Dirk on recruiting local

[MichiganDad3]

I really agree that the University of Nebraska and MR need to find more in state players and offer them scholarships to play football. There are probably 3-4 kids every year playing somewhere at a different position than what they play in HS that could come to Nebraska and really become players.

I always remember an interview from about 10 years ago on Sports Nightly with Charlie McBride. He was talking about a kid from a small town in Nebraska playing RB, LB in high school. Good athlete about 6'4" 230 lbs. Not fast enough to play those spots in college but a real good athlete with lots of room on his frame to gain weight. He said he took one at him and said he would take him and make a DT out of him. The guy was Loren Kaiser.

There are guys like this all the time in this state. Nebraska needs to tap into these guys and trust what they see on tape as potential and not what they see right now.

I am a big believer in changing positions from high school to college. You need speed in college. The best high school athletes usually play speed positions. There are a lot of high school RBs that could be good LBs or even DL. A kid on my sons team was 6'6" and 240 pounds and played RB. He had decent speed, but not great. There is no way he would be considered for RB in college, but I think he could have become a good DT. He had the frame to add weight. He received no scholarship offers.

 

[PaulCrewe]

Wasn't Horne a 4* recruit coming out of Omaha? I remember him being a big deal that quickly turned into a big bust. Randy Stella is another one I remember coming in with lots of hype only to bust.

randy Stella would have been Terrell Farley 2.0 if he could have given the weed a rest. Dude was awesome in 1999. A linebacker that returned kicks.

 

[husker07]

The point is Nebraska needs to do a better job of evalutating in-state talent. It was probably easier when Osborne (and Solich) were still here because they had long relationships with in-state coaches and likely had a good idea of who to trust when they got a call about a prospect. Hell, throw some more money at the problem; recruiting is one area where staff isn't limited. Get to know the in-state coaches and get on the same page as them so you can use their player evaluations to help shape your in-state recruiting.

The other thing is we need to develop players better. What kids come in as is one thing. But as the article points out, with good development they can be a much better player after a couple years of good coaching and development.

Boom. Exactly.

 

[Vitalis Jackson]

Totally in agreement that our state still needs to be a priority and that there are undeveloped players waiting in the rough, ready to be fully realized on their potential.

One question I have though, what is the state of Nebraska high school football? When I was playing, and even to a higher degree years before, it seems like everyone all ran triple option offenses, which made the transition into the Osborne/Solich Nebraska teams a bit easier. Has HS football caught up with the times in the state? History is a dangerous precedent to use here, because of the ever increasing devotions and resources high school kids in bigger metro areas and more populated states are getting year round.

This. Osborn was coach for decades, and many in-state high schools emulated his teams. We haven't had that kind of consistency for many, many years.

 

[southernoregonhusker]

Need to reinstitute county scholarships IMO

I haven't heard about those in a long time hahaha

What are you saying they weren't a real thing.

I know a lot of OU fans that thought they were.

 

[Elf]

Things are definitely different than they were 20 years ago. Scholarship limits are much less, and the price of college education has sky-rocketed. That alone is one reason the walk-on program isn't what it once was, and that's why you're not seeing as many kids turning down scholly offers from schools like Iowa State or FCS schools to chase the dream of playing for Nebraska. Some still do, but that number is a lot less than it once was.

That's not entirely true. In 1973 the 105 limit was established, in 1978 in dropped to 95. It dropped again in 1992 to 85. A lot of people don't realize that the last scholarship cut was 23 years ago and even then it was only 10 scholarships.

The elimination of partial qualifiers had an effect too. The Whorns pushed the Big 12 to eliminate partial qualifiers in the conference. I think this was aimed squarely at Nebraska.

That had a pretty big effect as well. Look at all the prop 48 guys Osborne took a chance on.

 

[URSS]

It was my understanding that several decades ago, Devaney and Osborne got recruiting tips and help from former players and high school coaches. I wonder if the high school coach ties in and around Nebraska were cut by Callahan and Pelini?

The scholarship limitations means you can't everyone but it seems like a lot of very good players were lost to out of state schools.

 

[NUance]

It was my understanding that several decades ago, Devaney and Osborne got recruiting tips and help from former players and high school coaches. I wonder if the high school coach ties in and around Nebraska were cut by Callahan and Pelini?

I dunno about all that. I know both Callahan and Pelini ran summer camps that a lot of Nebraska high school players attended. And they spoke at events for Nebraska high school coaches.

:

The scholarship limitations means you can't everyone but it seems like a lot of very good players were lost to out of state schools.

Yeah, this seems to be a big problem. Our borders used to be closed. Hardly ever lost a blue chip hs recruit. We need to close those borders down again!

 

[Hayseed]

Barry Collier tried this............didn't work.

Even worse is when the coach DOES recruit local kids and Roy's home town demands that he become an astronaut.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Grazz-BUGc4/TVcYkZTL4iI/AAAAAAAAAOM/u13GfkJ5l4o/s1600/reluctant+astronaut+1.jpg

 

[gratefullred]

Interesting article by Dirk, perhaps his only interesting article, but I give him his due. I have really been thinking about this one for a while.

