this person and that person and none of them have really panned out.. this is why I question their recruiting strategy. They put so much time and effort into recruits that others don't, and then when those recruits don't work out, we blame the kid. Seems like the staff maybe shouldn't have recruited those guys to begin with.

We don't have a large enough sample size yet, but a pattern is starting to emerge.
So you're bagging on them basically for the last minute fill the roster holes transition class? Well alrighty then....Good heavens man. You HAVE to wait until this most recent freshman class are juniors to make hard judgements. That first class was full of reaches as we were desperate to fill holes. I'm very encouraged by what I've seen from some of the freshmen who have played. I think it will end up being a very good class when it's all said and done.
 
So you're bagging on them basically for the last minute fill the roster holes transition class? Well alrighty then....Good heavens man. You HAVE to wait until this most recent freshman class are juniors to make hard judgements. That first class was full of reaches as we were desperate to fill holes. I'm very encouraged by what I've seen from some of the freshmen who have played. I think it will end up being a very good class when it's all said and done.
well I agree the sample size isn't big enough to draw conclusions yet.. but do you see what you just said? First class full of reaches, and we were desperate to fill holes.. hmmm.. I dunno.. maybe we are reaching and desperate last year too, and this year also.

Frost went after skill positions first thing.. he didn't even attempt to recruit linemen or anyone on defense the first year.. not sure the second year was much better defensively either.

Spent a lot of time recruiting the guys that other programs don't want because of this issue or that issue, and then we all pat each other on the back about how great of recruiting we are doing, when much of it isn't panning out (at least not yet).

That's all I'm saying, is that strategy so far is a little bit subject to further inspection from my view.

I do think they are working hard at it, no doubt flipping the roster wasn't easy either, I just would rather see more targeted recruiting instead of desperation and reaches.
 
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well I agree the sample size isn't big enough to draw conclusions yet.. but do you see what you just said? First class full of reaches, and we were desperate to fill holes.. hmmm.. I dunno.. maybe we are reaching and desperate last year too, and this year also.

Frost went after skill positions first thing.. he didn't even attempt to recruit linemen or anyone on defense the first year.. not sure the second year was much better defensively either.

Spent a lot of time recruiting the guys that other programs don't want because of this issue or that issue, and then we all pat each other on the back about how great of recruiting we are doing, when much of it isn't panning out (at least not yet).

That's all I'm saying, is that strategy so far is a little bit subject to further inspection from my view.

I do think they are working hard at it, no doubt flipping the roster wasn't easy either, I just would rather see more targeted recruiting instead of desperation and reaches.
Making the supposition that "maybe we were reaching and desperate last year too" is not in any way supported by the kids we landed and the results of the kids from that class who have played thus far. As far as recruiting linemen goes in that first class, when you looked at our roster distribution and ranking of those guys, it looked pretty damned good. How would Frost know that guys like Riordan wouldn't pan out and that Gaylord would blow out a knee? We've still got an O lineman or two left from Riley who may very well play this next year as well. Big dudes take time normally to reach their potential. The D line was pretty well stocked too other than a NT.

You are extremely limited in your options moving up from a group of 6 team in who you are already in on when you take a power 5 job in January. Frost went very hard after OBVIOUS gaping holes at DB, QB, RB and WR. He HAD to. I think they've done a good job, no GREAT recruiting job given what they walked in to.
 
Most of the starters on defense were Riley's guys.. other than Wandale on offense, I'm having a hard time finding a Frost recruit that has done much of anything yet.

And yeah, the staff went out to get Greg Bell, and this person and that person and none of them have really panned out.. this is why I question their recruiting strategy. They put so much time and effort into recruits that others don't, and then when those recruits don't work out, we blame the kid. Seems like the staff maybe shouldn't have recruited those guys to begin with. Or were they all we could get?

We don't have a large enough sample size yet, but a pattern is starting to emerge.
The pattern that is emerging is fans completely jumping the gun. You cannot judge frost recruits as freshman!lol..sure some guys come in an make an instant impact like Wandale but that is not the norm. He was left with a below avg group but that doesn’t mean he is going to throw a bunch of 18 yr olds on the field. He is playing the long game.
 
According to the industry I say yes coaches can recruit, but Nebraska seems to always recruit better than the big 10 west. My question is why do we never beat Iowa, Wisconsin, Perdue, etc. is it roster attrition, players being overrated by industry, poor coaching/development, poor schematic fit, poor strength and conditioning program, etc? For years our classes have ranked at the top of the division, but has not translated to division to tiles. Why?
Lines D and O
Look it up, it starts up front.
 
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D-line wasn’t that bad agree on o-line. Still in terms of recruiting we still land a few 4 stars and high 3 stars. What is the problem? Per industry u would expect talent to be there.
Where was the developement?
We had a couple guys go pro, one fell flat on his face doing so on the O line,
None on the D line.
Look at wiscy and iowa, they usually have older players on their O line, it takes time.

