Bo Pelini's recruiting coming-out party??

[RockyMountainOySker]

I'm probably getting too excited but I need this football talk in life right now. We have 2 recruits so far for 2010....both 4 stars and in rivals 250 (AR is in Top 100).

What are your thoughts on this year being a "coming out party" for Husker recruiting? I think another strong season from our boys will make us an absolute staple in recruiting again. I can't wait! :restore

 

[The Maudfather]

Hey...that picture!!! I was in that room before the colorado game, although I had no idea that I wasn't supposed to be there.lol. We tried to go up the elevator, by the door and we got stopped, and they made my brother and I leave... <_< .

I totally almost fell asleep on the couch in that room too!

Back to the post, I agree. I am very pleased with the way were starting off here. Also, I like how we are in the hunt for a lot of the nation's top talent...should be a solid year in recruiting.

 

[Enhance]

We should have a solid year recruiting, but I don't think it will be a "coming out" party per say. Idk if you have a rivals account, but right now most of our prospects are still 3 and 4 start guys split pretty evenly. A lot of the 5 star talent we have as prospects have either verbally committed or have double digit offers, so we have an uphill battle ahead of us.

Another strong season with obvious improvement, potential for the next year, and a strong bowl game will help us out. I say give it another year or so, but we should have a considerably better recruiting year this time around.

 

[Spooky Tooth]

We should have a solid year recruiting, but I don't think it will be a "coming out" party per say. Idk if you have a rivals account, but right now most of our prospects are still 3 and 4 start guys split pretty evenly. A lot of the 5 star talent we have as prospects have either verbally committed or have double digit offers, so we have an uphill battle ahead of us.

Another strong season with obvious improvement, potential for the next year, and a strong bowl game will help us out. I say give it another year or so, but we should have a considerably better recruiting year this time around.

This brings up the old argument.......will we say a class is underwhelming because we don't like the star count, or do we take Bo's word that he cares less about the stars and more about the athlete?

Myself, I think Bo should get the benefit of the doubt. If you're the guy in charge, you get the glory AND you take the blame.

:wasted

 

[huskers1]

I don't agree with the statement that we need to trust Bo that he is getting the guys he wants. You can't tell me that Pelini would have rather had Eric Martin over Burflict or Jesse Coffey over DJ Fluker and so on. Every program is different in the way they recruit and to me it seems like we are more like Wake Forest except better. We take high three stars and low four stars for the most part, redshirt them and develp them. I think Pelini understands that he isn't going to come in here and rack up three five stars 12 four stars and 5 three stars. I am not saying that we aren't getting good players bc I think Eric Martin will be very very good before he is done. I'm just saying that when we have a class ranked 25th overall the statement that Bo got his players isn't ideal. I'm sure Bo would much rather have a legit shot with guys like Burflict or Rueben Randle, but it's all relative. Since I can remember, even when we were on top we were getting a little more than a handful of would have been four stars and maybe one five star the rest would have been high three stars. We just have to go about things a little different than Florida, USC, Texas etc.

 

[HuskerJen]

I don't agree with the statement that we need to trust Bo that he is getting the guys he wants. You can't tell me that Pelini would have rather had Eric Martin over Burflict or Jesse Coffey over DJ Fluker and so on. Every program is different in the way they recruit and to me it seems like we are more like Wake Forest except better. We take high three stars and low four stars for the most part, redshirt them and develp them. I think Pelini understands that he isn't going to come in here and rack up three five stars 12 four stars and 5 three stars. I am not saying that we aren't getting good players bc I think Eric Martin will be very very good before he is done. I'm just saying that when we have a class ranked 25th overall the statement that Bo got his players isn't ideal. I'm sure Bo would much rather have a legit shot with guys like Burflict or Rueben Randle, but it's all relative. Since I can remember, even when we were on top we were getting a little more than a handful of would have been four stars and maybe one five star the rest would have been high three stars. We just have to go about things a little different than Florida, USC, Texas etc.

Bo is getting the guys he wants because he's only extending offers to guys he wants.

