AndyDufresne

Really? It's a nice enough campus, and it's neater now than back when I was in school, but mindblowing? I don't see what would make it so. Mindblowing is something like Duke, or what little I saw of UCLA a few years ago. I do like the UNL campus better than Texas's, though. Myabe indblowing was a little to much but UNL campus is still one of the tops in the nation. Now that doesnt just mean physical appearence, that includes academics, student services, etc. UCLA's campus is maybe on the same level as UNL's. I haven't been on a lot of campuses, but I can guarentee you UNL is towards the bottom of my list. Dare I say it - I think Boulder has a better campus, set in the mountains, local community, etc. I would say that in the Big10 we might rank 7th or 8th as far as the campus goes. Nationally there 50-100 I'd much rather spend 4 years of my life at. If every day was gameday, and the entire campus was within a block of Memorial - UNL would improve in those rankings...but since that's not realistic...I'm going to put it WAY below mindblowing. Completely agree. NU might have great student services but the campus itself is VERY average. I left Nebraska for college and a lot had to do with the campus. I ended up at KU which has a beautiful setting. I wouldn't even compare it to NU...not even in the same discussion. Really? I guess the last thing I cared about when I was 19 and choosing a school were the aesthetics of the campus. I went to Lincoln, had some of the best and most memorable times of my life, went to every Husker home game, and I wouldn't change a thing.

I am much more comfortable in freezing temperatures than I am in sauna-like conditions like we get here in the summer. I just don't understand why so many people prefer the heat and humidity to a bit of cold and snow. You can always add more layers to warm up. There is only so much you can take off to cool down.

What is your definition of success? I think your figures are greatly overexaggerated, but I would like to see the source if you actually pulled them from somewhere. Half of the starting roster, and most of the backups and special teamers this year will be made up of guys from the 2008 and later classes. We'll find out soon. I am guessing he was refering to the statistics someone put together a year or two ago regarding all-americans and their star ranking. I'm not sure it was 40%, but it was a fairly high number in comparison to the 3-stars. 5 star recruits have a 1 in 9 chance of beeing an All-American...3 stars a 1 in 50. Again, Rival's ranks potential. Whether or not that potential is utilized is up to the school the recruit signs with. IMO, we need players that have a lot of potential...it gives us the best chance to win. If that is a highly ranked, or lower ranked team so be it. Don't care, it's all about what our coaches can do with potential. I think Rivals team rankings tend to do that fairly well. Others don't think so. That your opinion...usually based on a few guys that made it, or a few that were busts. Don't disregard the big picture though. The overall numbers tend to back up Rivals so I'm sticking with them. As for half the starting roster being 2008 or beyond...not sure where you get that. (there have been 3 classes since 2008 on this roster so it would be logical to have a few players scattered throughout the 1st team - and maybe you're counting special teams in your percentage) But, without even looking I can give you: Kunalic, Moore, Allen, Crick, Amakamara, Gomes/Asante, Hagg, Jones X 2, Williams, McNeil, Gilleylen, Lee, Helu. All will probably start at some point in the season and I think all of those were in the 2006, 2007 classes. There may be more but that requires effort. Asante is gone and Gomes is a 2009 recruit. I don't consider Moore, Kunalic, D.J. Jones, or Gilleylen as starters. I think we will see: RG - Henry (2008) LT - Sirles (2009) or Hardrick (2010) WR - Kinnie (2009) TE - Cotton (2008) or Reed (2008) - Remember, McNeill is now considered a receiver DE - Meredith (2008) DT - Steinkuhler (2008) LB - Fisher (2008) or Whaley (2008) LB - Compton (2008) or David (2010) S - Gomes (2009) S - Smith (2008) or Cooper (2010) CB - Dennard (2008) That is half the starting 22 right there. I think one can make the argument that Burkhead (2009) could be considered a co-starter, and I didn't list fullback Legate (2008).

