J-MAGIC
Five-Star Recruit
Also, take away the names and tell me you're worried about this walking out the door:
4* athlete/qb who did average 5.6 YPC, 3 TDs and 2 fumbles lost on 65 carries. Went 48/76 for 466 yards, 1 TD and 6 INTs as a passer.
Walk-on receiver, voted a captain. 30 catches for 236 yards over 3 years. No TDs.
3* OL who appeared in 4 games (no starts) over 3 years
None of them were going to start, and they all have some talent. Like others have said, take away the names and it's not surprising or a big deal. Warner being a captain does make it bigger than his production/talent would imply, but it was a weird year and he does all the right things. Not intended to be a knock on him, but if the coaches selected captains I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have been one - they tend to balance leadership and expected role on the team, where I think the players voted just based on the former (and lack of established playmakers on offense).
Nebraska SP+ rankings
2012 - 23rd
2013 - 54th
2014 - 31st
2015 - 48th
2016 - 46th
2017 - 103rd
2018 - 56th
2019 - 55th
2020 - 32nd
Hate on the measures all you want - saying he hasn't improved the team is at best arguable, and in my opinion wrong. With the above and other stats supporting. Yeah, yeah - wins are all that matters, I know. But W/L would tell you 2009 (SP+ ranking: 7th) and 2016 were roughly equivalent teams. They were not.
I agree with your overall point, but we were 62nd in 2017, not 103rd.