Interview with TJ Lateef at Elite 11
- Thread starter phoenix4nu
- Start date
Odd end to the interview:
Tom Loy: And then, you're going to enroll early ...
Lateef: Yeah
Loy: at Nebraska? Your recruitment completely shut down?
Lateef: My recruitment is ... I won't speak on that.
Loy: Okay.
Tom Loy: And then, you're going to enroll early ...
Lateef: Yeah
Loy: at Nebraska? Your recruitment completely shut down?
Lateef: My recruitment is ... I won't speak on that.
Loy: Okay.
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He is just like everyone, he wants to play as early as possible. With Dylan here he is going to have to wait. He will decide at some point if he wants to wait.
Never going to play a down here. We should only recruit transfer backup types this cycle. If DR were to leave for some reason, then we go after a big time transfer, but based on what I've seen of the kid, he'll be here for 3 years unless something dramatic bad happens to the program or if he were to suffer a career ending injury or illness.
It's a nice fantasy to think about being able to bring in a dedicated, highly rated QB on the heals of bring in a program changing QB, but it's not realistic and there's about a 90% chance this kid ends up in the portal after one fall at Nebraska.
All you have to do is look at the history of similar situations at other schools.
2026 class is loaded on paper but who knows if it will materialize. I'm not sold on the younger DR quite yet. Kid from Bellevue West is supposed to be legit but we'll see. Vanden Bosch kid from Phoenix seems like the best of the bunch but we'll also have competition.
I disagree.
We should bring in a high schooler who isn’t damaged goods, who hasn’t peaked and who wants to be a Husker.
Plenty to choose from.
You know a lot about peaking in high school? 🤣🤣🤣 Jk jk
Nailed it
Been saying we can do better since this kid committed.
Haven’t wavered and expect many to join me in that sentiment now that the current is warming.
What makes a transfer "damaged goods"? We should bring in a kid who wants to be a upper class backup, like the kid that just transferred here from NAIA.
A four star QB is not going to sit for 3 years before he gets to play. It's just the way it is in a world where every year, they'll be teams who want to play him now.
Not a promising end to the interview. My gut says he ain't coming here.
He is just getting hit with other teams recruiting him about the path to quicker playing time.some coaches will tell a kid what they want to hear regardless if it’s the truth or not. Dylan was already here when he committed. It all comes down to if he wants to wait to play at Nebraska or believe one of the other coaches about him seeing the field quicker elsewhere.
If anything it's safe to say he's no solid. I wouldn't stop recruiting QBs. If Raiola has a great start to the year I could see him moving on. If he struggles he may feels he has a better chance at playing sooner at Nebraska. Any way I wouldn't close the door on other QBs that were interested.
It seems like he is keeping his options open. If I'm Nebraska it would be wise to do the same. Put ya cards on the table I say.
Holla
Agreed. The only thing he said he is an early enrollee kid . That may push him into giving Nebraska a rock solid answer. I think we will know before the season if we see more interest in other 25 QBs.
Why not? Hundreds of them do it every year.
If he's that good he'll play. If not we're in the same spot.
Not sure if he would stay/play at Nebraska or not but I'm never just bringing in guys who are transfer/backup types because you think a guy won't stay. I'm always gonna recruit the best guy I can and try and get him to stay. I just don't see the logic in recruiting lesser players when you are expecting to compete on the highest level. You wanna tell me you can get a guy like the QB we just got from NAIA to walk on or something I'm ok. But by "recruiting" I would think you would mean as a scholarship guy? If so then NAH I would pass. I'm never taking lesser guys who I think are "back up" types.
Recruit the best you can and MAYBE they end up as a backup type. But as a coach I'm recruiting guys I see as starters in my program. If they leave after a year or so oh well. I'm not purposely recruiting backups because they will stay 5-6 years lol
Holla
The naia kid is scout team fodder
Who said anything about 4 stars? Our upperclassman backups should be homegrown culture setters who’ve poured their blood, sweat and tears into the program alongside his brothers
I imagine he got a phone call wanting an explanation on that but this is a business. Keep recruiting
I guess I never considered a kid, or any human as "fodder".