Not all 2-stars are created equally. Some are busts, and some go on to become all-Americans. Identifying which is which is obviously not a crapshoot, but comes down to the ability of your staff to identify the talent and then develop it. Obviously, Boise St. and Utah are better at this than most other mid-majors. Many who follow recruiting make the mistake of lumping every player with the same star rating into one big group. Is the 3-star who commits to Ohio State with offers from every Big 10 school the same as the 3-star who commits to Northwestern with offers from a few mid-majors, Syracuse, and Duke? Is the 3-star defensive player with no big offers that has been evaluated by Beamer and Foster at Virginia Tech the same as the 3-star defensive player with offers from Missouri, Michigan, Kansas, and UCLA (teams with pretty unremarkable defenses under their current staffs)? What is your definition of success? I think your figures are greatly overexaggerated, but I would like to see the source if you actually pulled them from somewhere. Agree. I would consider a 13th ranked class to be pretty great as far as rankings go. I also wouldn't say it is wildly overachieving as of now. If they are the backbone of a top 5 team, I will give you that. If they are the backbone of a team ranked 10th-15th, wouldn't you say that is on par with expectations based on where Rivals had them ranked? Iowa's 39th ranked 2006 class would qualify as an overachiever in my book. Half of the starting roster, and most of the backups and special teamers this year will be made up of guys from the 2008 and later classes. We'll find out soon.

Wait . . . you have a hand in shaping young American minds. Lord help us.

Welcome to the board. With that being said, I disagree. The best thing for Nebraska would have been for him to wait to decide until December or so. This would have given our coaches the chance to see if he has fully recovered from surgery and offer him if they were so inclined. This is all assuming that the coaches didn't flat out tell him that we weren't taking any more high school linebackers (again, assuming Santos is 'N'). Even if Santos isn't in, we still have several other lbers much much higher on our board then Cole. Cole would have been a nice walk-on (a real nice walk on) but sometimes our coaches get to a point and reach on prospects. I like the idea of not giving them the chance to reach on a prospect and having to work (which for the first time, they are working completely through the year) for what are better prospects. I've heard that Millard North's coaches liked Cole as a sophomore better than Sean. Now how much Cole's injury has slowed him down, I don't know. I do know that it has basically suspended his recruiting, leaving him stuck on two offers. If he continues to progress nicely post injury, his offer list likely would have exploded. Don't forget that Oklahoma offered Sean. Labeling Cole as a reach is premature. I'm also not sure why you felt the need to include the bolded part.

Welcome to the board. With that being said, I disagree. The best thing for Nebraska would have been for him to wait to decide until December or so. This would have given our coaches the chance to see if he has fully recovered from surgery and offer him if they were so inclined. This is all assuming that the coaches didn't flat out tell him that we weren't taking any more high school linebackers (again, assuming Santos is 'N').

wowo sounds like this whol santos and AS thing is like some nightmare scenario that has no ending and is responsible for the decommittment or lack thereof of a comittements for the last several weeks..... c Say what?

So I wonder if the timing of his commitment is somehow related to the supposed commitment of Santos?

Seven total MNCs. We were in games where the team that beat us won the MNC, but we weren't a contender, being ranked too low. I haven't gone year-by-year, but I can think of three in addition to our five right off the top of my head: 1984, 1993, and 2001.

