Lardarious Webb—DB Comitts to NU

[TheBeav815]

Diamond in the rough players are a great for feel good stories, but they don't happen often. I would feel much better if Frost was pulling in 4 star guys with 20+ offers. I love the positive attitude and optimism many of you show towards these type of commits . I wish I could as well, but all I can think of with these type of commits is, taking up a scholarship spot to sit the bench 4 years. In today's day and age uber talented guys just to go "under the radar" . His only offer is from Southern Miss, there is probably a reason for that.
I hope he blows up this year year, get tons of offers, turns into a 4 star and becomes a contributing starter for the Huskers. I really do hope I have to eat my words on him 3 or 4 years from now, but if I had to place money on it I doubt he even sniffs playing time at Neb and probably transfers out to play at Southern miss by year 2.
I know Im sounding like a little bitch. Im just tired of this lower level, Iowa type recruiting thing we got going on. Then I look at recruiting rankings and see a basketball school like North Carolina, who killing it in recruiting year 2 under Brown. We have to do better in recruiting.

I've seen them get in early on some kids who eventually were rated much higher, so I will tend to give them the benefit of the doubt. But ultimately you're correct, we'll get our blue chip % over 50 or we can forget about championships, period.

I have to wonder at this point in the cycle if there wasn't some misunderstanding as to whether LWJ was supposed to be able to officially commit yet. But maybe not, they did this exact thing with Logan Smothers, locked him up when he was a nobody in nowhere, Alabama and we all went, "WHO?!?!" but when I watched Smothers' film I knew they had found one. Bigger offers came his way later on but he stayed N. He was unranked when we got him, 4* when he signed.

My other worry with this staff is they have a hard time turning down their buddies' kids. Vedral came and went, we've got Javin Wright on the roster who didn't blow you away with how heralded he was down in the southwest, I feel like there is another I'm forgetting. Now this kid where pops played with one of our coaches so we sign junior up when it's not abundantly clear that he's a bigtime P5 player.

TBH I don't know what I'm looking for with defensive back film, so I don't know how to feel about his highlights. I watch them like, "Mmm, yes, interception good." Seems like he is athletic (if skinny) and has a good eye for the ball and is a willing enough tackler for his size. I'd like to see more PBUs in a full season highlight from a corner.

I'm there with you on the frustration. PSU spends time on probation and scholarship limits, they dip below us then come roaring back in recruiting and are posting better classes, seasons, and draft numbers than us immediately. WITHOUT WINNING FIRST TO GET THE BLUE CHIPPERS.

All while we sit around acting like it's impossible to ever get a 5* to come to Lincoln like there's a forcefield that keeps them out of the state.

It isn't this kid's fault, nothing against him. But any spot you give to an unranked kid is a spot you just guaranteed you're not giving to a 4* kid. Sure is a long, slow way to rebuild a roster. Maybe he ends up a 4* by NLI day but I have no way of knowing that right now.

 

[9and4]

As a show of respect, I'll stop using Lardarius as a nickname for Wisconsin fans.

You can still use it for SEC and Iowa fans, though.
Obesity rates in the U.S.:

1. West Virginia (39.5 percent estimated with higher confidence level)
2. Mississippi (39.5 percent estimated with lower confidence level)
3. Arkansas (37.1)
4. Louisiana (36.8)
5. Kentucky (36.6)
6. Alabama (36.2)
7. Iowa (35.3)
8. North Dakota (35.1)
9. Missouri (35.0)
10. Oklahoma (34.8) and Texas (34.8)

 

[Reditus]

Let's hope Ladarius has similar speed!

According to hudl he runs a 4.57 40. So not quite as fast but if that's electronic then thats respectable. Usually it's electronic if its reported to the 100ths.

We need Db's so it's good to get one on the books.

Welcome Lardarius.

 

[phoenix4nu]

I've seen them get in early on some kids who eventually were rated much higher, so I will tend to give them the benefit of the doubt. But ultimately you're correct, we'll get our blue chip % over 50 or we can forget about championships, period.

I have to wonder at this point in the cycle if there wasn't some misunderstanding as to whether LWJ was supposed to be able to officially commit yet. But maybe not, they did this exact thing with Logan Smothers, locked him up when he was a nobody in nowhere, Alabama and we all went, "WHO?!?!" but when I watched Smothers' film I knew they had found one. Bigger offers came his way later on but he stayed N.

