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New walk-on: WR Alex Bullock

Tom did it and won, largely due to just being the goat. Just because one guy in the history did it (30 years ago) doesn’t mean it’s a proven method for success. Frost hasn’t done anything yet so don’t include his name in this. Sounds like you’re stuck in 1995, get with the times bra.
No one is stuck in 1995. 3/5 head coaches we have had have done it a different way and have failed. Osborne was here for 25 years. That's a long time to figure stuff out. Frost been here for 3. Tom is "just the GOAT" so obviously that's just how it was and he didn't have to figure things out as he went and knew it all from the get go, of course. Sure.
 
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Don't feed the Minnesota troll. When he talks about how much individual instruction is needed to teach something, he's working from his own personal experience as a slow learner.
Put him on ignore. I'm not willing to tolerate any of his lies
 
So there’s not a difference between 120 and 150? Not arguing just want to know why it isn’t a difference.
If you're a good enough coach and have the respect of your players, no there isn't. Speaking strictly in terms of being a strength coach and doing speed, agility, and quickness drills on the turf that are very similar to football drills, no there isn't much difference. I've had to do that with 20-30 athletes before depending on the time of year and you really just have to be organized and communicate well and atleast act like you know what you're doing. Admittedly I wasn't always the best communicator. I can do the drills and lifts and whatever all day long but for some reason I'm not the best at teaching someone else how to do certain things in that department. But I had done it enough times that I atleast acted like I knew what I was doing if I didn't.
 
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So there’s not a difference between 120 and 150? Not arguing just want to know why it isn’t a difference.
30 guys is one defense unit, one offense unit and specialists. Have you noticed how many walk on punters and kickers we have listed? It really is not a big deal. Do you remember last year auditioning kickers on campus? You do recall not too long ago not having enough QBs and WRs on the roster to effectively run practices right due to injuries? Hell we couldn't even hardly scrimmage at one point due to all of the WRs we had banged up. Frankly I'm a little disappointed with all of the injuries that we've had at RB that we haven't seen a walk on show up there. We've got some guys who walked on at RB who are every bit as talented as some of the guys like the Mackovicas, Pillens and Leigl back in the day.
 
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then maybe this particular set of coaches isn't equipped to effectively handle those numbers

maybe it's not the players that are slow blinkers -- maybe its the coaches

if I were a scholarship recruit I would be concerned about my development opportunities and reps being limited


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I don’t care what the topic is.... I NEVER tire of this video😂
 
If you're a good enough coach and have the respect of your players, no there isn't. Speaking strictly in terms of being a strength coach and doing speed, agility, and quickness drills on the turf that are very similar to football drills, no there isn't much difference. I've had to do that with 20-30 athletes before depending on the time of year and you really just have to be organized and communicate well and atleast act like you know what you're doing. Admittedly I wasn't always the best communicator. I can do the drills and lifts and whatever all day long but for some reason I'm not the best at teaching someone else how to do certain things in that department. But I had done it enough times that I atleast acted like I knew what I was doing if I didn't.

Ok thanks, makes sense.
 
Ok thanks, makes sense.
One thing I'll add. In the NFL, they carry a practice squad. Then IF they get guys hurt or somebody is just not getting it done, they can go out and sign FAs off of other team's practice squads or veterans not on teams. I watched a kicker kick the other day who was sitting at home and was signed Friday. The Vikings signed Saturday and played Sunday a long snapper who had been out of football for 2 years. You can't do that in college.

We've had lots of guys sign as walk ons who have turned out to be high producing players some of whom went on to play in the NFL. IF you can handle the numbers it makes sense to take the kind of numbers that Frost takes. I've not seen one person who has watched practice indicate that people aren't getting the reps they need.
 
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That's exactly my point. Thank you


no program can attract more Rudy wanna bes than Notre Dame

they have a roster of 112 -- they added 6 walk ons last year


but I will concede that you can't argue with the results that frost has achieved doing it his way
 
Frost's results have nothing to do with his roster size. The two are not linked. Ignore the Minnesota troll.
 
Illinois with a former NFL head coach -- roster 102
Iowa - 122
Purdue - 116


frost doing far less with far more - can't get our talented scholarship players up to speed
 
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I might be wrong, but I thought they divided the team up into groups for practices so that they ran different stations and GA types may handle majority of walk-ons, not impacting reps for anyone?
One case for numbers is to have the best quality scout team put together for practicing.
We’ve had times over the years where we can barely field a three deep at a few positions with injuries and whatnot. That moves some other guys up the ranks for depth, and you could run short on scout teamers pretty quick I’d imagine.
The changes with redshirting also would impact this dynamic I imagine.

If numbers are getting in the way, I’d agree to trim it down. But if properly managed, I like throwing as much as you can at the wall to see what sticks.
 
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I see what you're saying. Callahan said the same thing. He wasn't fond of his scholarship players not getting the reps in practice. I'm not against the walk-on program but I am against having 150 guys on the team. That's just too much.

