well, even if these kids had talent, they have only been "coached" for 3 games......hard to tell, but i tend to agree, the "talent" we recruited was over hyped, to a large degree........
Hunter --- once more you succinctly hit the nail on the head --- Callahan was grossly overrated as a recruiter --- it was all hype. The talent Callahan brought in was of lower grade than what Solich recruited.
so if the rankings are all hype answer this question for me.....why are KU and MU all of the sudden going after higher star players? have mangino and pinkle bought into the "hype" too??
The hype is not recruiting stars and rankings in general but Callahan's recruiting in particular. Callahan, in terms of average stars of recruits signed had an average well under 4 --- closer to 3.5. None of classes were a top 20 class in terms of average stars of players signed. He simply had three things that led to the Callahan recruiting hype. 1) he courted and brought many players closes to signing --- dozens of 4& 5 star players gave NU serious, serious consideration --- but 90% went elsewhere --- the coming close issue made it seem as though he recruited well --- but in the end they did not come, 2) he recruited large classes of mainly 3 star with a few 4 star players in --- because the classes were large the rankings were fairly high --- artificially though in that the average star per player was never top 10 stuff, rarely top 15 and typically #20 or so, and 3) people blew the NFL coach thing out of proportion and so he was given credit where credit was not due.
In the end, many of the 4 star players signed either never came, came and left or came and were not very good. If you simply say that players were not developed --- which is true --- but if you say that this is the only problem you will be left with the mistaken notion that NU is only "a little player development away" from a really competitive team. This is not the case. If Pelini were to fully develop and get 90% of the potential out of each player on the squad NU would improve and maybe be a fringe top 25 team --- but that is it. Do not make the mistake of thinking we have top 10 talent here that is simply under-performing. Pelini could maximize the players we have here now and, at best, they would be maybe a top 25 team (of course that is 40 or so notches above where NU was last year and it would be a huge, huge improvement).
The point is not just lack of player development --- though it is that (in part). The problem as well is the top programs are bigger, leaner (less fat), stronger, faster and moreover, deeper than is NU. We have not the athletes to expect a top 25 program anytime soon. We have talent that would be # 5-7 or so in any of the major conferences. Callahan was hyped as a recruiter and that was it --- he was not that good even at recruiting.
So far, Pelini's staff is recruiting at a level that is also not that good. This is understandable --- the losing records, the lack of bowl games, the geographic isolation, the fact that NU has been irrelevant nationally in the past 5-7 years (the only period of time these recruits can directly connect with), the embarrasing losses on TV (which is all these kids we recruit have seen) and the emergence of other programs around us, well.... Pelini has a really, really, really tough sell. These recruits are not like us --- we all remember well what NU football once was --- they do not (at least the national recruits) --- at best these kids would have someone tell them that NU "once was a powerhouse" and that they have rabid fans and nice facilities --- but none of them have seen it. They will think of 25-30 programs first before NU. This is a "what have you done for me world lately" and NU has done nothing good lately. So, it would be expected that NU will not recruit now with the big boys --- or even the pretty big boys.
Actually, the recruits that Callahan got the past four years were highly sought after that had offers from a plethora of quality schools. They chose to come to NU because it was a special place to them. Just because we aren't on the national stage doesn't mean we aren't going to be of interest to good players, we have some of the best facilities in the nation and the best support you can find. No, we're not going to get the type of athletes that USC or Florida get, but we will get good football players that can be developed into amazing football players.
In 2005, we got Zachary Bowman, Ola Dagunduro, Barry Cryer, Phillip Dillard, Cody Glenn, Frantz Hardy, Marlon Lucky, Steve Octavien, Zach Potter, Matt Slauson, Ndamukong Suh, Zac Taylor, Bryan Wilson and Barry Turner, all who either contributed greatly or are still contributing to this team.
In 2006, we got Pierre Allen, Major Culbert, Ricky Henry, Will Henry, Menelik Holt, Andre Jones, D.J. Jones, Mike McNeil, Carl Nicks, Maurice Purify, Rickey Thenarse, Anthony West and Kenny Wilson, who all contributed or are still contributing to this team. I'm not even listing the rest in these classes because they are developing still and will contribute when it's their time.
I can go on with the next two classes but I'll spare you, my point is that we don't have a lack of talent, and we don't have crap recruits that no one wanted. Quit making it sound like our recruiting the past four years has been absolutely worhtless. THe guys that we have had choices to go to other, "better" top 25 teams, but they chose Nebraska. You don't have to be ranked in the Top 10 year in and year out to get quality guys. It helps, but not necessary.
