Historical recruiting battles lost………

[Comish]

While many marinate in the recruiting pot by parsing every adolescent tweet for deeper denotation, it might be interesting to recall past recruiting efforts that generated a lot of angst before subsequently leading to Husker disappointments.

 

Especially if there is a decent narrative accompanying the tale……..

 

Here are two I can immediately summon………(btw, if these are apocryphal, someone please correct me………….but this is how I recall being told it went down……)

 

Emmett Smith: Supposedly, he had assured us he was N, but at the infamous hat ceremony, he replaced the Red by doffing the Florida bonnet, claiming that he and his family just had to stay “close”.

 

Donavan McNabb: I had long heard that he was excited to play option QB for T.O., but was equally serious about doubling up in basketball. Supposedly, T.O. signed off on the deal, but Danny Nee WOULDN’T………??

 

It strains credulity to think Nee wouldn’t have taken him (if he had to share), but that is the story I’ve always been told. Again, if anyone can debunk this………….please do. (I’d probably feel better if it weren’t true)

 

It would be interesting to hear what other posters can recall about last minute decisions………….

[308_Husker]

Charlie Mcbride was recruiting Barry Sanders very hard and Sanders was going to commit and sign his LOI to Nebraska. However, Johnny Rodgers son committed and McBride turned down Sanders.

 

Johnny's son never saw the field and Sanders won the Heisman trophy.

[Comish]

Charlie Mcbride was recruiting Barry Sanders very hard and Sanders was going to commit and sign his LOI to Nebraska. However, Johnny Rodgers son committed and McBride turned down Sanders.

 

Johnny's son never saw the field and Sanders won the Heisman trophy.

 

If true, what a travesty..................Sanders was undoubtedly the most exciting runner I have ever seen.............

 

In fact even though Okie lite had Thurman Thomas ahead of him, I still marveled at Pat Jones keeping Barry off the field for so long.......

[caveman99]

Charlie Mcbride was recruiting Barry Sanders very hard and Sanders was going to commit and sign his LOI to Nebraska. However, Johnny Rodgers son committed and McBride turned down Sanders.

 

Johnny's son never saw the field and Sanders won the Heisman trophy.

The story told by one of TOs lead recruiter, for some reason his name escapes me, tells a good one about Marshall Faulk. Supposedly MF only wanted to play RB, didn't even want to entertain playing DB. The lead recruiter briefed everyone before MF's visit, but during the OV an unnamed Defensive Coach passed MF on his tour and mentioned how good MF would look on the defensive side of the ball.

[caveman99]

Charlie Mcbride was recruiting Barry Sanders very hard and Sanders was going to commit and sign his LOI to Nebraska. However, Johnny Rodgers son committed and McBride turned down Sanders.

 

Johnny's son never saw the field and Sanders won the Heisman trophy.

 

If true, what a travesty..................Sanders was undoubtedly the most exciting runner I have ever seen.............

 

In fact even though Okie lite had Thurman Thomas ahead of him, I still marveled at Pat Jones keeping Barry off the field for so long.......

I think TO had a hand in that one, he believed Barry was too small I believe. I seem to recall TO stating later how he regretted not taking Barry.

[Muck]

Hard to believe the hat switch nonsense has been going on that long.

[PaulCrewe]

Charlie Mcbride was recruiting Barry Sanders very hard and Sanders was going to commit and sign his LOI to Nebraska. However, Johnny Rodgers son committed and McBride turned down Sanders.

 

Johnny's son never saw the field and Sanders won the Heisman trophy.

 

If true, what a travesty..................Sanders was undoubtedly the most exciting runner I have ever seen.............

 

In fact even though Okie lite had Thurman Thomas ahead of him, I still marveled at Pat Jones keeping Barry off the field for so long.......

I think TO had a hand in that one, he believed Barry was too small I believe. I seem to recall TO stating later how he regretted not taking Barry.