Weve had more coaches coaching the O line than weve sent to the next level recently, something both iowa and wiscys done in a year or two.
 
The pattern that is emerging is fans completely jumping the gun. You cannot judge frost recruits as freshman!lol..sure some guys come in an make an instant impact like Wandale but that is not the norm. He was left with a below avg group but that doesn’t mean he is going to throw a bunch of 18 yr olds on the field. He is playing the long game.
then why run off most of the offensive players in your first year?

He kept the defensive guys around, and they have played well within the new scheme.

Maybe all those offensive guys didn't fit the scheme he wanted, but by running them off, he sets the table for a few losing seasons because he will have all these freshman trying to run an offense in years one and two.

I guess there is no perfect solution to it and you have to pic your poison, but I have a sneaky suspicion that the defense is going to drop off big time next year.. I hope it doesn't, but feel like it will. Then we will see what Frosts defensive recruits will look like in year 3.
 
And we're getting there IMO. I expect very good things from the freshman class. Those kids are some of the most athletic linemen we've recruiting for probably 6-7 years.
Yep.
Benhart,Conn and Corcoran, with Fritzsche Anderson and a few others coming along.
It might be a gotta wear shades moment regarding the future.
 
Where was the developement?
We had a couple guys go pro, one fell flat on his face doing so on the O line,
None on the D line.
Look at wiscy and iowa, they usually have older players on their O line, it takes time.

Weve had more coaches coaching the O line than weve sent to the next level recently, something both iowa and wiscys done in a year or two.
Exactly for discussion I was talking more development. From a recruiting standpoint we are on par with division. It has to be development and strength and conditioning
 
then why run off most of the offensive players in your first year?

He kept the defensive guys around, and they have played well within the new scheme.

Maybe all those offensive guys didn't fit the scheme he wanted, but by running them off, he sets the table for a few losing seasons because he will have all these freshman trying to run an offense in years one and two.

I guess there is no perfect solution to it and you have to pic your poison, but I have a sneaky suspicion that the defense is going to drop off big time next year.. I hope it doesn't, but feel like it will. Then we will see what Frosts defensive recruits will look like in year 3.
Who were the known players? Warner? Hurt. Wandale? Hurt. JD? Hurt and playing hurt.
Seeing your teamates going in hurt, you can't work your way on the field and contribute?

They're gone for a reason.
 
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then why run off most of the offensive players in your first year?

He kept the defensive guys around, and they have played well within the new scheme.

Maybe all those offensive guys didn't fit the scheme he wanted, but by running them off, he sets the table for a few losing seasons because he will have all these freshman trying to run an offense in years one and two.

I guess there is no perfect solution to it and you have to pic your poison, but I have a sneaky suspicion that the defense is going to drop off big time next year.. I hope it doesn't, but feel like it will. Then we will see what Frosts defensive recruits will look like in year 3.
Because they didn't fit the system and were negative guys in the locker room......hmmmm.. Think about that. Frost ran off some guys who were negative forces in the locker room. IF the guys don't fit your system and they don't fit the culture, you're better off freeing up a scholarship spot to try to fill it with somebody who does fit with the right mindset.

Gebbia was the only one we missed IMO and only because AM got hurt. Roberts COULD have helped but he was lazy and didn't want to put in the work. Should have we put up with him whining about his position coach not being retained or should we have run him off by sticking him on the 3rd team on the depth chart? Methinks they had seen enough of his attitude. The rest of the guys who left? Meh. Did not miss them at all.
 
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IMO,
Look at our recruitment of Farniok, it was played up as a huge deal, and he is a solid player, but cot considering Jaimes, who was regarded as a steal, thats it, no big names with long stars following them.

With this staff, we have Benhart, easily Farnioks equivalent,now Corcoran,one of our highest ever rated players.
Add in guys like Conn, potentially another steal,and Fritzsche, who Clemson wanted, a very very great potential as a project type.
 
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IMO,
Look at our recruitment of Farniok, it was played up as a huge deal, and he is a solid player, but cot considering Jaimes, who was regarded as a steal, thats it, no big names with long stars following them.

With this staff, we have Benhart, easily Farnioks equivalent,now Corcoran,one of our highest ever rated players.
Add in guys like Conn, potentially another steal,and Fritzsche, who Clemson wanted, a very very great potential as a project type.
Benhart has more natural athleticism than Farniok. Just the facts. Better feet and quickness. Farniok was a nice get and fit fairly well with Riley's offense. I LOVE the fact that Frost has been recruiting some former high school TEs to develop as OTs. Absolutely love it and have been preaching it for several years.
 
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Benhart has more natural athleticism than Farniok. Just the facts. Better feet and quickness. Farniok was a nice get and fit fairly well with Riley's offense. I LOVE the fact that Frost has recruiting some former high school TEs to develop as OTs. Absolutely love it and have been preaching it for several years.
Charlie Macs outside in philosophy.
Agreed!
 
