Re-visiting Callahan's 2005 Class

[ColoradoHusk]

With a lot of talk about recruiting, and a lot of people having "fond" memories of Callahan's amazing class of 2005, I thought it would be good to re-visit that Callahan class of 2005. I am going to use Rivals star rankings

 

Harrison Beck -- 4-stars -- supposed to be the QB of the future, did nothing at NU, complete bust

Zack Bowman -- 5-stars -- high profile JC CB recruit, solid contributor at NU although I remember him having some injury issues, has managed to have a decent NFL career

Chris Brooks -- 4-stars -- high profile WR recruit, did virtually nothing at NU, bust

Jordan Congdon -- 3 stars -- highly ranked kicker, started for a couple years, but very inconsistent. Somewhat accurate FG kicker, but very limited range.

Nick Covey -- 3-stars -- never did much at NU

Barry Cryer -- 3-stars -- JUCO DT, added some depth while at NU

Ola Dagundora -- 3-stars -- Another JUCO DT, solid starter, good recruit who contributed

Phillip Dillard -- 4-stars -- high profile recruit, inconsistent early in his career, very good starter for Bo in 2008

Wallace Franklin -- 3-stars -- WR recruit, I don't remember him doing anything

Cody Glenn -- 3-stars -- had some moments at RB early in his career, solid LB for Bo in 2008

Frantz Hardy -- 4-stars -- decent JC recruit and was a solid contributor at WR, great straight-ahead speed but not a great route runner

David Harvey -- 2-stars -- TE recruit, I don't remember him doing anything at NU

Jacob Hickman -- 3-stars -- solid, good O-lineman during his time at NU

Brodrick Hunter -- 3-stars -- I don't remember him doing anything at NU

Leon Jackson -- 4-stars -- amazing athlete out of HS, played as a True Frosh, but couldn't find a true position, transferred out of NU after 1 year; bust

Marlon Lucky -- 5-stars -- #2 RB recruit in the nation; career success at NU is one of the most highly debated at NU; I will say he had a good career; racked up huge receiving stats in 2007 being the dump off receiver for Keller and Ganz; in 2008 he lost his starting job at RB to Helu; overall good career but not as great as most fans hoped he would be

Dontrell Moore -- 3-stars -- JUCO LB; I don't remember him doing much at NU other than being a backup, I could be wrong on my memory

Steve Octavien -- 4-stars -- JUCO LB; solid contributor starter at NU after having an injury his first year; I liked him at NU, solid player

Brock Pasteur -- 2-stars -- JUCO OL recruit, did nothing at NU

Jordan Picou -- 2-stars -- JUCO OL recruit, mainly to get his brother, Rodney, don't remember him playing much, but he might have been a backup OL

Rodney Picou -- 4-stars -- High profile OL recruit, didn't do anything at NU, bust

Zach Potter -- 4-stars -- Stud, in-state recruit from Omaha CP, I think he had a very good career, although he was bulked up too much by Cosgrove for 2007, finished strong for Bo in 2008

Robert Rands -- 2-stars -- great athlete out of Bellevue West, couldn't really find a position, quit the team after 1-2 years, no career at NU

Craig Roark -- 3-stars -- solid OL recruit out of high school, I don't remember him doing much at NU, I think he transferred

Matt Slauson -- 0 stars -- under the radar recruit out of high school, best o-lineman that Callahan brought to NU

Jeff Souder -- 0 stars -- another local recruit out of Bellevue West, was a contributor as a freshman on special teams, but left the program after 1 year

Tyrell Spain -- 3-stars -- JUCO WR recruit, might have played a little, but I don't remember him doing anything

Ndamukong Suh -- 4-stars -- stud DT recruit, hurt his knee as a true frosh, which was the best thing for his career, as it allowed him to play 2 years for Bo (08-09). Great recruit, flourished with the new coaching staff after showing moments under BC/Cosgrove

Zac Taylor -- 3-stars -- key JUCO QB recruit, savior for the team in '05 & '06, great player at NU

Justin Tomerlin -- 4-stars -- JUCO DE recruit, did nothing at NU

Barry Turner -- 3-stars -- good HS recruit at DE, had some good years at NU. Best year was as a pass rusher as a freshman. Solid contributor.

Bryan Wilson -- 2-stars -- JUCO DB recruit -- another JUCO recruit who didn't do much at NU, backup whole career

 

So, the class had 32 players. Here is a breakdown of those players

Class of his own -- 1 player -- Suh, nobody can compare to what he did at NU

Great career -- Zac Taylor & Matt Slauson

Very good career -- Lucky, Dillard, Glenn, Hickman, Potter, Dagunduro

Solid contributor/rotation guy -- Bowman, Congdon, Cryer, Hardy, Turner

Career backup -- Wilson, Moore, J. Picou

Did virtually nothing at NU/left program early -- all the rest of the guys -- 15 of the 32 recruits did virtually nothing or transferred after a year or 2 in the program

 

So, yes, there were some great careers with Suh, Taylor, and Slauson, and another handful of guys who had very good careers. But, for how hyped that class was, nearly half of them did little to nothing at NU, and a few of them weren't as good as players as their recruiting stars would have thought they would be. Either, Callahan was a terrible developer of talent or that talent wasn't as good as we all thought they were going to be.

