It sure is. And a great salesman with a great product will out sell a great salesman with an inferior product every time.
Until we improve our product we will be out sold.
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Until we improve our product we will be out sold.
Excellent point, and often the best sellers will gravitate over time to the best products. I would argue that it's both "product" and sellers in NU's case.
Zero doubt the product is not as good as what you're selling at Clemson, Bama, Georgia, OSU.
I also think the selling has not been as good as it could be, most glaringly at the QB and OLB positions. Arguably the star of each side of the ball, your passer and your pass rusher.
NU has QBs on the roster who have been "back-in 4 star" signees.
Martinez was a 4* with baggage, he hadn't played his senior year due to injury.
Smothers was virtually unheard of when he committed to NU, he eventually rose to a 4* rating but was never an Elite 11 type kid.
Vedral was a 3* kid who signed with his dad's buddy and then followed him to NU. We've seen that he's not an elite QB.
McCaffrey was a 4* athlete but by no means a 4* QB/passer. You'll never convince me he is rated like he is without his brother being who he is.
Haarberg was a 3*.
None of them were ever consensus, elite recruits coming into and throughout their senior seasons. I'm not aware that any of the guys NU is in on for 2022 is that way either. Any staff that thinks they're consistently seeing something nobody else has seen or knows the hidden secret of talent evaluation, I call BS.
I'll make this prediction, I don't think our 2022/2023 starting QB is on our roster.
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Like I said....PROJECTS! Dudes who were hurt their senior year, raw in abilities, can run but spaghetti noodle arms, not accurate, mentally fragile, have to get their "stroke" right.....PROJECTS!
And for the SLOW cats on this thread who can't comprehend well. I would say names but people can see them on this thread. Frost has brought players transfers in every position group except QB!
The bs I hear fans is this "You don't bring one in before Spring practice because you wanna see what you got on the roster already". You don't bring one in after spring practice because he won't make it in before summer camp and it's not enough time to learn playbook......WHAT TF GIVES?????
And no I don't count Vedral as a transfer....
It all depends on your perspective:
Adrian Martinez, yes was hurt, but was also a highly sought after prospect and has all of the tools as a QB to succeed at the D1 level. I wouldn't call that a project when recruiting just because of the injury.
Smothers - in on early yes, but he was a 4* and had a ton of interest from other schools as well as big time numbers in high school. Hardly a project
Vedral - Not sure what you call him. Backup transfer from Frost's system. Good athlete, probably not too bad to take to have as a backup for your team.
McCaffrey - I will give in that he is a project. Great athlete, but better suited for WR.
Haarburg - 3* because he plays at Kearney Catholic in Nebraska. He hasn't even played a down, but looked like he belonged as a freshman. Does he have some growing to do? Yes, as do all Freshman, but has speed and arm and if he has his head on right, could be a damn good QB, but I would hardly call him a "project" just because of his 3* rating. Is he a 5* can't miss? No, but he's hardly a project.
It's easy to make hindsight analysis, but outside of McCaffrey, most of these kids were pretty damn good in HS with Martinez and Smothers being 4 stars. You've got your opinion I have mine.
I guess it depends on your definition of project.
Logan Smothers is a great athlete and may develop into a great QB, but he needs a lot of development. That, to me, is the very definition of a project.
If that is the case 95% of college QB's are projects. Outside of the 5*'s, and even some of those fall in to the category, a lot of these kids are just flat out athletes and need developed as do players at all positions.
I’m not sure it’s 95%, but it is higher than Heinrich Haarberg and Logan Smothers.
If you are honest with yourself and watch Luke McCaffrey as a red shirt freshman and Logan smothers as a Red shirt freshman, I’m not sure you can see a huge difference, especially in a practice game setting. But because you watched Luke McCaffrey play an actual big 10 football games, he’s now a project.
I guess my definition of project would be, would I be surprised if that dude never starts a game at Nebraska. If the answer is no I would not be surprised then he’s a project to me.
This conversation is about their recruitment. In my eyes McCaffrey is a project because he didn't even play QB until his senior season, and his numbers were ok, but was in my opinion looked at by most schools as some sort of athlete, and Frost got him by saying he could play QB. Smothers played QB his entire career and played pretty damn well earning a 4 star ranking as a QB. I've said this multiple times that we need to get better at talent evaluation at the skill positions or development overall, but looking at pure recruitment before they even get to campus, I think most wouldn't put Smothers in the project category. It wasn't until he hasn't looked that great that all of the sudden he becomes a project.
The high school game is so much different than D1 I think most QBs are considered projects just getting them acclimated. I would put them all in that category unless they are the handful of freakishly athletic virtuoso types that overcome the physical and mental acceleration.
Haarburg looks to me like the second coming of Jake Locker with size, speed, arm strength-the delivery even looks the same. Even the occasional wild pitch. His career turned out OK. Why not take a shot with that cube of clay.
Haarburg looks to me like the second coming of Jake Locker with size, speed, arm strength-the delivery even looks the same. Even the occasional wild pitch. His career turned out OK. Why not take a shot with that cube of clay.
