beej76

I read every day on this site, but never post - but I love this thread. i love some positivity. People wonder how Nebraska gets back to the elite status. To me, the steps are simple (the execution is the hard part): 1) Let the staff settle in and fans need to be patient - give them full confidence for a few years. This team was a few plays away from ten wins this year, and that's with some massive deficiencies in the roster that you won't find at elite schools. As the staff has their own recruits in and the players have more time in the system, we'll see a difference. The BS about getting rid of a coach after a year - that stuff just hurts recruiting and the guys on the team. 2) Bring in an elite QB. In this day and age, championship teams at all levels of football have to have a solid QB. That player either needs to be one of the best players, or they need to manage the game and all other units must be elite. The Huskers seem like, on campus, they have a guy that could be that elite guy. 3) Build recruiting ties with multiple years of guys and then pull off a couple of great classes. This class is pretty good, and has the potential to be really, really good. The 2017 class has the potential to be special. The execution won't be easy, but it can be done. If Nebraska is a top ten team in a few years, it's because Riley and staff built the necessary relationships to bring in some top talent, a QB emerged as elite, and the players and the team got better at developing a game plan and executing that game plan. It's a multi-year process, and I love the foundation that has started in this process. As a Nebraska fan, I'm the most excited of the future that I've been in many, many years.

Good original post NU5X. I've read this board daily for years, I just have never been one to comment. While I have some frustration with some of the play calling - two things stand out: - You're not going to be a great program without great QBs, and this year, Nebraska is lacking a great QB. You just can't play call your way out of a QB that continually can't set his feet right. - For the long term future of the franchise, I haven't been this optimistic in years. Bo's staff couldn't recruit skill positions. The number of great skill positions players that are actually looking at Nebraska - I've just never seen it at such a high point. Sure, Riley's got to start to gel with his staff and do better with the x's and o's - but without that pipeline of great talent, Nebraska was never going to be better than a 9 win team - and Riley has quickly proven he's the best guy we've had in years for actually getting great future players in house.

Long, long time reader - first time poster. I love the recruiting threads. For me, so much of sports is about hope - the dream of a better day - so following these athletes and thinking about what the future may hold for my beloved Huskers is an exciting thing. But more and more, I agree with Bo and the statement of making your own stars. While the recruiting services have gotten pretty good at projecting greatness, the fact remains that they are judging kids who are still young and growing, and many of them who they haven't ever seen. Add to the fact that kids get more stars based on offers - so teams like USC just has to make an offer, and the stars will follow (I mean, when was the last time that USC was the only team to offer a kid). Anyways, I think there are far too few looks back - so just for fun, I went to a projected top 10 list of draft picks in the NFL draft (from my favorite draft site NFL countdown). 1. Matthew Stafford – GA - QB – 5 star – 2nd best in country 2. Andre Smith – ALA – OT – 5 star – 1st in country 3. Aaron Curry – WF – OLB – 2 stars, limited offers 4. Chris Wells – OSU – RB – 5 star – 1st in country 5. Michael Crabtree – TT - WR – 2 star 6. Eugene Monroe – VA – OT – 5 star – 1st in country 7. Jason Smith – BAY – OT – 2 star 8. Malcom Jenkins – OSU – CB – 3 star 9. Sam Bradford – OK – QB – 4 star 10. Brian Orakpo – TX – DE – 3 star Unbelievably small sample size - but the final tally (based on Scout rankings): 5 star players - 4 4 star players - 1 3 star players - 2 2 star players - 3 Give me a hardworking kid with a good attitude any day. And sure, the 5 star guys are nice - but don't forget the Adam Carriker's amongst all the stars.