Diamond In The Rough Recruiting

[Huzkers25]

If M.R. didnt have a history I'd say it's just coach-speak but the man has proven a concept and had great success. Also sounds like Cooper has a great eye for talent and will outwork everyone. Excited for the future, get very athletic guys on campus and see what happens.

Cooper is going to keep finding guys like that, Rhule is quite sure. There's good reason Cooper has served as both an assistant and recruiting coordinator for Rhule at multiple coaching stops prior to Lincoln.

Sometimes Cooper's thoughts on a prospect come Rhule's way in the wee hours.

"Because he stays up at night and texts me at 3 o'clock in the morning watching this guy, watching that guy," Rhule said. "And I think what you'll start to see is probably we'll offer guys that no one's heard of and then they'll start getting 10, 11, 12 offers and their stars will bump up. That's not disrespectful to anybody. It's just people will know that Coop goes and find guys. We're not afraid to offer anybody ... If we think they're a fit we're going to take them."

As Rhule told it, he called Cooper at one point before taking the Husker job to ask his opinion if he thought it was the right fit.

Cooper's advice: Take the job, then call Jaylen Lloyd from Omaha Westside after you do.

Rhule took the job and called Lloyd in the first hour. Now the Westside senior is signed to play football and participate in track and field at Nebraska.

Rhule took the job and soon after Husker staffers were calling Brice Turner, who is 6-2, 180 pounds and has run 10.2s in the 100 meters in track. The prospect of Bay City, Texas, got a surprise offer from Cooper and committed to Nebraska sight unseen.

“With Brice with his size he could be a receiver or wherever he fits most with that frame — he can run with a lot of guys or you can try to have him out run and take shots down the field.” his Bay City coach Robert Jones explained to Husker247. “I don’t know where they’re going to use him, but I think he’ll be a great asset to the program.”

That last quote, you might guess, would be accepted as a badge of honor by Rhule and this staff.

You'll probably see Texas Tech as another school offering similar guys to Nebraska. The Red Raiders are led by coach Joey McGuire, who was on Rhule's staff at Baylor.


"We all come from the same tree," Rhule said. "You'll start seeing guys like Jaylen Lloyd, like Eric Fields, who have Texas Tech and us because we have a system that we use that we believe in."

 

[PeliniTheCrutch]

Don’t want to be this guy, and sorry, but there just HAS to be some back-story on Fields. That dude makes plays that you see very, very few guys making.

 

[Huzkers25]

Don’t want to be this guy, and sorry, but there just HAS to be some back-story on Fields. That dude makes plays that you see very, very few guys making.

Well Ardmore is located between kind of in the middle of nowhere between OKC and Dallas and looks like only 777 kids total in the school and the team finished 3-7. Now adays if kids don't attend football camps or send in videos they often get overlooked.

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

Well Ardmore is located between kind of in the middle of nowhere between OKC and Dallas and looks like only 777 kids total in the school and the team finished 3-7. Now adays if kids don't attend football camps or send in videos they often get overlooked.

I agree to a point, but they played 10 games and the dude averaged something like 18 total tackles, 12 solo tackles per game. None of those 10 opponents had any coaches watching any of their players and thought who the eff is that guy?

From what I see, I am glad there were 129 blind coaches

 

[Yantzeee]

i love that we have a guy who loves to watch this much tape in cooper. However, I guarantee we took more (originally) platinum 5 stars this year then you’ll probably ever see again due to out of necessity. Rhule has said over and over again, “next years class is going to be very good”.

he also talked about how unique this year was recruiting at the last minute and being able to recruit off of SR year tape vs starting to recruit kids in 9th grade.

If you think Cooper and Rhule or going to fill up on unknowns, your kidding yourself to feel better about this years class… this years class was serviceable. And yeah we will always have a Lloyd and Fields but I doubt we see too many Tuners.

Going forward Rhule’s classes will be ranked higher than any of Frosts, MR, or Bo’s generally were. They love to recruit

 

[USAFHskr1978]

Well Ardmore is located between kind of in the middle of nowhere between OKC and Dallas and looks like only 777 kids total in the school and the team finished 3-7. Now adays if kids don't attend football camps or send in videos they often get overlooked.

