BigPeterJ

This is hard for me to understand also. What prevents a kid from saying, for ex, "give me another 100,000 or i will report you", and then once he gets that, doing it again? I guess like the article says its just one mans word against the other? So the bagman could just say he is lying i never gave him anything, the kid is just trying to blackmail me....? At the same time a kid could take 20G from one guy and say he is going to Miss State for ex, and then tell Ole Miss he is going with them and take 20G from that guy, and then go to Bama for another 20G. The kid could play the field, and then whats the bagman gonna do?? Report it that he gave thd kid 20G if he promised to go to his school, and the kid broke the promise. The authorities that be would say thats too bad u gave the kid 20G under the table, legally the kid doesnt have to give it back or go to the school. All that would do is put the bagman in possible trouble and maybe the school he was trying to get him too. Most people dont have a problem with kids being paid anyhow, but the fact that its unbalanced bothers me. If Bama is paying 20 players but LSU is only paying 2, it bothers me. Problem is theres no solution....if we allow players to be paid, "bagmen" can still pay a guy an extra sum on top of what the player legally gets. In this world, idk if there is a such thing as true amateur sport as long as there is plenty of money to be made. Maybe college Baseball or Soccer is clean, maybe most women's sports are clean. I bet there are players who purposefully try to miss a spread or a over/under for a cut from a gambler also. How easy would it be to say, in basketball Michigan is playing Nebraska, tell the Michigan point guard we need to hit the under 150 point total, ill give you 10G if you succeed (the gambler placed a 50G bet) the point guard doesnt have to lose the game or even play bad necessarily. Just slow the pace down. Focus on defense. Not fool proof, as his teammates could shoot lights out or the other team could also, but he could move the odds from 50/50 to 80/20.

I know basketball much better than football, because i grew up in a basketball family. The other thing with Basketball is, oftentimes a team can be ONE game-changing player away from going from a bubble team to a top 10-15 team. Take Wichita State or Creighton for example (typical bubble teams to 8 or 9 seeds). You add just ONE stud to that team, and all of a sudden you go from a 35ish ranked team to a top 15. The rumor i heard was about a highly rated recruit that wound up in Wichita back when Creighton was in the MVC. Creighton was after him also. Also Louisville and a couple other schools got kids in similar ways supposedly. My source is from Creighton but at the same time i know the guy is highly biased and Creighton itself has had smoke, and i wouldnt put it past this guy to do the same. But knowing him well, i know if Creighton did similar that it would be done in a way in which there was no proof. I dont know anything factual, but my personal opinion is Creighton has done the same with a kid or 2. Do the Coaches or Admin know? Possibly 1 or the other do, but if they do they will never admit to it, and its not proveable. My takeaway is 3fold- 1-this is a sneaky business, you would be surprised at who does/doesnt engage in this. Some schools you would never suspect probably do, others that you would assume do may not in fact. 2-if it goes on in a mid level basketball league, i imagine its even more profound in football in the top schools, which schools who knows. 3- if my source knew it was going on with kids that wound up in Wichita or Louisville etc, how would he not know if its going on at his own school? This tells me at least a few people at the schools where this happens know its going on. Regardless of how they plead ignorance.

I want to add, that although the percentages are up for debate, i am sure that he isn't as far off as he seems. I base this off of the fact i know in College Basketball (which is far less money making than top level College football) i know of numerous second hand accounts of recruits being offered money, or parents of recruits being offered jobs. And that has been in the Missouri Valley Conference, granted at a top level MVC team, and in a couple other schools competing for the same recruit from other conferences. (Of course my source would not admit if his school also offered, but there has been smoke)....If it hits that level, im sure it hits higher level much more, and high level football even more. I have no inside info on Nebraska, or any other top level program, but we know it happens at some schools, and probably at schools one would never guess. It makes you wonder when recruits flip last minute. Nebraska has lost many this way , including a couple to Louisville, you may remember one or two of those kids (a very highly suspected program of these schemes both in Basketball and football). At the same time u question Keyshawn Green's "miracle" flip to Nebraska at a position of desperate need. Again i have no information on that , it may have been nothing illegal. It just makes me wonder.