The thread is about a 4 star kid committed to us. Man!
It's different with QBs. You have to care about what the new kids are thinking about playing time, as well as what the current players are thinking, because there's only one QB.
If you have no available playing time for a kid, he won't stay. Purdy was out of here as fast as he could when DR signed. Smothers was out of here because of Thompson (and Frost). Gebbia was out of here because of Martinez (and Frost). If they're not going to stay, there's no point in bringing them in in the first place. Just wasted coaching time.
Hundreds? Every team has a 4-star recruit who sits for 3 years? Really?
Nebraska has the perfect QB situation now. DR is way above the others, DK is a home grown kid who expects to develop over several years, and HH is a kid who can play QB but has a plan to make it to the league as something else. Neither DK or HH as any expectation short of injury to DR that they will play much the next 2-3 years at QB. I guarantee that this new guy won't have the same sentiment.
Do the math.
I included 5 stars too, but how many teams have a 4star or better qb starting? 40? 50? Where do you think 5 years worth of 4 and 5 star qbs are if they're not starting on one of those teams?
I didn’t mention Dylan. It may be he is getting a lot of other offers and NIL offers from other teams. The dude is young. Heck, when I was his age I was convinced I wanted to marry every new girl I met at a bar. Then another girl would come along…
Just doesn’t sound to me that his commitment is final.
This sounds like the Scott Frost model of recruiting. Committing fully to one QB and avoiding bringing in any QBs that might challenge him. So when he leaves we are stuck with no one at all at QB like what happened last year.
No, it doesn't sound anything like that. We have DR and DK this year, a pause to 2026 is warranted. You have to do these things at QB differently so you don't have the whole room threatened.
There are only about 20 4-star QBs every year. That would make 100 over 5 years. About half end up starting by the 2nd year or earlier because there is no one in front of them after their first year. Some drop out and the others transfer.
Then this must be a banner year. Because there's over 30 and some are still getting stars.
I don't know why this matters. There were 19 4 and 5 star QBs in the Rivals 250 in 2024. But over a 4-5 year period, these kids tend to initially go to the same 20-30 schools, so many of them end up transferring. Georgia, USC, tOSU, and many others have a long list of transfers who left because they were behind others, one won the Heisman Trophy.
All I'm saying is that we need to be strategic about this. Sure, if this kid is good then he's be great to have, but if DR is what most of us think he is and if DK can develop, this 2025 kid has a steep hill to climb to ever play here and will likely leave if things work out for the other QBs. So, that being said, is it likely that he won't play much here? Yes. Is it impossible? No. But should the development time and reps be given out to someone for the future (2026 and beyond kid) or to this kid.
It's a new day, and you can't stockpile talent, especially at QB.
So purposely recruit and sign a "back up type" QB without even trying to get or sign a legit starter? Nah I can't get behind that. So what happens when your starter gets hurt? You fall off the cliff basically by choice because you chose to sign a back up level QB as opposed to someone who you thought can be a starter?
Self imposed talent restricting. I can see a world where that's a good policy at any position. Just my opinion of course. We definitely agree to disagree on that one.
Holla
What you said is only true if you need to sign someone to be your backup this year. The backups I'm talking about are not the 2nd guy.
BTW, almost every team in college football and the NFL is screwed if their starting QB goes down. So the "what do we do if he gets hurt" thing is not really valid.
If that were the case, then Mahomes' backup would be Josh Allen.
I disagree. If you can get Josh Allen to the Mahomes’ backup, why wouldn’t you do that? It'll never happen in the NFL, but it happens in college football all the time.
I get the argument that if he transfers a year or 2 later we wasted time on him that we could have invested in someone else. But if the starter goes down while he’s here, I want the best possible player backing up the starter.
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