Scott Frost's "thoughts" from 2005 still relevant today.

[BigRedPowerWagon]

What is the difference between the kids in nebraska in 97 vs the kids in nebraska in 11. Probally nothing, its how you develop that talent. If bo had any questions on how this was done, i believe the man incharge of all of that is sitting in the AD chair. Nothing wrong with the way bo coaches but if you want to make the best with what you have then you need to know how it was done. Nothing wrong with picking TOs brain and i think it was encouraged at one point. You might need to intergrade different systems and play styles but there is really only a couple good formulas to developing talent. Makeing big, powerful players who will play there guts out for you. Develop fundamentals and basics and then re teach, and re teach. Teach disaplin with turnovers and ball control. Making good decisions when on the line things of that nature, bo does ok but he could do better.

[Stumpy1]

What is the difference between the kids in nebraska in 97 vs the kids in nebraska in 11. Probally nothing, its how you develop that talent. If bo had any questions on how this was done, i believe the man incharge of all of that is sitting in the AD chair. Nothing wrong with the way bo coaches but if you want to make the best with what you have then you need to know how it was done. Nothing wrong with picking TOs brain and i think it was encouraged at one point. You might need to intergrade different systems and play styles but there is really only a couple good formulas to developing talent. Makeing big, powerful players who will play there guts out for you. Develop fundamentals and basics and then re teach, and re teach. Teach disaplin with turnovers and ball control. Making good decisions when on the line things of that nature, bo does ok but he could do better.

The mentality of the kids. It's just not in Neb, but everywhere. The kids these days want everything handed to them and do not want to work for it. A guy has to wonder how many kids that have walked on lately just go thru the motions of practice and don't give effort because they are apert of the team and that is good enough.

[skersfan]

Getting walk ons is harder to. The kids are not seeing Nebraska destroy teams during their youth like in the past. Now you have the scholarship limit that does not help as kids that could or would walk on here may have an opportunity to play at Northern Iowa, free and start as a freshman. The history and tradition is what is hurting us there. the current history of Clownahan has hurt the drive to be a Nebraska player in our own state I think.

 

Meyer made the comment yesterday about getting to the high schools and redeveloping their loyaltys to the University. I think Bo does that quite well. But we need the top talent that every other program needs. We have seen that a single player makes a big difference in college football, Tebow, Newton made those teams work.

 

I am not sure if our recruiting is year around or not. Saben made the comment that it is job one at Bama, nothing more important. I am not sure that Bo is on that same page. Could be, but from numbers and level of talent it does not appear to be to me.

 

Again it goes back to experience and knowledge of being a head coach. We are knocking him for things that he has to learn on the fly. Still given time he will round that corner and make Nebraska the program we all want again. Not saying he will win NC's or win CCG's. Just make us proud of our team after every game, I think that is what we are all looking for. To rid ourselves of "It's just one game", attitude.

[BIG ERN]

What is the difference between the kids in nebraska in 97 vs the kids in nebraska in 11. Probally nothing, its how you develop that talent. If bo had any questions on how this was done, i believe the man incharge of all of that is sitting in the AD chair. Nothing wrong with the way bo coaches but if you want to make the best with what you have then you need to know how it was done. Nothing wrong with picking TOs brain and i think it was encouraged at one point. You might need to intergrade different systems and play styles but there is really only a couple good formulas to developing talent. Makeing big, powerful players who will play there guts out for you. Develop fundamentals and basics and then re teach, and re teach. Teach disaplin with turnovers and ball control. Making good decisions when on the line things of that nature, bo does ok but he could do better.

The mentality of the kids. It's just not in Neb, but everywhere. The kids these days want everything handed to them and do not want to work for it. A guy has to wonder how many kids that have walked on lately just go thru the motions of practice and don't give effort because they are apert of the team and that is good enough.

 

I agree. I go back to my home town and have yet to see kids playing basketball on the outside courts in the summer, or playing football at the field. That's ALL my friends and I did when I was in school from like age 7-18. That was only 4 years ago btw.

 

Long story short: I travelled to see my cousins on the east coast this year. Those kids play basketball ALL DAY EVERYDAY. Doesn't always matter your race or where your from, you actually have to go out there and play. That's why NY and others have ridiculous talent out there when it comes to bball. (Sorry, kind of off track but that's how I see it.)

 

My other point is, Tom Osborne was a different animal when it came to having TRUST in players, and being an all around class act. Haven't seen this in Pelini yet. Acts too much like a D coordinator. See Will Muschamp at Florida.

[skersfan]

I see the same things, but even younger. You hardly ever see little kids playing out side, they are locked in their backyards or on the computer at 3 years old. Parents looking for ways too get the kids into advanced programs.

 

I have a 3 year old grand daughter, who turned to me last week after asking her if her 18 month old brother colored that picture, and her remark was. " Ty Ty is not capable of coloring yet". Capable at 3! Kids are way smarter these days, have other interests and other guides to grow by.

