dylan

The 2012 class and 2008 classes are the only ones that were significantly short on linemen. In the case of 2008, we signed three high school linemen and one juco. Grant didn't make it and baker had to switch to defense due to depth issues there. Coaches should have signed at least one more, but it's hard to blame them for that class, considering they only had a short time to salvage a class after the transition. There's no excuses for only signing two in 2012 though. 2008: 3 HS, 1 JC (one didn't qualify, baker to defense) 2009: 4 HS (not counting pensick) 2010: 3 HS, 1 JC (one more HS would be nice, but hardly a shortage) 2011: 5 HS 2012: 2 HS 2013: 3 HS, 2 JC

Good point.

Gomes and Bell deserve some consideration. Pretty tough list to crack though. There's also a good chance Valentine and Moss put themselves on that list over the next couple of years. Lot of young guys that we have no idea how good they can be yet. Taylor, Rex, Lavonte and Ameer are the automatic choices for me. From there it's a toss up. Dennard, Long, Gregory, Bell, Gomes, Quincy, Etc.

Please remind me of when exactly Nebraska cleaned up nationally in recruiting top OL? We've gotten a few over the years, but most of our best lines were built on local kids and those overlooked in other states (often for not fitting the NFL prototype). I will agree that NU's reputation for linemen has suffered since 2001 or so, but I think it's pretty clear that the line has improved considerably since the current staff got here. We have been rushing the ball about as well as any team, so I don't really understand what the complaining is about.

Our OL recruiting is fine and I don't know how you can complain about the coaching when they put a pretty good line out there this year despite losing our best lineman and having a slew of injuries to so many others. I'm pretty impressed with where the line is overall. We do need to get another in this class, but I think we've recruited quite well there lately. Sucks to not get this kid, but it's not like he's from our back yard.

Yup. OL needs stocking every year. It's probably the hardest position to scout well, it typically takes a couple of years on campus to get physically ready to play and has a high rate of injuries. We get a pretty good advantage in the number of walk-on linemen we recruit, but we still need about four scholarship recruits per year. The improvement in the depth and quality of our OL since Bo took over is impressive. Despite Callahan's reputation as a line guru, that's one area we struggled to keep well stocked under him.

As predictable as the annual posts in late summer or early fall bemoaning the state of recruiting are those annual ones that predict the following year's class should be a great one. And, FWIW, our coaches do seem to be laying the groundwork for a good class in 2015.

Gotta like our chances here. This kid would be perfect.

The guy took more physical punishment than the vast majority of players ever have to deal with. To label him fragile because of a freak toe injury is ridiculous.

Allergic to contact? Not sure where you're getting that. It took two years for the coaches to convince him to avoid contact when possible. The guy was completely reckless early in his career. The number of hits he popped up from and injuries he played through make it pretty clear that he's tough as nails. He probably will stay on offense, but I wouldn't dismiss the possibility of him playing safety.

Yeah, but quarterbacks make a lot more money. And it's not like you can't play QB in college and safety in the pro's. NU has already had two drafted at safety and make NFL teams in Frost an Lord and I wouldn't be too shocked to see Taylor make it three.

That assumes that there is a juco QB available that fits and is better than the three or four young guys we should have at the position next fall. Stanton is a big time recruit and Armstrong was a freshman that showed a few good things. If Darlington has a serious chance of getting cleared to play, he'll have a spring and summer to study the offense. Then of course, there's the possibility of one of the other two good recruits we're looking at. Hardly screams for a juco, unless he's a sure fire all-American, and those guys usually get bought by the $EC. We seem to be pushing the bounds of the number of jucos I feel comfortable with in a class, but this staff has shown the ability to locate and coach up juco players and I like they guys we're looking at.

I hope he proves me wrong. Like I said, he was only a freshman. Be nice to have that size and speed combo at peso/OLB, just looks like more of a strong safety to me than the guys that have excelled at peso under Bo (hagg, gomes, ciante).

I agree that we need another tackle, and seem to be pursuing another, but I think stoltenberg will be one. Farmer could also project to RT, but seems like more of a guard. Alex Lewis may yet join the team as a transfer, but that doesn't really affect the need for another young tackle.

They tried that this year. Just because he was listed at linebacker doesn't change the fact that he was often lined up outside and ended up in coverage. Peso is basically an undersized, coverage LB that we've had our nickel or dime back/backer play. Gerry struggled with it. Of course, he's a true frosh, so he could get better at it, but I'm not sure he has the quicks needed to keep up with slot receivers and backs out of the backfield. We'll see, but he might be better off coming downhill from SS.

Corner for sure, OT and DE are debatable for which is a bigger need. Luckily, we should have enough room left to address all of them (along with QB/ATH and RB).

These kids aren't being recruited to necessarily play as freshmen, so no, I don't think they have anything to do with Gregory. It's about building depth at a position and stacking the roster for 3-4 years down the road. We only ended up with one high school end in last years class, so we need to get a couple in this class to ensure we don't end up short-handed down the road.

Would suck to lose this kid, we need young corners.

I wouldn't be surprised to see CJ at peso. I'd definitely leave Alexander where he is though.

I highly doubt that had anything to do with TO retiring. Do you really think he comes across as a guy that would quit because his job got slightly harder? His reitirement was precipated by graham spanier hiring bill byrne as AD, instead of one of the internal candidates that TO preferred. It's my understanding that TO wanted to keep his promise to solich that he was next in line and wanted to make the transition while he still had the pull within the athletic department to select his successor. If spanier had hired papik or another internal candidate, TO would have likely stayed a while longer. I will say that it was stupid to get rid of prop 48's though. All it did was force borderline kids to attend jucos or lesser institutions instead of allowing them to get on track academically within the support system of a major institution. So it was worse for the kids, but hey, it made it easier for the talent rich southern schools to knock NU down a notch. And I wouldn't say NU "made a living" with them, it was maybe one kid per year, but it did make a difference.

isn't there talk of moving Stoltenberg to the Oline? With all the Dline commits lately this would make some sense. I'm pretty sure stoltenberg is a tackle. I do think we need another though. Wonder if we'll still end up with Alex Lewis at OT.

I expect we'll take a full class if we can get the guys we want.

A major difference between 2007 and 2013 is that the players love Bo and that is obvious to the recruits. When you build a program with solid morals and accountability, you get players and recruits that care about winning and each other. When you sell individual playing time and NFL dreams and don't show the players you care about them as people, you get 2007 and the players quit on you and the recruits bail for the next shiny sales pitch.

It could be an upgrade in on-field coaching, but it would also be an increased chance that he'll push you off the team if you don't meet expectations. Mack seemed like a good guy. I'm not so sure saban always has the players best interests at heart. Wouldn't count on saban going to Texas anyway. He's got it good at bama and is about to get his second raise of the year.

Last two were pretty darn good. Future's looking good for our defense.