Some of this may be a rehash but I took a little time to sift through and compile the major data points that establish the benchmarks of the previous regime (from the 2008 thru 2014 recruiting cycles). Here are the highlights (for me) of the areas needing significant improvement:
1) Class Size - As long as you stay under the 85 total scholarship number, a program can sign up to 25 recruits per cycle without scrutiny or special dispensation. Over the seven cycles identified, NU could have signed up to 175 recruits under this criteria...it only signed 157. That is 18 prospects under the number allowed.
It only takes 2 or 3 of those missed prospects who potentially turn into multi-year contributors to change the course of any game. It only takes one special player who becomes a starter and 1st team AC or AA level athlete to change the course of a season. The days of carrying 4-5 known non-contributors on the roster need to be over.
2) Number of Blue Chip Recruits - Over the seven cycles identified, NU signed a total of 42 recruits ranked as Rivals 4 or 5 star players (35 HS/7 JUCO). That averages to 6 blue chippers signed per cycle by the Huskers.
In the Rivals national rankings, the 20th ranked team during this same period averaged signing 7.1 blue chip recruits per cycle and the 15th ranked team averaged signing 8.9 blue chippers per cycle. This means that NU was 1 to 3 blue chip recruits per cycle from consistently being a top 15 to 20 class (which I think we all agree should be the minimum standard for Husker recruiting classes).
3) Blue Chip Retention - of the 42 blue chip recruits signed, 17 either didn't make it to campus or failed to complete their eligibility as a Husker. That is a whopping 41% of the blue chip prospects recruited who didn't even finish their career as a Husker.
Only one of these casualties was a JUCO (Chase Harper) so that means 16 high school 4 star recruits in a 7 year period who either didn't make campus or didn't finish their career in Lincoln. That is an unbelievable number.
4) Blue Chip Development - As unbelievable as the retention numbers were, this area baffles me even more. Of the 25 blue chip prospects that did complete their eligibility as Huskers, 19 were HS recruits and the remaining 7 were signed from the JUCO ranks. This is where it gets pretty incredible, of the 19 - 4 and 5 star HS recruits signed over those seven cycles, only one went on to be awarded any major post-season accolade (1st Team All-Conf or All-American). The lone blue chipper to do this was Rex Burkhead.
Another 6 of the HS blue chip recruits did go on to become multi-year starters and get named to All-Conf honorable mention or 2nd/3rd team. The remaining 8 HS blue chippers either made a few starts or became multi-year starters but received no post season accolades.
For a program making any attempt to recruit and develop HS players, only getting 6 of 35 blue chip prospects onto campus, into starting roles and then through their entire eligibility in a productive enough fashion to be named to a post season All-Conf list (with only one actually being named to the 1st team) is a testament to just how poorly of a job you were doing.
The bright spot in this regard was the JUCO blue chippers. Quite the opposite result. Of the 6 who made it to campus, 4 went on to earn post season accolade with 3 of these being major awards of either 1st team All-Conf or as an All-American.
Anyway, the recruiting practices of the prior regime have been discussed ad nauseam so other than identifying the primary issues under the four categories listed above, I won't go any farther into how or why it all happened. Already asked and answered so at this point, it no longer matters. What I will do is show the breakdown of all blue ship data that I compiled below as well as how I chose to categorize individual results.
Early results from the current regime make me feel better about categories #2 and #3 above and the jury is still out on #4. At this point, #1 still concerns me a bit as MR has continued to carry proven scholarship non-contributors on his roster with little evidence so far that he'll process dead weight. I'd love to see the standard for this be revisited and become more aggressive.
4/5 star recruits signed 2007 thru 2014 (35 HS/7 JUCO):
Result of Husker Career - #HS/#JUCO
1 - Never on campus/non-factor - 4/1
2 - Didn't complete eligibility - 12/0
3 - Minor contribution/ST's - 4/1
4 - Started games/season - 3/1
5 - Multi-year starter/no award - 5/0
6 - Multi-year starter/minor award - 6/1 (HM, 3rd or 2nd team All-Conf)
7 - Multi-year starter/major award - 1/3 (1st team All-Conf or any All-Amer)
1's - David Whitmore, Chris Williams, Chase Harper, Bubba Starling, Monte Harrison
2's - Cody Green, Dijon Washington, Chase Rome, Braylon Heard, Brion Carnes, Tyler Moore, Ryan Klachko, David Santos, Aaron Green, Todd Peat, Greg McMullen, Paul Thurston
3's - Charles Jackson, Mo Seisay, Marcus Newby*, Adam Taylor*, Mikale Wilbon*
4's - Jermarcus Hardrick, Ryne Reeves, Jamal Turner, Tanner Farmer*
5's - Zach Sterup, Alonzo Moore, Josh Banderas, Terrell Newby, Nick Gates*
6's - Baker Steinkuhler, Will Compton, Jason Ankrah, Andrew Rodriguez, Corey Cooper, Jordan Westerkamp, Zaire Anderson
7's - Rex Burkhead, Lavonte David, Daimion Stafford, Randy Gregory
*Still have remaining eligibility to complete.
