Finishing out Recruiting...

[cdriftt24]

I'm anxious to see how we finish out this recruiting class... I would love to get Jackson & Farniok. Do you think we can lock them both up or do we lose one or both of them as well? We are getting guys interested just for some reason can't seem to close the deal on some of these bigger named kids. I like the bones of our class so far just need to keep adding pieces... I would love to still be able to keep Fitzpatrick and Butler as well... We just offered KJ Sails (DB). What are everyone's thoughts on how we finish?

Beating UCLA will make the wait until September a little easier!!!

 

[jlb321]

one thing to keep track of is how many new late offers we are handing out for this class
sign of things going poorly with the recruits you have been in on for several months and trying to scramble to fill the class

I believe we are starting to see some of this




.

 

[TheBeav815]

Nice article from Sam here about the class and who they may still sign:

http://www.omaha.com/huskers/strong...cle_ab954ed7-6573-5f0e-9ce0-e1ae13fbe83a.html

 

[Tulsa Tom]

Sam talks about a top 25 class. I'm sorry...but that is not getting it done. (No,I didn't say fire Riley...No, I didn't say I wanted Bo back...No, I didn't say Riley should be on the hot seat.) I simply think the expectations should be much higher than top 25 when it comes to recruiting.

 

[HuskerLLM]

one thing to keep track of is how many new late offers we are handing out for this class
sign of things going poorly with the recruits you have been in on for several months and trying to scramble to fill the class

I believe we are starting to see some of this




.

Yes and No

The DE offer out of Indiana might be a scramble

The CB out of FL is not, quality player that became available and expressed interest

 

[TheBeav815]

Sam talks about a top 25 class. I'm sorry...but that is not getting it done. (No,I didn't say fire Riley...No, I didn't say I wanted Bo back...No, I didn't say Riley should be on the hot seat.) I simply think the expectations should be much higher than top 25 when it comes to recruiting.

I think that's agreed upon at this point. "Is what it is" for this year. I don't see them doing anything that launches them into the top 15 this year.

Perhaps Rome isn't built in a day. Short of handing out cash, there's a ton of legwork that has to go into signing a kid. The elite guys in some cases are being recruited since middle school. We've seen the staff putting in great work on some 2017 guys.

But for anyone who thinks getting into the 25 range is enough, I'd suggest putting on that MSU vs Bama game. The talent gap was on full display in that game. Bama lined up and mashed those guys into the turf.

 

[AdaminLincoln]

Considering we've been in the 30's and 40's, I would say a top 25 class this year would be a minor victory.

 

[Harry Caray]

The last staff was lazy with recruiting and often didn't fill their classes, yet still finished in the Top 20 range most of the time. Therefore, I was expecting this staff to be able to recruit in the 10-15 range. Maybe they will starting next year, but so far they have not been as great at closing as I hoped they would be.

 

[suhnami]

Considering we've been in the 30's and 40's, I would say a top 25 class this year would be a minor victory.

#Apathy

 

[JohnRossEwing]

The last staff was lazy with recruiting and often didn't fill their classes, yet still finished in the Top 20 range most of the time. Therefore, I was expecting this staff to be able to recruit in the 10-15 range. Maybe they will starting next year, but so far they have not been as great at closing as I hoped they would be.

Didn't they usually end up more like 25-30?

 

[Nate004]

Considering we've been in the 30's and 40's, I would say a top 25 class this year would be a minor victory.

Only in the most minor of ways. I'd consider it more like "Thank god our class didn't implode on us." Its acceptable... This year. Next year it won't be. A 10-20 ranking is the standard going forward in my eyes. Anything less will be disappointing.

 

[SilentCommit]

I've given in to despair. We're going to miss on all our top targets, and this class will fill with Plan B's. Even Pelini would have done better. The class will fill with nobodies, and we're going to stink until I finally die of old age/heart attack/skydiving accident/poisoned by wife. I'm only half kidding. It really feels eerie, like the end is here. Can't explain why.

 

[ssmill777]

I've given in to despair. We're going to miss on all our top targets, and this class will fill with Plan B's. Even Pelini would have done better. The class will fill with nobodies, and we're going to stink until I finally die of old age/heart attack/skydiving accident/poisoned by wife. I'm only half kidding. It really feels eerie, like the end is here. Can't explain why.

