Why Don't All Offers Turn Into Commits?

[Thanks_Tom RR]

Read this tweet this morning that drove me crazy (I will leave out who posted it because (1) I don't know them and (2) it doesn't really matter):

 

"Most of these recruits say they are so blessed, excited, honored To be offered by #Nebraska then when they cut their list. No mention of Neb"

 

First, we have offered almost 200 recruits during this class already and only have mid-20 schollies available. So, of course we could not sign everyone offered.

 

Second, some of the offers come too late in the recruiting process for some of the prospects, which have already established a strong relationship with another coaching staff and program (e.g., DE Andrew Trumbetti who committed to Norte Dame three days after getting an offer from NU, but ND had been recruiting him for over a year).

 

Third, there are many recruits that want to stay in-state, and NU has not been a 'hot bed' for highly sought-after FBS prospects (with a few excepts each year). We are always fighting a battle of distance-from-home for most of our recruits. Still, last year, we had a top 15 recruiting class, despite having to pull recruits from 13 states and Canada (which was one of the most dispersed recruiting classes in 2013).

 

Fourth, then there are recruits like DE Da'Shawn Hand who has almost 40 offers. Just to work into a top 5 can be difficult for any school.

 

Fifth, some of our offers are gray-shirt offers, and not all of our offers are committable, which means even if the recruit wants to commit, he will probably be turned down or told to wait. The coaches need to prioritize their offers, and if a recruit (at the same position or if we are short on available schollies) who has not committed is a higher target than one who is willing to pull the trigger, the coaches may decide to tell the kid to hold off. Recruits can perceive these type of non-committable offers, gray-shirt offers, or getting slow played (and not getting an offer until after another recruit commits elsewhere) as a sign that the coaches are disingenuous about their recruitment. Heck, we pulled TE Brandon Vandenburg's offer just as he went to commit, then we were able to sign TE Cethan Carter in last year's recruiting class because his in-state school, LSU, slow played his recruiting and only made a gray-shirt offer. Then, when Les Miles finally came to do an in-home, Carter told him he was N.

 

Sixth, some of the offers come out before the recruit is properly evaluated. This way, the coaches can get their foot in the door and stay in the recruitment game with a prospect and not lose out to another program before they even get a chance to evaluate the recruit.

 

Finally, football is only one aspect that influences a prospect. These athletes are really students choosing a school to get their education at. Beyond that, they are people with family, friends, and lives outside of football, and can feel compelled to base their college choice on any number of factors that lay outside of the football domain.

 

I guess I just don't understand the point of comments like this. We are recruiting pretty well under Bo (excluding his first two years) and with the history of the program, innovation of the facilities, and performance on the field, we will continue to get strong recruits signing up.

[RockyMountainOySker]

I about flipped out when I read the title to your thread NU-BO. Glad you have your head on straight, ha!

[HuskerShark]

Why Don't All Offers Turn Into Commits?

 

I have literally never heard anybody say that before, and if they did, I'd probably laugh and walk away.

[StPaulHusker]

SO what's the point of this persons rant? Are they mad we don't get more commits and thinks the coaching staff is doing it all wrong? Or is this person trying to explain it to us laymen who know nothing about recruiting?

 

Weird

[Thanks_Tom RR]

SO what's the point of this persons rant? Are they mad we don't get more commits and thinks the coaching staff is doing it all wrong? Or is this person trying to explain it to us laymen who know nothing about recruiting?

 

Weird

Sorry, StPaul. I should clarify. The quoted sentence (which is now bold) was the tweet I read. The rest was me venting, will no brevity, to express how flabbergasted I was. Of course, I am in no way trying to explain how recruiting works to anyone on this board (most of you all have a better understanding and insight to the process then I do). I just needed to express my anger, and twitter only allows 140 characters per tweet.

[StPaulHusker]

SO what's the point of this persons rant? Are they mad we don't get more commits and thinks the coaching staff is doing it all wrong? Or is this person trying to explain it to us laymen who know nothing about recruiting?

 

Weird

Sorry, StPaul. I should clarify. The quoted sentence (which is now bold) was the tweet I read. The rest was me venting, will no brevity, to express how flabbergasted I was. Of course, I am in no way trying to explain how recruiting works to anyone on this board (most of you all have a better understanding and insight to the process then I do). I just needed to express my anger, and twitter only allows 140 characters per tweet.

Makes more sense now.

[HuskerShark]

SO what's the point of this persons rant? Are they mad we don't get more commits and thinks the coaching staff is doing it all wrong? Or is this person trying to explain it to us laymen who know nothing about recruiting?

 

Weird

Sorry, StPaul. I should clarify. The quoted sentence (which is now bold) was the tweet I read. The rest was me venting, will no brevity, to express how flabbergasted I was. Of course, I am in no way trying to explain how recruiting works to anyone on this board (most of you all have a better understanding and insight to the process then I do). I just needed to express my anger, and twitter only allows 140 characters per tweet.

 

Are you sure the tweet was serious? Because if so, you should probably just laugh and unfollow that person.

[NUance]

Why Don't All Offers Turn Into Commits?

On a similar note, back in college I always wondered why every woman I flirted with didn't go to bed with me.

[onlyHskrfaninIL]

Why don't all my dreams come true?.........hahaha what an idiot

[strigori]

Why Don't All Offers Turn Into Commits?

On a similar note, back in college I always wondered why every woman I flirted with didn't go to bed with me.

I'm going to guess that we get a better return on offers to enrollees than you did flirting to bedding....

[QMany]

Title of this article is: Huskers Must Be Patient Recruiting

"The problem is we aren't going to get a ton of commitments, obviously, until we get kids on campus. And because of our small population base around here, it's hard to get kids to come visit us right away when we're not paying for it. It's expensive."

Els.

 

Nebraska's location makes it challenging for prospects to pay their own way on unofficial visits before their senior years. Els had to interrupt our interview to take a call from a recruit in Texas. The recruit asked about the cost of an air ticket to Nebraska.

 

The Huskers will gladly pay for recruits to take official visits after the start of their senior year in high school, but the value of the official visit has changed as recruits are committing earlier and earlier.

http://espn.go.com/b...t-in-recruiting

[exswoo]

One thing I don't understand about Nebraska's recruiting is how little they look to Missouri (and to a lesser extent Kansas) for talent. They're the closest states to you guys and given the history of the Huskers with those states I would think you would have an advantage there over the other B1G teams and even over some Big 12/SEC teams.

 

To be sure, the talent level isn't as high as Cali/Texas, but theres enough talent in those to states to account for 4 spots in a recruiting class every year, IMHO...and the closeness of those locations will mean that more of those kids will come up for unofficial visits and help with recruiting momentum in general.

[QMany]

One thing I don't understand about Nebraska's recruiting is how little they look to Missouri (and to a lesser extent Kansas) for talent. They're the closest states to you guys and given the history of the Huskers with those states I would think you would have an advantage there over the other B1G teams and even over some Big 12/SEC teams.

 

To be sure, the talent level isn't as high as Cali/Texas, but theres enough talent in those to states to account for 4 spots in a recruiting class every year, IMHO...and the closeness of those locations will mean that more of those kids will come up for unofficial visits and help with recruiting momentum in general.

We have a pretty good influence in the KC area, grabbing Maliek Collins and Zach Hannon in this class and Micheal Rose in 2012. I think we need to get Monte Harrison and Peyton Newell, though.

I think we do hit these areas pretty hard. I think we could hit STL a little harder.