 

 

[ColoradoHusk]

I saw in another thread about how many 5, 4, and 3 stars were brought in.

 

5-stars - Lucky & Bowman -- Lucky had a good career, Bowman struggled with injuries, but I don't think either of their careers approached their recruiting ranking

4-stars -- Suh was a super-duper star; Dillard, Potter, & Octavien had good careers at NU; but there were a lot of COMPLETE BUSTS (Beck, Chris Brooks, Leon Jackson, Rodney Picou, Justin Tomerlin). Over half of the 4-star recruits did absolutely nothing at NU.

[BigRedBuster]

Having over half a recruiting class not contributing much is pretty common.

 

I find this interesting.

 

2005 Average star 3.15 (32 recruits)

2016 Average Star 3.2 (15 recruits) obviously not finished yet.

 

What this basically points out is that in college football, one recruiting class doesn't push you over the edge to greatness. It takes several years of that type of class to do that.

 

But, you have to start somewhere. Let's keep this class rolling and carry that momentum into next year.

[GBRedneck]

Having over half a recruiting class not contributing much is pretty common.

 

I find this interesting.

 

2005 Average star 3.15 (32 recruits)

2016 Average Star 3.2 (15 recruits) obviously not finished yet.

 

What this basically points out is that in college football, one recruiting class doesn't push you over the edge to greatness. It takes several years of that type of class to do that.

 

But, you have to start somewhere. Let's keep this class rolling and carry that momentum into next year.

Prospects for the current class are looking pretty bleak. We likely need at least 8 more bodies to fill the class, and we are in (really in, not just an offer with low interest) on very few high ranked players. We are currently ranked #31 on 247.

[ColoradoHusk]

Having over half a recruiting class not contributing much is pretty common.

 

I find this interesting.

 

2005 Average star 3.15 (32 recruits)

2016 Average Star 3.2 (15 recruits) obviously not finished yet.

 

What this basically points out is that in college football, one recruiting class doesn't push you over the edge to greatness. It takes several years of that type of class to do that.

 

But, you have to start somewhere. Let's keep this class rolling and carry that momentum into next year.

Yes, but having over half of the 4-stars in the class contribute absolutely nothing is very concerning.

[ColoradoHusk]

If NU fans want to look at average star ranking, here are NU's average star ranking under Bo.

 

2008 - 2.96

2009 - 3.25

2010 - 3.24

2011 - 3.53

2012 - 3.35

2013 - 3.16

2014 - 2.92

 

So, in 4 of Bo's recruiting classes, he had the a better average star ranking than Riley currently has, and one year where it's basically the same ('13).

[NUance]

So, the point of this thread is to bash the 2005 class? Nice. Perhaps the OP should ask the question of why we had 32 slots to fill in the 2005 recruiting cycle?

 

And apparently instead of actually looking at statistics, career starts, etc., you're just going off the top of your head as to whether you happen to remember if various players had a decent Husker career or not. It seems like you sell a lot of guys short. Let's take one example: Barry Cryer.

 

Cryer was a JUCO recruited out of Dodge City C.C. with two years of eligibility. LINK He played in 12 games his first year (2005) and started the whole year in 2006. In the 2006 CCG against Oklahoma Cryer had four tackles, including 2 TFL—helping to hold the Sooners to 42 yds rushing, their season low. Cryer also played special teams on the PAT/FG defense unit. They blocked two PATs that year, and blocked an aTm FG attempt.

 

Despite having a decent two year career at NU, your only comment about Barry Cryer is that he "added some depth while at NU."

[ColoradoHusk]

So, the point of this thread is to bash the 2005 class? Nice. Perhaps the OP should ask the question of why we had 32 slots to fill in the 2005 recruiting cycle?

 

And apparently instead of actually looking at statistics, career starts, etc., you're just going off the top of your head as to whether you happen to remember if various players had a decent Husker career or not. It seems like you sell a lot of guys short. Let's take one example: Barry Cryer.

 

Cryer was a JUCO recruited out of Dodge City C.C. with two years of eligibility. LINK He played in 12 games his first year (2005) and started the whole year in 2006. In the 2006 CCG against Oklahoma Cryer had four tackles, including 2 TFL—helping to hold the Sooners to 42 yds rushing, their season low. Cryer also played special teams on the PAT/FG defense unit. They blocked two PATs that year, and blocked an aTm FG attempt.

 

Despite having a decent two year career at NU, your only comment about Barry Cryer is that he "added some depth while at NU."

Sorry I missed my evaluation on 1 player. I couldn't quite remember his career at NU. I wasn't going to go through Huskers.com to look up bios on every player.

