dylan

Good choice

Between Irons and Pierson-El (and possibly Stewart on kick return), I think we'll find a returner.

I don't know if I'd call Mosley under the radar, considering how much OU and Baylor wanted him, but I expect him to be a good one. Tolbert was my first thought as a guy that didn't get much hype, but has the body type to succeed at WR.

I'd peg Kalu as a peso initially. He very well could end up at safety, but I think we have a bigger need at corner and peso and his size would do well there. We've got some good young safeties, particularly if Gerry moves to SS.

Note that I factor in the need for a given position. QB: A Needed: 2 (with one "athlete" that could be moved) Got: 2 (Darlington and Bush) We got exactly what we needed by signing a top flight QB from a championship program in a top state along with an "athlete" that can be moved elsewhere if QB doesn't work out for whatever reason. It would have been good to have the second option regardless, due to the fact that we only have two scholarship QB's returning, but it is especially important given Darlington's concussion history. The coaches and family seem convinced that the concussion issue isn't a concern, but I feel better knowing we got the second guy signed just in case. Doesn't hurt that the "athlete" has a live arm either. The only thing that keeps me from giving this position an A+ is the health concern with Darlington. RB: A Needed: 1 Got: 2 (Wilbon and Stewart) Wilbon looks like a stud and should do well in our system. I think Stewart is highly overlooked though. The guy has ridiculous speed and played high level ball in Texas. If Stewart doesn't make it due to grades, I'd drop this to an A-. WR: A Needed: 3 Got: 4 (Harrison, Pierson-El, Tolbert, Irons, though I wonder if Irons gets a look at CB) If, and it is a big if, Harrison makes it to campus, he is one heck of a WR prospect. I also think Pierson-El has been over looked by a lot of people.The kid is a play maker. Tolbert is the sort of bigger receiver that can go get the ball in the air. Irons looks like he could get a shot early at returns. If we do lose Harrison to MLB, I'd drop this to B-. TE: C+ Needed: 1, maybe (Carter and Cotton were freshmen this year, and we have a few other young ones, so not exactly a need position) Got: 1, maybe (Akinmoladun) If he does stick at TE and doesn't move to DE, he's a good athlete for his size. Should provide a good blocker, which is important in our offense, as we saw from the lack of Ben Cotton early last year. Also some chance we could see Stoltenberg or Wills here, but I doubt it. OL: A+ Needed: 4-5 (with only 2 high schoolers in 2012 and 3 last year, we needed a big OL class) Got: 5 (Lewis, Farmer, Gates, Foster, Stoltenberg) Lewis was a freshman all-american that should step in immediately. Most have presumed tackle, but I wonder if he'll give Moudy and Reeves a run at guard, considering that's what he played at CU. Either way, a huge addition. Farmer, Gates and Foster are all exactly the sort of blue-chip linemen recruits that you would hope NU can get with their pipeline tradition. I think our recent improvement on the line has shown these kids that we're serious about re-establishing that tradition and they're the ones to do it. Stoltenberg is a good athlete for his size and I really hope they put him at OT and let him grow and develop. While we may end up needing him sooner on the DL, I think we need to stock the OL with young talent to keep the numbers up there. DE: B Needed: 3 Got: 3 (Keels, King, Wills) Keels was a huge get, both because of his talent and because Moss's departure means we need the help ASAP. Being here for the spring makes him even better. I expect some early returns from him. King was a great replacement for Slade and Wills looks like a pretty good prospect. There's been some talk Wills could play another position, but I think there's too great of a need at DE to do so. Also a possibility that Freedom or Stoltenberg could end up here. DT: B Needed: 1-2 Got: 1 (Newell) I suppose Newell could follow the Suh plan and play DE as a freshmen if he's ready, but with his frame, he'll undoubtedly end up inside by the time he develops. He was an early key to this class and I think some people have kind of forgotten him since he committed so long ago. DT isn't a huge immediate need because of the four we have playing from the last two classes, but it's such an important position that I'd have liked to have a second. LB: B Needed 1-2 Got: 1 We've signed a lot of LB the last couple of years, but I still would have liked another one. The one we did get looks like a steal. CB/Peso: B Needed 3-4 (with at least one Juco) Got: 4 (Jones, Mosley, Kalu, Cockrell) I hope Cockrell surprises, but I would have really liked a Juco DB that felt like more of a sure thing. Mosley looks like a great prospect though and Jones has the length that Bo prefers for his physical style of play. I expect big things from those two. Wouldn't be surprised to see either Kalu or Cockrell get shifted back to safety, but I bet they'll get a look at corner first. S: C+ Needed: 1-2 Got: 1 (Gifford) Kid looks like a good enough athlete to play safety, but as we've seen over the years, it's not athleticism that really makes a great safety, it's knowing where you need to be and making the play when you get there. As I mentioned above, I'd guess one of the other recruits will end up here as well. ST: A Needed: ? Got: 1 (Brown) Kid looks like another great kicker named Brown for DONU. No idea if we needed a kicker in this class, as I don't know how Bondi is as a FG kicker. (He's certainly got the leg for it, judging by his kick-offs.) However, when you've got a top kicker that's a legacy to boot, I don't mind taking him. Hell, maybe he can punt. Overall: B+ It may not blow people away with star power, but I think we did a good job of filling needs. We got some potential difference makers on offense at pretty much every position. Defense didn't quite go as well, but we got good prospects at the positions we needed. I would have really liked another OL, another DL and another juco CB, but I don't think we're desperate for any of those and that's just nit-picking for what could have made the class better. As has been discussed ad nauseum, losing Harrison would be a blow. Losing Stewart would hurt as well. Obviously a recurrence of concussion issues with Darlington would take us down a notch also, but I don't think his family, doctors or our coaches would let him play if it wasn't safe for him, so I feel pretty good about that one at least. As it stands, I'd give us an A for offensive recruiting and B for defensive. Some more/better playmakers on the defense would have elevated this class.

