To Those of You Who Want to be Educated on Recruiting

[MLB 51]

Thanks for the time and effort you put into this EZ. Excellent breakdown.

[MLB 51]

It's amazing how short-sighted some of the posters are when it comes to recruiting. Stars only show a subjective rating of the potential of a recruit. It still takes a good coaching staff to develop those players. And if you don't look at all the other schools that recruited the recruits we got and think that we only got players who were targeted by Bowling Green, Ohio, and Buffalo...but we didn't.

This. Fact is. Some will never pleased with who we get.

[jsneb83]

Well put EZ, but I wouldn't know what you are talking about.

 

We need Dick Clique T-Shirts and we will start our own tailgates next year. We wont let anyone else in either. Because we are dicks.

I found the shirt you could wear.

 

[zoogs]

There were plenty of major division one college coaches that wanted a lot of the football players in our class.

 

...but when they don't, we don't care because they are worthless coaching staffs with high turnover

 

Just busting your balls here, I don't disagree with what you are saying.

[irieboy8]

i am a little miffed at the class... i promised myself i would trust the staff... and i do... but i think for me personally we heard JP and the boys talk about how we are going after all these top guys and going after the 'name brand' guys.. then it seems like we didnt get any and when the staff realized it then we started seeing threads that guys nobody had ever heard about for the last 6/7/8/9 months... a lot of us were left shaking our heads... if these guys were sooo epic we would have gone after then from day one... this isnt to say they wont pan out and saying things like 'well they suck and blah blah blah' is just being stupid but clearly we didnt' get who we wanted and had to go with option b. this is why a lot of people are bummed out.. .we are still on that bubble and many figure we should be upping our recruiting game and landing some of our first choice top targets whether they are a 5 4 3 or 2 star guys.....

 

i am proud of the guys we did get and hope they do well.. truth be told we got a lot of awesome kids and perhaps a few "sleepers" which is a word i hate and is kinda a cop out.. but whatever...

 

personally im stoked on GM, PT, MS, ZA, VV, TA and JW

[Muck]

Pardon me but where do Those of Us Who Want to be Educated on Fly Fishing go?

 

Thank you.

[NoLongerN]

i am a little miffed at the class... i promised myself i would trust the staff... and i do... but i think for me personally we heard JP and the boys talk about how we are going after all these top guys and going after the 'name brand' guys.. then it seems like we didnt get any and when the staff realized it then we started seeing threads that guys nobody had ever heard about for the last 6/7/8/9 months... a lot of us were left shaking our heads... if these guys were sooo epic we would have gone after then from day one... this isnt to say they wont pan out and saying things like 'well they suck and blah blah blah' is just being stupid but clearly we didnt' get who we wanted and had to go with option b. this is why a lot of people are bummed out.. .we are still on that bubble and many figure we should be upping our recruiting game and landing some of our first choice top targets whether they are a 5 4 3 or 2 star guys.....

 

i am proud of the guys we did get and hope they do well.. truth be told we got a lot of awesome kids and perhaps a few "sleepers" which is a word i hate and is kinda a cop out.. but whatever...

 

personally im stoked on GM, PT, MS, ZA, VV, TA and JW

 

Irieboy8, I read your post ... and I agree as well. I know you like the post by EZ as well ... the fans like us like who we got ... but it doesn't negate what you said and feel. I could have said the same post as you. What I wanted to say to you and the board is that we did go after these kids ... we "wiffed" and we failed ... but we did do it. I credit the staff ... they went out and recruited ... did their best ... and missed on a 4-6 top players we wanted ... which probably would have put us in the top 10-15 (heck, Peat alone would have given us quite the bump) ... and then no one, atleast those that look at stars, would complain.

 

I have two points to make, first, we saw on those we missed that we make some recruiting mistakes in how we were approaching these guys and the type of "sell" we would closing with (note to self ... we also saw some guys we got because of our approach). To me, we missed on some guys because of some "growing pains" and we learned some lessons (staying on guys) that I think we mature with and apply going into next year. I think the star chasers also need to realize that we are gonna lose the "premadonna" (spelling?) to a school like UCLA ... it's gonna happen ... but you can't build your team with players that aren't thinking football and Huskers anyways. Second, to me, it's all those "little things" on the field that we do that hurt recruiting and the perception of Husker football. Look at all those mistakes ... the penalties, the dropped pass, the fumble, the interception, missing the key conversion, missed tackles, the strong 4th quarter, the key drive, winning the big game, winning the bowl game ... all these things build or deflate momentum for recruiting. To me, we need these type of things to go our way on the field ... and we really have not seen Bo, company and players find enough "success" in these areas ... and it hurts us.