Bo wants players with great potential. He was asked by a reporter in the press conference after LOI day about recruiting and he said, (paraphrasing)

We're recruiting potential...ask me in two or three years how good I think this class is.

A class ranked in the top 30 nationally will have players that are capable of playing with anyone.

People seem to think that unless you're signing nothing but :star :star :star :star and :star :star :star :star :star then you have no talent. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I mean what's the difference between a :star :star :star 6'0" 195 RB with 4.4 speed from Omaha, Nebraska and a :star :star :star :star :star 6'0" 200 RB with 4.4 speed from Miami, Florida? One is in a recruiting hotbed, has more exposure and more coaches probably know about him. Does that mean he's actually better than the kid from Omaha?

One of the biggest differences between Bo, and the rest of the current Nebraska coaches, versus the previous staff, is I trust their respective, and collective, judgment much more so than the previous staff.

You are right about one thing though...Nebraska does have to conduct recruiting differently because the school is not anywhere close to a recruiting source.

And as long as we get great football players and Bo and company can develop them...they could recruit :star and walk-ons for all I care.

 

[huskers1]

I see what youre saying and I know what Pelini has said. We do have talent on the team and you can build a program out of players that are ranked lower. However you can't tell me that Pelini would rather build a program with guys like Will Henry instead of guys like Reuben Randle, or guys like Matt O'hanlon rather than Craig Loston. He is being realistic and not trying to go after guys that he knows probably won't have any interest in NU. Just bc he hasn't offered guys like you said doesn't mean he doesn't want them or thinks that a low rated three star is more of a football player, he just not wasting his time. I'm sure Pelini started with the highest ranked guys and when they commit elsewhere he moves on down the line. Take this for example, he offered Seastrunk but not Dawson. Lets say Seastrunk goes to Texas and we offer Dawson, does this mean that Pelini would have rather had Dawson? No, it means he went after the big dog and didn't get him so he went to a lower rated guy. Same with Jackson Jeffcoat compared to Chance Carter. Sure Chance Carter is a damn good player with some respectable offers, but can you really tell me that Pelini would rather have him than Jeffcoat? I don't think so.

 

[DJR313]

I think another class full of 3/4 star recruits with solid character and work ethic will be fine and will definitely be enough to get back in the thick of the Big 12 title hunt. I like where things are headed strength and conditioning-wise and with all the freshman redshirting, it bodes well for the future.

 

[huskers1]

Now I don't want me to come off the wrong way here I completely think that Pelini has things going the way they should and I think we have one of the most talented teams overall since probably 01'. I just think that people are reading too much into it when pelini plays down the recruiting rankings. I think we have all been burned by the four and five star guys in the past and now we are just writing them off all together. For the most part the teams with the the highest ranked classes are the teams that are competing for NC every year. I do think you can and Pelini is building a team with high rated three star and four star guys. But when people say I trust Bo's judgement that we got the right guys it just doesn't make sense. Sure we got a good athlete and he is the type of guy Bo wants, but there are also guys bigger, stronger, and faster that are also Bo's type of guys. Right now we aren't that relevent nationally so we aren't able to bring in the higher rated guys consistently. This is where we are going after the lower ranked guys, redshirting them, developing them so when they are juniors or seniors we really start to show how good we are. After that, after we start winning with our lower rated, yet developed guys is when we go after the big fish and have a legit shot with them. If Stoops hadn't had won the NC in his second year it would have taken him just as long to get the top recruits bc bottom line is recruits want to go to a contender.

 

[robsker]

We should have a solid year recruiting, but I don't think it will be a "coming out" party per say. Idk if you have a rivals account, but right now most of our prospects are still 3 and 4 start guys split pretty evenly. A lot of the 5 star talent we have as prospects have either verbally committed or have double digit offers, so we have an uphill battle ahead of us.

Another strong season with obvious improvement, potential for the next year, and a strong bowl game will help us out. I say give it another year or so, but we should have a considerably better recruiting year this time around.

This brings up the old argument.......will we say a class is underwhelming because we don't like the star count, or do we take Bo's word that he cares less about the stars and more about the athlete?