My other worry with this staff is they have a hard time turning down their buddies' kids. Vedral came and went, we've got Javin Wright on the roster who didn't blow you away with how heralded he was down in the southwest, I feel like there is another I'm forgetting. Now this kid where pops played with one of our coaches so we sign junior up when it's not abundantly clear that he's a bigtime P5 player.

TBH I don't know what I'm looking for with defensive back film, so I don't know how to feel about his highlights. I watch them like, "Mmm, yes, interception good." Seems like he is athletic (if skinny) and has a good eye for the ball and is a willing enough tackler for his size. I'd like to see more PBUs in a full season highlight from a corner.

I'm there with you on the frustration. PSU spends time on probation and scholarship limits, they dip below us then come roaring back in recruiting and are posting better classes, seasons, and draft numbers than us immediately. WITHOUT WINNING FIRST TO GET THE BLUE CHIPPERS.

All while we sit around acting like it's impossible to ever get a 5* to come to Lincoln like there's a forcefield that keeps them out of the state.

It isn't this kid's fault, nothing against him. But any spot you give to an unranked kid is a spot you just guaranteed you're not giving to a 4* kid. Sure is a long, slow way to rebuild a roster.

Two losing seasons in a row under Frost has hurt recruiting, no doubt about that. It's not easy trying to convince highly recruited kids to come to a lightly populated area in the midwest to begin with, but the poor performance on the field makes it even harder. Hopefully Frost can dig himself out of this hole.

 

[HominidHusker]

Two losing seasons in a row under Frost has hurt recruiting, no doubt about that. It's not easy trying to convince highly recruited kids to come to a lightly populated area in the midwest to begin with, but the poor performance on the field makes it even harder. Hopefully Frost can dig himself out of this hole.

I would say he’s recruited quite well given how awful the team has been.

BUT, the other element is how many of highly ranked guys have already left or not panned out.
Our success rate with 4star players is awful and needs to improve drastically, since we don’t get enough to begin with.

 

[JohnRossEwing]

THE STREAK!

This gets me every freaking time! I love it.

 

[timnsun]

Diamond in the rough players are a great for feel good stories, but they don't happen often. I would feel much better if Frost was pulling in 4 star guys with 20+ offers. I love the positive attitude and optimism many of you show towards these type of commits . I wish I could as well, but all I can think of with these type of commits is, taking up a scholarship spot to sit the bench 4 years. In today's day and age uber talented guys just to go "under the radar" . His only offer is from Southern Miss, there is probably a reason for that.
I hope he blows up this year year, get tons of offers, turns into a 4 star and becomes a contributing starter for the Huskers. I really do hope I have to eat my words on him 3 or 4 years from now, but if I had to place money on it I doubt he even sniffs playing time at Neb and probably transfers out to play at Southern miss by year 2.
I know Im sounding like a little bitch. Im just tired of this lower level, Iowa type recruiting thing we got going on. Then I look at recruiting rankings and see a basketball school like North Carolina, who killing it in recruiting year 2 under Brown. We have to do better in recruiting.

Like Latrell Neville?

I get that this guy isn’t a 4 star, but I don’t get it when we get 4 stars and things are going great until a 3 star commits and we wonder what’s going on with recruiting.

 

[PeliniTheCrutch]

This gets me every freaking time! I love it.

No thanks necessary, but if you would, please keep building me up every chance you get so that others might follow. I’m just glad I can help educate all the people beneath me with some of my insider info.

 

[JohnRossEwing]

No thanks necessary, but if you would, please keep building me up every chance you get so that others might follow. I’m just glad I can help educate all the people beneath me with some of my insider info.

My god...that is pretty spot on!
Just add in something about making an avatar bet.

 

[CatColumbia]

Does this commitment mean that the Dickerson ship has officially sailed?

 

[headcard]

Does this commitment mean that the Dickerson ship has officially sailed?

I doubt that the two are related. We will most likely take 3-4 DB's this class.

 

[Red I 73]

Diamond in the rough players are a great for feel good stories, but they don't happen often. I would feel much better if Frost was pulling in 4 star guys with 20+ offers. I love the positive attitude and optimism many of you show towards these type of commits . I wish I could as well, but all I can think of with these type of commits is, taking up a scholarship spot to sit the bench 4 years. In today's day and age uber talented guys just to go "under the radar" . His only offer is from Southern Miss, there is probably a reason for that.
I hope he blows up this year year, get tons of offers, turns into a 4 star and becomes a contributing starter for the Huskers. I really do hope I have to eat my words on him 3 or 4 years from now, but if I had to place money on it I doubt he even sniffs playing time at Neb and probably transfers out to play at Southern miss by year 2.
I know Im sounding like a little bitch. Im just tired of this lower level, Iowa type recruiting thing we got going on. Then I look at recruiting rankings and see a basketball school like North Carolina, who killing it in recruiting year 2 under Brown. We have to do better in recruiting.

