Devaney: Husker's 2016 Talent Only Lacking Against Ohio State

[Mavric]

Was the roster lacking overall?

Was it foolish to think Nebraska had enough talent to capture the Big Ten West Division?

In an interview in his North Stadium office Wednesday, Billy Devaney, the team's executive director of player personnel, said Nebraska's talent level was strong enough to win its division.

"Coming in (to last season), talent was not a concern," said Devaney, who joined the program last February. "I thought we had a chance to have a really good football team. I thought we had really good players."

...

Were there any other games beside Ohio State in which Devaney was concerned about the opponent's talent level beforehand?

"You know what, there really weren't any others," he said. "Wisconsin, obviously, was a pretty balanced team, but it was a good matchup. The Iowa game, that was bullsh--. There was no way in the world that should have happened.

"Even Tennessee, yeah, they were athletic. But I thought there were other places that we should've competed better, where we matched up well. Ohio State was the only game where I thought the talent gap was noticeable."

LJS

 

[RedSavage]

Seems like a pretty accurate assessment. I think that might be one of my favorite things about a lot of this coaching staff - they don't sugarcoat things and don't seem to be afraid to admit their mistakes. To me this is Devaney putting a good helping of blame on the coaching staff. It's refreshing to see the staff take some responsibility and in the process, hopefully identify the problems to prevent it from happening again in the future.

 

[Decked]

Notice how a lot of those guys aren't here anymore minus Cav who really limited us.

 

[GSG]

Sam disagrees

 

[Mavric]

Sam disagrees

Totally shocked by this.

 

[NUance]

Was the roster lacking overall?

Was it foolish to think Nebraska had enough talent to capture the Big Ten West Division?

In an interview in his North Stadium office Wednesday, Billy Devaney, the team's executive director of player personnel, said Nebraska's talent level was strong enough to win its division.

"Coming in (to last season), talent was not a concern," said Devaney, who joined the program last February. "I thought we had a chance to have a really good football team. I thought we had really good players."

...

Were there any other games beside Ohio State in which Devaney was concerned about the opponent's talent level beforehand?

"You know what, there really weren't any others," he said. "Wisconsin, obviously, was a pretty balanced team, but it was a good matchup. The Iowa game, that was bullsh--. There was no way in the world that should have happened.

"Even Tennessee, yeah, they were athletic. But I thought there were other places that we should've competed better, where we matched up well. Ohio State was the only game where I thought the talent gap was noticeable."

LJS

When Devaney says "Coming in (to last season)", I wonder if he means before we lost our top three DTs? The loss of those three guys was a huge hit to our overall talent level.

 

[GSG]

Sam disagrees

Totally shocked by this.

as well

 

[BIG ERN]

B10 Recruiting Ranks

2012 - 3rd (Ohio St, Michigan)

2013 - 3rd (Ohio St, Michigan)

2014 - 5th (Ohio St, Michigan St, Penn St, Michigan)

2015 - 4th (Ohio St, Penn St, Michigan St)

2016 - 5th (Ohio St, Michigan, Michigan St, Penn St)

2017 - 5th (Ohio St, Michigan, Penn St, Maryland)

This tells us a few different things:

1. Ohio St owns the B10 in talent which has been displayed since Meyer has arrived (39-2 B10 record!)
2. Penn St winning the East was a surprise, but not a major one the way they have recruited lately
3. Harbaugh was able to come in and win games as shown with the success of recent recruiting
4. Wisconsin has gotten the most out of the least talent the past 5+ seasons
5. Nebraska is always on the hinge of maybe being able to get over the hump, but never seems to get there

 

[Mavric]

When Devaney says "Coming in (to last season)", I wonder if he means before we lost our top three DTs? The loss of those three guys was a huge hit to our overall talent level.

Devaney wasn't even hired until after VV and Collins declared for the draft. Williams was later but I would think "coming into the season" would be fall camp-ish.

