Recruiting this year compared to last year

[NamelessHusker]

Nebraska finished the 2004 season with its first losing season since 1961 and broke its record of 35 consecutive bowl bids after a 5-6 campaign. Yet those stats did not mean much to recruits, and Nebraska brought in one of the top 3 classes in the nation.

 

Let us take a look back at where Nebraska was 1 year ago exactly in terms of commitments and compare it to this year and see where Nebraska stands.

 

-So far, Nebraska has 13 commits as of 12/1/2005. The following class breaks down as following:

 

(5 ) Andre Jones (1)

(4 ) D. J Jones, Josh Freeman, Rulon Davis, Kenny Wilson (4)

(3 ) Pierre Allen, Steve Allen, Ricky Henry, Meno Holt, Seth Jensen, Brandon Johnson, Mike McNeil, Mike Smith (8)

 

-As of 12/1/2004, Nebraska had 19 commits:

 

(5 ) Zac Bowman, Marlon Lucky (2)

(4 ) Harrison Beck, Phillip Dillard, Leon Jackson, Rodney Picou, Zach Potter, (5)

(3 ) Jordan Cogdon, Nick Covey, Jacob Hickman, Dontrell Moore, Craig Roark, Barry Cryer, Wallace Franklin, Cody Glenn, Brodrick Hunter (9)

(2 ) David Harvey, Robert Rands (2)

(Not ranked) Jeff Souder (1)

 

-2 of 19 commits:

would eventually go on to not qualify (Wallace Franklin, Brodrick Hunter) and head to the JUCO ranks. Nebraska is 6 recruits short of it's quota last year. Despite a losing season, and only a few freshman seeing the field, Nebraska did better last year recruiting then it has this year. Nebraska is currently 7-4, has played numerous freshman (Zach Potter, Cody Glenn, Marlon Lucky, Jordan Codgon, Barry Turner, Harrison Beck, Chris Brook, Phillip Dillard, Leon Jackson, Matt Slauson, Jeff Souder) and continue to run the same offense, Nebraska still has some ground to make up.

 

"not so fast my friend".

As the old ball coach Lee Corso would say. Nebraska managed to finish strong after the regular season. The argument could be made that coaches had more time to focus on recruiting since their season was over. Other arguments could be made that while other coaches were preparing their teams for bowl games, Nebraska had the advantage of sending out more coaches on the road. Could Nebraska be feeling the effects of going to a bowl game and having less time to focus on recruiting?

 

--Nebraska's first commit of the 2004 class came from Nick Covey on 6/1/04. From 6/1/04-12/1/04 Nebraska landed 19 commits (avg 3 commits a month). From 12/2/04-2/2/05 Nebraska landed 12 commits (avg 6 commits a month). Nebraska increased it's recruiting dramatically in the final 2 months and managed to bring in 2 months more then half of what they brought in in 6 months dating back to the first recruit. The coaching staff did not panic and begin accepting commits from just anyone. They kept their poise and worked prospects like 4 star Chris Brooks, and Frantz Hardy for example.

 

-Nebraska's final 12 prospect rank out as following:

 

(5 ) None

(4 ) Chris Brooks, Frantz Hardy, Ndamukong Suh, Justin Tomerlin, Ola Dagundro Steve Octavien (6)

(3 ) Zac Taylor, Barry Turner, Tyrell Spain (3)

(2 ) Bryan Wilson, Jordan Picou, Brock Pastuer (3)

 

Spain would go on to not qualify, Wilson was used seldom, Picou and Brock have yet to see the field.

 

--These stats indicate that there is no reason to panic just yet. If these stats tell us anything, it's that the coaching staff is relentless and will not be outdone in recruiting. They have also had their fair share of negative recruiting thrown their way with the increased success.

 

--Nebraska is expected to have anywhere between 21-23 commits this recruiting class and possibly up to 25 in case 1 or 2 recruits don't qualify as backup plans. With 13 recruits so far, Nebraska is past it's halfway mark and the coaching staff is either waiting on high profile recruits who they feel they have a good shot at landing, or are being selective on who they accept commits from. The coaching staff has the right like every other coaching staff to tell a recruit they want to wait and see how they are doing academically before they accept an offer. With a very small amount of high profile recruits left, Nebraska does not want to put itself in a position to close the door on a recruit who wants to come here but decides against it because we filled up on our need and told them we are done recruiting that position and have a certain recruit fail to qualify.

 

-Important of this class:

This class is the most important class for this coaching staff because of depth issues. Offensive line and Defensive backs are in BIG demand and the slightest error in accepting someone who might not qualify could cripple the class.

 

-Right now, hold on to your hats. The coaching staff is going to take us through the roller coaster ride known as recruiting

 

Just some things to think about

[nu4everfan15]

thanks nameless... appreciate all the recruiting info, otherwise i would be lost... i just hope we can pick up one more 5 star and a few four star and just fill the rest in with some solid players. get at em coaches!!!

[NamelessHusker]

Just looked over the list of available scholarships and who is expected to get scholarships. NU currently has 13 guys verballed. Add on to that Tyrell Spain and Keith Eloi, and that brings it up to 15. Matt Slauson and Jacob Hickman (greyshirt now) will be getting their scholarships as well, putting NU at 17 scholarships used up. Now if NU signs says 23-25 commits, that leaves NU between 6-8 scholarships available (assuming they don't hand out a couple of scholarships to some walkon players.

 

It's crunch time now and NU will likely be going after 3 offensive lineman and 3 DB's.