I tend to agree that its very unlikely that 80% of 4 and 5 stars are offered money or cars, but i also know it does happen. As to what %, i dont know. Maybe in the SEC its close to that, but i doubt its that high across the land. Just seems too hard to pull off or to get in that circle. But what do i know? I guess its possible. I just wouldnt base my assumptions on One article from a concealed source.

Catch Typically i would call this an average class(B). But considering we are coming off of 3 losing seasons, its an A-. We didnt do ourselves any favors by going 5-7 in a year we should have went 8-4 or so. The trenches: We got a deep and quality OL class last year so i like where we are headed there. We only needed to take a couple this class, and the ones we got are good. On the defensive side i think it was a little dissapointing that we didnt get a higher end DE or pass rusher. But we did get Nash and Blaise, so i give the DL a C+. We got some decent JUCOs here, but yet another year with no stud DE. Outside the trenches: Offensively, our WR class was stout (A+), you cant beat 4 4* WR in one class. RB was solid (B+) but as far as ratings go not exactly stud level ratings on our RBs. I mean they could be a bit underrated, but what do we know other than the common thought. Its not like we got a RB that Bama or LSU wanted, rated 26 and 55 best RB in class. I just feel Nebraska should be able to get a top 15 RB...i know this isnt the 90's, but we used to get top 5 RBs, is top 10-15 too high to expect? Didnt need TEs this class, got a solid QB from all accounts but who really knows until they play a year or 2 in college. Overall offensively we got enough Jimmies and Joes at each position that im not worried. If our offense isnt good over the next 2 years it will be on the coaching, not the talent. Defensively outside the trenches, Safety i give an A, cornerback a C, LB a B. We got 2 highly rated safeties, and another solid safety in Gifford. Cornerback was just 2 lower end 3 stars...as good as the Safeties are, the Cornerback class was equally underwhelming. Giving the defensive backfield an overall average grade. We got 1 very good LB and a JUCO that is no stud, but can help right away and thats what we need. Not a great LB class, but not bad either. We also have some good LBs from last years class that should be ready to go next year. Overall defensively, we have some jimmies and joes at most positions, but Cornerback and DL might be 2 areas we lack talent in for the next 2 years. The defensive coaches have their work cut out for them as we have a lot of new, unproven guys on defense. And most of our best defensive players are pretty young. Given how bad our season went, im very pleased with our class. At the same time this isnt that much better of a class than Nebraska has typically gotten over the past 18 years.

Possibly. Or it would speak to the effects of a QB who makes the receiver's talents worthless, and a coach sticking with him. Anyway, i dont think this rumor has any truth to it, but if it does we dont know why he would leave yet.

We would have been 4-8 or 3-9 without him.

I really believe Luke will be a game changer by the time he is a senior if not earlier. So i hope he changes positions in that scenario. I just think the passion he plays with and the energy is contagious. If Adrian is the starter, he better be a completely different QB than this year.

Ill admit i was worried about this class just a few days ago. HUGE finish to a VERY important class. By the time the players from this class are Sophmores or Juniors, Frost's UCF hype period will have fully worn off. This is probably the last class that will be major contributors by then. Amazing how this staff could recruit this well considering where Nebraska is at the moment after 3 straight years not even making a bowl. Plenty of negative recruiting they had to overcome to pull these guys. Shows how much this staff puts into this place. Recruiting is a lot of work.

Whats the deal with USC? I dont follow other teams very closely...why arent they recruiting?

Missed that. Thanks for pointing that out.

They've been solid for a while though.....but never great. Have they ever made a BCS bowl? Edit: Looked it up, only looked back 30 or 40 years, but not 1 BCS bowl....they did go undefeated in 94' with 1 tie, but didnt go to a bowl. Not sure how that happens? They usually have been decent, (never a laughing stock), but never great either. I'd liken A&M to a POOR MAN'S Bo Pelini.