I found it odd that Illinois recruited the QB from this team, but failed to notice Fields

 

[Huzkers25]

i love that we have a guy who loves to watch this much tape in cooper. However, I guarantee we took more (originally) platinum 5 stars this year then you’ll probably ever see again due to out of necessity. Rhule has said over and over again, “next years class is going to be very good”.

he also talked about how unique this year was recruiting at the last minute and being able to recruit off of SR year tape vs starting to recruit kids in 9th grade.

If you think Cooper and Rhule or going to fill up on unknowns, your kidding yourself to feel better about this years class… this years class was serviceable. And yeah we will always have a Lloyd and Fields but I doubt we see too many Tuners.

Going forward Rhule’s classes will be ranked higher than any of Frosts, MR, or Bo’s generally were. They love to recruit

I’m not kidding anything. Point is Rhule has proven to identify some great under the radar talent as good as anybody. "Eric Fields, I don't want to make promises, everyone here is going to know who he is," Rhule said. "He's an elite player. An excellent talent. Fast. Physical."

Now if you want to throw cold water on any positive spin that’s on you. I saw the tape but if you want you worry about how many stars the Marlon Lucky’s and Tyjon Lindsey’s of the world have go ahead.

 

[Huzkers25]

I found it odd that Illinois recruited the QB from this team, but failed to notice Fields

True but then again Illinois and 95% of teams don’t run a 3-3-5. So a 6’1” 210-215 (once developed) linebacker prob doesn’t fit their molds.

 

[phoenix4nu]

If he has a few good games at Nebraska, then he’ll be recruited by schools like Michigan and USC. Unfortunately.

 

[Yantzeee]

Now if you want to throw cold water on any positive spin that’s on you. I saw the tape but if you want you worry about how many stars the Marlon Lucky’s and Tyjon Lindsey’s of the world have go ahead.

LOL Marlon Lucky & Tyson Lindsey. Give me a break… No I’m more worried about getting the micah parsons and Lamar Jacksons of the world. For F-Sake. Do you really need to be educated in who makes college football playoffs the most? Do you really need to be educated who wins the B1G the most? Nebraska needs to be a mix of stars and developers. Rhule is a good guy for that.We had Parsons and Lamar tee’d up. They were interested. They visited. With a little success on the field we will get these guys.

Call it throwing cold water on it. But nothing I said was negative if you can read. I just see no reason to blow smoke up each-other asses either. I like this class. I like it a lot for the circumstances. MR and company did a hell of a job

 

[goldencohusker]

Well Ardmore is located between kind of in the middle of nowhere between OKC and Dallas and looks like only 777 kids total in the school and the team finished 3-7. Now adays if kids don't attend football camps or send in videos they often get overlooked.

Coach K from Duke somehow sniffed out Bill Jackman from rural Grant, NE back in pre-internet 1982. You would think someone could find this kid in 2022 right along I-35.

 

[Huzkers25]

LOL Marlon Lucky & Tyson Lindsey. Give me a break… No I’m more worried about getting the micah parsons and Lamar Jacksons of the world. For F-Sake. Do you really need to be educated in who makes college football playoffs the most? Do you really need to be educated who wins the B1G the most? Nebraska needs to be a mix of stars and developers. Rhule is a good guy for that.We had Parsons and Lamar tee’d up. They were interested. They visited. With a little success on the field we will get these guys.

Call it throwing cold water on it. But nothing I said was negative if you can read. I just see no reason to blow smoke up each-other asses either. I like this class. I like it a lot for the circumstances. MR and company did a hell of a job

“If you think Cooper and Rhule or going to fill up on unknowns, your kidding yourself to feel better about this years class”

What are you smoking? I too can read and pretty blatant my original comment and this class was dismissed from you.

“No I’m more worried about getting the micah parsons and Lamar Jacksons of the world. For F-Sake. Do you really need to be educated in who makes college football playoffs the most? Do you really need to be educated who wins the B1G the most?