I've been saying this for a year, all good points.
 
I will say that running 150 will start to pay dividends in depth when the team gets old enough that it's only juniors and seniors playing every year. Yes there might be an occasional sophomore or freshman that plays, but on Tom's teams, most guys didn't see the field the first 2-3 years.

That development time, plus the walk on program, helped produce a few players where needed that helped equalize our recruiting deficiencies.

As long as you have enough staff to handle the numbers, (not called coaches) then it's probably okay to keep that many.
 
IF you can handle the numbers it makes sense to take the kind of numbers that Frost takes. I've not seen one person who has watched practice indicate that people aren't getting the reps they need.


interesting -- I have been told quite the opposite by observers and participants -- that practices are so chaotic and unorganized and that there is simply no ability to focus on any fine details

it's year 3 and we haven't been able to consistently snap the ball and can't get the requisite number of players out on the field on special teams , penalties, penalties, penalties, talented players on the bench because there isn't time to teach them the playbook properly or get them reps--

too much NAIA talent intermixed with the scholarship athletes resulting in the entire product being diluted

lots of grumbling from scholarship players about inefficiencies
 
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no program can attract more Rudy wanna bes than Notre Dame

they have a roster of 112 -- they added 6 walk ons last year


but I will concede that you can't argue with the results that frost has achieved doing it his way
It's not Frost's way it's Osborne's way? If Frost never transfers here then I'd actually be pretty surprised if he did it anything like Osborne did it.
 
It's not Frost's way it's Osborne's way? If Frost never transfers here then I'd actually be pretty surprised if he did it anything like Osborne did it.

which coach has a longer tenure at Neb?

1. repeated 7-5/8-4 --- Neb legacy, runs I formation/option offense with a massive walk-on program

2. 9-3 -- outsider, pro-style or spread, cuts walk-on program


coach number 1 would live in perpetuity at Neb
 
which coach has a longer tenure at Neb?

1. repeated 7-5/8-4 --- Neb legacy, runs I formation/option offense with a massive walk-on program

2. 9-3 -- outsider, pro-style or spread, cuts walk-on program


coach number 1 would live in perpetuity at Neb
Who are wins and losses against? Give me #1 all day.
 
interesting -- I have been told quite the opposite by observers and participants -- that practices are so chaotic and unorganized and that there is simply no ability to focus on any fine details

it's year 3 and we haven't been able to consistently snap the ball and can't get the requisite number of players out on the field on special teams , penalties, penalties, penalties, talented players on the bench because there isn't time to teach them the playbook properly or get them reps--

too much NAIA talent intermixed with the scholarship athletes resulting in the entire product being diluted

lots of grumbling from scholarship players about inefficiencies
Wow. You get all of that from your ICU workplace in Minnesota? Just STFU troll. Nobody believes your lies.
 
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Clemson's roster is 119 in part because they recruit a lot of 4 and 5 stars and lose guys early to the NFL fairly often. I don't think we're to that point yet...... I look at it this way. EVEN CLEMSON WHO IS CONSISTENTLY ONE OF THE TOP RECRUITING PROGRAMS IN THE COUNTRY HAS OVER 30 WALK ONS IN THEIR PROGRAM. Let that sink in. The way we run practice, the numbers aren't a problem for us to deal with. The only problem it created was locker room space. There's virtually ZERO standing around waiting for reps during practice and we've been able to identify multiple guys on defense and offense who have played from those guys.
But Nebraska had sixty walk-ons. I don't understand your point about Clemson having 30. Why does Nebraska need 30 more? Tradition? Ego? 85 scholarship players plus 30 walk-ons is enough to field five offense and defensive teams Plus five specialist. So you go six deep, I can understand, but 150 is more than Scott can handle and he is proving it now but the product he puts on the field. Scott wants to run short intense programs. Doesn't provide enough time to do a good job coaching all the walk-ons. Heck TO put lots of time into his walking program. There just aren't any TOs around any more.
 
But Nebraska had sixty walk-ons. I don't understand your point about Clemson having 30. Why does Nebraska need 30 more? Tradition? Ego? 85 scholarship players plus 30 walk-ons is enough to field five offense and defensive teams Plus five specialist. So you go six deep, I can understand, but 150 is more than Scott can handle and he is proving it now but the product he puts on the field. Scott wants to run short intense programs. Doesn't provide enough time to do a good job coaching all the walk-ons. Heck TO put lots of time into his walking program. There just aren't any TOs around any more.
Because Nebraska isn't getting top 5 talent at every position every year like Clemson. Every year we find a guy or 2 or 3 who end up being contributors and some of them end up developing in to NFL talent.
 
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As long as you have enough staff to handle the numbers, (not called coaches) then it's probably okay to keep that many.

there are only so many coaches that are great teachers/instructors

Neb has amongst - if not the worst - Player to coach ratio in all of power 5 football

Would be a concern for a scholarship athlete

same reason why classrooms with extremely high student to teacher ratios struggle with individual instruction and often overall performance metrics
 
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