I apologize in advance for those that aren't interested. Looking at the last two seasons (2008 and 2009), I have expanded my research. I have ranked the top 15 recruiting teams by averaging the 5 classes that would have made up the roster for each team for each year. I compared this to the final Sagarin rankings for the year. I used Sagarin rankings because they rank every team instead of just the top 25. I only included BCS teams in the study, and for both the Rivals and Sagarin rankings I ranked the BCS teams in order from 1 to 66 (so even though Indiana may have finished in the 100's in both rankings, the worst they would be assigned in my study would be 66th). Here are the top 15 recruiting teams and how they finished among BCS teams in the 2008 Sagarin rankings: 1. USC - 2 2. Florida - 1 3. Georgia - 12 4. Florida State - 14 5. Oklahoma - 3 6. LSU - 18 7. Michigan - 61 8. Miami - 31 9. Ohio State - 11 10. Texas - 4 11. Alabama - 5 12. Auburn - 48 13. Tennessee - 46 14. Notre Dame - 43 15. Nebraska - 20 Here are the remaining top 15 BCS teams in the 2008 Sagarin rankings and their average Rivals ranking: 6. Penn State - 19 7. Texas Tech - 43 8. Mississippi - 23 9. Oregon - 21 10. Oregon State - 45 13. California - 17 15. Virginia Tech - 24 Here are the top 15 recruiting teams and how they finished among BCS teams in the 2009 Sagarin rankings: 1. USC - 17 2. Florida - 2 3. Georgia - 22 4. Alabama - 1 5. Florida State - 26 6. Oklahoma - 14 7. LSU - 11 8. Ohio State - 4 9. Texas - 3 10. Michigan - 59 11. Miami - 18 12. Auburn - 23 13. Tennessee - 30 14. Notre Dame - 41 15. South Carolina - 35 Here are the remaining top 15 BCS teams in the 2009 Sagarin rankings and their average Rivals ranking: 5. Virginia Tech - 20 6. Cincinnati - 65 7. Iowa - 38 8. Penn State - 22 9. Oregon - 26 10. Georgia Tech - 50 12. Nebraska - 16 13. Pittsburgh - 30 15. Arkansas - 25 Conclusions: Based on this 2 year study, teams ranked in the top 15 over a 5 year time period in Rivals team rankings had a 47% chance of being among the top 15 BCS teams in that year's Sagarin rankings. Teams ranked 16-25 had a 45% chance. 9 out of 10 top 5 teams during these two years were in the top 10 in team rankings. Texas was the lowest ranked in both the 2008 and 2009 team rankings, and those two 5 year class averages were 10.8 and 9.8. I'm sorry, but those that think we can average a top 10 class (or just over) for a 5 year term just aren't being realistic with the inherent disadvantages of recruiting to a state like Nebraska. I was shocked to see that in both years Sagarin rankings, the 6th-10th ranked teams were outside of the Rivals top 15. In fact, besides Alabama in 2008, teams ranked in the 16-25 range have fared much better than teams in the 11-15 range. FYI, the class averages for 16-25 for 2008 were 21.2 - 26.8. For 2009, they were 19.2 - 26.8.

Here are my projected starters for this year: LT - Sirles (3*) or Hardrick (4*) LG - Williams (3*) C - Caputo (NR) RG - Henry (3*) RT - Jones (3*) QB - Lee (4*) RB - Helu (3*) and Burkhead (4*) WR - Paul (4*) WR - Kinnie (3*) WR - McNeill (3*) TE - Cotton (3*) or Reed (3*) DE - Meredith (3*) DE - Allen (3*) DT - Crick (3*) DT - Steinkuhler (5*) LB - Fisher (3*) or Whaley (3*) LB - Compton (4*) or David (4*) CB - Amukamara (3*) CB - Dennard (3*) S - Gomes (3*) S - Smith (3*) or Cooper (4*) PB - Hagg (3*) We are preseason top 10 by most accounts, and the only two 4 or 5 star recruits not from the 2008-2010 classes are Paul and Lee. Do you believe that we cannot win the conference title this year?