Myself, I think Bo should get the benefit of the doubt. If you're the guy in charge, you get the glory AND you take the blame.

:wasted

Well... what else can Bo say?

He can't really say "well, we wanted better and went after higher caliber players but we settled for what we can get?" Certainly, even if that is what he is thinking (which is reasonable a thing to think) he can't say that. All he can say, recognizing that the recruits we have are not, generally speaking, those that big programs went after, is that "we are not concerned with stars...). If he said anything else, he'd effectively say that he is displeased with the class. He needs those he did get to sign on to produce once they are here --- and so he needs them motivated and he must compliment them (and placate us).

In other words, Bo, was speaking coach speak --- he had no other choice. So it is not that we assess whether we believe him or not --- we simply recognize that he said what he had to say. What he really thinks is well.... unknown.

 

[robsker]

We should have a solid year recruiting, but I don't think it will be a "coming out" party per say. Idk if you have a rivals account, but right now most of our prospects are still 3 and 4 start guys split pretty evenly. A lot of the 5 star talent we have as prospects have either verbally committed or have double digit offers, so we have an uphill battle ahead of us.

Another strong season with obvious improvement, potential for the next year, and a strong bowl game will help us out. I say give it another year or so, but we should have a considerably better recruiting year this time around.

This brings up the old argument.......will we say a class is underwhelming because we don't like the star count, or do we take Bo's word that he cares less about the stars and more about the athlete?

Myself, I think Bo should get the benefit of the doubt. If you're the guy in charge, you get the glory AND you take the blame.

:wasted

Well... what else can Bo say?

He can't really say "well, we wanted better and went after higher caliber players but we settled for what we can get?" Certainly, even if that is what he is thinking (which is reasonable a thing to think) he can't say that. All he can say, recognizing that the recruits we have are not, generally speaking, those that big programs went after, is that "we are not concerned with stars...). If he said anything else, he'd effectively say that he is displeased with the class. He needs those he did get to sign on to produce once they are here --- and so he needs them motivated and he must compliment them (and placate us).

In other words, Bo, was speaking coach speak --- he had no other choice. So it is not that we assess whether we believe him or not --- we simply recognize that he said what he had to say. What he really thinks is well.... unknown.

 

[robsker]

I don't agree with the statement that we need to trust Bo that he is getting the guys he wants. You can't tell me that Pelini would have rather had Eric Martin over Burflict or Jesse Coffey over DJ Fluker and so on. Every program is different in the way they recruit and to me it seems like we are more like Wake Forest except better. We take high three stars and low four stars for the most part, redshirt them and develp them. I think Pelini understands that he isn't going to come in here and rack up three five stars 12 four stars and 5 three stars. I am not saying that we aren't getting good players bc I think Eric Martin will be very very good before he is done. I'm just saying that when we have a class ranked 25th overall the statement that Bo got his players isn't ideal. I'm sure Bo would much rather have a legit shot with guys like Burflict or Rueben Randle, but it's all relative. Since I can remember, even when we were on top we were getting a little more than a handful of would have been four stars and maybe one five star the rest would have been high three stars. We just have to go about things a little different than Florida, USC, Texas etc.

Bo is getting the guys he wants because he's only extending offers to guys he wants.

Bo wants players with great potential. He was asked by a reporter in the press conference after LOI day about recruiting and he said, (paraphrasing)

We're recruiting potential...ask me in two or three years how good I think this class is.

A class ranked in the top 30 nationally will have players that are capable of playing with anyone.

People seem to think that unless you're signing nothing but :star :star :star :star and :star :star :star :star :star then you have no talent. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I mean what's the difference between a :star :star :star 6'0" 195 RB with 4.4 speed from Omaha, Nebraska and a :star :star :star :star :star 6'0" 200 RB with 4.4 speed from Miami, Florida? One is in a recruiting hotbed, has more exposure and more coaches probably know about him. Does that mean he's actually better than the kid from Omaha?

One of the biggest differences between Bo, and the rest of the current Nebraska coaches, versus the previous staff, is I trust their respective, and collective, judgment much more so than the previous staff.