 

So, when I see us moving down the draft chart to grab the next best player ... I don't fault the staff ... they are fielding the best team they can and I'm with you ... I trust them. I can't make the statement WAHusker did because who am I to judge these class and it's future as a failure? There is no way we can know that. You can do it in terms of stars and rankings by Rivals/Scout/247/ESPN and their evaluations ... but that still doesn't judge what happens with those kids in four years of coaching. As a fan, I have to judge it based on the merits of the play in HS and the stars given or the evaluation of a recruiting who knows more then I do.

 

Kudos to what you said and how you said it Irieboy8. I love reading your thoughts.

[bshirt]

You can find my thread that I started before the year saying most of this.

 

Before the year began I said that because of our offensive line's inexperience, we were in year four of a five year project. We started 3 walk-ons at those spots at times this year. I am sorry and this might be the most "un-Nebraska Way" thing that I ever say, but walk-ons were not offered scholarships for a reason. There are many success stories and they are very important to our program, but to claim that we can have a very successful line in this day in age of college football starting 3 walk-ons is absurd.

 

Now if you will remember back to Callahan's 2008 recruiting class, when he was fired we lost:

 

1) Dan Hoch - Starter at Mizzou

2) Trevor Robinson - was committed, wasn't committed. Im not sure if he would have ever been a husker no matter who the coach was.

3) Bryce Givens - Believe he started at Colorado(?)

4) Riley Reiff - Number 8 overall prospect on Mel Kiper's big board. (bet a lot of you don't remember that?)

 

All of you realize that these kids were either Seniors last year or RS Juniors right? This would be our OL. After we lost those four, we grabbed Brandon Thompson (injuries have plaqued his career but has contributed), Ricky Henry (NFL football player), and David Grant (?). Bo had roughly a month and a half to recruit in that cycle.

 

The above part is mostly for Goalline to educate himself.

 

Now for those of you who dont know how recruiting works and are star gazzers, you recruit players that you think can help you when they are sophomores, juniors, and seniors. When freshman play it is usually more of an indication of lack of depth at that certain position than it is the player's ability. Obviously there are always exceptions.

 

Let me give you my honest opinion on all of these guys as I have broken down all of their tape. For those of you who don't think that I can do it, you were not here in 2009 at all.

 

1) Afalava - Very athletic LB prospect. Around 6ft2 220 pounds and has room to put weight on. What I like most about him is how much leverage and strength he plays with at the LOS. In his tape you can also notice how he is always swatting at the ball when he wraps up. Always looking to get after the football. People do realize that the staff was more impressed with how well he developed his senior year than Quanzell Lambert?

 

2) Alexander - Will say that Leroy's hips and cover skills are a bit lazy, but he plays his assignments very well and he is athetic to boot. Never really in the wrong place on the football field. Most of his tape is him at Corner and I think that he would make a lot better of a safety than a corner. Skill set is more like a Safety than a corner.

 

3) Anderson - It is a very tall task for football players at any level to locate the football, shed your block and go make the play. This kid does it in every highlight. He can really point his hips and drive people back. I am going to go ahead and say that this is our starting middle linebacker for 2012 and he will be a good one. Added strength at that position minus a bit of speed though from Lavonte's game.

 

4) Armstrong - See my thread a few days ago

 

5) Brown - You can basically find film of him playing everything on the football and then some. Plays in the Inland Empire (if you don't know what that is you dont follow recruiting and you should not be speaking negitive of our class) so he is doing it against other D1 recruits. Him as a linebacker will fit very nicely into our two-gap technique because it appeared that was what his HS team was playing. He filled holes very well. My knock on him is that he needs to get to the ball carrier a bit sooner, it looks like he reacts instead of anticipates. Which that comes with film room work.

 

6) Cotton - I cannot find film on him at all. From what I have heard from a few people I trust is that he uses his hands very well. I see him either in the same role as Ben, or even at DE. He is worthy of a scholly.

 

7) Cross - I almost see a Dan Alexander in him. Big powerful running back. What he will have to work on is running a bit lower, and driving his knees up a bit higher. Those of you who wanted a big power back, here he is.

 

8) Curry - cannot find film on him at all. 17 offers? Apparently he was covetted. Texas boy as well. Played against other D1 prospects. 6ft3 300 pounds is a big 17-18 year old kid.

 

9) Greg McMullen - I don't have to even break down anymore film on him. He would have been able to play at any school that he wanted to in the nation.

 

10) Alonzo Moore - No film that I could find on him. He does claim he is a true 6ft2. He will start out at CB. A 6ft2 athletic as hell southern boy at CB? Sign me up.

