Caliborn72

Looks like Oregon is the current favorite. Really like this recruit's potential and not surprised at how quickly he jumped to a 4*.

Seems perfect as one of those hybrid S/OLB guys who would be a big help against teams like Ohio State.

Yup, not just the pressure but also zero coverage disguises. Totally geared for the WR haha. Didn't want to ask in his thread but there has been absolutely nothing to indicate Bookie will check out other official visits right? As far as I've seen, he has completely shut down his recruitment.

Shooort dropped some pretty bad news over on HM as well. Sounds like Blades and Watts are pretty much out.

Well first and foremost, I was talking about the Big 10 championship not the CFP haha. Secondly, we have a kicker committed who is bringing down the recruiting rankings slightly. More importantly though, the class can still land a few more big fish. Clemson just won a title with recruiting classes similar to our '18 class. And they did it with a head coach who isn't known for X's and O's. They have the best DC in the country, and we just hired one of the best. We won 9 games last year with classes that don't resemble this one. Things are trending up. I'm far from a homer, there are things that have to get better and I'm worried that this season might be a disaster. But to think our '18 class couldn't compete for and win the Big 10 is just silly.

I think that's where a lot of national guys are getting their differing, pessimistic views. Not that it's right or I agree, but I think they have penciled in auto-losses to Ohio State, PSU, and Wisconsin. Then the toss-ups being: Oregon, Minnesota, Iowa, and Northwestern. Then you have them reminding us to be wary about Illinois and Arkansas St, which is just completely silly. They just look at surface numbers like returning production. Sometimes they're right. I think there's a chance this is a frustrating season. But I also think and believe that the new look offense and Lee are able to surprise them and we end up having a very good season that we build on with an elite recruiting class.

Definitely. But it would also be year 2 of the defense and year 2 of the offensive system that they needed in place. @Michigan and @Ohio State is just unfair. Those might very well be 2 guaranteed losses. But a weak '17 season and I'm done waiting for us to beat Wisconsin and Iowa, even if they're both road games in '18. I liked Colorado's coach back when he coached at San Jose St and he's done a good job getting them partially back but we've outrecruited them by a good deal and that should be a win. The rest should be no doubt wins by that point as well. 10-2 is what I see or I'd be severely disappointed. However, a very good '17 season with strong recruiting and I'll be more sympathetic to '18. Just my opinion though.

Part of why I don't post on or read HM anymore is because those guys are radical about positivity and kool-aid. They don't have any questions or concerns about the team and staff until a frustrating loss happens and then it shocks most of them because the possibility wasn't even on their radar. I appreciate this board because it's not like that here. I am willing to move some goal posts for Riley this year with the understanding that '18 should be make or break, regardless of the schedule. But I'm also only willing to let certain things go. 7-8 wins? Well, okay as long as the recruiting class doesn't collapse. But if the OLine gets dominated and the offense struggles all season when there are no excuses for them in year 3? What, do we fire DL and Cav and start over so Riley can have another transition year? As others have mentioned, the conference is improving rapidly. This recruiting class is the one that puts us at a championship level. I hope it doesn't get messed up with a disappointing season. I'm somewhere in between believing we only win 7 and thinking everything works out right and we win 9-10 in season. But I also agree that questions have been slowly arising since Vegas set such a low bar.

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Yeah, UCLA had a poor OLine, that doesn't make me feel any better about the issues we heard about our OLine during spring camp. Does anyone have insight into that? Was it just a motivational tool for Cav and/or members of the OLine? Or were there real issues? If there were real issues then that is directly related to the subject at hand, which is how much of an impact does Lee have on helping an OLine we've all wondered about. I think we all agree that hypothetically a QB like Lee should be able to help them more than a QB like TA, but it's just a hypothetical and the only evidence we have so far is a spring game and camp reports. The spring game was fun and our QBs looked very good but that doesn't really count in the grand scheme of things. The camp reports are what have me worried. Hopefully this summer and fall, things get ironed out.

