suh_fan93
Heisman Trophy Winner
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Do We Have the Talent We Need?
- Thread starter Mavric
- Start date
All Hail Herbie
Five-Star Recruit
Agreed on win totals. CU, IU, Purdue all should have been wins in 2019 as well. Again, like a broken record, poor fundamentals and lack of mental toughness were contributors.
Martinez did step up in the pocket. But Benhart was beaten so badly that the DE still got around the corner and back to Martinez. If Benhart could have gotten just a little bit more of him he would have pushed him all the way past Martinez.
southernoregonhusker
Starter
How many complete recruiting classes did Riley have? The main word being "complete?" Remember, he was there for a short time. Also, how many of Riley's guys left because they either didn't want to play for Frost or Frost didn't want them? Lindsay? McQuitty? Spielman? Spielman's loss looks awfully big right now and Gebbia is a better thrower than Martinez. You talk about a void. The word I would use is purge and that lands at the feet of Frost. Mav, you're the recruiting guy. Is/are Riley's classe(s) rankings at lot worse than Frost's?
As I look at the second part of your post and Frost's guys, you spoke of guys in the mix and starters. My answer is of course, somebody has to take the field. The running-backs so far are non-contributors, except for Mills and he's mediocre. He has 205 yards in 5 games. Thompkins, Scott and Johnson have combined for 116 yards.
I love, love, love Wondale. Sadly, I sometimes wish he played for another top 25 team so we can see just how good he can be. Betts has 12 catches for 131 yards. If you add up all of the yards from our backs and receivers, do they add up to Spielman's sophomore year? I haven't looked or added them up, but it's sad to think about.
The original question is do we have the talent we need? Well, need for what? Nattys? Absolutely not. Conference championships? No way we can beat OSU. West champs? No. Our boys are in last place. Last. You are what your record says you are. We have virtually nobody who is drafted and those who are drafted are in the last few rounds. We have three guys on offense that are electric with the ball in their hands, but they need help and they don't have enough of that yet. Is Frost going to bring in that help? I'm not confident he will.
It's impossible to know why some of those guys left. Lindsay and McQuitty didn't play when Riley was still here so it's wishful thinking at best to think they were going to amount to much. Spielman has a ton of talent but tried to lead a boycott of practice and then didn't do much of anything at TCU so I think it's fair to say that his priorities changed somewhere along the line. You might like to think that Gebbia is a better thrower than Martinez but Martinez is completing 68.3% for 6.5 ypa while Gebbia is at 62.0% and 6.4 ypa and the defenses they've faced are nowhere near the same caliber so I think that's just you wanting it to be true more than anything.
Frost's classes have been noticeably better than Riley's. Here are the stats - 2018 was the transition class. Riley was basically recruiting at a mid-three star level. Frost is recruiting at an upper three-star and pushing four-star.
Class Average Recruits (# 4*+)
15 .8616 21 (4)
16 .8686 21 (5)
17 .8781 20 (6)
18 .8768 24 (6)
19 .8850 27 (7)
20 .8831 23 (9)
I think it's pretty hard to draw much from number of yards this year. First, there haven't been as many games. Second, they've pretty much all been hurt to some degree. I don't think Mills is all that great. He gets what the OL gets for him. I think the other have more promise but they're young and have battled injuries.
Frost doesn't even have any draft-eligible players here yet. The reason we haven't had many draft picks the last couple years is Riley was a failure at recruiting *and* development. We were getting a decent about of Pelini recruits drafted. It's gone way south since then. Jury is still out on Frost but I think we will see that return in the coming years.
Savage Husker
All-Conference
I think this is one key point to all of this.
Not every transfer is equal. There are guys who stuck it out and got exponentially better - Lamar Jackson.
There were mistakes made in year 1 that did set the program back, and I bet Frost is kicking himself for those. I know he’s made other mistakes, and he’ll continue to make mistakes.