Averaging the Rivals team rankings for each team from 2008-2010, the results are: 1. Alabama - 2.3 2. USC - 4.3 3. Florida - 5.3 4. LSU - 6.3 5. Texas - 7.3 6t. Florida State - 8.7 6t. Oklahoma - 8.7 8. Georgia - 9.3 9. Ohio State - 10.7 10. UCLA - 11.7 11. Miami - 12.0 12. Notre Dame - 12.3 13. Michigan - 12.7 14. Auburn - 14.3 15. Tennessee - 18.0 16. Texas A&M - 18.3 17. South Carolina - 19.3 18t. Oregon - 21.3 18t. Virginia Tech - 21.3 20. Ole Miss - 21.7 21. Clemson - 22.7 22. North Carolina - 23.3 23. Penn State - 26.3 24. Nebraska - 26.7 IMO, 24th overall is better than okay. I'm not saying it is outstanding, but good or very good seem like more appropriate adjectives than okay. We'll see how this class ends up, but there are specifics unique to this class that won't be the case every year. 1. We have a commit from a Rivals top 100 OT from Florida, who probably wouldn't have committed if he weren't a legacy. 2. There are two 4 stars in Nebraska this year. This has happened twice since 2004 (2008 and 2011). 3. We are likely the favorite to land a potential 5-star out of Texas. Would we be the favorite if his brother weren't on the team? I disagree that we will recruit like a power. I think that we are making a step in the right direction though, and while our 2008-2010 classes all fell in the 20-30 range, I believe our future classes will land in the 15-25 range more often than not. I just don't see us with class averages similar to the top 14 teams on the list above. This is great work Andy. I agree with what you said in that we will pull in classes that are in the top 15-25 and every so often pull in a top 5 class. Bo and staff have made a lot of great improvements in recruting but to think they will be able to compete Anyday, Anytime, Anywhere if they produce top 25 classes is not realistic in my opinion. Look at the list. To be relevant, they need to produce 1-15. The top 25 won't get ur done. Recruiting has turned into a 24/7, 7 day a week job for most of the staff. To be a top 10 or top 5 school we have go through the top 10 schools. That means we have to be close to them in recruiting, not better or matching but close. Rankings are just rankings to certain extent and are very subjective based on who is doing the rankings, but a 4 star is usually better than a 3 star and a 5 star is always better than a 3. This staff does a tremendous job with the recruits they sign but I am not happy seeing top 25 in recruiting classes and I bet Bo and staff will get better numbers as they gain positive momentum going forward. A 5 star is always better than a 3? You can't possibly believe that, knowing that Dennard and Amukamara were 3 stars and Andre Jones was a 5 star.

Averaging the Rivals team rankings for each team from 2008-2010, the results are: 1. Alabama - 2.3 2. USC - 4.3 3. Florida - 5.3 4. LSU - 6.3 5. Texas - 7.3 6t. Florida State - 8.7 6t. Oklahoma - 8.7 8. Georgia - 9.3 9. Ohio State - 10.7 10. UCLA - 11.7 11. Miami - 12.0 12. Notre Dame - 12.3 13. Michigan - 12.7 14. Auburn - 14.3 15. Tennessee - 18.0 16. Texas A&M - 18.3 17. South Carolina - 19.3 18t. Oregon - 21.3 18t. Virginia Tech - 21.3 20. Ole Miss - 21.7 21. Clemson - 22.7 22. North Carolina - 23.3 23. Penn State - 26.3 24. Nebraska - 26.7 IMO, 24th overall is better than okay. I'm not saying it is outstanding, but good or very good seem like more appropriate adjectives than okay. We'll see how this class ends up, but there are specifics unique to this class that won't be the case every year. 1. We have a commit from a Rivals top 100 OT from Florida, who probably wouldn't have committed if he weren't a legacy. 2. There are two 4 stars in Nebraska this year. This has happened twice since 2004 (2008 and 2011). 3. We are likely the favorite to land a potential 5-star out of Texas. Would we be the favorite if his brother weren't on the team? I disagree that we will recruit like a power. I think that we are making a step in the right direction though, and while our 2008-2010 classes all fell in the 20-30 range, I believe our future classes will land in the 15-25 range more often than not. I just don't see us with class averages similar to the top 14 teams on the list above.

