The 500-mile Radius and the Current State of Nebraska Recruiting

[tschu]

Husker Recruiting: Changes Shrink NU's Sphere of Influence (OWH - Dirk Chatelain)

 

For decades, the Great Plains represented fertile recruiting ground for Tom Osborne's football program. Restoring that lost tradition won't be easy.

Osborne had mastered the blueprint. On signing day ’97, he signed a vintage NU class. Fifteen of the 22 players came from inside the circle:

Eric Crouch, Omaha. Matt Davison, Tecumseh. Dave Volk, Battle Creek. Kyle Vanden Bosch, Larchwood. Tracey Wistrom, Webb City. Erwin Swiney, Lincoln. Jon Rutherford, Midwest City, Okla. Mark Vedral, Gregory, S.D.

Sprinkle in a few outsiders — notably Correll Buckhalter, Bobby Newcombe and Dominic Raiola — and Osborne felt good enough to call the ’97 class "solid."

Sixteen years later, the blueprint has dramatically changed.

Osborne, from 1984 to 1997, signed 56 percent of his players from the 500-mile radius. Under Bo Pelini, that number is 31 percent. The four lowest percentages on record came in the past five recruiting classes.

The coaching staff is finding fewer and fewer players close to home, a fact that complicates Nebraska’s pursuit of a Big Ten championship.

 

The whole article is fantastic and breaks down the shift in the talent pool over the last couple of decades. Check it out.

 

(Mods - I wasn't sure whether to put this here or in the Recruiting forum. It's such a comprehensive article that I decided to put it in the regular Husker Football subforum; I figured it would get more discussion here anyway. Feel free to move it.)

[nebraskafaninwi]

Husker Recruiting: Changes Shrink NU's Sphere of Influence (OWH - Dirk Chatelain)

 

For decades, the Great Plains represented fertile recruiting ground for Tom Osborne's football program. Restoring that lost tradition won't be easy.

Osborne had mastered the blueprint. On signing day ’97, he signed a vintage NU class. Fifteen of the 22 players came from inside the circle:

Eric Crouch, Omaha. Matt Davison, Tecumseh. Dave Volk, Battle Creek. Kyle Vanden Bosch, Larchwood. Tracey Wistrom, Webb City. Erwin Swiney, Lincoln. Jon Rutherford, Midwest City, Okla. Mark Vedral, Gregory, S.D.

Sprinkle in a few outsiders — notably Correll Buckhalter, Bobby Newcombe and Dominic Raiola — and Osborne felt good enough to call the ’97 class "solid."

Sixteen years later, the blueprint has dramatically changed.

Osborne, from 1984 to 1997, signed 56 percent of his players from the 500-mile radius. Under Bo Pelini, that number is 31 percent. The four lowest percentages on record came in the past five recruiting classes.

The coaching staff is finding fewer and fewer players close to home, a fact that complicates Nebraska’s pursuit of a Big Ten championship.

 

The whole article is fantastic and breaks down the shift in the talent pool over the last couple of decades. Check it out.

 

(Mods - I wasn't sure whether to put this here or in the Recruiting forum. It's such a comprehensive article that I decided to put it in the regular Husker Football subforum; I figured it would get more discussion here anyway. Feel free to move it.)

 

It is recruiting and already posted in the thread on there.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Since it's the off-season we'll just keep it here so it gets more views.

[PaulCrewe]

Hell of a job by Dirk to single out a big time recruit who MOVED into the radius and ended up going to his real "home state" school in Michigan to show his anti staff bias. It is a decent article but Dirk waves his hate flag to often sometimes.

[Mrp542]

Perhaps someone could check my numbers, but for the 2013 Rivals 250 I came up with:

 

North Dakota: 0

South Dakota: 0

Nebraska: 1 (Committed to NE)

Iowa: 1 (Committed to Iowa State)

Wyoming: 0

Minnesota: 0

Wisconsin: 0

Colorado: 2 (Michigan and Vanderbilt)

Missouri: 2 (Ohio State and Missouri)

Kansas: 0

Oklahoma: 2 (Oklahoma and Oklahoma)

Arkansas: 2 (Alabama and Arkansas)

Illinois: 5 (Mississippi, USC, LSU, Michigan, Illinois)

Texas: 2 [within 500 miles] (Ohio St., aTm)

 

Which is a total of 17. Dirk's article says there were 25. We had the same 21 for 2012.

 

The rest of the article is a normal Dirk: cherry picked numbers and examples, a complete focus on time based comparisons of Nebraska to Nebraska ignoring all other schools.