To those that this kind of stuff interests, have fun.
GBR!
Note: Edited to include breakdown by name of all recruits included for archive purposes.
1) Class Size - As long as you stay under the 85 total scholarship number, a program can sign up to 25 recruits per cycle without scrutiny or special dispensation. Over the seven cycles identified, NU could have signed up to 175 recruits under this criteria...it only signed 157. That is 18 prospects under the number allowed.
It only takes 2 or 3 of those missed prospects who potentially turn into multi-year contributors to change the course of any game. It only takes one special player who becomes a starter and 1st team AC or AA level athlete to change the course of a season. The days of carrying 4-5 known non-contributors on the roster need to be over.
2) Number of Blue Chip Recruits - Over the seven cycles identified, NU signed a total of 42 recruits ranked as Rivals 4 or 5 star players (35 HS/7 JUCO). That averages to 6 blue chippers signed per cycle by the Huskers.
In the Rivals national rankings, the 20th ranked team during this same period averaged signing 7.1 blue chip recruits per cycle and the 15th ranked team averaged signing 8.9 blue chippers per cycle. This means that NU was 1 to 3 blue chip recruits per cycle from consistently being a top 15 to 20 class (which I think we all agree should be the minimum standard for Husker recruiting classes).
3) Blue Chip Retention - of the 42 blue chip recruits signed, 17 either didn't make it to campus or failed to complete their eligibility as a Husker. That is a whopping 41% of the blue chip prospects recruited who didn't even finish their career as a Husker.
Only one of these casualties was a JUCO (Chase Harper) so that means 16 high school 4 star recruits in a 7 year period who either didn't make campus or didn't finish their career in Lincoln. That is an unbelievable number.
4) Blue Chip Development - As unbelievable as the retention numbers were, this area baffles me even more. Of the 25 blue chip prospects that did complete their eligibility as Huskers, 19 were HS recruits and the remaining 7 were signed from the JUCO ranks. This is where it gets pretty incredible, of the 19 - 4 and 5 star HS recruits signed over those seven cycles, only one went on to be awarded any major post-season accolade (1st Team All-Conf or All-American). The lone blue chipper to do this was Rex Burkhead.
Another 6 of the HS blue chip recruits did go on to become multi-year starters and get named to All-Conf honorable mention or 2nd/3rd team. The remaining 8 HS blue chippers either made a few starts or became multi-year starters but received no post season accolades.
For a program making any attempt to recruit and develop HS players, only getting 6 of 35 blue chip prospects onto campus, into starting roles and then through their entire eligibility in a productive enough fashion to be named to a post season All-Conf list (with only one actually being named to the 1st team) is a testament to just how poorly of a job you were doing.
The bright spot in this regard was the JUCO blue chippers. Quite the opposite result. Of the 6 who made it to campus, 4 went on to earn post season accolade with 3 of these being major awards of either 1st team All-Conf or as an All-American.
Anyway, the recruiting practices of the prior regime have been discussed ad nauseam so other than identifying the primary issues under the four categories listed above, I won't go any farther into how or why it all happened. Already asked and answered so at this point, it no longer matters. What I will do is show the breakdown of all blue ship data that I compiled below as well as how I chose to categorize individual results.
Early results from the current regime make me feel better about categories #2 and #3 above and the jury is still out on #4. At this point, #1 still concerns me a bit as MR has continued to carry proven scholarship non-contributors on his roster with little evidence so far that he'll process dead weight. I'd love to see the standard for this be revisited and become more aggressive.
4/5 star recruits signed 2007 thru 2014 (35 HS/7 JUCO):
Result of Husker Career - #HS/#JUCO
1 - Never on campus/non-factor - 4/1
2 - Didn't complete eligibility - 12/0
3 - Minor contribution/ST's - 4/1
4 - Started games/season - 3/1
5 - Multi-year starter/no award - 5/0
6 - Multi-year starter/minor award - 6/1 (HM, 3rd or 2nd team All-Conf)
7 - Multi-year starter/major award - 1/3 (1st team All-Conf or any All-Amer)
1's - David Whitmore, Chris Williams, Chase Harper, Bubba Starling, Monte Harrison
2's - Cody Green, Dijon Washington, Chase Rome, Braylon Heard, Brion Carnes, Tyler Moore, Ryan Klachko, David Santos, Aaron Green, Todd Peat, Greg McMullen, Paul Thurston
3's - Charles Jackson, Mo Seisay, Marcus Newby*, Adam Taylor*, Mikale Wilbon*
4's - Jermarcus Hardrick, Ryne Reeves, Jamal Turner, Tanner Farmer*
5's - Zach Sterup, Alonzo Moore, Josh Banderas, Terrell Newby, Nick Gates*
6's - Baker Steinkuhler, Will Compton, Jason Ankrah, Andrew Rodriguez, Corey Cooper, Jordan Westerkamp, Zaire Anderson
7's - Rex Burkhead, Lavonte David, Daimion Stafford, Randy Gregory
*Still have remaining eligibility to complete.
To those that this kind of stuff interests, have fun.
GBR!
Note: Edited to include breakdown by name of all recruits included for archive purposes.
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