Randy Gregory was a real problem for offenses. Constant double teams and still so disruptive. Don’t think we’ve had a defensive player at his level of talent since then. Ameer could make you miss in a phone booth. Kellog threw a beautiful ball, lot of zip and on target most throws in bad weather. Penn State has come a looong ways since 2013!
Nebraska vs. Penn State on BTN. Couple of observations...
- Thread starter HuskerBorn
- Start date
My biggest memory from that game was the horrible penalty call on Sam Burtch that stole a late TD from Ameer that most likely would have been a game winner.
Yep. Terrible call. Bo lost his mind on that call and lit up the refs over it.
That seems like forever ago. It's hard to believe how much this program has changed since 2013.
According to Sports Reference, the 2013 Nebraska team had 27 guys with a hyperlink to their NFL stats. Out of boredom and curiosity, I went through and looked at the 2013-2019 teams to find the number of guys each team had that had a cup of coffee in the NFL. (Adding DPE and Zach Sterup who didn't have links to their NFL pages despite having signed NFL contracts, but otherwise counting players strictly based on if they had a hyperlink to their NFL stats. RS years are counted and the player counts for every year he was on the roster.):
2013: 27
2014: 22
2015: 24
2016: 18
2017: 12
2018: 8
2019: 5 (Davis, Davis, Daniels, and Jackson....and, oddly, Mo Barry)
A lot of the guys with NFL mentions never amounted to anything in the League, but in terms of talent, that 2013 team was absolutely stacked versus what we're dealing with today. The 27 guys with NFL hyperlinks doesn't include rock-solid college only players on the team like T-Magic and Sam Foltz, either.
Regardless, I think Nebraska will be back in the 25-30 range on an annual basis fairly quickly and the numbers for the last couple of years will increase as guys continue to graduate or go pro and with the inevitable practice squad opportunities that a guy with an NFL body like Alex Davis might be able to find.
For comparison, 2019 LSU has 17 players already hyperlinked and that number will go way up in the next couple of years. I also looked at the 2016 aOSU roster because it was Urban Meyer's 5th year there, so it was his first year with a team made up of all his guys, and they had an impressive 34 players on that roster with NFL mentions.
https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/nebraska/2013-roster.html
The site puts little "NFL" badges next to some NFL players, but a guy who was drafted, Tanner Lee, doesn't have a badge and a guy who played in regular season games last year, Stanley Morgan Jr., doesn't either, so I really don't understand their methodology.
According to Sports Reference, the 2013 Nebraska team had 27 guys with a hyperlink to their NFL stats. Out of boredom and curiosity, I went through and looked at the 2013-2019 teams to find the number of guys each team had that had a cup of coffee in the NFL. (Adding DPE and Zach Sterup who didn't have links to their NFL pages despite having signed NFL contracts, but otherwise counting players strictly based on if they had a hyperlink to their NFL stats. RS years are counted and the player counts for every year he was on the roster.):
2013: 27
2014: 22
2015: 24
2016: 18
2017: 12
2018: 8
2019: 5 (Davis, Davis, Daniels, and Jackson....and, oddly, Mo Barry)
A lot of the guys with NFL mentions never amounted to anything in the League, but in terms of talent, that 2013 team was absolutely stacked versus what we're dealing with today. The 27 guys with NFL hyperlinks doesn't include rock-solid college only players on the team like T-Magic and Sam Foltz, either.
Regardless, I think Nebraska will be back in the 25-30 range on an annual basis fairly quickly and the numbers for the last couple of years will increase as guys continue to graduate or go pro and with the inevitable practice squad opportunities that a guy with an NFL body like Alex Davis might be able to find.
For comparison, 2019 LSU has 17 players already hyperlinked and that number will go way up in the next couple of years. I also looked at the 2016 aOSU roster because it was Urban Meyer's 5th year there, so it was his first year with a team made up of all his guys, and they had an impressive 34 players on that roster with NFL mentions.
https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/nebraska/2013-roster.html
The site puts little "NFL" badges next to some NFL players, but a guy who was drafted, Tanner Lee, doesn't have a badge and a guy who played in regular season games last year, Stanley Morgan Jr., doesn't either, so I really don't understand their methodology.
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You know what's even crazier?
The Davis Twins originally committed to Pelini and staff. Without the previous regime in place, I'm not sure Nebraska even signs the twins.
Its reasonable to suggest the only two hs recruits signed by Mike Riley who were drafted were actually Bo recruits.
I do think Jaimes and Jojo will find draft slots in 2021. Farniok will have a chance depending on how well he responds to the move inside.
In reality though, Mike Riley and Shawn Eichorst completely fvcked over Nebraska football.
But, but... Bobby Diaco was Riley's downfall. Repeat it enough times and it will come true.
Riley being hired by Shawn Eichorst is the downfall..
Charlie was telling Tom he was thinking about retiring before Tom told him I’m going to retire after the Bowl game..
Ah hogwash stop lying....those 27 players in 2013 had to be 6th year seniors Callahan recruited!! ! Bo couldn't recruit....haven't you heard???
Yep. Had we made a great hire after Bo Bo we would be a top 10-15 team by now for sure. We weren’t a bad team when Bo left.
The lack of awareness of what was happening in football by that administration was mind-blowing. Things that directly correlated to wins and losses and expanding the impact of the program, and were obvious issues, weren't addressed.
Case in point, Eichorst was here from October 2012-September 2017 and during that time 93% (75/81) of the players drafted at OT in the NFL were 6'5" or taller. However, only 45% (10/22) of the scholarship OL we signed during that time were 6'5" or taller. Since 2018, almost like magic, we're up to 92% (11/12) if you count the three kids for this cycle. It's night and day.
I fully understand that the coaches recruit and ADs seek to increase revenues, but that's a spot where anyone in a corner office who's paying attention sees a hole and the correlation between size and NFL success and asks, "Why are we recruiting MAC-level guys for our trenches?" We're certainly paying for it today...but the worm is turning.
Think this could show 1 of 2 things maybe both. How horrible Bo was at recruiting talent late in his career here and/or how horrible MR was at developing talent. I gave Frost a MR sucks, pass these last 2 years. Year three we should see some significant jumps in player development under Frost.
I am optimistic for a jump this year in terms of the team having at least more fringe NFL guys. There are only 14 seniors, and that's including JD Spielman, but every one of them at least looks the part with the exception of Boe Wilson (who's been a pretty solid contributor nonetheless).