What you're saying is, our football team is becoming like our basketball team. Sad to say, this yr that was true. On a more serious note, there can be no doubt we've missed on some of our targets. Especially when these late offers are going out. We'll be very fortunate to finish in any of the recruiting services' top 25. So far it has been a disappointing recruiting class with the new coaches and all this hype about how much better recruiters they are.

 

[cdriftt24]

I don't agree that they aren't better... I think they are out and recruiting way harder than pelini and his staff ever did. I think they just locked on to the guys they wanted and didn't really have any plan B's to be honest. That is why we "saved" 3-5 scholarships a year to give to walk-ons and no that is showing as our depth is minimal. I like how this staff is out there getting after it. We have missed out on several guys but I'm guessing that we wouldn't even have had a shot at some of them if the old staff was still here. Unless they were one of the few they really liked. Seemed to me like they put all their effort into a select group and if that didn't pan out they were just throwing out late offers and hoping to get a couple more guys and then rewarding the scholly to a walk on because according to them the "deserved it" when really it was because they were to lazy to fill out the class. Don't see that happening with this staff down the road... Think they have a much better plan laid out and more options. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[Harry Caray]

Didn't they usually end up more like 25-30?

According to my calculations, from 2009-2014 our recruiting class had an average ranking of #23. The interesting thing is that the average size of those recruiting classes was only 21 players. The average star ranking was 3.24. Had we actually filled those small recruiting classes, they would probably have been in the Top 15 range. But unfortunately Bo put us on self-probation for some reason.

Right now we sit at a ranking of 44th, with 15 commits, and a 3.13 star average. Seems very Pelini-like, even though this staff supposedly puts much more effort and organization into recruiting. Even if we add a few more 4-star and 3-star players, it will still be ranked lower than an average Pelini class. Not sure that's going to cut it, especially with the type of offense and defense our staff wants to run, and with 4 other Big Ten teams that currently have Top 15 recruiting classes.

 

[mkbrkloster]

According to my calculations, from 2009-2014 our recruiting class had an average ranking of #23. The interesting thing is that the average size of those recruiting classes was only 21 players. The average star ranking was 3.24. Had we actually filled those small recruiting classes, they would probably have been in the Top 15 range. But unfortunately Bo put us on self-probation for some reason.

Right now we sit at a ranking of 44th, with 15 commits, and a 3.13 star average. Seems very Pelini-like, even though this staff supposedly puts much more effort and organization into recruiting. Even if we add a few more 4-star and 3-star players, it will still be ranked lower than an average Pelini class. Not sure that's going to cut it, especially with the type of offense and defense our staff wants to run, and with 4 other Big Ten teams that currently have Top 15 recruiting classes.

If we get even close to a "Pelini class" and the guys actually stay around and contribute, we will be better off (from a pure "stars on the field" standpoint).

 

[SnohomishRed]

What you're saying is, our football team is becoming like our basketball team. Sad to say, this yr that was true. On a more serious note, there can be no doubt we've missed on some of our targets. Especially when these late offers are going out. We'll be very fortunate to finish in any of the recruiting services' top 25. So far it has been a disappointing recruiting class with the new coaches and all this hype about how much better recruiters they are.

I am hoping this is not a pattern we are seeing " Everything on the surface looks good" then they go out and lose to purdue or have a bad recruiting class

 

[nebcountry]

Just my opinion, I think we have lingered too long out of relevance to pull top 10ish recruiting without a really good recruiting staff. It does seem to me that we should be able to get top 20 recruiting with an average recruiting staff though. Basing this on facilities, academics, etc.

I think back to about a year ago when Ed Orgeron was asking publicly to join Riley and the NU staff. I just don't understand.

 

[ssmill777]

Just my opinion, I think we have lingered too long out of relevance to pull top 10ish recruiting without a really good recruiting staff. It does seem to me that we should be able to get top 20 recruiting with an average recruiting staff though. Basing this on facilities, academics, etc.

I think back to about a year ago when Ed Orgeron was asking publicly to join Riley and the NU staff. I just don't understand.

