Keep the improved defensive recruiting in mind

[Saint Boseph]

I'll start with a disclaimer that I am a staunch Bo supporter and my views may be a bit biased.

 

Bo hasn't lost his defensive touch. It's all about having the players necessary to execute his scheme. He knew what was coming against Wisco but our defense, laden with seniors, just could not make plays. I foresaw this being an underwhelming class of players when he whipped the 08 recruiting class in a hurry. I was also unimpressed with his 2009 class (save for Chris Williams, I thought he'd end up being the next Trev Alberts) and 2010 class as well on the defensive side of the ball. To me, I judge recruits based on their offer list and I particularly look to see if our defensive recruits receive offers from Alabama, LSU, Florida, and SEC schools as a whole, since that is the standard to which I think we can expect our defense to play. I do a little jig every time we're able to snag an SEC recruited prospect out of the south. That is where we should focus our efforts because that's where the real talent is, and that talent would be able to make plays against Wisconsin.

 

The 2008-2010 defensive recruits were hardly hot commodities. However the 2011, 2012, and 2013 classes have some overlap with the big-name schools. If other big-name schools think they can play on their team then that's a good sign. This may sound like typical fan-speak with the wait-til-the-next-2-years spiel, but for once I think this has merit

 

Michael Rose, Vincent Valentine, Greg McMullen, Randy Gregory, Alonzo Moore, Charles Jackson, Jonathan Cook, Jonathan Rose (Auburn transfer), Josh Banderas, Courtney Love, Marcus McWilson, Kevin Williams, Todd Peat Jr., Mohammed Seisay. All of them had offers from one or more of these schools: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Oregon, USC, Ohio State, Michigan, Texas, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Auburn, Florida State, Tennessee, and Notre Dame.

 

If those schools think these guys can play for them, then that is nothing to sneeze at. Bo's scheme is designed for players with SEC speed/talent. Will Compton, Courtney Osborne, PJ Smith, Jason Ankrah, Sean Fisher, Cam Meredith, and Alonzo Whaley's offer lists pale in comparison to those guys'. You saw Bo's defenses at LSU when he consistently had the players needed for his scheme. He's learning in all aspects of the job, including how to recruit and his improvement is showing each year. Each recruiting class has gotten better, though I think there was a drop-off from 09-10.

 

Side note: I was ecstatic when I learned of Terry Joseph's southern connections when we hired him. I think he's going to be responsible for bringing a lot of the future husker stars on the defensive side of the ball. It's all about the south! If you can't beat em, join em.

[HUSKER FREAK]

Yeah I still belive Bo will get the job done. He is working at it for the long term and not trying to find the quick fix and leave approach that so many coaches do these days. The recruiting the last couple years look good and this year is looking good so far as well.

[Hedley Lamarr]

Yeah he only neglected the life blood of the program for 3 years....glad it only cost 7 million dollars for him to learn this. Bo failed at recruiting adequate talent to replace what he had inherited from Callahan. Regardless of what people think of his recruiting classes they are his.

 

The overall class ranking is no better than before as well. We get happy reports of the freshman every year. We will get a few solid players out of the group as usual.

[Saint Boseph]

To what I said before, I implied that I don't judge recruiting classes based on rankings and stars. I believe a better indicator of recruit talent is offer lists. Do the research and you'll see 2011-2013's offer lists are overwhelmingly better than 2008-2010. Not saying 2008-2010 wasn't his fault, but he's learning how to recruit. If we steal talent from Alabama, Florida, and USC then I'd say that's a significant upgrade, because compton, whaley, and fisher wouldn't sniff even a walk-on offer from those schools, let alone a scholarship offer.

[Hedley Lamarr]

To what I said before, I implied that I don't judge recruiting classes based on rankings and stars. I believe a better indicator of recruit talent is offer lists. Do the research and you'll see 2011-2013's offer lists are overwhelmingly better than 2008-2010. Not saying 2008-2010 wasn't his fault, but he's learning how to recruit. If we steal talent from Alabama, Florida, and USC then I'd say that's a significant upgrade, because compton, whaley, and fisher wouldn't sniff even a walk-on offer from those schools, let alone a scholarship offer.

 

Classes were average 2011 looks great on paper but many of the big names from that class.left the program.

[Hedley Lamarr]

Odd how teams with top 10 classes almost always directly correlate to top 10 finishes....but yeah stars etc don't matter.

 

The stars etc can be off here and there but more often than not they are very accurate. Also note that these "offers" our players had were reported by them. I know for a fact some are not offers that they can commit too.

 

Look I understand we want to polish the overall effort of Pelini and his staff on the recruiting front. Unfortunately he loves to lay a turd during the season while others are finishing up their classes. We usually get these recruits after the big boys filled there's up and got the top guys on their boards.

[Count 'Bility]

Recruiting rankings do matter. It is critical part to a program. Recruiting are a bit overrated though and do not necessarily mean immediate success. Jim More Jr at UCLA is a prime example. He is reeping benefits of Neuhisel's top notch recruting. Recruiting rankings are also skewed a bit because dont they take into account the size of the class? We had a small class year, but what quite good talent wize. Even Sean Callahan said that if our class last year was consistent talent wize with 21-25 signees, it may have been top 5. Definitely top ten. The recruiting is improving, from the on paper standpoint.