i don't know all the specifics, but my impression is that the "offer" was contingent upon the kid working hard in the weight room and showing well at camp. apparently due to either a lack of effort or lack of ability (to get bigger), admire was not able to be where he needs to be to play for NU. i doubt our loss of interest came as a surprise. i generally agree though that all scholarship offers should be "commitable", but i have no problem with the coaches attaching reasonable conditions to those offers. From my understanding of the situation, conditional commitments are uncommon but do happen. I guess most kids that have a condition attached don't announce their commitment until said conditions are met and they know they will be a part of the class. It appears that Admire was confident that he was going to meet the requirements set forth by the staff and prematurely announced his commitment. I feel for the kid. He thought that he was going to play for his dream school and now that's not going to happen. Part of me wishes that we would just have accepted his verbal. Of course, if this happened often enough that it affected on field performance, this part wouldn't stick around long.

i'm pretty sure at least one, and probably a couple, were considered at the time to be the top class in the nation. I don't know about the 80's, but our recruiting rankings from 1990-1997 were 10th, 28th, 14th, 18th, 20th, 8th, 6th, and 19th according to SuperPrep. The majority of players from the domininant '95 team were from classes ranked 28th, 14th, 18th, and 20th. Now that was a different world in terms of recruiting coverage than it is today, so it's probably not like comparing apples to apples. This brings me to EZ-E's post about Osborne's top recruiting classes being a myth. 8-25 is quite the range, and there is a significant on paper difference between the high and low. If 20-25 is a top recruiting class, I think Bo will meet or exceed this in most years. If the mark is 1-15, TO was batting .500 for the time period that I posted. It remains to be seen if Bo can match this in the long term. But you see what I mean? The thing about Osborne's classes not being very good is untrue. We had a top 25 class in 2010 and I consider that class to be a very good one. I was unaware that there were those who thought Osborne was winning national championships with low ranked classes and a bunch of walk-ons. Is this a prevalent thought?

i'm pretty sure at least one, and probably a couple, were considered at the time to be the top class in the nation. I don't know about the 80's, but our recruiting rankings from 1990-1997 were 10th, 28th, 14th, 18th, 20th, 8th, 6th, and 19th according to SuperPrep. The majority of players from the domininant '95 team were from classes ranked 28th, 14th, 18th, and 20th. Now that was a different world in terms of recruiting coverage than it is today, so it's probably not like comparing apples to apples. This brings me to EZ-E's post about Osborne's top recruiting classes being a myth. 8-25 is quite the range, and there is a significant on paper difference between the high and low. If 20-25 is a top recruiting class, I think Bo will meet or exceed this in most years. If the mark is 1-15, TO was batting .500 for the time period that I posted. It remains to be seen if Bo can match this in the long term.

BBGII has proven to be accurate with his "good weekend" posts. Someone looks to be N, and the safe money is certainly on Santos.

Exactly. If we're stringing together 11+ win seasons with the recruits that we already have, then I think that we have been making a recruiting splash regardless of where our classes have been ranked. No one at Nebraska has consistently brought in top 10 classes. Not Bill Callahan and not Tom Osborne. If TO's history holds true today, classes consistently ranked in the top 20 along with strong walk-on classes have a good chance to get us close to where we want to be. I say close because I just don't think in today's environment a run like we had in the mid-90's is a very realistic goal.

pretty sure the question is whether we want him or not. Well he has an offer, so I assume the coaches would accept his verbal if he gives it. What are the coaches going to do, tell him not to commit so that they can continue to wait on Sarao? That doesn't seem like a very wise strategy to me. It happens all of the time (and I do mean all the time) with every major program in the country.

Talman at HI stated that David, his father, and two brothers drove all night to Lincoln last night and didn't arrive until today. I wouldn't expect to hear much of anything today.