Haha No Sh*t Sherlock. We haven’t made a bowl game in how many years and you’re gonna now compare the BCS playoff teams current recruiting to the present Huskers??? give me a freaking break. Perhaps you need to be educated and a reality check on what it will take and how many years before a foundation is built before we out recruit Ohio State and Michigan. What Rhule did with Baylor with a slew of 3* guys is plenty attainable that’s my legit point. Don’t need a tantrum.

 

[drubendall]

True but then again Illinois and 95% of teams don’t run a 3-3-5. So a 6’1” 210-215 (once developed) linebacker prob doesn’t fit their molds.

I'm getting chub thinking we have our next Terrell Farley. There , I said it. (He was 6-1, 205, and pure terror all over the field.)

 

[Laner2]

SIAP, but I rewatched the HUDL video of Eric Fields. "Heat seeking missile" is so overused but this young man's acceleration to the ball is nuts.

Go to the 19 second mark and watch what happens. I'm a firm believer in tackling that involves wrapping up, but the violence of his hit on the QB sends the QB flying. He also does a good job in wrapping up but other times he just blows up his opponent, hard.

Move on to the 40 second mark, same thing.

58 second mark, same.

1.27 mark. Opponent is sent flying.

I know it's HUDL so it's highlights, and I know Ardmore as a team didn't do well but if you just focus on Fields' performance it's kinda stunning.

 

[itseasyas1-2-3]

I'm getting chub thinking we have our next Terrell Farley. There , I said it. (He was 6-1, 205, and pure terror all over the field.)

Terrill was as good as I've seen in college for creating havoc. One of those guys where you just had to know where he was at every snap. He was what I call a slicer. I think he operated on instinct. I see the same thing with Fields.

I was impressed as hell with Fields. Big speed, uses his hands well to shed off blockers, great diagonal runner through traffic, and diagnosed the plays quickly, he did NOT stay blocked very long. He seemed to have a nasty attitude when arriving at the ball carrier. He's kind of a slicer in the way he runs between opposing blockers and gets to the ball carrier. He doesn't sit back and wait for a teammate to make a play on the ball carrier. At this level, he may very well get ear holed.

He might become a complete bust, (how could he be any more of a bust than those multiple 4* kids that were signed by NU and never produced at all?) If he puts on 15#'s or so, he will be a punishing tackler because he comes out of nowhere.

As someone said, there may be something in his background that caused so many coaches to just ignore his apparent talent on the field.

I loved this signing. If I'm wrong, I'll be happy to take the deserved incoming.

 

[NYC-Husker]

I think Coach Prime also signed a player from Ardmore, but not sure if from the same school.

 

[TruHusker]

SIAP, but I rewatched the HUDL video of Eric Fields. "Heat seeking missile" is so overused but this young man's acceleration to the ball is nuts.

Go to the 19 second mark and watch what happens. I'm a firm believer in tackling that involves wrapping up, but the violence of his hit on the QB sends the QB flying. He also does a good job in wrapping up but other times he just blows up his opponent, hard.

Move on to the 40 second mark, same thing.

58 second mark, same.

1.27 mark. Opponent is sent flying.

I know it's HUDL so it's highlights, and I know Ardmore as a team didn't do well but if you just focus on Fields' performance it's kinda stunning.

View embedded media

I made similar remarks in another thread concerning Fields. The difficult piece is determining his real speed. He appears fast to the ball in these films but it is difficult to gauge competition. That part that impressed me the most and one aspect rarely seen in good HS LB's is the ability to find that pursuit angle and get through it make the play. He finds a gap somewhere and shoots through it and can still be on time to meet the ball carrier. Again, will he be able to do this in college where the backs and faster and holes are smaller? I don't know but he has really good natural instincts which is a huge plus.

 

[itseasyas1-2-3]

I made similar remarks in another thread concerning Fields. The difficult piece is determining his real speed. He appears fast to the ball in these films but it is difficult to gauge competition. That part that impressed me the most and one aspect rarely seen in good HS LB's is the ability to find that pursuit angle and get through it make the play. He finds a gap somewhere and shoots through it and can still be on time to meet the ball carrier. Again, will he be able to do this in college where the backs and faster and holes are smaller? I don't know but he has really good natural instincts which is a huge plus.