 

Bo's first couple classed were underwhelming for a few reasons. 1, I think he immediately recognized what he had and focused a bit more on establishing a culture and system. 2, I believe those 1 couple classes were a big key in reestablishing the connection to the Nebraska kids, a connection that was severely severed. We dont have the instate talent to win championships, but we still have to have that connection. It is very important. It's still not fully mended. The staff has put added emphasis on recruiting over the past few years. It just takes time at a place like this to get the ball rolling. Then we change conferences, changing our every year opponenents, so then the staff basically had to start over in finding new niches in recruiting because we no longer need 15 db's and just 3 lb's, it has to be more balanced now. Setting our mind to an offensive system and sticking with it will help too. To me, it's just common sense as to why the recruiting was down to start with and is gradually picked up. For those that get all horned up over recruiting rankings, youre never gonna be happy. You wouldnt've been with TO's recruiting either.

 

The points I made her came from Sean Callahan. He discussed these pretty in-depth on tv one night earlier this year.

 

We are not Bama. We are not Florida. A new coach is not going to come in here and win titles right away. We dont have the talent in our backyards that we can guarantee we'll get with little effort. It takes time to get the ball rolling.

 

I'm also pretty sure Bo has made some adjustments in his demeanor and strategy as well when it comes to recruiting. Figuring out what works and what doesnt work is a big part of a first time HC (yes, I know, cue "this isnt a training ground for coaches").

[Hedley Lamarr]

So Bo failed at recruiting for 3 years? He didn't know recruiting high level athletes was the key to his NFL schemes?

[HuskerThor]

Odd how teams with top 10 classes almost always directly correlate to top 10 finishes....but yeah stars etc don't matter.

Yea, and how's that working for USC or Texass?

[Stumpy1]

Odd how teams with top 10 classes almost always directly correlate to top 10 finishes....but yeah stars etc don't matter.

Yea, and how's that working for USC or Texass?

Bingo...Rankings are great and all but I have to agree with the OP and look at the said recruits offer list. To me, that is a better indication of how good that player is or could be then a service putting a couple stars by the kids name. I will also listen to a few guys on this board about recruiting before I listen to some services...Paul, EZ, Fowler are a few that really seem to know what they are talking about when it comes to recruits...EZ does a fantastic job with some write-ups on the recruits that we get and gives good perspective of the said recruits.

[EZ-E]

My thoughts on the 08 and 09 recruiting classes are well documented. I like what we have brought in since 2010. Certain areas need to improve though. Realize we only brought in 2 backers in 09? One left and the other was moved to DE.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

I think he can get the job done, just needs to make some changes in the assistant coach ranks.

[Chaddyboxer]

Odd how teams with top 10 classes almost always directly correlate to top 10 finishes....but yeah stars etc don't matter.

 

The stars etc can be off here and there but more often than not they are very accurate. Also note that these "offers" our players had were reported by them. I know for a fact some are not offers that they can commit too.

 

Look I understand we want to polish the overall effort of Pelini and his staff on the recruiting front. Unfortunately he loves to lay a turd during the season while others are finishing up their classes. We usually get these recruits after the big boys filled there's up and got the top guys on their boards.

Ask the Florida St Seminoles about top 10 finishes. They are in the top 10 in recruiting every year.....hmmm....geeee.....Are you so sure it's "almost always?"

[EZ-E]

Odd how teams with top 10 classes almost always directly correlate to top 10 finishes....but yeah stars etc don't matter.

 

The stars etc can be off here and there but more often than not they are very accurate. Also note that these "offers" our players had were reported by them. I know for a fact some are not offers that they can commit too.

 

Look I understand we want to polish the overall effort of Pelini and his staff on the recruiting front. Unfortunately he loves to lay a turd during the season while others are finishing up their classes. We usually get these recruits after the big boys filled there's up and got the top guys on their boards.

Ask the Florida St Seminoles about top 10 finishes. They are in the top 10 in recruiting every year.....hmmm....geeee.....Are you so sure it's "almost always?"

 

Texas and USC as well.

[HuskerNationNick]

First year HC, with really no big names under you for assistants. How does that make kids just want to come to your university? Weather doesn't play in our favor, as most kids from the East and West Coast want to stay in warmer weather. I have been much more impressed with last years recruits and so far this years. Its getting better, and there is no denying that. Our offense is by far top 10, if not 5 recruited offense in the nation. Heard, Abdullah, Turner, Bell and Allen. All outstanding athletes and perform strong. Now its time for defense. I believe with the offense Bo has recruited, that will make kids want to come here. Powerful offense who will continue success. Starting in the hands of Martinez to Armstrong to Stanton. Who wouldn't want to play with any three of these guys?

 

Our defense and offensive line are key right now. Could you imagine how much better we would be with the talent/size of Alabama's or Wisky's O-line? Our O-line is very good for what we have, and they have been coached hard to be where they are at. We are top 10 in rushing.