That makes two of us. Of course, I don't know why we didn't either go after an excellent coach or an up-and-coming like Frost.

 

[WestCoastCornhusker]

Yep, Riley waffled to stay loyal to his Cosgroves while LSU out competed several SEC schools for Ed services. NU just isn't willing to do what it takes.

Just my opinion, I think we have lingered too long out of relevance to pull top 10ish recruiting without a really good recruiting staff. It does seem to me that we should be able to get top 20 recruiting with an average recruiting staff though. Basing this on facilities, academics, etc.

I think back to about a year ago when Ed Orgeron was asking publicly to join Riley and the NU staff. I just don't understand.

That makes two of us. Of course, I don't know why we didn't either go after an excellent coach or an up-and-coming like Frost.

 

[SeaOfRed75]

If we get even close to a "Pelini class" and the guys actually stay around and contribute, we will be better off (from a pure "stars on the field" standpoint).

Bingo. Nail meets head. I dont know how it is for most schools but the number of never going to come stars (Bubba,other babseball player cant remember name) to never contributed (roid Olineman, todd peat jr etc) to contributed very little then moved on (Aaron Green, Moore etc) four star guys we had under Bo was pretty much everybody.

 

[jflores]

I think that's agreed upon at this point. "Is what it is" for this year. I don't see them doing anything that launches them into the top 15 this year.

Perhaps Rome isn't built in a day. Short of handing out cash, there's a ton of legwork that has to go into signing a kid. The elite guys in some cases are being recruited since middle school. We've seen the staff putting in great work on some 2017 guys.

But for anyone who thinks getting into the 25 range is enough, I'd suggest putting on that MSU vs Bama game. The talent gap was on full display in that game. Bama lined up and mashed those guys into the turf.

Its also worth noting that the Bama and Iowa losses, while tragic, are not likely to happen most of the time out 10/100/1000 games played.

The talent gap between most of Pelini's teams, and the Top 5 Georgia recruiting teams, ended up 1-1 and no real thrashings.

 

[jflores]

Bingo. Nail meets head. I dont know how it is for most schools but the number of never going to come stars (Bubba,other babseball player cant remember name) to never contributed (roid Olineman, todd peat jr etc) to contributed very little then moved on (Aaron Green, Moore etc) four star guys we had under Bo was pretty much everybody.

Yes this is also key. No good having a Top 17 class where no one stays to contribute. Even worse if its only a top 35 or 40 class.

 

[jflores]

Just my opinion, I think we have lingered too long out of relevance to pull top 10ish recruiting without a really good recruiting staff. It does seem to me that we should be able to get top 20 recruiting with an average recruiting staff though. Basing this on facilities, academics, etc.

I think back to about a year ago when Ed Orgeron was asking publicly to join Riley and the NU staff. I just don't understand.

You'll notice Orgeron threw his name out for any school that had an opening in the past year or so. Either Ed Orgeron is truly interested in everywhere, at anytime, or Ed Orgeron is just living up to his reputation of playing fake interest off against real schools of interest.

Not sure how the math works, but maybe Top 20 is possible. Anything after the top dozen or 15 classes is basically a wash to me when you are ordering them down to 25. Oregon is not a Top 5 year in year out recruiting school.

 

[Laner2]

Just my opinion, I think we have lingered too long out of relevance to pull top 10ish recruiting without a really good recruiting staff. It does seem to me that we should be able to get top 20 recruiting with an average recruiting staff though. Basing this on facilities, academics, etc.

I think back to about a year ago when Ed Orgeron was asking publicly to join Riley and the NU staff. I just don't understand.

Ed Orgeron is an NCAA violation waiting to happen. Ed Orgeron=John Blake

 

[jlb321]

start by recruiting well enough to win the division consistently and then build from there

no reason we cant recruit as well or better than Iowa, Minne, Wisc, Illinois, NW, Purdue

 

[nebcountry]

You'll notice Orgeron threw his name out for any school that had an opening in the past year or so. Either Ed Orgeron is truly interested in everywhere, at anytime, or Ed Orgeron is just living up to his reputation of playing fake interest off against real schools of interest.

