SteveRyan

I think people are going to have to be prepared for the fact that the University isn't going to come out looking very good here. Seriously, Nebraska can't be random. I mean, look at what and who Tommy Lee is and then, look at Nebraska. That's complete opposites in most anyone's book, so what this seems to be, at least to me is a show that will by the time it is all said and done, paint Nebraska as this hickvilled, bumpkin ride of rednecks and Tommy Lee is just trying to make his way through the corn. I have a feeling that when this show ends, it won't be on great terms.

And, if we would have killed them, everyone would be mad if they didn't get it. I for one have never once regretted paying for the pleasure to see any Nebraska football game. Even if they lose

That was before his job at Baylor and Tommie has said it himself when asked about what lessons he learned most from being at Baylor, to which he said, "How to be humble". That's paraphrased, but only ever so slightly. Baylor football is about as popular at Baylor as it is at Nebraska. Few cover the team, even fewer care if they actually win and I haven't seen ANY that will support the team to the level they need it to even try to succeed with all the obstacles they have in their way. If that doesn't make you humble, nothing will. It did for him.

It wouldn't be a stretch to see them try and make a fullback out of him. He's got the wheels to at least play that and probably very well.

Once Brent gets going, he can close the distance fairly fast, but his sheer explosiveness just isn't what it needs to be, to be a top flight LB prospect. Alabama has offered him, so they see something, but I don't care who you are, speed and quickness is easy to see on film and Brent just doesn't have enough of that right now.

Osborne did have a few classes that were ranked in the top five, but overall, I think the average rank of his classes over his tenure was around 16th.

Rankings can be a very good reference for people that want to keep track of some of the top athletes around the country. The problem most people get into, however, is thinking that the rankings are the and-all-be-all of what a player is worth. There are far too many players in the country for anyone to look at on film. Or, any service for that matter. There are far too many players for even all the colleges to find, despite their lofty connections. Rankings are subjective and can be used as a guide, but the only way you will ever know for sure if this kid is worth his ranking or not is wait three to four years to find out. That's just reality. If recruiting rankings were totally accurate, coaches wouldn't have to do a thing. They would just look at the lists and recruit via that.

I've seen plenty of film on Brent. Right now, he just isn't there.

There's no politics in not offering Gritton. While Brent is one helluva heady player ande he has superb instincts for the game and you will not find anyone that tries harder than he does, he still doesn't have the explosiveness that NU is looking for. His side-to-side speed just isn't that good. If he was two-tenths faster, the kid would be an All-American, but he's not and speed kills and not having it kills you. That's the only downside to Gritton, but it's a pretty significant downside.

Todd is a gamer, but falls into the stereotype of what kind of fullbacks Nebraska presently has versus what they had with players like Joel and Jeff Makovicka along with the Schlesingers, all the way back to Rathman. From Willie Miller to today, Nebraska hasn't had that complete fullback that can run, block and catch balls coming out of the backfield. Grant Miller, who will be brought up to serve as second string until Kriewald returns, was thought to be that kind of fullback, but has never panned out and doesn't seem nearly as physical as you would assume your fullbacks might be. Todd is good as is Kriewald and both are dependable, but Nebraska is still a ways from having that total fullback like they had not so very long ago.

Back before the recruiting networks existed, Ahman Green was ranked by some of the services as the number one running back in the country. Tony Ortiz was also ranked as the proverbial 5-star. Evans was a 4-star coming out of high school, but he had most of Barry Sanders' records. In my estimation, Evans' success was certainly due to his talent, but outside of the center position, he was running behind nothing but fifth-year seniors. I would say my mother could get 500 hundreds in a season behind that line. Manaia Brown was also a five-star coming out of high school, but his transfer obviously puts some sour grapes on that and Haloti Ngata had committed to Nebraska for a time and he was the highest ranked DT in the country. Wistrom was ranked up there, but Shields was ranked amongst the best at his position when he came out. Others that are lost in the shuffle because they didn't do so well at NU were guys like Jason Richenberger (transferred), M.J. Flaum (Ranked as a four-star, top 20 lineman in the country, never played due to injury), Josh Mueller (5-star TE, ranked top five at his position in the country), Trev Alberts (four-star that was actually looked at, at one point to play fullback for NU before finally being put at OLB/RE) and of course, Johnny Mitchell who was also top five. Mike Rozier was ranked as the top junior college running back in the country when he came to NU. Dean Steinkuhler was considered one of the best linemen when he decided on Nebraska as was Zach Wiegert. Josh Davis was ranked at one point as the fourth best running back in the country when he came out, Marcus Houston being ranked number one at the time. Both Newcombe and Mike Brown were highly rated, each voted players of the year for their respective states their senior years and highly touted track stars as well. And of course, Scott Frost was the second ranked dual-threat QB in the country, right behind eventual four-time Heisman winner, Ron Powlus.