You and I seem to agree in large part. As far as his speed? He IS fast. He is likely in that 4.45 range. I do think the level of competition is suspect. In a school of fewer than 800 kids, it's Class C maybe? Not that great players can't come from a Class C school because they do.

Having the ability to run through gaps among blockers seems to come naturally to this kid. I think he becomes a very dangerous defender because guys that shoot the gap diagonally, many times cause turnovers because they come out of nowhere.

His physicality for his size may come from the fact that his dad was a boxer. Kids that grow up in that environment tend to get roughed up a little, (not in a bad way), but from a dad who makes his living being physical. My older brother made almost every tackle on the field, he LOVED contact. This kid seems to enjoy contact, albeit, he is the one delivering the blow.

If the kid fails, I will make sure to include your comments about him at the same time I'm getting drilled here. LOL

 

[cavalot]

You and I seem to agree in large part. As far as his speed? He IS fast. He is likely in that 4.45 range. I do think the level of competition is suspect. In a school of fewer than 800 kids, it's Class C maybe? Not that great players can't come from a Class C school because they do.

Having the ability to run through gaps among blockers seems to come naturally to this kid. I think he becomes a very dangerous defender because guys that shoot the gap diagonally, many times cause turnovers because they come out of nowhere.

His physicality for his size may come from the fact that his dad was a boxer. Kids that grow up in that environment tend to get roughed up a little, (not in a bad way), but from a dad who makes his living being physical. My older brother made almost every tackle on the field, he LOVED contact. This kid seems to enjoy contact, albeit, he is the one delivering the blow.

If the kid fails, I will make sure to include your comments about him at the same time I'm getting drilled here. LOL

In Nebraska that would be large class B

 

[9and4]

In Nebraska that would be large class B

Think Ralston, Scottsbluff, Hastings, South Sioux City, or what we used to call "Class A" back in the late '70s.

 

[huntered]

speed, instincts, avoiding blocks, fighter upbringing. possible crazy upside

 

[dinglefritz]

speed, instincts, avoiding blocks, fighter upbringing. possible crazy upside

Might be a little Eric Caveman crazy inside too….. That would be a good thing.

 

[Laner2]

Might be a little Eric Caveman crazy inside too….. That would be a good thing.

So weird! I was thinking of Caveman too!

 

[dinglefritz]

So weird! I was thinking of Caveman too!

Rhule lights up when he talks about this kid the way Bo did about Caveman in his recruiting press conference. Bo just kept saying “this guy. This guy” with a huge smile.

 

[Huzkers25]

I absoutley love to hear this stuff from White both on Fields and what he expects playing defense for him!


Eric Fields continues to get plenty of love from Nebraska’s coaching staff. He’s another speedy player that will fit into White’s defense.

“You watch him on tape and you realize he’s got twitch, he’s got explosion,” White said. “When you see him live, when you see him in person, you don’t realize how big he is.”

Fields is listed at 6-2, 195, and, like Rogers, is enamored with Nebraska, according to White. It’s clear the Huskers think they have a diamond in the rough in the Ardmore, Oklahoma, product. White said it was rare to see a guy as big and as fast as Fields, but still readily available.

“You have that combination with the speed, the aggression, his development going the right way, and you can see an all-conference type linebacker,” White said.

***When White considers a player, he seeks passion first.

“If you’re not juiced up, you’re not lively and you don’t play with no spirit, you’re just not gonna play here,” White said. “That’s not the way we do things.”

White said it’s one thing to go out and be an “X’s and O’s guy,” but the ‘N’ on the helmet and nameplate on the back of the jersey should bring more out of a player.

“You’re gonna love playing football, you’re gonna love where you’re at, you’re gonna love who you’re gonna be around, you’re gonna be a great teammate, and we’re gonna get after it,” White said.

 

[Yantzeee]

“If you think Cooper and Rhule or going to fill up on unknowns, your kidding yourself to feel better about this years class”

What are you smoking? I too can read and pretty blatant my original comment and this class was dismissed from you.

“No I’m more worried about getting the micah parsons and Lamar Jacksons of the world. For F-Sake. Do you really need to be educated in who makes college football playoffs the most? Do you really need to be educated who wins the B1G the most?