 

If i had to put my money on the 3 DB's NU lands, they would be A.J Wallace, Jonas Mouton and .....I will go with Greg Davis as the third guy. Ricky Thenarse probably won't make the grades at NU, so i expect him to commit elsewhere (Oregon like i said in another thread).

 

As far as offensive tackles, my 3 finalist would include J.B Walton, Shannon Boatman and Cruz Barrett.

 

There's 1 guy i eluded to that should be pulling the trigger this weekend BUT it's not going to happen from what it sounds like for now. He's going to take a few more days to think about it before he makes it official. So as of right now, i don't know of any recruits expected to commit and if i hear otherwise, i will let you know. I did not list him because i know some people might not be as excited about him as i am. A few people emailed me moment after i posted the thread about the commit asking for hints. Some people got responses, some people didn't. Reason being, some people i know i can trust, others i don't trust so much. And no, that does not mean PM me and ask me some information.

 

December could be a SLOW month for recruiting. A.J Wallace wont make his decision untill the AA game. Cruz Barrett has been selected to play in the CaliFlorida bowl game and J.B Walton is still bouncing around on visits but it's down to NU/Penn St in my opinion.

 

Shannon boatman just visited FSU and will be visiting December 16th. Don't be suprised if he pulls the trigger to NU.

 

In case you are curious about some other guys who i did not list. I will explain it. Ashlee Palmer in my opinion will be the backup plan in case 1 of the 3 DB's i mentioned decides to go elsewhere. There's also the issue of Adrian Clayborn and Jerry Brown as DE's who are still pretty high on NU. NU may be forced to back off on them due to the limited scholarships. NU simply just doesn't have enough scholarships available this year to offer.

 

DE is a position that should be loaded next year if Carriker and Moore return (Odds are very good they return). Plus you have 4 star freshman Zach Potter and Barry Turner waiting for shots. If that's not enough, then this years 4 star DE Juco commit Rulon Davis and 3 star Mike Smith will provide a 3 deep. Other guys who still could step up are Blankenship and Steinkuhler. NU also landed Pierre Allen, so needless to say DE is pretty loaded for next year.

 

There's a slight posibility Kenny Wilson decommits from NU and heads to Florida St. If that happens, NU could go for a 4th OT or DB. The coaches are pretty much not going to offer another TE for this class or take one because they simply aren't getting the guys they wanted to get this year.

 

TE is a position NU will hit hard next year. Right now QB, RB, DE, DT, LB and WR are all deep. NU will go after RB (if Wilson decommits), TE and DB pretty aggresively next year

[Washusker]

Doesn't sound like we'll be making headlines in the recruiting race this year, if that's the case.

 

Not a big deal, so long as we get quality players to fill our holes. As nice as it is to say you had the best recruiting class, or the 5th-best class, all that matters is the product on the field.

 

[tflynn]

Nameless, great info. I'm really excited about the d-backs you believe we will be in, however, I thought mouton pretty much eliminated us and from everything ive heard it sounds like usc or lsu. Are these three d-backs guys you hope are coming or guys you actually believe we lead on right now and will get. Thanks again for all your info, its great to read.

[Alex 4.0]

The other thing to keep in mind is the fact that we are going for the big dogs now, who wait to commit til late. not that we didnt last year, but we had more "immediate playing time" cards. So hopefully there are some suprises this year, maybe moreso than last year. Some of these smart kids play games with the recruiting services just because they can. All in all though, one must keep in mind that the coaches will find the best players they can, and i could find you a lot of 3 star players that have become super stars. It is just a cool thing to say... "we had the number 3 recruiting class"

[Eric the Red]

The other thing to keep in mind is the fact that we are going for the big dogs now, who wait to commit til late. not that we didnt last year, but we had more "immediate playing time" cards. So hopefully there are some suprises this year, maybe moreso than last year. Some of these smart kids play games with the recruiting services just because they can. All in all though, one must keep in mind that the coaches will find the best players they can, and i could find you a lot of 3 star players that have become super stars. It is just a cool thing to say... "we had the number 3 recruiting class"

Always a gamble. You could hit the lottery, like Iowa or Tenneesse did last year in the all star game. If we could get three or four of those guys, I thin were in good hands

[NamelessHusker]

Nameless, great info.  I'm really excited about the d-backs you believe we will be in, however, I thought mouton pretty much eliminated us and from everything ive heard it sounds like usc or lsu.  Are these three d-backs guys you hope are coming or guys you actually believe we lead on right now and will get.  Thanks again for all your info, its great to read.

Right now, based on what i am hearing and now, A.J Wallace is almost a gurantee to be wearing the scarlet and cream next year. Of course he could end up another Nyan Boateng and do a 180 on us with Penn St since Walton is undecioded between us and them but i think he is more of a man then Nyan was, so i am confident in that pick.

 

As far as Mouton, we lead highly for him and we have anywhere between 60-70% of landing him at the moment. The Greg Davis pick was quite honestly who i hope we land. If you want a realstic pick, it's going to be Ashlee Palmer when it's all said and done unless Oregon decides to screw with us by offering him (where he originally committed without Oregon's knowledge and they never really did acknowledge his commit)

 

My other picks, Walton (its a 50/50 shot between us and Penn St), Boatman (if he was going to FSU, he would have committed already) and Cruz Barrett is the Plan B backup to the guy i expect to commit soon.

[Blackshirt]

Interesting read, thanks for the breakdown Nameless.