 

11) Moss - for only playing something like 6 football games ever in his life this kid causes a lot of issues in the backfield. There wasn't an OT that I saw that could combat his powerful first step. It reminds me a lot of a four man beating another four man from the top of the key. He is great at getting in the passing lanes with his hands and causing incompletions. He could play a stand-up DE role in our defense like Cam does. That amoeba defense that we run on occasion has this kid's name written all over it.

 

12) Rose - What I look for when I talk about linebackers is the ability to get around in traffic. This kid stays as clean as anyone and reads the running lanes like a safety should. Has a very strong lower body as you can tell when he makes tackles at the LOS. Would not rule him out of any LB spot this season.

 

13) Seisey - If you don't already know, you don't follow recruiting and shouldn't speak negitively about his class.

 

14) Thurston - He is great at using defensive lineman's leverage against them. He has really smooth footwork for a LT but I am told he will play inside for us which is great because he has quick feet for a big guy. The thought of him and Ryan Klacho pulling at the same time really scares me.

 

15) Valentine - He is like a BJ Rajj from GB. You just can't move the monster. It is an absolute crime against humanity that he was not awarded a fourth star. Kid had offers from a handful of SEC schools and just about every school in the BIG.

 

16) WesterKamp - We have no playmakers???????????? Watch the kids' tape. Best High School WR we have signed in a long time. There isn't a football team in the NCAA that couldn't have used this kid.

 

17) Witaker -

 

He deserves a full rant paragraph

 

This kid is a prime example of some of the stupidity of some. Here is a kid that plays in the Inland Empire and dominated it. Yet since he doesn't have a Pac 12 offer besides Oregon we think that throws up red flags. Why are we so concerned about what the staffs at Arizona, Arizona State, UCLA, Cal, Oregon State, Washington, and Washington State do? Maybe there is a reason that those schools go through coaching staffs like a hot knife through butter. Last time I checked most of the schools I listed above had fired head coaches at least once in the past few seasons. Maybe we shouldn't worry about the incompotence of those football staffs and give our staff some credit. I could go down countless examples of what I am talking about but for some of you numb skulls that don't pay attention to things like this it wouldn't make any difference.

 

We have some very good recruiters on this staff and we just added another one in Coach K. This 2013 class will be special I promise you. I would tell you right now that Coach Corey Raymond may just give JP a run for his money as the best recruiter on the staff. We have some very hungry young coaches on this staff that are chomping at the bit to hit the road and these next four weeks are very crutial. I can assure you that we have the right people in the right places on our football staff.

 

15)

 

 

Wow, sensational post EZ!!

 

Great read....loved it.....thank you, sir!!

[Spooky Tooth]

EZ, I have to hand it to you for quantifying what I have been saying here and elsewhere, but did not have the eyes/knowhow to state.

 

BIG QUESTION

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>I am a big fan of Whitaker and his potential. His film is just nuts the way he relentlessly goes into the second level......and even kept up once with D-backs. To what extent to you feel he will offset the loss of AP? I know AP probably could have come in and contributed as a true frosh, something that CW can't due to his lower weight, but do you see him in the rotation next year if he packs on 20 pounds or so? TIA

[EZ-E]

EZ, I have to hand it to you for quantifying what I have been saying here and elsewhere, but did not have the eyes/knowhow to state.

 

BIG QUESTION

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>I am a big fan of Whitaker and his potential. His film is just nuts the way he relentlessly goes into the second level......and even kept up once with D-backs. To what extent to you feel he will offset the loss of AP? I know AP probably could have come in and contributed as a true frosh, something that CW can't due to his lower weight, but do you see him in the rotation next year if he packs on 20 pounds or so? TIA

 

Losing out on Peat stings badly. If we would have gotten him we would have had two sure fire future first round draft picks on our line next year in him and Tyler Moore. I don't think Wittaker offsets it at all. That one just flat out sucks my friend.

 

I dont see him in the rotation next year and that is a good thing. We will finally have some quality depth at the OL spot. Ideally, when you start freshmen or even have them in your two-deep it is an indication of the lack of depth. That is why I included the four we lost in my original post. They would have done wonders for our football team this year.

 

I have not heard the plan with Wittaker, but I really hope we move him inside. He could be great at a pulling guard spot with his speed and ability to use great leverage on linebackers. What impresses me the most is his ability to maintain his low center of gravity and get under the linebackers pads and put them on the ground. But man, Im telling you getting a kid like that this late was huge. There is no team in the Pac 12 that couldn't use him.

[ladyhawke]

Pardon me but where do Those of Us Who Want to be Educated on Fly Fishing go?

 

Thank you.

Right here! http://cornhuskerflyfishers.org/