You are right about one thing though...Nebraska does have to conduct recruiting differently because the school is not anywhere close to a recruiting source.

And as long as we get great football players and Bo and company can develop them...they could recruit :star and walk-ons for all I care.

But recognize that trusting Bo's judgment is not the point ---- because who ends up signing on and arriving at NU is not governed, ultimately, by Bo's judgment --- it is governed by who decides to sign on. That is, Bo offers scholarships to ca. 120-150 players -- and of these players ca. 20 or so sign on. Which 20 is not hand-picked by Bo. He (and the staff) chose the 120-150 that received offers --- but of that group Bo simply takes who is willing to come.

I would assume that Bo has tiers of players that they offer --- those that he would be thrilled to get --- those that would be a great get --- those that would be nice --- and those that we would be willing to take if slots are left (or some such tiered approach). Whether NU gets most from the 1st category or most from the last category (or somewhere in-between) is not determined by Bo's judgment --- it is determined by whoever is willing to sign on.

Recruiting for a team that is not a top 25 program (like NU currently) is not about who you want so much as it is who you can get.

Only USC, Texas, Oklahoma and Florida (and perhaps Notre Dame) chose who they want (for the most part). The next grouping of 6-8 programs largely take what is left over with a little bit of selectivity on their part. The next 10 or so programs take what is left after that. By the time you hit NU in this pecking order ---- well it is even moreso take what you can get.

So.... Bo does not hand pick his recruits at all. And so the makeup of that group is reflected more by other factors than Bo's judgment.

 

[Enhance]

We should have a solid year recruiting, but I don't think it will be a "coming out" party per say. Idk if you have a rivals account, but right now most of our prospects are still 3 and 4 start guys split pretty evenly. A lot of the 5 star talent we have as prospects have either verbally committed or have double digit offers, so we have an uphill battle ahead of us.

Another strong season with obvious improvement, potential for the next year, and a strong bowl game will help us out. I say give it another year or so, but we should have a considerably better recruiting year this time around.

This brings up the old argument.......will we say a class is underwhelming because we don't like the star count, or do we take Bo's word that he cares less about the stars and more about the athlete?

Myself, I think Bo should get the benefit of the doubt. If you're the guy in charge, you get the glory AND you take the blame.

:wasted

To avoid confusion, I don't put a lot into star ratings. I'm happy with signing nothing but 3 star players as long as we are contending for championships with them. Stars don't really matter to me, I just want to see brute competition.

 

[Spooky Tooth]

We should have a solid year recruiting, but I don't think it will be a "coming out" party per say. Idk if you have a rivals account, but right now most of our prospects are still 3 and 4 start guys split pretty evenly. A lot of the 5 star talent we have as prospects have either verbally committed or have double digit offers, so we have an uphill battle ahead of us.

Another strong season with obvious improvement, potential for the next year, and a strong bowl game will help us out. I say give it another year or so, but we should have a considerably better recruiting year this time around.

This brings up the old argument.......will we say a class is underwhelming because we don't like the star count, or do we take Bo's word that he cares less about the stars and more about the athlete?

Myself, I think Bo should get the benefit of the doubt. If you're the guy in charge, you get the glory AND you take the blame.

:wasted

To avoid confusion, I don't put a lot into star ratings. I'm happy with signing nothing but 3 star players as long as we are contending for championships with them. Stars don't really matter to me, I just want to see brute competition.

Yep

 

[HuskerJen]

We should have a solid year recruiting, but I don't think it will be a "coming out" party per say. Idk if you have a rivals account, but right now most of our prospects are still 3 and 4 start guys split pretty evenly. A lot of the 5 star talent we have as prospects have either verbally committed or have double digit offers, so we have an uphill battle ahead of us.

Another strong season with obvious improvement, potential for the next year, and a strong bowl game will help us out. I say give it another year or so, but we should have a considerably better recruiting year this time around.

Exactly. If you look at the top schools right now: Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, USC, etc, that seem to sign players with all those pretty stars by their names they have two, albeit very basic, similarities: 1) they have established coaching staffs and 2) are consistent winners. Bo will get there as well, it'll just take another year or two after the '10 class.