 

My point was to add some discussion about a past recruiting, as it was brought up in another thread or two.

[BigRedBuster]

Not sure why we are comparing Bo's star rankings unless you are trying to make the claim that he was a much better recruiter than we have now.

 

2008 = 2.96 2015 = 3.14

2009 = 3.25 2016 = 3.2 (so far)

[teachercd]

Cryer for MVP!!!

[ColoradoHusk]

Not sure why we are comparing Bo's star rankings unless you are trying to make the claim that he was a much better recruiter than we have now.

 

2008 = 2.96 2015 = 3.14

2009 = 3.25 2016 = 3.2 (so far)

I added in star rankings because you threw in a comment about star rankings. Bo's classes by star rankings are very similar or even better to what Riley has done the past 2 years. I'm not trying to say one is better than the other, they are actually about the same. But, Bo was a "terrible" recruiter, and people are saying Riley is a "great recruiter".

[BigRedBuster]

 

Having over half a recruiting class not contributing much is pretty common.

 

I find this interesting.

 

2005 Average star 3.15 (32 recruits)

2016 Average Star 3.2 (15 recruits) obviously not finished yet.

 

What this basically points out is that in college football, one recruiting class doesn't push you over the edge to greatness. It takes several years of that type of class to do that.

 

But, you have to start somewhere. Let's keep this class rolling and carry that momentum into next year.

Prospects for the current class are looking pretty bleak. We likely need at least 8 more bodies to fill the class, and we are in (really in, not just an offer with low interest) on very few high ranked players. We are currently ranked #31 on 247.

 

Not sure where you are getting that.

 

Here are the players I think we are still in on pretty well.

 

Farniok 4*

Reese 3* (admittedly, I am concerned about his recent trip to Texas)

Fitzpatrick 4*

L. Jackson 4*

Watts 3*

Poljan 3*

I. Simmons 4*

M. Simmons 3*

Those 8 have an average star ranking of 3.5. If we could get these, that would put our average star ranking at 3.3. That's a better pace than our last staff was in their second season. And, we are in on a lot of really good talent right now for the 2017 class.

[BigRedBuster]

 

Not sure why we are comparing Bo's star rankings unless you are trying to make the claim that he was a much better recruiter than we have now.

 

2008 = 2.96 2015 = 3.14

2009 = 3.25 2016 = 3.2 (so far)

I added in star rankings because you threw in a comment about star rankings. Bo's classes by star rankings are very similar or even better to what Riley has done the past 2 years. I'm not trying to say one is better than the other, they are actually about the same. But, Bo was a "terrible" recruiter, and people are saying Riley is a "great recruiter".

 

Strange comment while quoting my post.

[Pedro Guerrero]

That recruiting class brought in 1 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and 1 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. Lucky was 2^nd Team All Conference two years in a row (AP – 06 and Coaches – 07) but his senior year was hampered by injuries. If he didn’t have those pesky 5 Stars next to his High School ranking his career would be considered a success (3900 rushing/receiving yards). I’m pretty sure Rands never played or practiced a down of football while at NU. He was the track guy that did the long jump. Bowman tore his ACL in 06 and never reached his full potential until he got the NFL. Turner and Congdon were both Frosh All Americans, one decided he wanted to go back to California and the other had a nice career here. Pretty sure Spain ended up at SWCC, both Picou left, Tomerlin died a couple years ago, I don’t think Hunter or Franklin made it due to grades, Roark left and am pretty sure he tried OU but didn’t last there either.

According to another site this class earned 57 letters by 23 different players (8 guys that earned letters all 4 years).

 

I don’t know what any of my ramblings add but I was just trying to pull stuff off the top of my head about this class.

[GBRedneck]

 

 

Having over half a recruiting class not contributing much is pretty common.

 

I find this interesting.

 

2005 Average star 3.15 (32 recruits)

2016 Average Star 3.2 (15 recruits) obviously not finished yet.

 

What this basically points out is that in college football, one recruiting class doesn't push you over the edge to greatness. It takes several years of that type of class to do that.

 

But, you have to start somewhere. Let's keep this class rolling and carry that momentum into next year.

Prospects for the current class are looking pretty bleak. We likely need at least 8 more bodies to fill the class, and we are in (really in, not just an offer with low interest) on very few high ranked players. We are currently ranked #31 on 247.

 

Not sure where you are getting that.

 

Here are the players I think we are still in on pretty well.

 

Farniok 4*

Reese 3* (admittedly, I am concerned about his recent trip to Texas)

Fitzpatrick 4*

L. Jackson 4*

Watts 3*

Poljan 3*

I. Simmons 4*

M. Simmons 3*

Those 8 have an average star ranking of 3.5. If we could get these, that would put our average star ranking at 3.3. That's a better pace than our last staff was in their second season. And, we are in on a lot of really good talent right now for the 2017 class.

 

If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas!