Do we have too many walkons playing?

[Nebhawk]

35 players have never fulfilled there scholarships! Thats like losing two years of recruiting. Two years. Imagine if one of those players who left was a potential Mike Rozier or Grant Wistrom?

 

Not sure if any of those who left possessed that kind of potential, but even if they are half as good as those to types, your missing out on good players.

[Bowfin]

I have found it interesting to go back and look at the recruiting classes of Nebraska in years past to see who was considered a great catch and who was just padding out the class...and then see how they panned out.

 

Ameer Abdullah was a two star bellied sneetch. These sneetches all had more stars on thars:

 

• Aaron Green
• Jamal Turner
• Charles Jackson
• Bubba Starling
• Ryne Reeves
• Kevin Williams
• David Santos
• Mauro Bondi
• Tyler Moore
• Todd Peat Jr.
• Ryan Klachko
• Givens Price
• Max Pirman
• Taariq Allen
• Givens Price

Yes, some of these are good players...but any better than Ameer?...and how many were busts?

 

...and what was the name of that little guy from Chadron State that didn't rate a scholarship in Nebraska...or anybody else...and was undrafted in the NFL?...and is still playing Pro Ball after six years?

 

...or that tight end from Gothenburg who couldn't get a scholarship and wouldn't walk on to Nebraska but ended up with three Super Bowl rings as a starter for the Dallas Cowboys?

[zoogs]

That's a lot of walk-ons. I think it does show some of our recruiting misses -- we have recruited classes ranked so-and-so, and yet those guys have not panned out to such a degree.

 

On the other hand, some of my favorite players and some of the best players on the team are walk-ons. I'll never be too sorry to see that. Love a good walk-on story.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I have found it interesting to go back and look at the recruiting classes of Nebraska in years past to see who was considered a great catch and who was just padding out the class...and then see how they panned out.

 

Ameer Abdullah was a two star bellied sneetch. These sneetches all had more stars on thars:

 

• Aaron Green
• Jamal Turner
• Charles Jackson
• Bubba Starling
• Ryne Reeves
• Kevin Williams
• David Santos
• Mauro Bondi
• Tyler Moore
• Todd Peat Jr.
• Ryan Klachko
• Givens Price
• Max Pirman
• Taariq Allen
• Givens Price

Yes, some of these are good players...but any better than Ameer?...and how many were busts?

 

...and what was the name of that little guy from Chadron State that didn't rate a scholarship in Nebraska...or anybody else...and was undrafted in the NFL?...and is still playing Pro Ball after six years?

 

...or that tight end from Gothenburg who couldn't get a scholarship and wouldn't walk on to Nebraska but ended up with three Super Bowl rings as a starter for the Dallas Cowboys?

For the billionth time, stars aren't a guarantee, but they're an indicator. For every Danny Woodhead there are 500 kids who couldn't walk on somewhere and aren't good football players. A guy with 5-stars, like Su'a Cravens or Andrus Peat, have a much higher chance of panning out and being drafted highly.

 

In order to be successful, you need a portion of your highly ranked kids to pan out and a few diamond in the roughs, like Ameer, to have a championship team. Relying on all diamond in the rough (3-star players) isn't the best recipe to follow.

[C N Red]

I don't like the "stars" of recruiting either but there is correlation. Look over the last 15 years. There is a decent correlation to where teams finish in recruiting rankings and where they finish in the final poll rankings.

 

http://athlonsports.com/college-football/dont-deny-climate-change-recruiting-rankings-matter

[alwayshusking]

We need more talent, all you need is eyes for that assessment. No charts necessary.

 

Let's not pretend we've looked well coached this season either.

[huskerfan92]

I don't like the "stars" of recruiting either but there is correlation. Look over the last 15 years. There is a decent correlation to where teams finish in recruiting rankings and where they finish in the final poll rankings.

 

http://athlonsports.com/college-football/dont-deny-climate-change-recruiting-rankings-matter

 

Not sure how anyone can look at stars and not think they matter. If you get a 5 star player there's a very high chance that he's going to pan out for you. I'm looking at the 2012 recruiting class right now. 32 players on rivals.com were rated as a 5 star and a majority of them are in the NFL right now including two top 3 picks. Sure 3 star players can work out for you, but there are hundreds maybe even thousands of 3 star players to pick from odds are a few of them are going to out play their rankings but a majority of them will be average to below average players. Plain and simple if you bring in 4 star and 5 star athletes you are increasing your chances of being a dominant team. Relying on a team of 3 stars and you're trying to hit the lottery if you have aspirations of being a top 10 team

[Bowfin]

. Plain and simple if you bring in 4 star and 5 star athletes you are increasing your chances of being a dominant team.

 

The Texas Longhorns and the cream of the crop with Texas recruits under Mack Brown consistently dodged these favorable odds his last few years.

 

I believe good coaches in winning programs attract the best recruits, rather than the best recruits making the winning programs. I wish we could test that, by swapping out teams, but that isn't going to happen.

 

We do know that Lou Holz had a better team in Minnesota when he canned half of it and held open tryouts on campus, with one of the equipment guys becoming the starting tight end. He put desire and the ability to take coaching over talent. and it showed up immediately.