We wanted to redshirt Luke, and Noah was hurt for some games. So the decision to play Adrian wasnt as bad as it looked. But i agree that we should have played Noah when he was healthy. The point is Adrian's poor play had to do with more than just his injuries. And had nothing to do with pass blocking the second half of the year. Like you said it was like he didnt have a feel for the game at all. Maybe he wasn't there mentaly. Not just his field vision in the passing game, but also his feel for how to find the spots to step into to buy more time. Unless Adrian just wasn't there mentaly and he gets their by next season, i really believe Luke needs to be our guy.

The pass blocking was good the last half of the season, and Adrian still looked just as bad. If Adrian isnt vastly improved next year we will see similar results, but many will parrot the narrative that the offensive line can always take the blame for everything.

If next year is as mediocre-bad as this year, viewership will really drop. People only have so much patience. I will be excited the first game of the year as always. If we start losing games ill probably check out. Maybe im just dissapointed in all the negative news with Hunt Legrone today, just been dissapointment after dissapointment this year. What was the highlight?? Beating Illinois? Barely losing to Iowa? Anyways im encouraged by the fact our team never quit, they played harder this year and with some passion.

Agree. Look our Dynasty was great, at the time the best there had ever been. But Bama surpassed us. Our 95' team still me be the best their ever was, but Bama has had 4 or 5 teams very close to that. Our 97 team was a split, and our 94 was good, but not any better than the average Championship team. What Saban did tops Osbourne. Top 4 all time is incredible.

Im not saying we should never fire assisstants....just that there is benefits to continuity, unless someone clearly needs to go.

Maybe....but i like the OP. Continuity is needed, and helps drastically with recruiting and all around. Even if one of your assistants is underperforming, you never know if the guy you bring in will be better or worse.

WRs that can block too. As much as our OL gets blamed for bad blocking, our receiver blocking is worse.

1. Ohio State, would make our conference look better. Unfortunately they play the 2nd best team in the country -Clemson. Plus is Fields 100%? I noticed his kneee brace. 2. LSU, for some reason i just like their fans more than Bama...then again who knows how LSU fans would be if they won a few championships. 3. Oklahoma, im tired of the Sooners tbh, i just dont get excited about them or care about them anymore. I didnt grow up in the heart of the Rivalry though. When i was a kid Oklahoma was in their valley. 4. Clemson, i actually kindof like Clemson, its a beatiful part of the country too. But im just tired of them. Plus they play OSU, so i have to root against them.

I remember something like that being talked about but cant remember who said it so ill take your word for it. It is more than just weight though. Maybe his knee is worse than we thought? And some of it seems mental. 10-15 pounds doesnt slow you that much if your a college athlete.

Possibly the worst basketball team ive ever seen. I honestly think there are high school teams who might be better.

In all of college football, there are only a handful of programs more dissapointed than Nebraska right now. The list of who we can laugh at is ever shrinking. But the debacle that is Arkansas, is about as sad as it gets. Last 3 years of 4-8, 2-10, 2-10. Arkansas is a program that has money and a state that cares about their football. And they dont have the hope on the horizon that the rest of the struggling programs have. We have been ALMOST as bad the last 3 years, but we have a coach we believe in, who will stay here as long as he is welcome. I believe we already hit our rock bottom, and are moving in the right direction. Arkansas is still in their pit, with no telling when they will get out. I'm sure Arkansans have a deep hatred for motorcycles.

Hang clean

I couldn't disagree more. Our LBs are to blame for the poor defensive showing. And there is a lot more truth to our offense hurting our defense than is ever talked about on here. Frost has mentioned it so he isn't hiding from it, but it seems many fans on here dont recognize how that works, or just dont want to admit it. I think many fans want to deflect blame off of Frost cause of who he is. But Chin is just Chin, nobody knows the guy that well, so he is a good scapegoat. I think it is very telling that our defense was better than our offense this year, yet we hear more people complaining about the defense than we do the offense.