Very Encouraging Class

[Goal-line]

Out of the Top 25 classes as rated by ESPNSUCKS:

 

12 of them had the same or worse records than Nebraska. I had it all typed out but then my computer sent me back so you can look that information up yourselves.

 

4 lie outside of major recruiting hotbeds and 3 of them are really close to being in one. Can you name the school and their rank that is the outlier?

 

What separates Georgia from Nebraska is 1 5-star recruit

 

Out of the 24 schools in front of us, Nebraska has a better average star rating than 5 schools and is tied with California

 

A lot of schools in front of us didn't sign 5 star recruits: California, Virginia Tech, South Carolina, Tennesse, LSU, Oregon, Clemson, and Auburn failed to sign 5 star recruits--a total of 8 schools.

 

 

So let's put to bed this idea that class rankings, numbers, and starts mean a third of the story. You'd only be kidding yourself if you did. There's a reason why Alabama and LSU and Oregon and Stanford and all those other schools have been consistently good. It's because they have good coaching, not necessarily because they have good recruiting--although it's hard to say that recruiting doesn't matter...because obviously it does.

 

If all that mattered were class rankings, Wisconsin would finish below us...Michigan State would finish below us, West Virginia would finish below us, Oklahoma State would finish below us, Missouri would finish below us, I could go on and on.

 

And here's something all you naysayers probably didn't care to notice...these rankings systems are subjective and they aren't necessarily correct in any way shape or form. A 5 star recruit could come to a school and NEVER SEE THE FIELD. In the same light a 3 star player could come to a school and TURN INTO A STAR.

 

 

Quit thinking that recruiting is as simple as it is in NCAA Football 12. You can't just select all the 5 star athletes, set the difficult to Freshman and sign the number one recruiting class every year. If you think that is the way recruiting works, you couldn't be any further from the truth. Coaches recruit players who they think they'll have a chance to sign and who fit what they are looking for in their SYSTEM. If you get a player who doesn't fit your system, he isn't going to do jack sh*t for the team.

 

Personally, I like a system that gets us to 13-0, not 9-3. Recruting makes the difference. Granted, stars behind names does not mean much but you have to get some big fish in order to have a successful fish fry. This recruiting class does not have many big fish. Face the truth of the matter.

[ronsss]

i don,t like the football assistants...seems like a bunch of unexperienced folks.....

[TonyStalloni]

If nothing else I hope that coming to a board like this and venting your feelings relieves most of the tension that some of you feel toward these coaches and the state of our football team. For me, I'm not going to crap the bed over the kids we didn't get or couldn't recruit or the perceived liabilities of our coaches. Tom O built a solid program (it took 20 years) from recruiting 3* athletes because he was able to plug them into his system and also because our strength and conditioning far surpassed what any other university was doing at the time. That advantage is nill now however. I remember how many times TO and Charlie McBride took heat from fans in the pre Twitter age for not being able to outrecruit or outcoach Top Twenty opponents.

 

Obviously there are coaching staffs and head coaches with bigger auras that Nebraska's. There are universities with more momentum nationally than what we now have. There are coaches better at x's and o's and player development than our staff though I don't think the gap is huge. I really feel if we get the right players to plug into the system we have and can get everyone on the same page I'll be proud of the product.

 

I love what I see of the film of the recruits we are bringing in this year. It is the smallest class in years yet we found speed and skill from the the ones who signed and filled areas of need. Relish the journey....don't live in fear!

[huskered17]

Hey Goal-line.......

 

Not getting Peat had nothing to do with Pelini. He was a Husker till Stanford offered late. Getting a degree from them means you don't have to kick any doors down to get a job. To some of these kids its not all about football, hence the title STUDENT/ athlete. If their smart enough to go there, than they are also smart enough to think about an injury, or not making it to the next level. Our recruits and some of our coaches are still on a learning curve, with all the changes, the last year. Two years from now should tell us what to expect from this staff and some of these recruits. jmo

 

GBR!!!

[knapplc]

From SI:

 

3. Nebraska: Losing out on five-star Andrus Peat hurt, but the Cornhuskers did add four-star athlete Alonzo Moore and three-star defensive tackles Aaron Curry and Vincent Valentine on National Signing Day.

Read more

Third-ranked class in the Big Ten. Never was going to be any higher than that. Ahead of Wiscy and Northwestern, to whom we lost last year, if anyone recalls.

[robsker]

If nothing else I hope that coming to a board like this and venting your feelings relieves most of the tension that some of you feel toward these coaches and the state of our football team. For me, I'm not going to crap the bed over the kids we didn't get or couldn't recruit or the perceived liabilities of our coaches. Tom O built a solid program (it took 20 years) from recruiting 3* athletes because he was able to plug them into his system and also because our strength and conditioning far surpassed what any other university was doing at the time. That advantage is nill now however. I remember how many times TO and Charlie McBride took heat from fans in the pre Twitter age for not being able to outrecruit or outcoach Top Twenty opponents.

 

Obviously there are coaching staffs and head coaches with bigger auras that Nebraska's. There are universities with more momentum nationally than what we now have. There are coaches better at x's and o's and player development than our staff though I don't think the gap is huge. I really feel if we get the right players to plug into the system we have and can get everyone on the same page I'll be proud of the product.

 

I love what I see of the film of the recruits we are bringing in this year. It is the smallest class in years yet we found speed and skill from the the ones who signed and filled areas of need. Relish the journey....don't live in fear!

 

Wow... nice post. Nice perspective to hold.

 

I can only add this....

 

I would imagine that every player that we signed is reading this thread and frequents this site. To think otherwise is foolish. Young people today are on line and accessing every form of social media --- all the time. Do you think they would somehow skip going to this site where they are being addressed by name? Not a chance.

 

We as fans are here to encourage and cheer and stand behind and absolutely support our players.

 

Support these guys. Each one of them wants to make NU better. How can we not get behind them and root for them? They each chose to join the team we all love. They are now family (of a sort). We should be very pleased with this group. Read the quotes from many of these players and you will see some heart, passion for NU and leadership qualities. This is a good group... maybe a really good group.

 

To each of you from this recruiting class.... welcome to NU. Thank you for choosing us.

[dylan]

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.

[Foppa]

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

[VectorVictor]

From SI:

 

3. Nebraska: Losing out on five-star Andrus Peat hurt, but the Cornhuskers did add four-star athlete Alonzo Moore and three-star defensive tackles Aaron Curry and Vincent Valentine on National Signing Day.

Read more

Third-ranked class in the Big Ten. Never was going to be any higher than that. Ahead of Wiscy and Northwestern, to whom we lost last year, if anyone recalls.

 

 

 

Especially considering tOSU got to dedicate an entire coaching staff, sans one or two coaches, towards recruiting, while another coaching staff prepped them for their loss against Florida.

 

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.

[It'sNotAFakeID]

Some people only believe what they want to believe.

[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.

[Treand3]

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.

[FrankWheeler]

every time you go fishing it's about the one that got away...you know that knapp.

 

And the one that got away was always A LOT bigger in your mind than it was in real life.

[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.

[knapplc]

every time you go fishing it's about the one that got away...you know that knapp.

 

And the one that got away was always A LOT bigger in your mind than it was in real life.

 

Good point. We have five guys on our current O Line, not counting recruits who signed yesterday, who have four stars. Heck, one of our best players last year, Choi, was unrated. But everyone wants to blow a gasket over Peat. It sucks losing Peat. But not to the extent that some people have gone on about. And on. And on. And on. And on. To read some of these posts you'd think this was a bad recruiting class. It wasn't. It met a lot of needs. Not all, but a lot. And the walk-on class is ridiculous.