Haha No Sh*t Sherlock. We haven’t made a bowl game in how many years and you’re gonna now compare the BCS playoff teams current recruiting to the present Huskers??? give me a freaking break. Perhaps you need to be educated and a reality check on what it will take and how many years before a foundation is built before we out recruit Ohio State and Michigan. What Rhule did with Baylor with a slew of 3* guys is plenty attainable that’s my legit point. Don’t need a tantrum.

When the insert quotes function is too much for you, I understand why my post was too much for you to understand. 😂

 

[redwine65]

 

[Huzkers25]

When the insert quotes function is too much for you, I understand why my post was too much for you to understand. 😂

Naw figured I'd just keep it simple for you. I suppose you're just naïve or incompetent.

 

[rgrachek]

If M.R. didnt have a history I'd say it's just coach-speak but the man has proven a concept and had great success. Also sounds like Cooper has a great eye for talent and will outwork everyone. Excited for the future, get very athletic guys on campus and see what happens.

Cooper is going to keep finding guys like that, Rhule is quite sure. There's good reason Cooper has served as both an assistant and recruiting coordinator for Rhule at multiple coaching stops prior to Lincoln.

Sometimes Cooper's thoughts on a prospect come Rhule's way in the wee hours.

"Because he stays up at night and texts me at 3 o'clock in the morning watching this guy, watching that guy," Rhule said. "And I think what you'll start to see is probably we'll offer guys that no one's heard of and then they'll start getting 10, 11, 12 offers and their stars will bump up. That's not disrespectful to anybody. It's just people will know that Coop goes and find guys. We're not afraid to offer anybody ... If we think they're a fit we're going to take them."

As Rhule told it, he called Cooper at one point before taking the Husker job to ask his opinion if he thought it was the right fit.

Cooper's advice: Take the job, then call Jaylen Lloyd from Omaha Westside after you do.

Rhule took the job and called Lloyd in the first hour. Now the Westside senior is signed to play football and participate in track and field at Nebraska.

Rhule took the job and soon after Husker staffers were calling Brice Turner, who is 6-2, 180 pounds and has run 10.2s in the 100 meters in track. The prospect of Bay City, Texas, got a surprise offer from Cooper and committed to Nebraska sight unseen.

“With Brice with his size he could be a receiver or wherever he fits most with that frame — he can run with a lot of guys or you can try to have him out run and take shots down the field.” his Bay City coach Robert Jones explained to Husker247. “I don’t know where they’re going to use him, but I think he’ll be a great asset to the program.”

That last quote, you might guess, would be accepted as a badge of honor by Rhule and this staff.

You'll probably see Texas Tech as another school offering similar guys to Nebraska. The Red Raiders are led by coach Joey McGuire, who was on Rhule's staff at Baylor.


"We all come from the same tree," Rhule said. "You'll start seeing guys like Jaylen Lloyd, like Eric Fields, who have Texas Tech and us because we have a system that we use that we believe in."

"Diamonds in the Rough" recruiting is kind of a misnomer.

Most of the time, the difference between a 5-star player and an equally or more talented 2-3 star player isn't in the processing of the diamond, but rather an inability to properly evaluate the 2-3 star recruit.

Case in point is Danny Woodhead vs. Noel Devine.

Size - About the same
Strength - Advantage Woodhead
Speed - Advantage Woodhead
Overall Athletic Ability - Advantage Woodhead
Overall Fine Skills - Advantage Woodhead
Work Ethic - Advantage Woodhead
NFL Production - Big Advantage Woodhead, Devine has no NFL Career and washed out of the CFL
Where he played in HS - Advantage Devine (Fort Meyers Florida vs. North Platte)

Devine - 5 star, Woodhead - 2 star.

 

[Redmich]

given recruiting services - camps - video - social media etc I think "diamonds in the rough" are going to become more and more rare

a lot harder for someone to fly under the radar now than it was 10 years ago

 

[rgrachek]

given recruiting services - camps - video - social media etc I think "diamonds in the rough" are going to become more and more rare

a lot harder for someone to fly under the radar now than it was 10 years ago

Again, flying under the radar and being a diamond in the rough are 2 completely different things. Flying under the radar means you are really good now but no one notices. A diamond in the rough is a player that a coach judges that after a bunch of development, will be a really good player.