Not sure how the math works, but maybe Top 20 is possible. Anything after the top dozen or 15 classes is basically a wash to me when you are ordering them down to 25. Oregon is not a Top 5 year in year out recruiting school.

I remember him throwing his name out there, and a month later saying that no one from NU had even contacted him. At the time, I don't remember Orgeron announcing any interest in other schools, not until after his "no NU contact" announcement. I think he would've come, you may think he was never coming to NU. In the end we hired recruiting juggernaut Hank Hughes. The "good" news is, along with the bulk of our coaching staff, we won't have to worry about replacing them due to assistants taking promotions at other schools.

Ed Orgeron is an NCAA violation waiting to happen. Ed Orgeron=John Blake

Does Orgeron appear to not follow all the regulations, of course. I don't remember if any of his actions has resulted in direct sanctions against a school though.

 

[Laner2]

I remember him throwing his name out there, and a month later saying that no one from NU had even contacted him. At the time, I don't remember Orgeron announcing any interest in other schools, not until after his "no NU contact" announcement. I think he would've come, you may think he was never coming to NU. In the end we hired recruiting juggernaut Hank Hughes. The "good" news is, along with the bulk of our coaching staff, we won't have to worry about replacing them due to assistants taking promotions at other schools.



Does Orgeron appear to not follow all the regulations, of course. I don't remember if any of his actions has resulted in direct sanctions against a school though.

If your standard is "well, he hasn't been caught yet", I'm at a loss how to respond to you. A simple Google search should be a cautionary tale....


https://www.google.com/search?q=ed+orgeron+ncaa+violations&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

 

[mlw4]

I think that's agreed upon at this point. "Is what it is" for this year. I don't see them doing anything that launches them into the top 15 this year.

Perhaps Rome isn't built in a day. Short of handing out cash, there's a ton of legwork that has to go into signing a kid. The elite guys in some cases are being recruited since middle school. We've seen the staff putting in great work on some 2017 guys.

But for anyone who thinks getting into the 25 range is enough, I'd suggest putting on that MSU vs Bama game. The talent gap was on full display in that game. Bama lined up and mashed those guys into the turf.

I seen a bit of mashing of UCLA by Nebraska as well so I do not think we are that far off.

 

[rcnut223]

Just my opinion, I think we have lingered too long out of relevance to pull top 10ish recruiting without a really good recruiting staff. It does seem to me that we should be able to get top 20 recruiting with an average recruiting staff though. Basing this on facilities, academics, etc.

I think back to about a year ago when Ed Orgeron was asking publicly to join Riley and the NU staff. I just don't understand.

I agree, none of the kids think of us a power program

We may have reached the point that without spending big bucks for a name coach a staff, nothing will change

We have been mediocre for too long to pretend we are something

 

[SnohomishRed]

I agree, none of the kids think of us a power program

We may have reached the point that without spending big bucks for a name coach a staff, nothing will change

We have been mediocre for too long to pretend we are something

Thats a bunch of BS - We can compete with the big dogs again but a couple of things have to happen

1. We can not have all the infighting and bad decision making that has gone on for quite awhile in the AD and Chancellors office
2. We need a great coach
3. This great coach needs to run an innovative offense - one that does not take 5 star athletes across the board to be successful right now
4. We need to rebuild the blackshirt tradition and if that means we need to pay a DC 2 million a year to do that then I guess that is what we do

Bottom line we need leadership that is moving us forward and not back

 

[timnsun]

I seen a bit of mashing of UCLA by Nebraska as well so I do not think we are that far off.

Not sure that's a fair comparison as ucla was quite undersized and bad against the run... Also hit by injuries I think.

Most would recognize the sizable gap between Nebraska and Alabama on the offensive line, not to mention everywhere else. We are good, but nowhere close to bama, in my opinion...

 

[Harry Caray]

I seen a bit of mashing of UCLA by Nebraska as well so I do not think we are that far off.

But I was told many times that we were not talented enough to beat every team on our schedule.

 

[SnohomishRed]

Not sure that's a fair comparison as ucla was quite undersized and bad against the run... Also hit by injuries I think.

Most would recognize the sizable gap between Nebraska and Alabama on the offensive line, not to mention everywhere else. We are good, but nowhere close to bama, in my opinion...

