Good read. It's interesting that an outside voice sees the very same things we in the middle of the forest do.
"There may be 150 guys on the roster, but development has been shockingly nonexistent for years."
That's probably the most shocking thing to me. Crap... Frost played during a time when NU followed their own blueprint for player development. We excelled at that. It's as if nothing was learned from Frost's playing time.
Oh well...
Good article. Earlier I alluded to the overall roster size. 150 just seems to be so outdated.
Roster sizes in the NFL, NBA, MLB, etc are set for a reason. They play to win games, there are no participation ribbons to be had. Jobs and livelihoods are on the line, may the best man and the best team win.
Growing up, we all know what the procedure was, and it is likely changed in the days of participation ribbons, everybody gets something for trying and we damn sure don't want to hurt their self-esteem.
Back in the day, middle school/jr high/high school kids tried out for teams. They did their workouts for a couple of weeks, then some cuts were made. Another couple of weeks, and more cuts. Another week or two and the roster is posted. These are the team members the coach selected. Period.
Mistakes were made, and little Johnnie and little Susie were upset for getting passed over. Mom and Dad got pissed and eventually, life went on.
Making difficult decisions like this are reasons why Nick Saban makes $10M+ per year, it is about winning and money. It's not about do or die for dear old Directional Jr. High.
Nobody wants to be the hatchet man when it comes to ending the dream of an athlete, but sometimes that athlete moves on and prospers in a setting that is more closely related to his or her skill level.
I have no say so, just doing my typical Friday rant prior to another Husker weekend.
Even back in the old days when TO and the Huskers were on top of the world, it was not unusual for NU to blow somebody out 63-0. After the game, TO would sometimes say "we played 105 kids today." "A lot of these plays were not designed to work, but they did."
In modern football, these kids can play 4 games and then redshirt.
"...We played 105 kids today." I never heard him say we played 150 kids today.