I'm not disagreeing with any of that, Lee can make the OLine look much better. That's my question though, why were there OLine concerns coming out of camp then? Wouldn't Lee minimize any type of criticism the coaches could have had? UCLA couldn't keep Rosen upright and it didn't matter that he's a next level talent. He got beat up and knocked out for the season. Lee can only do so much. It's certainly possible that the OLine issues are being overstated and that none of these questions matter when the season gets here and the offense takes off - that's my hope!

Iagree and think both these statements can be true: TA bailed out a questionable OLine with his escapability. Lee can bail out a questionable OLine with his quick reads and accuracy. That said, this all comes back to the public criticisms of the OLine from the staff and some people around the program in the spring. What was the point of that if not that the OLine was struggling and hindering the offense? Maybe just to let Cav know the pressure is on? I believe Lee can absolutely save the OLine to an extent but to what extent is the question.

I agree with the general premise - the conference is improving rapidly, and some teams that should be lower on the totem pole might have made better hires at HC than Riley. That's a big might however, as I believe Riley still has a chance to prove himself and that someone like Fleck still has to prove himself at this level. Where I don't agree is in recruiting. This staff has flown by all of the teams they should be flying by in recruiting and even though guys like Fleck and Brohm might be very good coaches, I'm not sure they will ever recruit as top 15 programs like we are doing now. It's the tradition that leads to incredible amounts of fans at the spring game which leads to recruits being excited about playing in Lincoln. This staff is capitalizing on it and hopefully will be competing for conference titles. Now we just need to make it through '17 and '18 with relative success so that this ridiculous class can start dominating. I have my concerns on whether or not Riley makes it out alive though.

He really liked his Georgia visit and I had been curiously watching ever since. Going to be interesting to see who USC goes after now and how it changes up recruiting.

Despite the underachieving, they have still churned out a lot of NFL talent under Sumlin. If he chooses A&M then he is choosing to stay close to home, it happens. Keith Williams builds great bonds with these recruits, even if he isn't N now, I think it's far from over.

http://www.philsteele.com/Blogs/2017/JUNE17/DBJune13.html Returning OLine starts, kind of fun looking through the list even if it doesn't mean everything. Iowa, Wisconsin, Penn State, and Ohio State rank 1, 2, 3, and 4 in the B1G. In addition to Oregon at #38, that makes 5 '17 opponents in the top 40. Arkansas State is last on the list. Nebraska is 86th and 8th in the B1G.

Shoot, that's right. Thanks for the response. I don't personally see him as a 3-4 outside backer either but he seems perfect in the middle. Oh well, I feel better about not taking an ILB than not taking a QB or RB haha.

Seems like an ideal ILB in a 3-4 imo but I can definitely see him playing outside too. Hoping the Calabasas pipeline comes through again.

#7?! I don't agree with that even though my optimism has dwindled a tad. Stanford and Washington are their most important games, no disagreeing. Utah has been a staple of consistency and I think they have the 2nd best coach in the Pac12. But Oregon State (ouch) and Washington State are tougher?

Interesting. Thanks for sharing that Mav. As much as I dislike UCLA and think they are paper champs, their coaching staff does a pretty good job recognizing defensive talent.

It definitely feels like a rivalry at this point. There is a lot of animosity on both sides and I think everyone here agrees that something needs to click on our side because they shouldn't be able to run us over. That said, they can't even come close to competing recruiting wise. At some point, I'd like to think this will no longer be a "rivalry." No matter how good of a season Iowa is having, Nebraska should win close to 75% of the time where they occasionally hit us with the right balance of upper-classmen + a good QB. We are on the right path, but still a couple years away from being the class of the division. Once that happens, I hope that the Ohio States and Michigans hate us enough to have a rivalry. It seems like Ohio State coaches and fans had us on the radar last year with some of the recruiting battles. That's where it starts.

I've been reading some silver linings on twitter and I can't say I agree. It wouldn't be the end of the world or anything but Blades is a talent that will help MR take the next step. There are no silver linings imo.

For some reason this is giving me flashbacks to how annoying Oregon fans were last year on twitter.

http://www.maxpreps.com/m/article.aspx?articleid=276c7a22-6694-46d5-b94e-27444ceec493 40 TDs/38 incompletions. Yeah, he will do haha.