Clouse thinks we will be at a class size of 24-25
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I hope they will nab a few more jucos as we will surely be a little thin this Fall. As for what's left, I trust Frost will only take guys he believes are Big Ten caliber talent.
Frost and his staff will find the right guys.
This I have ZERO doubt!
This I have ZERO doubt!
With the class that signed in December, we sit at 77 scholarships (according to Nate I believe) which does not include both Lee and Gates IIRC, but that could be wrong.
We can oversign by 3 and get up to 88, so we can sign 11 more.
We signed 12 so far, so that adds up to 23, so maybe the 77 included Gates?
If we sign 24 or 25, then we would need to lose a few players to get back down to 85, which is what I want this staff to do!
What if a recruit doesn't qualify? What if a couple players leave on their own? Gotta be prepared. Follow the kings of college football and oversign every year.
We can oversign by 3 and get up to 88, so we can sign 11 more.
We signed 12 so far, so that adds up to 23, so maybe the 77 included Gates?
If we sign 24 or 25, then we would need to lose a few players to get back down to 85, which is what I want this staff to do!
What if a recruit doesn't qualify? What if a couple players leave on their own? Gotta be prepared. Follow the kings of college football and oversign every year.
A question for those in the know but when do teams have to get back down to the 85 scholarships?
Is it before spring ball, the start of summer or the start of fall camp?
Is it before spring ball, the start of summer or the start of fall camp?
do you oversign or push the 85 limit with a transition class where you are, by necessity, scrambling a bit - need to avoid too many reaches - you want to be able to maximize the numbers the next 2 years.
A quick search shows 41 4-5* players with offers from us that are unsigned
Curious, what is the average attrition during a coaching change? 5-7 players in the first 6 months or so? and of those, how many would be scholarship players? Just guesses on my part that it is 3-5 schollies, but I would be curious what others think.
I really appreciate the staff showing a willingness to hustle and no doubt there is pressure to win immediately, but they really need to be careful about reaching for prospects. Since NU has never been the type of school to push non-contributors out of the program (even allowing guys to stay on a fifth season), the ramifications of scrambling to fill a scholarship at the last minute could really hurt three to five seasons down the road. In my opinion, it would be better for them to take their time and make sure the 2019 class has enough room as the first full cycle is usually when new coaches have the most success anyway. Frost will arguably get receive more patience from the fanbase than any new coach we've had since Osborne retired. He should take advantage of that and do things the smart way.
This has got to change... especially the 5th year senior that is on special teams only.
What would have happened to our team without Adam Taylor, Dwayne Johnson, Zach Hannon, AJ Natter or Boaz Joseph spending their final couple of years in the program? No reason to stay mediocre and keep "dead weight" on the roster filling up a scholarship spot.
We need those extra scholarships to get the extra couple commits to get better depth at certain positions of need each year. Sometimes you need to take a chance on potential. "Potential" players don't generally have 4 and 5 stars next to their names, but turn out to be starters and damn good players. Unfortunately for us, we tend to miss more than hit, so we really need to drop those "misses" after year 4, if not after year 3 like the OSUs and Alabama's do.
What about Ameer Abdullah? He visited and committed in January. He was a late find and turned out to be great. Sometimes those late bloomers or "scholarship fillers" at the end of a class just to fill it up end up being good. (Not saying that is all he was. I just remember him be a very late addition to the class.)
Would gladly take a couple of two stars like Josey Jewell and Josh Jackson.
Some of those guys come from elite high school programs so for a relationship standpoint, it's probably best to honor the scholarship and not piss off the high school coach.
My early read on Scott Frost is that nothing about his approach involves waiting to win. And I love him for it. When you're on solid footing you can slow down and "do things the smart way." When you have a program that plays in a P5 conference and is 25 guys short of getting to 85 scholarships, you need to get scholarship worthy D1 athletes in your locker room ASAP.
Make no mistake, boys. Nebraska's talent is on the level with Purdue. Waiting to change that is not a correct move. This team does not have the luxury of being picky about 3* kids right now.
The alternative is you're playing with walk-ons and trying to hand them scholarships for beating out other walk-ons for playing time. You don't get a refund for spending a season short of the 85-man limit. Nebraska has spent several lately and masked it by putting walk-on kids on scholarship.
Whatever the reason, Riley's staff took a roster that was obviously short on talent and made no effort to make rapid upgrades by getting JUCO guys in. It cost them dearly when they couldn't keep blue chip kids on the hook because they were getting crushed by programs that recruit well like OSU and PSU.
Frost got here and immediately started going after guys who can contribute NOW and that's the right move. This is like the recruiting vs. coaching debate. You don't pick one, you need both.
I understand what you are saying, but my counter argument would be there many not be athletes available at this stage to move your program beyond, say Purdue-like levels. By rushing, you run the risk of potentially locking yourself into that level of player.
For example:
Bill Callahan's transition class included Jordan Adams, Marque McCray, Michael Keenan, Beau Davis, Santino Panico, and Danny Muy. All these players were added in the recruiting rush that occurred after he was announced. It also included some good players who I didn't mention that ended up making solid contributions, but the point is, the bust factor is very high when you have such a limited time.
Also, I would argue that the first full recruiting class for a head coach tends to be the best. The excitement and potential surrounding a new staff is at an all-time high and this tends to be an effective recruiting tool. Therefore, it's imperative that Frost have the full twenty-five scholarships at his disposal.
I agree.
In almost all of the articles that I found to show that OSU is actually pushing kids out due to oversigning, it was the upset high school coach that came out and said what really happened and not the player or college. You can't just piss off every high school coach if you expect to get multiple kids from those schools over time. Adrian Martinez's high school coach played a small part in where he went. Those coaches have influence.
I don't like that Bama and OSU and other schools oversign and push the 3rd stringers out the door, but if that is what has to be done to win in today's realm of college football, I think we need to jump on board in some capacity or another.
At the same time though, how do these other coaches get away with it? Short-term plan and don't care?
Maybe it was something like this that helped make Tyjon L. come here instead of OSU. Who knows.
Agreed, good post. We're so irrelevant from where we once were that we can't be recruting like the Bama's or OSU's of the world. It's important for the first few years to develop good relationships with these high school coaches. Once we start winning conference titles, then we can start being more diligent in who we keep on our team.
It's better to weed the garden sooner rather than later. I trust this staff's ability to judge talent. This should be a fun month
I know Klaus is talked about a general size of the class, I'm all for taking a good size class if we're going to get players that we see is a high likelihood of contributing. That said now that we kind of got a general idea on numbers let's get some ideas on names. Is he willing to give us some ideas on some of those that didn't sign during the early period
There are athletes available at this stage to move the Huskers beyond Purdue-like levels. You take the best you can get every year. This notion that you should save a scholarship today for an unknown tomorrow seems unwise. Until Nebraska is turning away 4 and 5 star players regularly I see no need to "save" scholarships. Seems like we are always short of the 85 anyway.
Agreed
If Nebraska is doing the right thing by honoring its 4 year commitment
Those non productive players need to back away from the trough after 4 years
No more year 5 non producers
4 years of room board tuition and more is enough
I'm a fan of being he guys in white hats but we have taken it to the extreme
Sec teams are getting as many kids in 4 recruiting classes as we do in 5