Ha, sorry. Scared me, too.

Just going by what I read. Looks like it was wrong, which would be big. We badly need ends.

Sounds like we lost him to Florida. Ouch. We really needed ends.

In the $EC? No way.

$EC won't give you the education you need, young man, and I don't just mean in the classroom.

Correlation vs. causation? I would say the greater portion is indeed causative, but you can't deny that teams that have won historically end up with their recruits ranked higher because of their prestige. In other words, their winning percentage artificially inflates their recruit rankings to some extent. We've seen that an offer from Nebraska has this effect on kids with relatively low offers. Teams with even more prestige presumably tend to inflate rankings even more. I also think the rankings skew towards populated areas and the south, artificially inflating rankings, but that's a bit off topic.

That always bothers me in game summaries, too. "If you take away his two 50 yard runs, they only ran for..."

He's not the first to have our hat on the table without a commitable offer and he won't be the last.

Unless he weighs 300 pounds, he's playing end. Too big of a need there to consider anything else, though he could always slide down in special pass rush packages.

Ha. And yes, our coaches are hardly the only ones with a knack for talent evaluation, but they have shown enough that they get the benefit of the doubt from me.

Pierson-Els is the receiver I expect the most from, unless Harrison actually makes it to campus.

So then you agree that it's possible to out perform recruiting rankings and that low rankings in no way dooms us to low results on the field, where it actually matters.

I think it's fairly obvious that by "professional" I meant those that do it for their profession. I'm sorry if you found that confusing. I also think it's fairly obvious that our coaches, like most that aren't Texas, USC, Alabama, etc., don't just get to sign their top picks, but that was nice of you to clarify that. Whay may be less obvious to you is that our coaches have shown a knack for finding talented players where other major programs, and recruiting "experts" do not. That is a necessary skill at a place like Nebraska. Having shown that knack, I trust their evaluation of a prospect more than I trust some website's recruiting "expert" with Cheetos on his fingers. How many of our best players, and I'm talking all-conference level players, have been three stars or lower according to the "experts"? Bell? Ameer? Martinez? Our coaches know how to scout under the radar talent, because, again, they have to.

I cannot believe kansas fired a good coach and a good man to hire that joke. I feel bad for Avery that he didn't have a better opportunity, but at least KU should be fun, especially when he gets a new coach in a couple of years. I honestly wish him the best and wish we would have had room for him.

No, robsker, the people that analyze these players best are professional football coaches, particularly the successful ones and even moreso the ones that have success without having their pick of the most heralded players. Our staff has shown that they are good at scouting players, regardless of artificial rankings figured mostly by guys that never coached or recruited. Also, I see a class with talented kids at all of the right spots to fill the needs we have. Thus, I think this group of players will have more success on the field than sixth in the league and thirtieth in the country. And you know that's how you actually judge recruiting, right? Signing day rankings just give us something to talk about.

Nebraska was not historically a top five recruiting team either, so that throws a pretty good size wrench in that argument.

Excuses? I'm not making excuses for recruiting rankings, I'm telling you straight up that I don't care about them. I like this class and think the coaches did a good job of filling needs and adding potential difference makers at lots of positions. If you don't think these coaches can evaluate talent better than recruiting "experts", explain why they so regularly unearth kids that other schools end up jumping on after we do. And if you don't think they can coach, look at how many games they won after losing their star QB (and a bunch of other players) and having to rely on a freshman. That doesn't happen at most places. You can complain all you want, but this staff has proven that they can evaluate talent and that they can win. Now that the defense is building depth and coming of age, and the same thing is happening on the OL, the future looks bright. Enjoy your complaining about things that don't matter. That reminds me, you never answered which position it is you're so concerned about...

The 6th best record in the league in recent years has been 7 or 8 wins. Barring another avalanche of injuries, I can pretty well guarantee we'll be doing better than that. Our coaches have shown they can win. Last year was supposed to be the culmination of that until we got snakebit on offense. They've done a great job of filling needs in recent classes and this one does exactly that. We brought in great linemen, a couple of talented quarterbacks and some slick skill players. We got a nice haul of defensive linemen, filling our biggest need, an athletic LB, and some good defensive backs, filling our other biggest need. What position are you concerned about? We're set up pretty well going forward so long as the admin, the media and the fans can lay off the hot seat nonsense and let the coaches do their job. It's ridiculous to me that we've got a successful program with the potential to break through and so many are busy trying to force us into hitting reset again.

Decker?

A 9-4 record should get us better than a 6th place finish in the league, so that doesn't make any sense. I think you meant to say we recruited to win 7 games.