Easton Stick has started and won 3 games at NDSU as a redsFr. Who would take him over Darlington or Bush?

There is no doubt kids in NE and IA are underrated by recruiting services unless they work lots of camps to get their names out there. Not to bash either guy, VV 4-star Maliek Collins 3-star and both are good but it was obivious from day 1 Collins was more explosive. VV did the camp circuit summer before his Jr year Collins did not.

 

[Mavric]

Here's another thing to consider:

Do you know what other guys "should" have gotten a Husker offer but didn't? Guys like Brandon Reilly, Andy Janovich, Jack Gangwish, Dylan Utter, Chris Weber and Ross Dzuris. But then people are complaining that we're playing too many walk-ons and that we don't have enough talent on the team.

Just has to be spun whatever way you want to be able to complain.

 

[84HuskerLaw]

Things are definitely different than they were 20 years ago. Scholarship limits are much less, and the price of college education has sky-rocketed. That alone is one reason the walk-on program isn't what it once was, and that's why you're not seeing as many kids turning down scholly offers from schools like Iowa State or FCS schools to chase the dream of playing for Nebraska. Some still do, but that number is a lot less than it once was.

That's not entirely true. In 1973 the 105 limit was established, in 1978 in dropped to 95. It dropped again in 1992 to 85. A lot of people don't realize that the last scholarship cut was 23 years ago and even then it was only 10 scholarships.

I think the bolded part you have explained correctly as far as i am aware but you miss the rest of the sentence which in my view is the BIGGEST reason that the walk on program is struggling in many ways.

Measuring the level or value of the contribution of a given player to the team and its success is very difficult and I don't believe you could realistically use something as simple as 'having risen to become a starter' or something so simple. There have been many contributions to the program success by literally hundreds or perhaps thousands of players as walk ons that go completely unseen by the fans. Many walk ons play the role of scout teamer and provide a practice squad to help the top units get better and get good realistic looks at the opponents' schemes and principle plays and playmakers.

These players are critical to developing a 'great as opposed to a good' team.

I am amazed the Huskers can find as many quality athletes to walk on as they do considering the HIGH cost of school. 20 years ago, paying your own way with savings, parental help and student loans was relatively feasible for many Nebraska kids with low in-state tuition. A player could enroll in the minimum number of hours, live off campus (often if a local Lincoln kid for example at home) and his out of pocket cost would be only three thousand a year. That was doable and not cost prohibitive. Rent was much lower, general living costs were also much lower, etc. And finding part time jobs, etc likely much easier. Today, college is grossly overpriced and there is a reasonable argument about whether or not college is actually a 'good investment' considering the cost and the prevailing wages and minimal jobs available for most college grads. Against high costs, poor job prospects, coaches such as Callahan and Pelini who did not believe in the walk on programs, etc, it has not been surprising to me to see dramatic declines in the numbers of quality walk on recruits. Scholarships are readily available to lower division schools for nearly any walk on caliber kid really. The caliber of walk ons dropped dramatically even as far back as 2001. Back then, I believe there were many walk ons who turned down a chance to be a Husker because they perceived the scholarship talent level so high as to effectively eliminate much chance of ever playing. Nebraska was hitting a very high success rate on its scholarship because we recruited nearly all 4 and 5 star caliber athletes. In other words, we got many diamonds and didn't have to find nearly as many diamonds in the rough. Not so anymore.

 

[gratefullred]

Here's another thing to consider:

Do you know what other guys "should" have gotten a Husker offer but didn't? Guys like Brandon Reilly, Andy Janovich, Jack Gangwish, Dylan Utter, Chris Weber and Ross Dzuris. But then people are complaining that we're playing too many walk-ons and that we don't have enough talent on the team.

Just has to be spun whatever way you want to be able to complain.

How many of these guys have NFL talent? My opinion is Reilly and Janovich. Reilly looks really fast, not sure how that was over looked and Janovich will just out work you everywhere especially on special teams.

My concern is that Iowa is beating us at offering the small town guys. Drew Ott and Nick Meir are NFL guys who played 8 man football in NE and SW IA. NU could have had them, but Iowa found them. Sometimes I am guilty of getting too excited about the 3 star from FLA or TX when I should be looking at the guy playing 8 man football nobody knows about.

 

[suh_fan93]

Good, in-depth article from Dirk. It's not about prioritizing Nebraska kids over outside kids and it's not about not recruiting nationally. If anything, we need to recruit nationally -- and better.

But also keep the local pipeline established and strong.

 

[Hayseed]

Here's another thing to consider:

Do you know what other guys "should" have gotten a Husker offer but didn't? Guys like Brandon Reilly, Andy Janovich, Jack Gangwish, Dylan Utter, Chris Weber and Ross Dzuris. But then people are complaining that we're playing too many walk-ons and that we don't have enough talent on the team.

Just has to be spun whatever way you want to be able to complain.

That's a pretty good looking list of players....I think KC should sign Gordy because of the intangibles he brings to the team, like these guys. Heart is kind of hard to put in a stat.