Would Huskers maintain the Texas pipeline?

[Nexus]

It was five years ago when Nebraska offensive coordinator Shawn Watson first walked into Glen West’s office in Brenham, Texas.

 

Watson was doing some quarterback hunting, and West’s team had a recruit with a big arm and four stars to his name.

 

Of course, when it comes to recruiting, you lose more than you win. Nebraska lost this one. Jarrett Lee became an LSU Tiger.

 

But Watson kept popping his head into West’s doorway each year, making conversation, seeing what material the Brenham coach had on his roster. One of West’s players, running back Lester Ward, even signed with Nebraska in 2008.

 

That signing day stands out, sure. But just the fact a Husker coach keeps showing up each year means the most to West.

 

“I have a biased opinion, but I don’t want to see Nebraska change conferences,” West said. “I can’t deny the fact that I really appreciate having them come into our school. Having a coach with that red ‘N’ on his shirt walk through your door still means a lot.”

 

There is the constant drum beat of speculation that can’t be ignored — WILL NEBRASKA JOIN THE BIG TEN? — and then there are the sidebars to accompany that speculation.

 

Among the more alluring questions: What impact would a move have on Husker recruiting? More specifically, would a conference shift diminish the recruiting success Nebraska has experienced in Texas in recent years?

 

Nebraska has made recruiting the Lone Star state one of its top priorities. There are 25 Texans on the current Husker football roster.

 

Since Bo Pelini became Nebraska’s head coach, the Huskers have had 22 signees from the state in Pelini’s first three recruiting classes.

 

But what if (with emphasis on the “if”) Nebraska becomes part of the Big Ten? The Huskers would be entering a conference that has minimal recruiting presence in the state of Texas.

 

Look at the 11 football rosters of the Big Ten schools and you won’t find 50 players with Texas ties.

 

Purdue leads the way with 12 players from the state. Minnesota has nine. Northwestern has seven. Everyone else, a handful. A couple of schools have none.

 

West has never seen a coach from Ohio State, Michigan or Penn State in his school. Those three programs combined have just 10 Texans on their rosters.

 

“Sporadic” is how Keller High School coach Kevin Atkinson describes Big Ten recruiting in the state.

 

“They kind of come in from time to time,” said Atkinson, the coach of offensive lineman Nick Ash, a 2009 Husker signee.

 

That’s not to say recruiting Texas is the be-all and end-all. Big Ten schools are making their recruiting hay elsewhere. Ohio State, with two Texans on its current roster, hasn’t exactly struggled to win games.

 

And even if Nebraska did align with the Big Ten, the Huskers would still gain recruits from Texas just as they do from California despite rarely playing in the state. (NU has signed nine players from California in Pelini’s first three classes.)

 

But certainly recruiting the state could become more challenging.

 

“I think the biggest obstacle is they won’t be able to sell kids that they’ll be playing games in the state of Texas every single season,” said Jeremy Crabtree, Rivals.com national recruiting editor.

 

West agreed Nebraska not playing games in Texas would have some impact, though it’s tough to say how much.

 

“In the big scheme of things, will it be used against Nebraska by some other coaches? Yes. But make no mistake, Nebraska’s leaving would hurt the Big 12,” West said. “It would hurt them bad.”

 

What about television? If Nebraska moves, there’s the Big Ten Network. All the games are on TV. That could be a selling point to a recruit and his family, right? Well, yes, though maybe not as much as one might think.

 

“When we poll kids and ask them what their No. 1 reason to make decisions are, I can tell you that TV isn’t in the Top 5 at this point,” Crabtree said. “I think that fact is a little bit overblown, especially with so many schools being on television all over the country right now.”

 

As for some advantages a conference change could bring to Husker recruiting? Perhaps Nebraska expands its reach in other places.

 

Crabtree doesn’t hesitate when asked an area NU might hit even harder if it were to join the Big Ten.

 

“Ohio, Ohio, Ohio,” he said. “It’s not like Texas, per se, where there’s 300-plus (Division I-level) kids. But there’s probably upwards of 50 to 60 kids that could play at an upper level in a BCS conference each year in the state of Ohio.”

 

There’s also a line of thinking that a conference change wouldn’t hurt Husker recruiting in Texas that much at all. After all, recruiting is about building relationships more than anything.

 

Husker coaches already have those relationships with high school coaches down there. Whether Nebraska is playing in Iowa City or College Station doesn’t change that.

 

“That’s one positive that gets overlooked quite a bit,” Crabtree said. “It’s these relationships with high school coaches who are often the gatekeepers to the recruits. You have to get your foot in the door first, otherwise you have zero ability to even have success.”

 

As that goes, West thinks the Husker football program has made great strides.

 

“Up and coming would be the thought we have about Nebraska,” he said. “Up and coming.”

 

Leave all the other stuff out of it. Nothing recruits like winning.

 

“I can tell you this,” West said. “USC does not play a single game in the state of Texas. But if USC walked in the door and they wanted one of our kids, they would get instant results. Our kids would be interested immediately.

 

“Winning counts the most. If Nebraska gets back to the Nebraska of old, it won’t matter what conference they’re in.”

 

LINK

[irieboy8]

the thing that stood out to me is the part when the texas coach said the big 10 only pops in to recruit 'sporadicly'

 

i think this would be great for nebraksa who would have a great pipeline for texas kids to play in an elite conference..... we would also bring a new type of recruit to the big-10 and i really wonder how texas kids would stack up against the type of play big 10 recruits bring on a daily basis......

 

 

woud be fun

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

The last line says it all.

[HuskerBruin]

I'm generally a fan of Christopherson, so please don't confuse this as bashing BC. I've seen BC use the stat comparing the number of Texas players on NU's roster (25) to the number on all of the Big 10 rosters combined (47) to make the point that NU might lose some significant recruiting power in Texas if it moves to the Big 10. But I wonder if he's done a similar comparison for another state that is not in NU's or Big 10's region? Try running the numbers for California. I just ran the same comparison for CA that BC did for TX (as per rivals.com) and found that NU has 15 players from CA on their roster, compared to only 11 CA players on all of the Big 10 teams combined. My conclusion from these numbers? NU recruits nationally more than any Big 10 team (by necessity). And I don't see that changing if NU moved to the Big 10. If they make the switch, they'll still recruit TX well just like they recruit CA well in spite of the fact that they can't tell players they will get to play in their home state every year.