2007 27 total members = 6 from the junior college ranks (22%) and 21 from high school (78%) Rivals team ranking = 13th Rivals average stars = 3.33 Scout team ranking = 21st Scout average stars = 3.22 Players with major offers according to Rivals: 8 (30%) Jaivorio Burkes - Michigan, Oklahoma Demetrious Davis - Alabama Curenski Gilleylen - Tennessee Adi Kunalic - Miami Armando Murillo - Oklahoma Niles Paul - Michigan Latravis Washington - Ohio State William Yancy - Oklahoma Superstars: 3 (11%) Prince Amukamara - 17 career starts, 1st team all-Big XII at CB in 2009 - What a difference a year makes. Prince went from looking a bit lost in 2008 when filling in due to injuries to a true lockdown corner and one of the best in the nation in 2009. National, the premier NFL scouting service, has given Prince the highest grade for any senior in the 2010 class. It is possible that he could have been a 1st rounder last year, but thankfully he will once again be locking up opposing receivers for the Huskers in 2010. Jared Crick - 14 career starts, 1st team all-Big XII at DT in 2009 - Named by the Sporting News as the best player in college football, there is a lot of hype surrounding Jared. There will be added pressure knowing that he will be playing next to a new DT and not the all-everything Suh. Some media outlets are predicting a big letdown on the defensive line for Nebraska this year; but Jared's instincts, strength, and explosiveness won't let that happen. Roy Helu - 16 career starts, 2nd team all-Big XII at RB in 2009 - Despite being hampered by injuries himself and an offensive line plagued by injuries, Roy still broke the 1,000 yard mark in 2009. IMO, he had an even better 2008 despite fewer yards. His career 5.5 average yards per carry are the most by a Husker running back since Dan Alexander and Correll Buckhalter graduated in 2000, and this is without the benefit of being in an option attack. Stars: 4 (11%) Larry Asante - 36 career starts, 1st team all-Big XII at S in 2009 - I debated whether to list "The Assassin" as a superstar, but Asante's mediocre coverage skills convinced me to list him as a star. I'm not taking anything away from Larry - he is a ferocious hitter who was incredible in run support and stopping wide-outs in their tracks after the catch - but Pelini's scheme covered up Asante's deficits that were made apparent in the senior bowl. Eric Hagg - 20 career starts, honorable mention all-Big XII at S in 2009 - Hagg has filled his role as a DB/LB hybrid perfectly. Whether he is asked to drop back in coverage, stuff the run, or pressure the QB; Hagg is certainly a jack-of-all-trades. Whether he will continue to fill this hybrid role or be moved to a more traditional safety spot, I am just glad Hagg is going to be on the field for another year. Niles Paul - 18 career starts, honorable mention all-Big XII at both PR and WR - I wasn't sure whether I wanted to list Niles as a star or a superstar. Niles is a bit of a hot and cold player, but there is no doubt that when he is on he can take over games as both a punt returner and a wide receiver. In the end, I felt that his inconsistency should relegate him to star status . . . for now. Starters: 4 (15%) Jaivorio Burkes - 7 career starts - Burkes had the chance to be the best offensive lineman at Nebraska since Richie Incognito, but health issues hampered his progress and disciplinary issues ended his Nebraska football career. Marcel Jones - 12 career starts - I believe that Jones has been called our best lineman by at least one Husker coach. Personally, I don't see it up to this point in time. A fast defensive end with a good first move seemed to burn Marcel more often that I care to recall in 2009. He is still young and has plenty of time to improve his game though. Zac Lee - 12 career starts - If nothing else, Zac is a good decision maker. His accuracy, scrambling, and lack of speed when making that good decision leave something to be desired. I'm not sure how much of this can be attributed to his elbow injury, but improved QB play is a must if we are going to match our preseason rankings in 2010. I have heard that the QB competition this summer has been fierce, what I haven't heard is how good those that are involved in the competition have looked. Armando Murillo - 24 career starts - As I mentioned in the 2006 thread, Armando was a lockdown corner in 2008 compared to his counterpart (West). While I don't want to take anything away from his contribution, he was merely a good corner in 2008 and like the most of the rest of the defense, was pretty terrible in 2007. Still, Murillo was good enough to allow most of our 2008 class to redshirt and showed a lot of improvement during his career. Major Contributors: 8 (30%) Shukree Barfield - 1 career start - Versatile enough to be a backup DT in 2007 and a backup DE in 2008, I will always remember Shukree for his two sacks in the final series of the thrilling CU victory in 2008. Anthony Blue - 2 career starts - Blue showed a lot of promise as a freshman, though I'm not sure if that is because he looked so good or just so good compared to the rest of the 2007 defense. He rebounded from a 2008 injury to fill the gunner role on the punt team in 2009. Quentin Castille - 1 career start - While I wasn't as enamored with Castille as many, he was a key component of our offense in our bowl win against Clemson, chewing up huge chunks of yards. His fondness of herb got him kicked to the curb. Kevin Dixon - 4 career starts - Dixon filled in for an injured Steinkuhler in 2007, racking up 19 tackles. I remember the minor panic attack I had when he was kicked off of the team before the 2008 season started, wondering what we were going to do for DT depth. Currenski Gilleylen - 2 career starts - Gilleylen is fast, blazing fast. Too bad he seems to be Frantz Hardy's twin brother. Gilleylen has two seasons to figure out how to keep the ball from bouncing off of his hands and how to remain upright while running a route. Ryan Hill - played in 26 games - Ryan is a key part of our goal line offense. He only has 5 career receptions but has 2 career TD's, the