Iowa has 3 players in CBS top 100 prospects for 2021 draft picks. I didn't see any Husker players listed. Iowa State has two.

 

[husker2612]

Iowa has 3 players in CBS top 100 prospects for 2021 draft picks. I didn't see any Husker players listed. Iowa State has two.

I wasn't knocking Iowas system. It just isn't something I want for Nebraska. What Iowa does with low level talent is pretty amazing. However recruiting and developing 3 star guys only gets you so far. Iowa has shown the top level system it can achieve over the last 20 years and honestly it doesn't look much better than what Nebraska has achieved the last 20 years. My point was if we as Nebraska want to get back to Championship level football we can't make a habit and be content with recruiting low level, unranked guys. For now after 3 losing season I realize these are the type of guys we have to take chances on. We need to be able to develop the hell out of them like Iowa does. Get that 8 or 9 win season and use that as momentum to go after and get those top 4 and 5 star guys. In the future we can't have "take a chance" type guys taking up spots in our scholarship limit. Walk on, sure, 100% find those diamond in the rough players.

 

[husker2612]

I would say he’s recruited quite well given how awful the team has been.

BUT, the other element is how many of highly ranked guys have already left or not panned out.
Our success rate with 4star players is awful and needs to improve drastically, since we don’t get enough to begin with.

Nebraska and developing talent has been horrible. Like bottom of the ncaa horrible. Until we can figure out how to do it at a top level I fear we see more of the same.

 

[oldjar07]

Nebraska and developing talent has been horrible. Like bottom of the ncaa horrible. Until we can figure out how to do it at a top level I fear we see more of the same.

Recruiting isn't going to get any better unless that changes. Frost has flipped the roster and we should have good enough talent to put together a good team. These next two years are our chance to show something. If we can't do it by then, that's it. It's not like the talent level is magically going to get better after that.

 

[jflores]

I'm there with you on the frustration. PSU spends time on probation and scholarship limits, they dip below us then come roaring back in recruiting and are posting better classes, seasons, and draft numbers than us immediately. WITHOUT WINNING FIRST TO GET THE BLUE CHIPPERS.

All while we sit around acting like it's impossible to ever get a 5* to come to Lincoln like there's a forcefield that keeps them out of the state.

It isn't this kid's fault, nothing against him. But any spot you give to an unranked kid is a spot you just guaranteed you're not giving to a 4* kid. Sure is a long, slow way to rebuild a roster. Maybe he ends up a 4* by NLI day but I have no way of knowing that right now.

I'll quote this post but at least a couple others similar I want to address.

Nebraska for most of the modern era was an enigma. A small state that was winning big in football. We were an "and" program. We were developing under-rated guys and going to the coasts to get top talent.

We haven't really won anything in 20 years. Very few kids are looking at NU as being a powerhouse program by default, although recruited athletes are aware we are still putting the time, money and effort to do so again but those days continue to get smaller in the rear view mirror.

The state itself is not sexy. Its viewed as overwhelmingly white and rural. It lacks the natural "pizazz" that a larger school like a PSU would have. Nor are we sitting on, or close too, as much talent as they are. Even a school like North Carolina, which is traditionally not a top shelf football team, is sitting in the South with loads of talent, and Chapel Hill is well respected by athletes of all sorts (because of b-ball) and is a sought after destination. They also have a "name" coach.

When the winning stopped for us, there was no reason to expect 20 years later that top shelf recruiting would ensue for natural reasons. Given our disadvantages, a high visibility coach like Frost is probably performing about what our natural recruiting would be, Top 20-ish.

To return to top shelf recruiting, one of two things basically has to happen. You need to spend 10-15 million dollars to get one of maybe three coaches who's name is big enough to drag athletes to hell with him no matter where he coaches. Or you need to win like Devaney and Osborne did.

How was Nebraska's recruiting in the 50's? Probably not that good. Only 20 years earlier we were beating Notre Dame when Notre Dame was king. Our natural state of recruiting is not Top 10 in the country.

 

[HominidHusker]

Nebraska and developing talent has been horrible. Like bottom of the ncaa horrible. Until we can figure out how to do it at a top level I fear we see more of the same.

