Ed Cunningham's Comments

['SkersRule]

During the game against Southern Miss commentator Ed Cunningham, who most of the time I find to be incredibly whiny and insufferable, said something about our recruiting that really struck home. He said [paraphrasing]:

 

Nebraska's recruiting and success over the years is really phenominal considering where they are in relation to the talent.

 

I just wish that those fans of ours who constantly bemoan our recruiting would simply stop and consider the comments Ed made and take them to heart. Despite all our obstacles, Bo and the rest our coaches work incredibly hard at recruiting. Nebraska, even for the tremendous success we've had, is still an incredibly hard sell to kid who grew up watching SEC football, Texas, or USC.

[Mavric]

How many +1s can I give? Just one? I guess that'll have to do.

['SkersRule]

I think that some of our fans, when it comes to recruiting, simply have unrealistic expectations. Nebraska is probably never going to consistently have top five rated classes. Now if we win a conference and national title then maybe our recruiting targets might get the benefit of the doubt and automatically bumped to a 4 or 5 star once they commit. Because that certainly happens frequently with LSU, Alabama, USC, Texas, etc. But for now, we have realize that we'll get the occassional top five at his position player: Steiny, Jackson, Rose (the transfer from Auburn), Green (the RB who transferred out) etc and the rest will be solid 3 stars. But I'm not worried because I'll take a team of high potential 3 stars who work hard, take to the coaching, and give maximum effort on every snap over a roster full of 4 and 5 star selfish prima donnas.

[Enhance]

One thing really hurting Nebraska right now is the lack of division one talent in Nebraska. Where'd it go? We used to pull talented running backs out of Omaha in the 90's like apples from a tree.

['SkersRule]

One thing really hurting Nebraska right now is the lack of division one talent in Nebraska. Where'd it go? We used to pull talented running backs out of Omaha in the 90's like apples from a tree.

 

I honestly don't know. I think our coaches, to some degree, take for granted that in-state kids will just walk-on. I understand that in terms of in-state players we're not going to have elite QB, RB, WR, LB, and DBs every year. But when it comes to positions like OL and FBs, surely we have at the minimum 3-5 players in-state every year to play along the OL. Maybe I'm completely off base here, but I don't think our coaches do enough to find capable in-state kids.

[Mavric]

One thing really hurting Nebraska right now is the lack of division one talent in Nebraska. Where'd it go? We used to pull talented running backs out of Omaha in the 90's like apples from a tree.

 

I honestly don't know. I think our coaches, to some degree, take for granted that in-state kids will just walk-on. I understand that in terms of in-state players we're not going to have elite QB, RB, WR, LB, and DBs every year. But when it comes to positions like OL and FBs, surely we have at the minimum 3-5 players in-state every year to play along the OL. Maybe I'm completely off base here, but I don't think our coaches do enough to find capable in-state kids.

Maybe. Maybe not. I think the same thing is true in basketball. Not that there was ever a lot but 20 years ago there was at least a couple legit D-1 players in the state every year and sometimes more. Now there is maybe one decent one one year then a couple low-end ones the next year. Just not the depth of talent like there used to be.

 

We used to be able to get several OLineman and a couple RBs in-state all the time. Now, not so much.

[Fuzzy]

One thing really hurting Nebraska right now is the lack of division one talent in Nebraska. Where'd it go? We used to pull talented running backs out of Omaha in the 90's like apples from a tree.

 

There can be multiple reasons why this has happened. You can't necessarily pick one. Could be lack of high school coaching kids up to play hard and meet the standards of Div 1 football. Could be difference between how high school youth grew up during the 90's compared to now. Could be kids are choose another path that doesn't involve football. etc.

[Enhance]

One thing really hurting Nebraska right now is the lack of division one talent in Nebraska. Where'd it go? We used to pull talented running backs out of Omaha in the 90's like apples from a tree.