 

I can never remember a night in the summer when we did not play kick the can until way past dark, hunting in the woods, or fishing at the lake all summer. Playing sandlot football every nite after school and on the weekends. Things have changed. I would guess it is the same in Nebraska.

 

But this thing right here (computer/internet) is what is changing everything. I remember a picture of the future American, nearly 20 years ago. A giant head and tiny undeveloped body. It looks like we are heading there. At least the NFL and Shac have identified the problem and have come with programs to combat it. Sorry of track, just wanted agree witht he above post. Got carried away.

[Husker in CA]

I think Bo and his staff need to be reaching out to more high schools in Nebraska and getting feelers out to all of the coaches. Maybe tell the coaches what kind of players NU looks for....what they need, etc. I saw a few players on other teams this year from Nebraska that were doing pretty decent things AGAINST us in games. Why or how we didn't end up with them is a moot point. The point is, have great relationships with coaches from all over the state might aid you in getting the tips on good players coming from close to home. Make it so little kids playing pee-wee football want to play for NU and no one else. And keep fueling that fire.

[Mavric]

I'd love it if we could get a lot of Nebraska kids on the field. If someone could point out where we've missed the next Ahman Green or Scott Frost, that would be great. Even the next Russ Hochstien or Eric Anderson. I don't remember them coming through the state.

[tschu]

Great read, thanks for the OP.

[Mid Coast Offense]

I'd love it if we could get a lot of Nebraska kids on the field. If someone could point out where we've missed the next Ahman Green or Scott Frost, that would be great. Even the next Russ Hochstien or Eric Anderson. I don't remember them coming through the state.

 

 

 

I'm not sure about that, but the difference at Nebraska is we DEVELOPED those Nebraska kids.

 

Get them in the weight room, a proper nutrition program, get them at the training table, get them in the rotation practice and Nebraska developed them into CHAMPIONS.

 

 

Trev Alberts is a prime example. As a senior in high school Trev Alberts was only 220 pounds! Tom Osborne saw the potential in the kid where no one else did.

 

 

 

Here is Trev's story.

 

A Walk Down Recruiting Memory Lane: Trev Alberts

 

Couldn't pass up Nebraska opportunity

 

Feb. 7, 2007 By Trev Alberts

Special to CSTV.com

 

 

I really was not a highly recruited player at all. I grew up in northwest Iowa and didn't know a whole lot about the process. Nobody from my high school had gotten a scholarship to a school. It wasn't something I grew up dreaming of doing

 

My first experience with recruiting was my second game of my senior year. Former Ohio State coach Earle Bruce, who was then head coach at UNI, called my house. I was outside raking leaves, my mom answered the phone and he said he had watched me play a couple of games and wanted me to come play for him under scholarship.

 

I didn't know anything about it so I talked to my parents, talked to my high school football coach who was also my math teacher - we were a small school that only graduated about 60 students per class. There wasn't a real heavy emphasis on sports - But we put together a recruiting tape after that thinking there may be others interested.

 

I had had a little contact with Iowa and Iowa State. Then Iowa State offered me a scholarship and Minnesota offered me a scholarship. But Iowa was sort of being hesitant. I think they were sort of hoping to convince me to walk-on.

 

Then my high school principal, who was a huge Nebraska fan, cut out an article of me and sent a letter to Dave Gillespie, the recruiting coordinator at Nebraska, and said, "You might want to think about looking at this kid." Gillespie then called my high school coach and asked for a film. We sent tape of a couple of games and it was a week later when I was in accounting class and my high school coach came in and said, "You're not going to believe it. Nebraska called!"

 

About a week later, John Melton, the former inside linebacker coach there, was at my door and was there to offer me a scholarship to play football at Nebraska. It was a fast deal. I think Nebraska probably lost out on some bigger names, bigger recruits than I was.

 

At that point, Iowa realized Nebraska was serious about me, and they quickly offered me a scholarship. That didn't sit real well with me. It was really hard and I had initially committed to Iowa, specifically, verbally committed to Dan McCarney.

 

Then my dad said, "I would understand completely if you would like to take a trip to Nebraska. Of course we know you're not going to go there. But just go see what they got."

 

We went to Nebraska and we were literally stunned at what we saw in terms of the facilities. I remember being in the old Fleetwood Cadillac, heading down Interstate 80 East and saw everything Nebraska had to offer and knew that was the place I wanted to go. I knew I was going to disappoint my family and the Iowa coaches.

 

But my dad broke the ice and said "Look Trev, of course me and mom would like to see you in Iowa City."

 

And I had grown up a huge Iowa fan, but he said, "If you choose to go to Nebraska, we would understand why."

 

I was just so impressed with Coach Tom Osborne and his philosophies. Football was always down on the list. He talked about developing the whole man, about developing you spiritually, socially and academically. Really the athletic part was at the end. His feeling was if you had a kid who had his academic life, spiritual life and social life in order, the athletic part would just naturally follow.