For example, this new lineman we're trying to sign, Lefotu, can be characterized as a possible diamond in the rough. A guy like Eric Fields is likely an under the radar player.

 

[huskerfan66]

"Diamonds in the Rough" recruiting is kind of a misnomer.

Most of the time, the difference between a 5-star player and an equally or more talented 2-3 star player isn't in the processing of the diamond, but rather an inability to properly evaluate the 2-3 star recruit.

Case in point is Danny Woodhead vs. Noel Devine.

Size - About the same
Strength - Advantage Woodhead
Speed - Advantage Woodhead
Overall Athletic Ability - Advantage Woodhead
Overall Fine Skills - Advantage Woodhead
Work Ethic - Advantage Woodhead
NFL Production - Big Advantage Woodhead, Devine has no NFL Career and washed out of the CFL
Where he played in HS - Advantage Devine (Fort Meyers Florida vs. North Platte)

Devine - 5 star, Woodhead - 2 star.

VERY true. How many camps in ne and some families don't have the time, money or information to get to them

 

[putemintheaisles]

Anyone remember Mason Wald? That was weird.

 

[donm1330]

Well Ardmore is located between kind of in the middle of nowhere between OKC and Dallas and looks like only 777 kids total in the school and the team finished 3-7. Now adays if kids don't attend football camps or send in videos they often get overlooked.

Agree with you but if one looks at the five star guys the majority of them pan out. Some have legal problems, some academic problems and some just do not improve past HS. Will still put my money on the five stars. But occasionally one of those hidden jewels make it. Right now anything is better than what we have.

 

[Dr_Alan_Grant]

Anyone remember Mason Wald? That was weird.

Only remember the name. Please enlighten us.

 

[Husker.Wed.]

Only remember the name. Please enlighten us.

I don't remember anything weird, but my memory isn't what it once was. As I recall Pelini took the job after Callahan got fired after the 2007 season and recruited a big recruiting class. There was concern he took bodies to fill up the class without much thought. I looked Wald up and he was a consensus 2 star running back/safety from Alabama. Huskers dot com shows he played every game on special teams as a true freshman in 2008. Then he disappeared, I can't remember why. Homesickness? Knew he would be sitting behind Asante, Haag, Matt O'Hanlon and Rickey Thenarse? He played the 2009 and 2010 seasons as a running back at Samford.

 

[putemintheaisles]

I don't remember anything weird, but my memory isn't what it once was. As I recall Pelini took the job after Callahan got fired after the 2007 season and recruited a big recruiting class. There was concern he took bodies to fill up the class without much thought. I looked Wald up and he was a consensus 2 star running back/safety from Alabama. Huskers dot com shows he played every game on special teams as a true freshman in 2008. Then he disappeared, I can't remember why. Homesickness? Knew he would be sitting behind Asante, Haag, Matt O'Hanlon and Rickey Thenarse? He played the 2009 and 2010 seasons as a running back at Samford.

Damn, that’s exactly what I couldn’t articulate since it’s been so long lol

 

[drubendall]

I don't remember anything weird, but my memory isn't what it once was. As I recall Pelini took the job after Callahan got fired after the 2007 season and recruited a big recruiting class. There was concern he took bodies to fill up the class without much thought. I looked Wald up and he was a consensus 2 star running back/safety from Alabama. Huskers dot com shows he played every game on special teams as a true freshman in 2008. Then he disappeared, I can't remember why. Homesickness? Knew he would be sitting behind Asante, Haag, Matt O'Hanlon and Rickey Thenarse? He played the 2009 and 2010 seasons as a running back at Samford.

He wanted to go home. Kudos to him for getting a lot of PT as a true frosh.

 

[putemintheaisles]

I just remember Mason Wald really had a huge reputation as diamond in the rough and an insane hitter. Just sucked it didn’t work out.

 

[dinglefritz]

Coach K from Duke somehow sniffed out Bill Jackman from rural Grant, NE back in pre-internet 1982. You would think someone could find this kid in 2022 right along I-35.

I think Jackman went to Dukes summer camp. Jackman was a national recruit