I will touch on a couple of things. How many of the 4 star players that made up the Frost transition class are even still enrolled at Nebraska?

For the duration of the Riley regime, there were constant “battles” on this board about giving Riley time to bring in players that fit his system and the amount of time he would need to develop players. To which the rebuttal was always, I mean always, well a good coach should be able to improve the talent that was already here and get them to play better. Why is that not the expectation now? If previous staffs were expected to take what they inherited and develop those players and still win, shouldn’t that still be the case? We have at least 3 starting OLinemen and 5-6 additional linemen that were already on the roster when Austin and Frost arrived, how come those players haven’t developed in 2 springs, 2 summers and 2 falls? Don’t give me the BS about being lazy and not wanting to work, the majority of those players were RS freshmen or sophomores when Frost arrived. If they weren’t buying in, you get rid of them like you did the others that you didn’t want around. Hit the JUCOs and recruit over them. My point is that if you can evaluate Riley and his staff on development based on his short stay, you sure as hell can evaluate development by this staff.

Along those same lines, I’m growing tired of the “his guys” are only freshmen and RS freshmen. His guys are the 150 players on this team.

rant over. Enjoy your Saturday
 
Where was the developement?
We had a couple guys go pro, one fell flat on his face doing so on the O line,
None on the D line.
Look at wiscy and iowa, they usually have older players on their O line, it takes time.



Weve had more coaches coaching the O line than weve sent to the next level recently, something both iowa and wiscys done in a year or two.

none of the players on this roster, that have played only at Nebraska, have had more than 2 OL coaches.
 
IF you can get a kid to walk on who seems to do everything you want well, why the heck would you use a scholarship on a kicker. IMO, the scholarship distribution needs with the 85 man limit probably limits you at most to ONE punter and one kicker. Most of our best specialists over the years have initially been walk ons. How did Caleb Lightbourne work out for us? Huge leg. Highly ranked kid. We would be okay IF Riley's 2 scholarship guys had worked out but so far that hasn't happened. VERY few kids get P5 scholarships to punt. At some point we'll get a kid who sees an opportunity to kick in the B1G and he'll knock our socks off on Saturdays. You know, it's not just us. Bama has struggled at kicker for years and I see punts shanked from just about every college team on TV on any given Saturday.

Yes. I agree with you.

I am making fun of the coaches that love to preach how it is 1/3 of the game.
 
Most of the starters on defense were Riley's guys.. other than Wandale on offense, I'm having a hard time finding a Frost recruit that has done much of anything yet.

And yeah, the staff went out to get Greg Bell, and this person and that person and none of them have really panned out.. this is why I question their recruiting strategy. They put so much time and effort into recruits that others don't, and then when those recruits don't work out, we blame the kid. Seems like the staff maybe shouldn't have recruited those guys to begin with. Or were they all we could get?

We don't have a large enough sample size yet, but a pattern is starting to emerge.

What Pattern???

The 2018 class was the first year for early signing period. They put together Most of the class in 17 days while traversing the country and puking at practice the next day. There were bound to be some misses. They missed on guys like Bell, Hunt, LeGrone, Watt, Woodyard, etc. But I would say they hit with Cam Taylor, Cam Jurgens, D. Williams, and Will Honas. While Martinez had a phenomenal Freshman campaign he was lack luster as a Sophomore. We’ve seen what he’s capable of so I think is a bit premature to call him a bust. We haven’t seen enough to guys like Will Farniok and Tate Wildeman to make any sort of evaluation. But they are only redshirt Freshman. If they are any good I would expect them to start making an impact next season.

I would also argue that we have more contributors out of the 2019 class than the 2018 class. Johnson, W Robinson, T Robinson, NPG, Nelson, McCaffrey and Hickman, just to name a few. They all contributed in some way and looked to be really solid for True Freshman.

I just think it’s a little early to say a pattern of poor player development is developing when all we’re looking at is a transition class and a bunch of true freshman. Our best talent are true sophomores at best. Most are red shirt freshman and true freshman.

No doubt the losses to Indiana and Purdue should never have happened and Frost has to take some of the responsibility in those losses. But he also should get credit for allowing the team to quit. After Purdue, Indiana and the blowout at Minnesota, they could have mailed it in and gotten blown out by both Wisconsin and Iowa. Yes they were both losses, but they fought like hell and we’re in both games to the end. S little more time, a little more talent and those hard fought near misses become wins.
 
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Yes. I agree with you.

I am making fun of the coaches that love to preach how it is 1/3 of the game.
It IS extremely important as we painfully found out this year. You just only have so many roster spots. I have no doubt that if Frost found a kicker he thought was a difference maker that he would us a scholarship on him.
 
It IS extremely important as we painfully found out this year. You just only have so many roster spots. I have no doubt that if Frost found a kicker he thought was a difference maker that he would us a scholarship on him.

Well...it is important but it is not 1/3 important.
 
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