Very Encouraging Class

[robsker]

Does anyone really expect us to close the gap with OSU (with their coaches) or with Michigan (with their coaches and their being on a recent upswing)? Certainly we might desire, draem and wish for a "gap-closing" recruiting class. But that cannot be the standard we use to assess this class. It is a good class. Smaller than, but likely comparable to NU's recent classes in terms of talent per person. And, the needs that were most pressing were addressed.

 

C'mon...everyone knows that the white, sandy beaches in Ann Arbor and Columbus, combined with warm weather year-round, attract all the good recruits away from Nebraska, who can't compete with that type of advantage

 

 

Its not the beaches or the weather --- but the quality (or, at least perceived quality) of their coaching staffs relative to ours --- and the recent success (of Michigan) and the amount of on-board talent and new staff (for OSU) that are the draw. NU cannot compete against that --- not with our current staff and our lack of competitiveness over the past 10 years.

 

One other important factor of those two places are the steady flow of local talent. Its not like these schools are pulling a lot of CA or FL kids. Like TX and OU, when we were in the Big XII, it doesn't matter who's coaching, there a will always be an available flow of 'star' power.

very good point

[knapplc]

Some people only believe what they want to believe.

 

And around here if you don’t believe what every else believes you are a fool and an outcast.

 

 

No, you're a fool and an outcast because all you ever do is bitch. You bitch about the coaches, you bitch about the players, you bitch about the members of this board. And people don't like that? GO FIGURE.

[It'sNotAFakeID]

Some people only believe what they want to believe.

 

And around here if you don’t believe what every else believes you are a fool and an outcast.

 

I guess I should clarify. It's not that I alienate EVERYONE who disagrees with the happiness and daisies mind set. I'm all up for a rational argument, but a majority of posters who I will not name (and whom you are not a part of) can't make an argument rationally.

 

I'm up for disagreement. What I'm not up for is an irrational argument.

[Pedro Guerrero]

Some people only believe what they want to believe.

And around here if you don’t believe what every else believes you are a fool and an outcast.

No, you're a fool and an outcast because all you ever do is bitch. You bitch about the coaches, you bitch about the players, you bitch about the members of this board. And people don't like that? GO FIGURE.

 

And you go out of your way to try and make people feel beneath you and some don’t like that. GO FIGURE

[Pedro Guerrero]

And didn't Michigan have something like 25 scholarships to give? If I'm recalling correctly, this would be an example of quantity over quality, to some extent.

 

So Michigan signed 25 kids to our 17. Take Michigan’s best 17 and do you still believe they are only ranked higher then NU because of “quantity over quality”?

Michigan’s Top 17 recruits average Stars – 3.82

Nebraska’s Top 17 recruits average Stars – 3.35

Ohio State’s Top 17 recruits average Stars – 4.05

[FrankWheeler]

And didn't Michigan have something like 25 scholarships to give? If I'm recalling correctly, this would be an example of quantity over quality, to some extent.

 

So Michigan signed 25 kids to our 17. Take Michigan’s best 17 and do you still believe they are only ranked higher then NU because of “quantity over quality”?

 

Michigan’s Top 17 recruits average Stars – 3.82

Nebraska’s Top 17 recruits average Stars – 3.35

Ohio State’s Top 17 recruits average Stars – 4.05

 

If Nebraska could pick up 5 kids from in-state that were 4 stars like Michigan and Ohio St. do it would definitely help this cause. Nebraska doesn't have the talent in-state that they can pick off like these two schools do. Ohio State and Michigan have essentially locked down the top high school talent in their two states.

 

Nebraska does equally as well as the other schools recruiting outside of their borders. This is why the walk-on program is so important.

[RockyMountainOySker]

This thread is hilarious.

 

And I have absolutely nothing to add.

[NUance]

And didn't Michigan have something like 25 scholarships to give? If I'm recalling correctly, this would be an example of quantity over quality, to some extent.

 

So Michigan signed 25 kids to our 17. Take Michigan’s best 17 and do you still believe they are only ranked higher then NU because of “quantity over quality”?

 

Michigan’s Top 17 recruits average Stars – 3.82

Nebraska’s Top 17 recruits average Stars – 3.35

Ohio State’s Top 17 recruits average Stars – 4.05

 

Well sure. If you cherry pick the top 17 of tOSU and Michigan and lop off the bottom of their class their numbers will go up. What did you expect?

[knapplc]

And didn't Michigan have something like 25 scholarships to give? If I'm recalling correctly, this would be an example of quantity over quality, to some extent.

 

So Michigan signed 25 kids to our 17. Take Michigan’s best 17 and do you still believe they are only ranked higher then NU because of “quantity over quality”?

 

Michigan’s Top 17 recruits average Stars – 3.82

Nebraska’s Top 17 recruits average Stars – 3.35

Ohio State’s Top 17 recruits average Stars – 4.05

 

Well sure. If you cherry pick the top 17 of tOSU and Michigan and lop off the bottom of their class their numbers will go up. What did you expect?

 

Kind of going out of his way to make Nebraska feel beneath OSU and Michigan. Weird.

[NUance]

This thread is hilarious.

 

And I have absolutely nothing to add.

 

Hilarious? Or sad? I can't believe Husker "fans" bashing on NU's recruits, coaches--hell, most everything NU.