[Tomhusker64]

Stars are bought and paid for at some recruiting services. My nephew was told by one of the "major" recruiting services that they would rate him for a fee.

The kid was one of the top three players at his position in the country according to two of the services and the other wouldn't recognize him because my brother wouldn't pay them.

[Bowfin]

My nephew was told by one of the "major" recruiting services that they would rate him for a fee

 

.Just like the Sneetches in Dr. Suess!

[Tomhusker64]

Never read that one.

[BigRedBuster]

This whole walk-on issue is frustrating and interesting at the same time. I am always amazed at some Husker fans who act like it's such a horrible thing that a Walk-on is doing well. When a walk-on is your leading tackler for the last two games....ummmm....it's not a problem that the walk-on is playing.

 

I have a friend who was a walk-on right around the Callahan-Bo transition. He ended up playing quite a bit until injuries cut his senior season short.

We were talking about Husker football one night over a few beers and he brought up something that I have always felt. He said that the attitude in recruiting at Nebraska under Callahan and Bo was that (for the most part) they didn't need to offer local kids scholarships because they could get them to walk-on. That was the case with him. He was asked to walk-on, he could afford school without a scholarship and he knew he wanted to play for Nebraska so he never really pursued other schools to get other offers.

 

Now, he was OK with it because he could afford school on his own. However, his feelings is that this is unfair to a lot of local kids who aren't in that same boat.

 

I believe this is a casualty of the 85 scholarship limit along with coaches coming into the program that really don't have any idea about local Nebraska football. They feel pressure to go get the kids out of Texas, Florida, Louisiana or California so they save the scholarships for them.

 

However, I believe we have seen where there are obviously kids in the state that ended up playing well enough once there that they probably deserved a scholarship from the start over some other kids.

 

Being a walk-on does NOT mean you suck and don't deserve to play. I honestly don't understand some fans attitude like that.

[alexhortdog95]

Nebraska had the 5th ranked recruiting class in the country in 2005 (Yahoo).

Playing up to potential is key, but being coached up helps a player play up to their potential.

 

Of that 2005 recruiting class, here's some famous names along with the number of "stars" they had:

 

Marlon Lucky - 5 Stars - Recruited by Busch

Zack Bowman - 5 Stars - Recruited by Blake

Leon Jackson - 5 Stars - Recruited by Wagner

Frantz Hardy - 5 Stars - Recruited by Norvell

Harrison Beck - 4 Stars - Recruited by Elmassian (that might explain a few things, LOL)

 

These guys were highly recruited, and highly touted.

 

Of those five guys....Bowman is the only guy who is still playing football. Marlon Lucky calls himself a "Pro football player developer", Jackson dropped off the face of the planet, Hardy played some Arena ball, and Beck is wherever he is now.

 

* Funny thing about Beck - after he transferred to NC State, he was ahead in the depth chart of some kid who's last name was Wilson....Russell, I think.

 

In any case - there were other guys on that 2005 class that weren't as highly touted. They ended up being more successful than four of the five guys above.

Guys like a Cody Glenn, a Zac Taylor, Matt Slauson. Oh, and some kid with an unpronounceable name out of Portland, Oregon, too. I think he turned out to be pretty good.

 

Slauson plays, Glenn played and made a roster in the NFL, and that fella from Oregon we all know.

 

Coaching, folks. Coaching can make a raw, talented player into the next Suh, or it can make a Lucky into the next...whatever he is.

 

Marlon Lucky was a five star player. Coaching made him play under his potential.

Suh became a man-beast named Suh that everybody knows. Coaching made him play above his potential.

[alexhortdog95]

Being a walk-on does NOT mean you suck and don't deserve to play. I honestly don't understand some fans attitude like that.

 

Yeah, especially since there's walk-ons who have more heart than some schollie players.

 

Know this fella?

 

 

Guess what - he was a walk on. So were Jordy Nelson and Clay Matthews. I think they panned out....

 

 

EDITED: Not much to say when a walk-on fullback has the longest running play from scrimmage this season....

Edited October 16, 2015 by alexhortdog95

[Red Five]

Ameer Abdullah was a two star bellied sneetch.

 

The narrative that Ameer was a 2* has somehow made its way into Husker lore. It's wrong. He had offers from Auburn, South Carolina, Tennessee, A&M, and USC. And yes, I know Nebraska was the only school that wanted him purely as a RB.

 

Ameer was rated a 5.7 and 3* on Rivals. (For those that don't know, a 5.7 is the highest rated of 3*, a 5.8 is a 4*.) He was the #17 ranked athlete in his class (other athletes of note that year were #1 DeAnthony Thomas, #6 Bubba Starling, #15 Nick Marshall, #25 Tanner McEvoy). He was also the #9 player in the state of Alabama, ahead of #12 Sammie Coates, #14 Jacob Coker (Jonathan Rose was the #5 player in Alabama that year).

 

For a comparison to this year's class, JD Spielman is a 5.7 3* and the #37 ranked athlete.