 

Unlike other coaches who promise playing time and that you'll start, he never promised me anything. He promised me the opportunity to compete. And I really appreciated that. If you're good enough, you'll play as a freshman. If you're not good enough as a senior, you're not going to play. I really liked that. There were no false pretenses. It was real simple.

 

 

I had made up my mind that I was going to Nebraska and I called Coach McCarney and broke the news and he was not real pleased. But he understood. He was classy. He understood the opportunity. Iowa was still building its program at the time.

 

I didn't know much about Nebraska football. I didn't know anything about the history. I could have named every player at Iowa through the 80s. I knew every one of them. I didn't know much about tradition at Nebraska, but I knew about the Oklahoma games, I knew they set the standard, at that time, for winning and doing it the right way. They had the most academic All-Americans. They took their academics seriously first, then took their football seriously.

 

There was a passion, a devotion and a demand of excellence there that was just remarkable. I could just feel it when I walked around. I was humbled with the opportunity to get to go and play.

 

UNI, which was Division I-AA (now the FCS), Minnesota, Iowa and Iowa State were all after me and then there was Nebraska. Nebraska was clearly the cream of the crop. And I was honestly a little bit stunned when they offered me a scholarship. I was up for a challenge and I remember leaving and my dad said, "Don't fail. Don't come home because you got kicked out of school either because you flunked out or got in trouble."

[Enhance]

I'd love it if we could get a lot of Nebraska kids on the field. If someone could point out where we've missed the next Ahman Green or Scott Frost, that would be great. Even the next Russ Hochstien or Eric Anderson. I don't remember them coming through the state.

I could be mistaken, but Green was pretty highly touted coming out of high school and didn't just get offers from Nebraska. My guess is he was a three or four star player. Those kind of talented running backs are practically non-existent in OPS or Millard schools right now.

 

I mean if Osborne thought Nebraska running backs were good enough to populate almost the entire running back group in '95 save for Phillips, then he must have thought we had really good talent. If Pelini has practically no Nebraska running back talent, that must mean there's a dip right now. But as someone else said, the player itself isn't always the ultimate factor. Development plays a huge role as well. I mean you could pick any number of guys from an Osborne team that would have never played a snap at another division one school, especially guys like our fullbacks, yet we found uses for them here.

 

We've given scholarships to the guys we couldn't let get away, namely Crick and Rodriguez. A lot of people harp on the 'Nebraska kids' populating the roster, but they often forget about guys like Crick. He may have had a down year, but he still put together a pretty good career at Nebraska.

[bshirt]

I am all for walk-ons and I understand the "pride", but lets face it, that 97' team prolly won't happen for another 30 years having that many starters on offense from Nebraska. He didn't mention that we had a VERY GOOD defense and all of them WEREN'T from Nebraska.

 

Another thing, Tom Osborne is one of the greatest college coaches of all time.

I don't think Frost or anybody is saying we need that many Nebraska kids to succeed. His point, more or less, is that doing things a certain way with certain players worked beautifully for Nebraska. As far as the defense goes, this is the one side of the ball where we need to recruit talent that I don't think is available in Nebraska. You can get away with a couple of playmakers and a great offensive line, but you need a great defense to compete nationally.

 

Honestly, I think more than anything you can attribute Nebraska's success in football to the great lines they had, both offense and defense. If you can produce excellent line play on both sides of the ball, everything else is much less difficult to manage.

 

Nailed it!

[HSKR]

We need more guys like Harrison Beck???

 

[melscott62]

I've always thought that one of the key things that controls our talent level is the talent coming out of the state. look at our good years and look at the Nebraska kids... and dont kid yourself... they were studs out of HS and could have gone to any school in the country. its goes in cycles. guys like frost, crouch, green....

[HuskerShark]

I'd love it if we could get a lot of Nebraska kids on the field. If someone could point out where we've missed the next Ahman Green or Scott Frost, that would be great. Even the next Russ Hochstien or Eric Anderson. I don't remember them coming through the state.

 

What, having one Lance Thorell out there isn't good enough for ya?

[74Hunter]

A couple of thoughts:

 

1) Ahman Green was the top rated recruit to come out of the state in a long time, and that included some very, very good players during that time. If it was now, he would have no doubt been a 4*, but more likely a 5* recruit. He was probably the most highly rate recruit out of Nebraska in the past 25 years, with the exception (maybe) of Baker. It was an odd period, because we really had a lot of highly rated in-state recruits during that time, compared to what we have had in the past 15 years or so.

 

2) We did have a lot of walk ons, most of them Nebraska kids, who contributed during Osborne's golden era. A lot were lineman, but Clint Brown, Jason Pesterfield, Joel Wilks, Adam Treu, Mike Fullman, Scott Saltsman, Bill Humphries, Matt Hoskinson, the Makovickas, Brendan Holbein, Jeff Lake, Matt Shaw (I think), etc., all were walkons who contributed greatly to those MNC teams.