 

 

Wake me up when the off season is over. I'm going to join Punxsutawney Phil and head back into my hole for the winter.

[RockyMountainOySker]

This thread is hilarious.

 

And I have absolutely nothing to add.

 

Hilarious? Or sad? I can't believe Husker "fans" bashing on NU's recruits, coaches--hell, most everything NU.

 

 

Wake me up when the off season is over. I'm going to join Punxsutawney Phil and head back into my hole for the winter.

You are absolutely correct, Nuance. It is sad. I just try to be an optimist....not much point in being anything else.

[zoogs]

Not to change the intent of the OP for this thread (which, oddly, was me) --- but the primary reason for not competing overly with the top teams in the B1G is more a function of coaching than talent --- both are an issue... but the coaching gap is really, really huge.

 

I am not too sure that it is. Bo is a superlative defensive coordinator and no matter who else we have, this is Bo's defense. We have some solid positions coaches on offense and I like Beck - he may not be great yet, but I don't think that really puts us at a huge coaching disadvantage. Guys like Raymond, Beck, Ron Brown, Garrison...even if we do have some weak positions coaches, I think the same can be said for every program.

 

--

 

Ultimately, this class has 17 talented players. For a class of 17, we did a good job, and from that perspective, NSD was a success. Moore and one DT were requisites, without which the last day would have been a failure IMO, but we secured both DTs on the board, and both of them were highly sought after, talented kids. It all starts with the DL on defense, and we needed this, badly.

 

However, the reason to harp on this class is that we didn't sign 20 guys. This is a valid complaint. We need to inject more flesh blood into the roster on a yearly basis because sometimes, it doesn't work out, and we're looking at the DL or secondary or WRs, etc and seeing all those recruited bodies, but no big-time athletes stepping up.

 

Recruiting is always a numbers game and the fact that this would be a small class was decided a long time ago. That is where the disappointment really lies. The disappointment of not getting commits faster has been wiped away by yet another torrid paced January and furious NSD, but we're still short up on the numbers, and this is the kind of thing that can hurt us down the road.

 

I hope everyone can take this as a reasonable criticism of the 2012 recruiting process as a whole, and not a panicky "the world is falling, these recruits suck!", pessimistic kind of response.

[bshirt]

knapplc..........give your tired little Pelini is god speel a rest...........Today actually proved something, whether you accept it or not........The state of Nebraska's football program is reality right now, Pelini is a HUGE blackeye for our program! Name ONE division 1 program that would have Barney Cotton as their OL coach. Just one.

 

you've yet to provide any evidence since the last time that i asked that pelini's demeanor has any effect on our recruiting. this may come as a surprise to you, but there are quite a few fiery football coaches in the world. i have no idea why the local media and some of the fans think it is such a big deal. so far i have seen quite a few quotes from players that like pelini. i've yet to see any that mentioned his behavior as a reason not to play here.

 

as to cotton, i'm pretty sure we had a good offensive line last year. not yet up to mid-90's standards, but it's been improving over the last couple of seasons and looked pretty good for most the year. i know he's everyone's favorite whipping boy, and that he doesn't deserve any credit for the play of his offensive line, but something seems to be working there.

Improving Offensive Line? What the hell are you smoking? What games were you watching?

 

solid analysis. we ran for over 200 yards a game, much of it with a grind it out style. in multiple games against quality opponents, we ran the ball down their throats to close out games. did burkhead block for himself? if there's a problem with this offense, it's turnovers and a need for increased efficiency from the passing game (part of that is on the receivers for drops). could the line be better? obviously, but to pretend we didn't have a good offensive line last year (probably the best we've had since 2001) is silly.

 

Silly?

 

Rushing YPG & YPC go seriously down from 2010 but we have to "pretend" to believe we didn't have good Oline play?

[It'sNotAFakeID]

And didn't Michigan have something like 25 scholarships to give? If I'm recalling correctly, this would be an example of quantity over quality, to some extent.

 

So Michigan signed 25 kids to our 17. Take Michigan’s best 17 and do you still believe they are only ranked higher then NU because of “quantity over quality”?

 

Michigan’s Top 17 recruits average Stars – 3.82

Nebraska’s Top 17 recruits average Stars – 3.35

Ohio State’s Top 17 recruits average Stars – 4.05

 

Cherry-picking statistics to skew things how you want to skew them...doesn't work for me. That's like taking Bo's last 5 games as Husker head coach and saying he is 2-3 to prove that he's an awful coach.

[Goal-line]

solid analysis. we ran for over 200 yards a game, much of it with a grind it out style. in multiple games against quality opponents, we ran the ball down their throats to close out games. did burkhead block for himself? if there's a problem with this offense, it's turnovers and a need for increased efficiency from the passing game (part of that is on the receivers for drops). could the line be better? obviously, but to pretend we didn't have a good offensive line last year (probably the best we've had since 2001) is silly.

 

How many of those yards on the ground did Rex get with his own individual effort after contact? How many well blocked runs did we have for over 10 yards? Rex is a quality back. He had to carriy the ball 284 times. We had 21 QB sacks! That does not include rushing losses behind the line of scrimage. NU has a lot of young OL players. Maybe it will get better. I am betting as long as Cotton is OL coach it will not evolve into a quality line. Peat was a huge miss.