Yeah the development and coaching is key to maximize potential.
There’s been a lot of positive signs amidst the chaos of the roster turnover. One example is how OL has played much better down the stretch each of the last two seasons. Frost and Co have not had much time with a significant % of the roster, so it’s still a matter of waiting patiently (excruciating as it is) to see what this staff can build. We got so much of our “talent pool” stuck in the underclass/new to campus ranks and coaches need time to instill their plan and culture.

If we avoid losing guys that we want to keep, then there’s a lot to like down the road. They need to be able to fill in all the gaps to have maximum talent at every position.

 

[TheBeav815]

I'll quote this post but at least a couple others similar I want to address.

Nebraska for most of the modern era was an enigma. A small state that was winning big in football. We were an "and" program. We were developing under-rated guys and going to the coasts to get top talent.

We haven't really won anything in 20 years. Very few kids are looking at NU as being a powerhouse program by default, although recruited athletes are aware we are still putting the time, money and effort to do so again but those days continue to get smaller in the rear view mirror.

The state itself is not sexy. Its viewed as overwhelmingly white and rural. It lacks the natural "pizazz" that a larger school like a PSU would have. Nor are we sitting on, or close too, as much talent as they are. Even a school like North Carolina, which is traditionally not a top shelf football team, is sitting in the South with loads of talent, and Chapel Hill is well respected by athletes of all sorts (because of b-ball) and is a sought after destination. They also have a "name" coach.

When the winning stopped for us, there was no reason to expect 20 years later that top shelf recruiting would ensue for natural reasons. Given our disadvantages, a high visibility coach like Frost is probably performing about what our natural recruiting would be, Top 20-ish.

To return to top shelf recruiting, one of two things basically has to happen. You need to spend 10-15 million dollars to get one of maybe three coaches who's name is big enough to drag athletes to hell with him no matter where he coaches. Or you need to win like Devaney and Osborne did.

How was Nebraska's recruiting in the 50's? Probably not that good. Only 20 years earlier we were beating Notre Dame when Notre Dame was king. Our natural state of recruiting is not Top 10 in the country.

I've heard that stance quite a bit and I can't give evidence that you're wrong about any of it. I just have a hard time seeing what's any sexier about going to school in Eugene, Boise, or even Happy Valley. There ain't shit in South Bend, Indiana except the University of Notre Dame.

Tennessee had the #10 class last year, they've been a disaster since they fired Fulmer. Michigan hasn't done a whole ton better than we have in recent history, they're miles ahead of us in recruiting. Washington disappeared into total obscurity and then came back to pass us in recruiting.

We've seen some big name programs in talent hotbeds take downturns. You need to have guys on your staff who can flat out recruit. I think Held is one of those guys. Aside from him, can we name another guy on this staff we feel is an excellent recruiter? Maybe Greg Austin is making a case for himself with his 4* gets on the OL. Maybe Fisher?

We haven't had a staff that could really recruit stick around long enough to do something with those kids since Tom retired. Callahan had a splash class but Cosgrove's defense was so putrid he got fired. Bo's staff wasn't ever making big recruiting waves. Riley made some hires on guys known as recruiters but there again they mismanaged the rest of the program so badly it was over before it really began. One exciting class from them and most of those kids quit the team.

I think being an elite recruiter is a lot like being an elite salesman--you either are or you aren't. You can learn tips and tricks but first off you have to be a guy who wants to sell people. We blame Lincoln and we blame the lack of mountains or oceans, we blame the losses. To me, we haven't hired and kept guys who are recruiters. I still don't think we have very many, so we'd sure as hell better hope they're excellent developers.

 

[jflores]

I think we could hire some better recruiter but I'll leave that to each coach to figure out whether he needs a bunch of salesman or good coaches.

All the programs you've mentioned are in big states with perceived things to do and people around for a 17 year old kid who doesn't know. And if you are African American do you realistically believe there is more black community in North Carolina or Michigan or Nebraska? Things like that factor into decision or even just built in bias all the time.

The only school I can think of that is Midwest that's consistently been a pretty good recruiting school is OU. They also have a proximity to Texas though. OSU I guess could be considered a Midwest school but because of its size is basically lumped in with the coast or southern states in terms of football perception.

 

[otismotis08]

According to hudl he runs a 4.57 40. So not quite as fast but if that's electronic then thats respectable. Usually it's electronic if its reported to the 100ths.

We need Db's so it's good to get one on the books.

Welcome Lardarius.

I run faster in my flip flops.