Since we joined the Big 10 we haven't recruited Big 10 level talent. We don't have bulldozers up front on either side of the ball and we don't have physical specimens as linebackers. We just haven't recruited well enough to compete with PSU, OSU, Wisky, or Michigan. Wasn't much different in the Big 12 either. We didn't have the athletes that OU and Texas usually had.
Everything starts with recruiting, and it always has. If we can't get more and better recruits to come to Lincoln, no matter who coaches this team, they won't win more than 8-9 games a season. Past suggests that, now we have to listen and learn. Riley recruited California kids to play Big 10 football. Not all are incapable of playing in the Big 10, but do they really want to play Big 10 football?
I am not just talking about having stars next to your name as a recruit. I am talking about recruiting player that want to improve and those who love this team and its coaches. The one thing that UCF players all had, was a love for this coaching staff and they would run thru a wall for them. This current group of players here, they don't seem willing to do so just yet.