I think it was very surprising and eye opening at least to me

[Redondo]

when in his press conference, SF said TO once did a survey and found that 60% of the all the kids on the team from Nebraska eventually started or were substantial contributors, which was a substantially greater percentage than kids from out of state. I guess that shouldn't really surprise me, though, as I think back at a lot of those names of really good athletes.

 

[B1G RED RULES]

when in his press conference, SF said TO once did a survey and found that 60% of the all the kids on the team from Nebraska eventually started or were substantial contributors, which was a substantially greater percentage than kids from out of state. I guess that shouldn't really surprise me, though, as I think back at a lot of those names of really good athletes.

I agree - I had no idea it was that high. Keep in mind, 60% just didn’t play on a team like Illinois, the played on a team likely ranked in the top 10 of college football most every year. TO tapped into something special with Nebraska kids and with Frost being part of it, he will revive it. I absolutely love Frost. Truly believes if you take these kids and prepare them correctly, they can be major contributors. Excellent way to combat our location disadvantage.

 

[Captain Nick]

I've thought for a long time in-state kids have a huge advantage in the program. Recruiting is such a crap shoot anyways. You never know how a kid taken from half way across the country is going to respond to being away from home, not knowing anybody, going to class, being at the bottom of the depth chart, not being the most athletically gifted person on the field anymore, etc. Local kids, on the other hand can go home regularly, see their family, probably have friends or HS classmates at UNL, might be more willing to put in the time and work, etc. I hate seeing local kids go to other P5 schools. I wish our former coaches would have and current ones start taking this into account when deciding to offer or not.

 

[dinglefritz]

Just remember when Tom talks about being a contributor, it doesn't mean they started or were an irreplaceable player. We had a TON of walkons who lettered playing in the 4th quarter and on special teams in addition to the several every year who earned starting jobs. Not questioning the point of what he said, but keep the right context of the quotes.

 

[Huskerfan2112]

Just remember when Tom talks about being a contributor, it doesn't mean they started or were an irreplaceable player. We had a TON of walkons who lettered playing in the 4th quarter and on special teams in addition to the several every year who earned starting jobs. Not questioning the point of what he said, but keep the right context of the quotes.

Lot of benefits in that regard. Builds depth and development, eliminates injury risk to starters, but most importantly lets some local kids live their dream. One of the best parts pf the 90s blowouts was hearing cheers in q4 for home state walkons getting their shot.

 

[huskerfan66]

Me too. Thought that was an interesting statistic. Not surprised that T.O. thought about doing such a study. Analytical to the Nth degree.

 

[hddude55]

Just remember when Tom talks about being a contributor, it doesn't mean they started or were an irreplaceable player. We had a TON of walkons who lettered playing in the 4th quarter and on special teams in addition to the several every year who earned starting jobs. Not questioning the point of what he said, but keep the right context of the quotes.

Right on. When I first started attending some ASU games in the early 90s I immediately noticed the difference. They probably played about half as many kids as TO did. But of course that was a reflection of NU’s dominance in so many games. It has been at least 15 years since we have seen fourth quarters routinely played by reserves who were resting starters and getting valuable experience.

 

[Hoosker Du]

The caveat to that would be that it also took until the early 90s, and a change in recruiting philosophy (to recruiting speed from out of state) for us to reach the summit of college football.

 

[mgbreis]

As a Husker fan I'm all for the walkon program.
As a parent I'm hoping these kids aren't taking on debt to act as tackling dummies on the scout team. Clearly some of them will contribute. Also clearly many of them won't.