 

But, my favorite part of the article is where he argues that the 500 mile radius is relevant today. jk it doesn't exist.

[NebraskaHarry]

Dirk comes up with good stats.. but that's about it.

[Blackshirtsguru]

Dirk comes up with good stats.. but that's about it.

I agree however...I do like that fact that he is not a "homer" and at times can really put stuff into perspective without drinking the Red kool aide.

[NUpolo8]

Who wants to make a bet that, had Pelini and co concentrated solely on the 500 mile radius this year, we'd see an article complaining about the lack of talent from CA, TX, and the other "sexy" states?

[nebraskafaninwi]

Who wants to make a bet that, had Pelini and co concentrated solely on the 500 mile radius this year, we'd see an article complaining about the lack of talent from CA, TX, and the other "sexy" states?

 

We already saw that before the 2013 class was complete. Granted it was just a thread on this forum.

[tschu]

Who wants to make a bet that, had Pelini and co concentrated solely on the 500 mile radius this year, we'd see an article complaining about the lack of talent from CA, TX, and the other "sexy" states?

Well, had we concentrated SOLELY on the 500-mile-radius, we'd have a poor class. There's a reason we recruit California and Texas and Louisiana.

 

But I don't know why you wouldn't want to get the recruits that are closer to home considering that the location and the clout that NU has close to Lincoln can make NU an easier sell. Seems like you should have a higher success rate in signing kids that are in the radius, which would free up time and expenses, which you could spend on getting other recruits outside the radius.

[Count 'Bility]

Dirk comes up with good stats.. but that's about it.

I agree however...I do like that fact that he is not a "homer" and at times can really put stuff into perspective without drinking the Red kool aide.

That would be the Shatels and McKewons. All Dirk does is stir the sh#t. "stats stats we suck. Bo sucks. Bo is mean. Stats stats stats. Taylor Martinez sucks. Bo is mean. Stats. Stats. Nebraska still sucks. Creighton yay. stats. Bo is mean. Stats". That's essentially what I get out of Dirk's writing, unless of course I'm missing something.

[whateveritis1224]

Dirk comes up with good stats.. but that's about it.

I agree however...I do like that fact that he is not a "homer" and at times can really put stuff into perspective without drinking the Red kool aide.

That would be the Shatels and McKewons. All Dirk does is stir the sh#t. "stats stats we suck. Bo sucks. Bo is mean. Stats stats stats. Taylor Martinez sucks. Bo is mean. Stats. Stats. Nebraska still sucks. Creighton yay. stats. Bo is mean. Stats". That's essentially what I get out of Dirk's writing, unless of course I'm missing something.

 

Dirk does some great writing as long as he's not writing something that involves his own opinion. His piece on Brown and Abdullah was fantastic. He also did one on Stafford before the season that was just as good.

[Count 'Bility]

Dirk comes up with good stats.. but that's about it.

I agree however...I do like that fact that he is not a "homer" and at times can really put stuff into perspective without drinking the Red kool aide.

That would be the Shatels and McKewons. All Dirk does is stir the sh#t. "stats stats we suck. Bo sucks. Bo is mean. Stats stats stats. Taylor Martinez sucks. Bo is mean. Stats. Stats. Nebraska still sucks. Creighton yay. stats. Bo is mean. Stats". That's essentially what I get out of Dirk's writing, unless of course I'm missing something.

 

Dirk does some great writing as long as he's not writing something that involves his own opinion. His piece on Brown and Abdullah was fantastic. He also did one on Stafford before the season that was just as good.

I agree. Everyone knows i was more or less cracking a joke. I agree. He has a few good peices every now and then. But I find him putting his foot in his mouth just as much if not more.

[tschu]

Dirk is fine. Goes a bit overboard occasionally but he's a smart guy and he's grown on me.

 

Most annoying thing about him is that he's a huge Springsteen fan. Springsteen sucks ass.

[Saunders]

The article that confirms what has been said for the last half decade. The CFB talent pool is in the sunbelt, not the rust belt.

 

I'd be more interested in seeing him dig into the lack of Nebraska prospects over the last decade. Instead of just rattling off numbers, comparing NU to NU 20-30 years ago, Dirk should take a look at NU's current main competition (UM and OSU) and compare their instate talent to NE. Nebraska has a much smaller pool, which means we need to work harder and smarter to get that talent. It seems that Bo is finally starting to realize that. This last class is a step in the right direction, but we need to continue to pull in elite talent.

 

P.S. I'm finally back after a hiatus. New year, new baby, and a new team to look forward to.