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X's & O's vs. Recruiting


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I've never been one to much stock in stars...the thing that bothers me is who we are competing against for most of the talent we do sign. Granted we offer the higher ranked players and compete with the other traditional top schools, we just don't sign any of them. but I can not remember in the past 50 yrs competing against the likes of the schools we do now. What has happened to the Husker brand?

Callahan brought the program to its knees, ie... killed the walk on program which is vital to the Husker brand. Couldn't coach x's and o's nor could he hired a staff to handle that aspect. He did however compete and did well against the other traditional powers in recruiting. He didn't compete against the also rans of college football, those schools offered a player the Huskers wanted and could sign without much drama.

During the 70's 80's 90's, I seem to remember 1/3 of the players we wanted were also being offered by the who's who of cfb, TO didn't always get his man, but he got a few.Today we grind the wheel hard to get commits and or flip commits that are headed to schools that aren't on the radar of who's who. Kids with offers from DII schools and lower level D1 schools, I realize there are diamonds in the rough, I grew up during the 50's when we weren't all that good, so I can related to below average recruiting years. That was 55 yrs ago. Have we digressed so far that we may never see the top of the mountain again.

 

Pelini is a great x's and o's coach IMHO, it's his recruiting that leaves a little to be desired. When he had BC players, he demonstrated what he could do with higher ranking players, just as he did at LSU. I like most of the players we sign now, however to return to the elite, you need a few of the elite to mix in with what we now get to reach the 10-11-12 win season on a consist basis.

The missing ingredient is the level of talent Pelini is able to lure to Lincoln. Yes, he brings in high character guys, and I love him for it, However there are high ranked players with high character as well,

 

I was really excited about last years class, thought it was a step in the right direction, finally a well rounded class of players, just needing the final two or three pieces. I thought perhaps next yr, he'll sign a couple of the elite players. This yr, he sits on his hands early in the process (his favorite word), and then makes a late push. Why... can't he start that push in the spring and summer, offer the elite players in their junior yrs, bring in the kids he wants and have them commit. We sit in the back seat to no one with facilities, tradition, support, etc... most times we are the trend setter in nearly everything new to cfb. I hear complaints about the distance recruits have to travel to get to Lincoln (It's a great distance to Ann Arbor as well, all of there recruits don't live in Michigan, the campus is just outside the sewers of Detroit, they haven't had a great team in some time, yet they still have the ability to bring in top talent every yr. Nebraska's tradition is second to no one. Mich is #1 all time wins, the Huskers are 4th, you tell me why they out recruit us even after a very poor season. First step, start recruitng harder and earlier in B1G footprint and that will eliminate part of the travel problems. When Penn State offers a kid from Texas, they have to travel much farther and have a more difficult time to get to Happy Valley then they do Lincoln, yet they still get ov's from Texas kids.

 

We need IMHO, a recruiting guru (top salesman, that's what saban is, he's not really a great x's and o's guy) have him coach sp. teams and pay him BIG bucks to bring in the top talented great character guys. Players like Grant Wistrom, Mike Brown, etc.. (this list could go on and on, I just listed a couple for the younger fans to relate to).

In 1969, Nebraska recruited a local player who's dream school was USC. USC didn't offer. He accepted Nebraska's offer. That player went on the win the Heisman and put Nebraska over the top talent wise to win it's first NC, and the second for that matter. We need just a couple of difference makers each yr to be in the conversation for the playoffs.

 

Red till I'm dead!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thoughts?

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Like many people, you greatly overestimate how good recruiting was under Callahan, not to mention that his star recruiter is/was a known cheater.

 

We are still beating out top teams for kids, same as we always did, but we have a greater disadvantage in distance from talented kids than any other major program. Michigan? Do some research on how many talented kids come from Michigan and its immediate vicinity (Ohio, etc.).

 

As far as trying more earlier, we offer and recruit kids years ahead of time as it is, so I'm not sure what you're talking about. Our coaches already have to out hustle every other major program because we have to sift through the whole country to find talented kids that don't mind traveling to go to school. On top of that, we have the additional burden of only selecting the kids with character. I can assure you that there are schools that have it easier by taking any thug they can get.

 

As far as Saban, the guy can coach, but he got a whole lot better when he went to SEC schools that cheat at will to get the top players, many of whom live in driving distance.

 

We all wish Nebraska could take whomever they want in recruiting and leave everyone in the dust. But as long as our location, climate and desire for solid citizens don't change, we're just going to have to accept that not everyone wants to move to Nebraska for college.

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I do find it entertaining the Pelini is already doing everything that you mention. What you seem to be overlooking, however, are three things that have changed DRAMATICALLY in the last 10 years.

 

1. Scholarship limitations and partial qualifiers. As everyone is capped at 85 the parity is greater around the country. That part is simple enough(and something that will come up again later). But when we joined the Big 12 they eliminated the ability to sign partial qualifiers. TO got quite a bit out of those kids that are not options today.

 

2. TV money. The who's who of college football used to be the only ones on television. The demand has changed so that now every team is on tv every week. Most of the mystique is gone when everyone gets a ribbon for participating. We are no longer competing against 30 schools. We are competing against 100 schools.

 

3. Unofficial visits. You mention that Penn State and Michigan getting official visits from TX, etc. Well, we get those as also. The part you should be focusing on is the amount of unofficial visits from TX. More kids are committing before June(?) of their senior year and they have yet to take any official visits. It is unfair to expect the families to pay for weeks of campus visits all over the country so we see more of these visits occur closer where they live. Michigan is within 4 hours of Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinatti, and Pittsburgh. We essentially have Kansas City and Omaha. That is one large reason that Michigan out-recruits us. With the scholarship limitations some kids feel pressured to lock up their spot for various reasons. That kid will never make it here to visit. Our greatest strength is the game day atmosphere and the NCAA has neutralized it.

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