 

[Thanks_Tom RR]

B10 Recruiting Ranks

2012 - 3rd (Ohio St, Michigan)

2013 - 3rd (Ohio St, Michigan)

2014 - 5th (Ohio St, Michigan St, Penn St, Michigan)

2015 - 4th (Ohio St, Penn St, Michigan St)

2016 - 5th (Ohio St, Michigan, Michigan St, Penn St)

2017 - 5th (Ohio St, Michigan, Penn St, Maryland)

This tells us a few different things:

1. Ohio St owns the B10 in talent which has been displayed since Meyer has arrived (39-2 B10 record!)
2. Penn St winning the East was a surprise, but not a major one the way they have recruited lately
3. Harbaugh was able to come in and win games as shown with the success of recent recruiting
4. Wisconsin has gotten the most out of the least talent the past 5+ seasons
5. Nebraska is always on the hinge of maybe being able to get over the hump, but never seems to get there

Nebraska recruits itself into the same position as Penn St, "close enough talent-wise to compete in the Big Ten each year, but where coaching/development needs to get to into and winning the championship". We might not be able to beat Ohio St every time out but, when you get into the championship game and thus only have to win one game, no reason to think that a few times Nebraska gets the job done.

 

[NUance]

When Devaney says "Coming in (to last season)", I wonder if he means before we lost our top three DTs? The loss of those three guys was a huge hit to our overall talent level.

Devaney wasn't even hired until after VV and Collins declared for the draft. Williams was later but I would think "coming into the season" would be fall camp-ish.

Given that, I'd have to disagree with Devaney. The loss of Collins, Valentine and Williams all at once was a huge hit to the Blackshirts. Losing three of our top four DTs is tough to recover from.

 

[RedSavage]

When Devaney says "Coming in (to last season)", I wonder if he means before we lost our top three DTs? The loss of those three guys was a huge hit to our overall talent level.

Devaney wasn't even hired until after VV and Collins declared for the draft. Williams was later but I would think "coming into the season" would be fall camp-ish.

Given that, I'd have to disagree with Devaney. The loss of Collins, Valentine and Williams all at once was a huge hit to the Blackshirts. Losing three of our top four DTs is tough to recover from.

It was a big loss but we had much bigger problems than the DT position this past season

 

[Old Nebraska Guy]

Sam McK...Spin spin spin.

Michigan sends 14 yet they finished third in the East and probably third overall.

Penn St sends 2 and are the conference champs.

It is where, what class, your talent lies.

 

[knapplc]

Sam disagrees

Couple of things about that.

College talent is not 1:1 with NFL talent. Nobody sane would trade Tommie Frazier or Eric Crouch for any other QB in CFB during their eras, but neither did anything in the NFL. So going to the Combine/NFL isn't an accurate measure of talent at this level.

Having said that, we keep Collins & Valentine, we have four guys going to the Combine this year. If Westerkamp is healthy, maybe five, since he's probably as NFL-worthy as any of the other 50-something WRs that got invited.

So where does that put Sam's comment? Somewhere in the vicinity of selling newspapers to Iowegians by poking at Nebraska, and selling them to Nebraskans by poking them about Iowa. Sam has a financial stake in making that comment, especially if he makes it without including any mitigating factors.

 

[TheSker]

Sam disagrees

Couple of things about that.

College talent is not 1:1 with NFL talent. Nobody sane would trade Tommie Frazier or Eric Crouch for any other QB in CFB during their eras, but neither did anything in the NFL. So going to the Combine/NFL isn't an accurate measure of talent at this level.

Having said that, we keep Collins & Valentine, we have four guys going to the Combine this year. If Westerkamp is healthy, maybe five, since he's probably as NFL-worthy as any of the other 50-something WRs that got invited.

So where does that put Sam's comment? Somewhere in the vicinity of selling newspapers to Iowegians by poking at Nebraska, and selling them to Nebraskans by poking them about Iowa. Sam has a financial stake in making that comment, especially if he makes it without including any mitigating factors.

Except the only position that's true about is the quarterback position from our power option teams. That's why Crouch and Frazier are the examples.