Recruiting rankings at NU by coach

Hedley Lamarr

Hedley Lamarr

All-American
Some interesting numbers regarding recruiting and win % at NU

TO 1990-1997

Avg. 16.97

Win % .883

Frankie 1998-03

Avg. 22.21

Win % .756

Cally 2004-07

Avg. 16.25

Win % .551

Bo

Avg 24.00

Win % .703

 
This thread will probably interest you since this very topic was discussed last February after a Big Red Network article on Nebraska recruiting in the 90s to the present was published.

What AgMarauder is suggesting is also true. I've quoted this several times in the past, but it's always worth mentioning concerning NU recruiting during the 90s.

Clemson defensive coordinator Kevin Steele has coached about everywhere -- in the NFL, under Nick Saban at Alabama and Bobby Bowden at Florida State. Steele said the best player development system he observed was at Nebraska, where he coached linebackers under Tom Osborne.

"When I was at Nebraska, we never had top recruiting classes, we never did," Steele said. "But we had a system, and coach Osborne just had a way of developing players. They lead the nation in non-scholarship players becoming first-round draft picks."

Steele said part of Nebraska's success was the number of players it brought to camp. SEC programs like Alabama have come under criticism for over-signing and then using different practices to trim rosters down to 85 scholarships.

At Nebraska, Steele said he needed an auditorium to conduct linebacker meetings.

"At the time I was there, we had 187 players," Steele said. "I had 19 linebackers. You have two pass skeletons going on at the same time, two inside run (drills) going on at the same time. Everything is done in twos, so you are getting reps all the time. By the time a guy becomes a starter, he has done it 50,000 times."

http://www.huskerboard.com/index.php?/topic/47956-player-development-outweighing-recruiting/
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AgMarauder04 said:
Shows that recruiting is only half the equation...you must develop your players to be successful.
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It also shows that you recruit quality players yearly if you want a chance at the whole enchilada. You need top notch coaching as well. TO had a few top 10 classes. His 1996 class ranked 2nd but was then paired with all of Franks mediocre recruiting. Which still won frank plenty of games.

In the BCS era you have to have an average recruiting ranking of 12 to even have a chance per the numbers and past winners etc. now I am sure it can be done but hasn't as of yet.

 
Depends on what you mean by "top recruiting classes". If you claim we absolutely need a top 5 class to have any shot then that is wrong. If you are claiming we need to be in the top 15-20 then you are probably more right.

Then, the other half of the equation becomes important.

 
The numbers are a tad misleading for a reason that you kinda alluded too above. Callahan and Solich only had a few years and logic would dictate that Callahan, with his decent recruiting, may have eventually experienced an upward trend the same way Solich experienced a downward trend as his less-than-stellar recruiting took over.

 
My logic would dictate that Callahan was a poor coach (and still is, if you saw the cowboys this year), so I have no reason to think he would have experienced an upswing.

 
The last four recruiting cycles we have seen a huge influx of talent into the program. Really like what has been brought in since 2010. 2008 & 9, not so much but the top end of those classes were extremely heavy.

This year we will sign the two best HIGH SCHOOL running backs Bo has signed to date.

 
One thing you must do to be successful is recruit a balance. I don't know about NU recruiting,b ut Sherman had several Top 15 classes, but ALL the talent was on Offense.

 
Hedley Lamarr said:
AgMarauder04 said:
Shows that recruiting is only half the equation...you must develop your players to be successful.
Click to expand...
It also shows that you recruit quality players yearly if you want a chance at the whole enchilada. You need top notch coaching as well. TO had a few top 10 classes. His 1996 class ranked 2nd but was then paired with all of Franks mediocre recruiting. Which still won frank plenty of games.

In the BCS era you have to have an average recruiting ranking of 12 to even have a chance per the numbers and past winners etc. now I am sure it can be done but hasn't as of yet.
Click to expand...
I'm curious where you found the rankings for those classes. Rivals web page only goes back to 2002 as far as I can tell. I'd like to see who the highly ranked recruits were.

For example, looking at the roster, I'd struggle to see what made the 1996 class so special. Obviously there is a difference in what they were rated and how they turned out but I don't see a lot of names that I would've expected to be highly rated recruits. The roster for the 1996 season shows 90 freshmen! Talk about over-signing. I know - different rules, a lot of walk-ons but that's a bunch. Out of those 90, I would say Dan Alexander, Mike & Ralph Brown, DeAngelo Evans, Julius Jackson, Frankie London, Tony Ortiz, Carlos Polk and Steve Warren would have been candidates for a decent ranking but that's only nine guys. We had a lot of Nebraska kids that turned into players - John Gibson, Russ Hochstein, Adam Julch, Loran Kaiser and Brian Shaw - but I doubt they would have been very highly ranked.

Just curious.

 
Mavric said:
Hedley Lamarr said:
AgMarauder04 said:
Shows that recruiting is only half the equation...you must develop your players to be successful.
Click to expand...
It also shows that you recruit quality players yearly if you want a chance at the whole enchilada. You need top notch coaching as well. TO had a few top 10 classes. His 1996 class ranked 2nd but was then paired with all of Franks mediocre recruiting. Which still won frank plenty of games.

In the BCS era you have to have an average recruiting ranking of 12 to even have a chance per the numbers and past winners etc. now I am sure it can be done but hasn't as of yet.
Click to expand...
I'm curious where you found the rankings for those classes. Rivals web page only goes back to 2002 as far as I can tell. I'd like to see who the highly ranked recruits were.

For example, looking at the roster, I'd struggle to see what made the 1996 class so special. Obviously there is a difference in what they were rated and how they turned out but I don't see a lot of names that I would've expected to be highly rated recruits. The roster for the 1996 season shows 90 freshmen! Talk about over-signing. I know - different rules, a lot of walk-ons but that's a bunch. Out of those 90, I would say Dan Alexander, Mike & Ralph Brown, DeAngelo Evans, Julius Jackson, Frankie London, Tony Ortiz, Carlos Polk and Steve Warren would have been candidates for a decent ranking but that's only nine guys. We had a lot of Nebraska kids that turned into players - John Gibson, Russ Hochstein, Adam Julch, Loran Kaiser and Brian Shaw - but I doubt they would have been very highly ranked.

Just curious.
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If you click on the "thread" link in post #4, Hedley's numbers come from this article that was posted last February.

 
I really think TO revolutionized how to practice with his station concept. I'm not sure if anyone else uses it(although it sounds like Bama uses something similar from what I've heard and Saban has picked TOs brain a few times). But I really believe Bo needs to look at something similar in order to develop the most players possible.

 
Nexus said:
If you click on the "thread" link in post #4, Hedley's numbers come from this article that was posted last February.
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Thanks. Missed that.

I guess if we lost a couple of the biggest "stars" in the class that would make a little more sense. I'm still a little surprised that it would be that high.

 
I wouldn't venture to say Callahan is a bad coach. I do think he is an asshat and f'd up our tradition. But his problem was he went into the college game and tried to run in like an NFL team. I have talked to players about the complexity of our playbook those years. Hell in the NFL it is your fulltime job to get that down and practice everyday. There are restrictions in the NCAA as far as how long you can practice etc. It could take a kid 2 full years just to get the entire playbook down.

 
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