This is more along the lines. TO and the offensive staff over ruled Charlie when filling the one RB spot in that class. Thus a "full court press" on JRJ and parting ways with Barry. Charlie has said after the 63-42 game with OSU in '88, he jokingly asked TO if he would listen to him more when discussing offensive recruits after that.

 

As far as my miss and he was a huge one(literally and figurally) Haloti Ngata. #2 prospect in the nation in the 2002 class out of Salt Lake City. Was pretty much all sewn up. Then the Ducks came in and continually pushed the "lack of a Polynesean community" at UNL and discovered mom liked that fact about Eugene. He should have been sporting scarlet and cream,

[NoLongerN]

Guys, stop pulling on my emotions. How 'bout a few we won ... even thou the thread is labeled "lost". :-)

[caveman99]

Guys, stop pulling on my emotions. How 'bout a few we won ... even thou the thread is labeled "lost". :-)

I am pretty sure it was Turner Gill who a member of the staff went down to babysit the night before signing day. They stayed at a friend's or family's house nearby to ensure Barry Switzer couldn't find him.

[MinnwiscowaSker]

Guys, stop pulling on my emotions. How 'bout a few we won ... even thou the thread is labeled "lost". :-)

I am pretty sure it was Turner Gill who a member of the staff went down to babysit the night before signing day. They stayed at a friend's or family's house nearby to ensure Barry Switzer couldn't find him.

If I remember right, we once had one of our coaches out with a kid (maybe Turner??) and they were going back to the house. They looked in the window and Bobby Bowden was in the kid's house. They hid in the bushes because the kid didn't want to go talk to Bowden.

[NUance]

Haloti Ngata.

[Comish]

Guys, stop pulling on my emotions. How 'bout a few we won ... even thou the thread is labeled "lost". :-)

 

Of course that is the follow up idea.................I was going to start a parallel thread on "wins" later to get the taste out of our mouths. That would be appropriate after signing day imo.

 

I just figured it was good to remember during this recruiting cycle that since you don't always get them all, we have had some notable misses before, and will again...... and yet the sky won't fall.

 

Plus, the accompanying stories are all part of Husker lore..........

[Michiganball]

Charlie Mcbride was recruiting Barry Sanders very hard and Sanders was going to commit and sign his LOI to Nebraska. However, Johnny Rodgers son committed and McBride turned down Sanders.

 

Johnny's son never saw the field and Sanders won the Heisman trophy.

 

If true, what a travesty..................Sanders was undoubtedly the most exciting runner I have ever seen.............

 

In fact even though Okie lite had Thurman Thomas ahead of him, I still marveled at Pat Jones keeping Barry off the field for so long.......

 

I second that, that would be the biggest blown call in college recruiting, much like in the NFL Green bay recruiting Brian Bosworth instead of Sanders. I have never seen anything like Sanders in my life, but hope to see it again.

[nhuskers5]

Charlie Mcbride was recruiting Barry Sanders very hard and Sanders was going to commit and sign his LOI to Nebraska. However, Johnny Rodgers son committed and McBride turned down Sanders.

 

Johnny's son never saw the field and Sanders won the Heisman trophy.

 

If true, what a travesty..................Sanders was undoubtedly the most exciting runner I have ever seen.............

 

In fact even though Okie lite had Thurman Thomas ahead of him, I still marveled at Pat Jones keeping Barry off the field for so long.......

 

I second that, that would be the biggest blown call in college recruiting, much like in the NFL Green bay recruiting Brian Bosworth instead of Sanders. I have never seen anything like Sanders in my life, but hope to see it again.

 

What about LaMichael James? Weren't we in his top two or something?

[TonyStalloni]

The failure to obtain Carl Crawfords LOI was something that probably changed Husker History for years. Had he come to play QB under Solich he would have been the QB after Crouch and Jamal Lord could have been the D Back he was intended to be. I'm not saying CC would have guaranteed us a top 5 finish but we'd have been better no doubt and might have saved Solich's career here......so we could still be debating that!