 

There can be multiple reasons why this has happened. You can't necessarily pick one. Could be lack of high school coaching kids up to play hard and meet the standards of Div 1 football. Could be difference between how high school youth grew up during the 90's compared to now. Could be kids are choose another path that doesn't involve football. etc.

Those seem reasonable to me. I don't follow recruiting that closely, so someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think we've had many players go to other division one schools, either. I don't think our coaches are inefficiently judging the talent here like someone suggested above - I think we simply don't have much here.

 

The talent level here now in comparison to the 90's is immensely different. Taking guys from here just for the sake of taking them could be disastrous, especially when it comes to facing off against other schools (i.e. SEC) could prove fatal. We just don't have that infamous "system" in place anymore that allowed us to take and develop players like we could.

['SkersRule]

I want to be clear about one thing: I am not suggesting we offer scholarships to in-state players simply for the sake of it.

[default_28]

I don't think you can understate how far ahead of most of the country we were with our strength and conditioning in the 90's. We could take a big framed Nebraska kid and turn him into a top notch lineman. Now all the top programs have this ability so you need to start with a less raw player. We'll still get in state players who can contribute (sometimes our line is Choi, Jackson or Pensick, Long, Rodriguez). I think the coaches do it about right.

['SkersRule]

I don't think you can understate how far ahead of most of the country we were with our strength and conditioning in the 90's. We could take a big framed Nebraska kid and turn him into a top notch lineman. Now all the top programs have this ability so you need to start with a less raw player. We'll still get in state players who can contribute (sometimes our line is Choi, Jackson or Pensick, Long, Rodriguez). I think the coaches do it about right.

 

So why can't we do that any more? It's something that still works we just don't do it anymore. And just to clarify: I think that Bo and the rest of Nebraska coaches do work incredibly hard at national recruiting. I just think they've neglected and taken for granted the in-state kids-but that's strictly my opinion.

[default_28]

I don't think you can understate how far ahead of most of the country we were with our strength and conditioning in the 90's. We could take a big framed Nebraska kid and turn him into a top notch lineman. Now all the top programs have this ability so you need to start with a less raw player. We'll still get in state players who can contribute (sometimes our line is Choi, Jackson or Pensick, Long, Rodriguez). I think the coaches do it about right.

 

So why can't we do that any more? It's something that still works we just don't do it anymore. And just to clarify: I think that Bo and the rest of Nebraska coaches do work incredibly hard at national recruiting. I just think they've neglected and taken for granted the in-state kids-but that's strictly my opinion.

Because it doesn't work anymore. Kids are a whole lot faster and stronger now. My point was that a lot of the in state kids that played for us in the nineties would look small and slow on the field now. The rest of the country caught up, we need to mold better athletes now then we did then.

['SkersRule]

Because it doesn't work anymore. Kids are a whole lot faster and stronger now. My point was that a lot of the in state kids that played for us in the nineties would look small and slow on the field now. The rest of the country caught up, we need to mold better athletes now then we did then.

 

Say what? Zach Weigert, even back in the mid 90's, was 6'4" and 300 pounds. Adam Treu was 6'5" and like 310 by the time he graduated. I could go down the roster from the 90's and point out countless players, who even when measured against today's OL, would be just as big, fast, and strong as what we have today.

 

The rest of the country may have caught up from a strength and conditioning point of view but we still have enough 6'3" to 6'4" kids in state that could absolutely grow into OL just like we used to do in the 70's, 80's and 90's.

[Foppa]

Nice OP 'skers. I think I was more impressed that Cunningham wasn't a complete d-bag for this game Although I have to say, it got really annoying listening to them analyzing T-Mart's mechanics every single play.

['SkersRule]

Nice OP 'skers. I think I was more impressed that Cunningham wasn't a complete d-bag for this game Although I have to say, it got really annoying listening to them analyzing T-Mart's mechanics every single play.

 

I'm strangely in the opposite view; I thought it was absolutely refreshing that during, and after the game, just about every commentator was raving about Taylor and his improved mechanics.