most important being the only TD of the game in the 2009 victory over OU. Adi Kunalic - 86 career touchbacks - Adi has been a field general when it comes to the battle of field position. His percentage of kickoffs that have resulted in touchbacks has increased each year. I doubt that he will redshirt in 2010, but I think he will get a shot at an NFL roster regardless. Blake Lawrence - 2 career starts - Blake always reminded me of Bo Ruud. He played with a ton of heart and may have been one of the best linebackers on the team when forced to drop back into coverage. Too bad his career was cut short by a series of concussions, though he showed his intelligence by not sacrificing his health for the game he loved. Minor Contributors: 3 (11%) Marcus Mendoza - Mendoza has seen time both as a running back and as a slot receiver, but almost all of the game action he has seen has been when victory is firmly in hand. Terrence Moore - In early 2008, Terrence looked like he could be a force to be reckoned with. He recorded 2 sacks against Western Michigan in the season opener. Unfortunately for Terrence, he hasn't seen much action since then. Latravis Washington - A special teams contributor in 2007 and 2008, Latravis saw time at QB in 2009. He had all of the athletic ability in the world, but didn't have the right mind-set to make an impact on the defensive side of the ball. Busts: 6 (22%) Demetrious Davis - Academic casualty. Austin Stafford - He was in the doghouse so often, I've heard Pelini named it after him. I'm not sure if he left on his own or was kicked off the team. Shawn Sullivan - When a friend of mine watched Sullivan's film after he committed, he told me that Sullivan would never see the field. I don't know what he saw that coaches from Colorado, Kansas, Okie Lite, and Wisconsin did not; but he was right. Joseph Townsend - Tried to push himself too hard to qualify by taking an enormous courseload, another academic non-qualifier. Patrick Witt - Too bad he didn't fight as hard for the starting QB spot as he did for a couple of extra yards when he went in for an injured Ganz for one play in the Gator Bowl. William Yancy - The only real flame-out of the Arizona Five. Class Overview: While the percentage of starters (37%) may be a bit low, the 2007 class is nothing less than a resounding success. Two thirds of the class have been major contributors to this point and three superstars in one class is very nice. If all of the promising players that left of their own accord or were kicked off had stayed, this might have been a class for the ages. It still might be, as I believe there are 7 players that still have two years of eligibility. The average starts per commit for the class are already at 6.96 and I could see this hitting double digits this year. Not only has the quality been high, but contribution for this class looks to be high as well. Future Prospects: I expect a lot of upward movement with this class. I am very confident that Niles will iron out his inconsistencies and become a superstar this year. He absolutely schooled Prince in the spring game and he has been named the top senior wide receiver in the nation by at least one NFL analyst. I'm a little less sure of Hagg. While he has filled his role well, he will need to shore up his coverage skills to move to the next level. As mentioned in his synopsis, the coaches are high on Jones and they know much more than I do. I have to think he has at least decent potential for upward mobility. According to the coaches, there will be more rotation on the defensive line than we saw last year. Moore may be a part of that rotation and move up to a major contributor. I'm also hoping for a few surprises, but it is hard to imagine players like Gilleylen or Hill claiming starting spots. 2007 Walk-Ons: The quality of walk-ons in 2007 has forced me to expand this section from the 2006 version. I will still only list walk-on contributors, as I don't believe that a walk-on that doesn't contribute should be labeled a bust. Super Stars: 1 Alex Henery - 39 career starts as a kicker, 14 career starts as a punter; 2nd team all-Big XII as a K and P - By the time Henery's career is done, I think it is possible that he will be remembered as the best special teams player that Nebraska has ever had. He has to be among the favorites to win both the Ray Guy and Lou Groza awards in 2010. Major Contributors: 2 Mike Caputo - played in 13 games - In 2009, Mike saw quite a bit of time while filling in for an injured Hickman, though Hickman did manage to start every game. He looks poised to take over as our starting center in 2010. I've heard everything from "He's going to surprise people" to "He's our best center since Dominic Raiola". I'll take either one. Lance Thorell - 6 career starts - Walk-ons such as Thorell allowed Pelini to build for the future and redshirt nearly the entire 2008 recruiting class. While he may not have been the optimal choice for a starting DB in 2008, he performed well enough to allow Pelini to stick with his plan. While Lance likely won't be taking the field in a starting role in the future, he will provide experienced depth. Minor Contributors: 5 Austin Cassidy - played in 16 games - While mainly a leading tackler on special teams to this point, Cassidy looks to provide some heavy hitting depth at the safety position in 2009. I wouldn't be surprised to see him challenge for a starting safety position before his career is over. Thomas Grove - played in 29 games - Bo loves linebackers on special teams, and Grove is proof of that. In 2009 he was a starter on the kickoff coverage, kickoff return, and punt return teams. Mike Hays - played in 27 games - Mainly a special teams player, Mike also saw some limited time as a backup to fullback Tyler Legate in 2009. Jay Martin - played in 8 games - This Waverly stand out looks to continue his role as a starter on the kickoff return unit. Matthew May - played in 22 games - May's testing numbers the last couple of years have been off the charts, but his playing time to date has been relegated to special teams and non-crucial back-up situations.