I would have to say Alabama has more talent on their lines than any other team in CFB and its by a large margin, but even with them its not every year and you have to keep in mind those guys are staying 3 years and going pro as Juniors

 

[timnsun]

But I was told many times that we were not talented enough to beat every team on our schedule.

Good point. We mashed 88th ranked-against-the-run ucla good, didn't we?

So let me get this straight... Because we beat ucla we should have beaten every team on our schedule? If you're satisfied with our talent level, then by all means keep flaming.

 

[timnsun]

I would have to say Alabama has more talent on their lines than any other team in CFB and its by a large margin, but even with them its not every year and you have to keep in mind those guys are staying 3 years and going pro as Juniors

That's true, but what are they being replaced with? Even if Bama were to have a down year, at this point Nebraska could not compare to them. We need to get back to that point.

 

[SnohomishRed]

That's true, but what are they being replaced with? Even if Bama were to have a down year, at this point Nebraska could not compare to them. We need to get back to that point.

They will always have more raw talent - but if NU can get good talent and develop it and use their redshirt a 5th year man can compete with a third year wonder boy

As far as our talent against our schedule this year - we beat the two teams that were clearly more talented than us this year, the rest we either had more talent or comparable talent- Talent this year was not the reason for the losing season

 

[Tahoe78]

I've given in to despair. We're going to miss on all our top targets, and this class will fill with Plan B's. Even Pelini would have done better. The class will fill with nobodies, and we're going to stink until I finally die of old age/heart attack/skydiving accident/poisoned by wife. I'm only half kidding. It really feels eerie, like the end is here. Can't explain why.

You damn near drove me to tears....

 

[jflores]

Thats a bunch of BS - We can compete with the big dogs again but a couple of things have to happen

1. We can not have all the infighting and bad decision making that has gone on for quite awhile in the AD and Chancellors office
2. We need a great coach
3. This great coach needs to run an innovative offense - one that does not take 5 star athletes across the board to be successful right now
4. We need to rebuild the blackshirt tradition and if that means we need to pay a DC 2 million a year to do that then I guess that is what we do

Bottom line we need leadership that is moving us forward and not back

Your point about an innovative offense seems hollow. We've seen you laud the Harbaugh-esque hires (ie the big names), but Harbaugh doesn't have an innovative offense. Oregon's offense is so imitated by now (from high schools to D1) that its hardly cutting edge anymore. Even TA can run read-option part time, its so rote. Largely that comment seems code for "bring back the option", which is cool, but not so much innovative. Its a 50 year old offense.

I don't think anyone needs 5 star talent across the board to win with the current offense. We do need a QB who makes good decisions (but this could be said of many offenses).

Our most potent passing offense had a three headed monster of 2* Ganz, 3* Swift, and walk-on Peterson.

Even with a TO machine at QB we averaged like what 33 ppg? Scoring points has not generally been a huge problem.

You don't need to spend 2 million on a DC. Foster only makes like 1.1 million and he's as good as they come.

 

[timnsun]

They will always have more raw talent - but if NU can get good talent and develop it and use their redshirt a 5th year man can compete with a third year wonder boy

As far as our talent against our schedule this year - we beat the two teams that were clearly more talented than us this year, the rest we either had more talent or comparable talent- Talent this year was not the reason for the losing season

I agree with most of this, even the issue of talent. What really hurt us this year was coaching, lack of depth (which is a talent issue, just not front line talent), bad luck, and many other things. If we could have gone through with minimal injuries, and if this were the second year under Riley with better coaching, or better buy in, chemistry, understanding of the system, whatever you want to call it, I believe we maybe lose 1 or 2 games, not 7.

Still, it's very hard to go undefeated, let alone once or twice defeated. And the level and depth of talent we currently have makes it difficult to hit that mark. Even the alabamas and Ohio states of the football world stumble in spite of their talent. If we all agree we have lesser talent, we too will stumble from time to time. Again, it comes back to coaching and motivation as well.

Improvement in coaching will get us a spike in record, but improvement in talent along with coaching will put us back in the conversation with the big boys. I know this isn't earth shattering stuff, we need to get better in all areas.