What has happened to HS talent in Neb?
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You're not mistaken. The top level talent isn't here at the moment. No idea why. But Ahman Green, Crouch, Frost, Benning, Rodgers, and a whole slew of top linemen aren't being produced.
It would be amazing to get another elite level QB or RB from Omaha again.
It would be amazing to get another elite level QB or RB from Omaha again.
That was a point I had with a friend, if Neb produced 5 4* players a year that would help, Baker was a 5* like 7 yrs ago. The state needs to create jobs for athletic families. Seriously who was the last football stud.there HS teams in DFW that have 5+. d1 studs a yr. what is wrong with Neb men, stop mating with chicks from Iowa and SD
We lost Noah Fant and the Lincoln Christian TE to Iowa and ASU. I believe the talent is there. They're just going other places.
Right now you have one OPD school that is elite. Sad. IMHO, Elkhorn South would beat over half the Class A trams this year.
Numerous reasons why football has lost talent in Omaha IMHO.
That will get worse before it gets better. Already talking about adding another high school in 5-10 years. Also, Lincoln just hasn't had great/elite high school coaches for a while either IMO.
I believe programs like midget football numbers in Lincoln are down quite a bit from years prior as well.
Tough to tell but location definitely props up star ratings...If Keyshawn Jr was playing for Bell West he would be a 2-3 star but since he is in California his profile gets a boost...
As far as Omaha goes, it is only going to get worse before it gets better.
Same in Omaha as far as the youth programs. I watched them dwindle down as my high school aged sons grew up.
I disagree, most ratings happen at camps not where they play, that only elevates. Bottom line is if we had any talent 4-5* guys for 20-30% of our class a year that ould be huge. We have nearly zero talent in the state of Neb, why, breed for success men!!
Sorry for my ignorance, but what does the number of HS have to do with the number of talented players in a town?
He stated football in Lincoln has sucked for awhile. I'm just pointing out that since Lincoln added two schools Lincoln schools have won 1 Class A championship. 3 since 2000.
My point was in regards to team success.
LB, Nick DeLuca. But he wasn't good enough for Nebraska, but he'll likely get drafted.
I think Nebraska still produces some players who could play at Nebraska, but since Callahan, then Pelini, and now Riley, Nebraska kids don't get the benefit of doubt from Nebraska. Coaches at other schools think, "if Nebraska isn't offering, why should we?" Thus they go to Wyoming, Ohio, or Dakotas.
We are seriously lacking in skill player development, and part of that is the decline of football at OPD schools. Again, a few reasons for that.
It is very likely that a lot of the best talent is going to come from Gretna, Skutt, and the Elkhorn schools, even though they are class B.
We are seriously lacking in skill player development, and part of that is the decline of football at OPD schools. Again, a few reasons for that.
It is very likely that a lot of the best talent is going to come from Gretna, Skutt, and the Elkhorn schools, even though they are class B.
There are 13 native Nebraskans in the NFL. A couple from UNO, one from chadron St. one of the 13 is a kicker another is a punter. Only a 6 had offers from Nebraska. I bet I can find high schools in California, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida with more than 13 players in the NFL.
If you're Riley and you do find 1-2 NE kids who are high quality you take them. If they're a tweener, do you throw that kid a scholarship as we all seem to agree the level of competition in NE is not the best? Or do you grab a tweener from Cali, FL, TX, etc that the prospect is playing against other high quality competition?
Or do you let Kenny Wilhite do work and get those NE tweeners as preferred walk-on's. Some may choose Wyoming, NDSU, Ohio, but that's okay.
Can't guarantee 100% accuracy:
Callahan signed 14 in 4 1/2 classes.
Pelini signed 17 in 8 1/2 classes.
Riley has signed 2 [3] in 1 [2] 1/2 classes, while locking in the top two of the 2018 class.
Signed also includes committed to, but signed by the next coach.
WE not only lost Ott but also lost the Brazta kid from Howells. For some reason Ne coaches don't think Nebraska kids can play big time sports.
A lot of Nebraska talent came from the small schools that filled the trenches, fullback and linebacker spots. Population has decreased in those towns and the players that came to Lincoln and developed over gives years sent there anymore. Skilled positions which came out of Omaha don't seem to exist or maybe are having trouble qualifying.
Yet. Kids from Nebraska keep making big impacts in our program.
It's obvious what this program should be. Yet people like to reinvent the wheel.
It's obvious what this program should be. Yet people like to reinvent the wheel.
The number of D1 kids has been going down since the early 2000's. In the class A championship game from 2002(LSE vs Millard north) there was at least 8 D1 kids in that game alone between the two teams, now not 8 statewide.
Select soccer grabs a lot of kids at an early age and they end up not playing football because of the time commitment to soccer.
I believe there is talent in Nebraska, they just have to look harder. Brett Kitrell is going to a power 5 school on scholarship. Noah Vederal is better than where he is going. Ashlands running back had power 5 offers but made it clear he was going into wrestling no matter what.
I believe the talent is there but recent coaches would rather skip it which i dont understand
I believe the talent is there but recent coaches would rather skip it which i dont understand
Do the math on this: 53 roster players*32 teams/318 million (US pop)*1.882 million (NE pop size) = 10 players. So we do better than predicted.
Given the smallish population of the state, sample size will produce year to year variations from the mean. My kid runs track/XC, so I know that talent pretty well. He's a decent D2 runner. In some years, WV is lucky if it produces one legit high D1 XC/track kid. But there have been years when 2 kids were in the same races against each other. A few years ago, three future D1 All-americans ran at the same State Track meets over a two year period.
Nebraska is a small state. It is not going to routinely produce a lot of highly ranked talent. But we underperform in terms of rated prospects. I did a rough count of the number of 4 and 5* FB players on Rivals this year. Based on NE's population size, we should have 2 4-5* kids. We are not coming close to that.
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The problem is that people want to use those numbers as a reason to recruit Nebraska more heavily. Those 13 players are spread out over what 10 years or more years.
I think Nebraska has to get all the D1 players in the state, which they haven't done in the past 15 years. However, I don't think there is enough talent in state to devote significantly more resources on getting those players. Hell most of the time if you ask, they will come to Lincoln.