It might be a long shot, but people are saying that democratic candidate Barrack Obama could be our first African American president too!

You can always request a free repair, though I'm not sure how much luck you will have being that your system is 4 years old. My PS3 crapped out on me two nights ago. I called tech support, and they were of little help besides telling me that I need to fill out an online service request form and pay them $150. I sent the following e-mail to customer service: "I placed a technical support call regarding a red screen error that I received on my PS3 last night. I was disappointed that my only option was to pay $150 to get the system repaired. The factory warranty expired just over a month ago on 6/16/10. The error did not occur until I installed a required system update, and by all accounts the error is caused by a corrupted hard drive. I have been a loyal Playstation customer since the PS1. I am requesting that you repair or replace my system free of charge." I wasn't expecting much but thought it couldn't hurt to try. Here is the shocking reply: "We apologize for any inconvenience you are experiencing with the red screen. I received permission to do a one time gesture of goodwill to repair your PlayStation®3 system. We can offer to service the system with no charge for service or shipping under a one time Gesture of Good Will. We will send you a box by UPS so you can pack your system. It will include a prepaid shipping label addressed to our service facility, and documents with detailed instructions on how to pack and send us your system. Turn-around time for our service is about 8 to 12 working days from the time we receive the system. The serviced system will come with a 90 day limited warranty that starts the day you receive your unit. The service center reserves the right to repair, exchange with a factory certified system, or return your system to you according to their diagnosis."

Finished up Assassin's Creed II. Although I do like Altair more than Ezio, everything else in ACII was better than in the 1st game. The Truth video and story segments were mind blowing. I've put a couple of hours into Alan Wake. It is captivating, both in gameplay and story. Anyone who is a fan of games like Silent Hill should definitely check it out.