I don’t think he had to strip the program down, but that is the result. The roster either needs a flood of JUCOs to win right away or let him get his guys and give him 5-6 years to cycle through a full transition. I think I remember reading how a former OL great encouraged him to avoid JUCO OL in order to create continuity? That’s on the coach to make that decision, not skirting that decision making - just something I find interesting.
No matter who the coach is, this team is 2-3 seasons away from having a stable depth chart. It’s painful to watch and frustrating to know how consistently inconsistent they are. While I’m not happy with what I’m seeing, I do see young guys ball out, and that gets me optimistic for ‘22 - if the guys behind them develop and emerge to fill the depth chart.
I think he deserves the time to sort out the program, refine it, and learn from his mistakes to build it into what we are expecting and what he is proud of. It’s been such a dumpster fire that, personally, I can wait out the next 2-3 seasons before wanting the next placeholder. I am genuinely happy the off field drama is finally something we are not ashamed of, either.
krc1995
Heisman Trophy Winner
admo
Heisman Trophy Winner
Wunderkind
Four-Star Recruit
We lack two things a QB that can throw the ball accurately down field and a pass rusher. At the other positions we have talent it's just young. For some reason Martinez has the yip's in passes over 10 yards. If we could throw down field it would open up everything else and the offense would look much better. The defense looks way better, but we can't get to the QB. If we had a pass rusher or two the defense would look great. We've tried to bring some pass rushers in but they haven't worked out.
MyBloodIsRed16
All-Conference
Looks like he has his best results every 3 or 4 years. Probably when he had the right kids come in a recruiting class and are playing as jrs and snrs. Maybe Nebraska will be 9-4 next yearBorn N Bled Red said:
Packerhuskerfan
Starter
I think most Nebraska fans would be content with Pat's records rights now. 9-4 in year 3, 5 bowl games in a row, then 4 in a row.
Hilltop
All-Conference
That's not true. A good percentage of our fan base will not be happy unless we are regularly competing for championships. I personally like that about us.
Born N Bled Red
All-Conference
Why would you feel like that when "most Nebraska fans," clearly weren't satisfied with these???? Heck- Riley made two bowl games in 3 years and went 9-4 in year 2!
Frank Solich
9–4
5–3
2nd
Lost Holiday Bowl (Arizona) 23–20
19
20
1999
12–1
7–1
1st
Won Fiesta Bowl (Tennessee) 31–21
3
2
2000
10–2
6–2
T–1st[A 5]
Won Alamo Bowl (Northwestern) 66–17
8
7
2001
11–2
7–1
T–1st[A 6]
Lost Rose Bowl (Miami) 37–14
8
7
2002
7–7
3–5
4th
Lost Independence Bowl (Ole Miss) 27–23
2003
10–3
5–3
2nd
Won Alamo Bowl (Michigan State) 17–3[A 7]
19
18
2004
Bill Callahan
5–6
3–5
T–3rd
2005
8–4
4–4
T–2nd
Won Alamo Bowl (Michigan) 32–28
24
24
2006
9–5
6–2
1st
Lost Cotton Bowl Classic (Auburn) 17–14
2007
5–7
2–6
T–5th
2008
Bo Pelini
9–4
5–3
T–1st[A 8]
Won Gator Bowl (Clemson) 26–21
2009
10–4
6–2
1st
Won Holiday Bowl (Arizona) 33–0
14
14
2010
10–4
6–2
T–1st
Lost Holiday Bowl (Washington) 19–7
20
19
Big Ten Conference (Legends Division) (2011–2013)
2011
Bo Pelini
9–4
5–3
3rd
Lost Capital One Bowl (South Carolina) 30–13
24
24
2012
10–4
7–1
1st
Lost Capital One Bowl (Georgia) 45–31
25
23
2013
9–4
5–3
T–2nd
Won Gator Bowl (Georgia) 24–19
25
2015
Mike Riley
6–7
3–5
4th
Won Foster Farms Bowl (UCLA) 37–29
2016
9–4
6–3
T–2nd
Lost Music City Bowl (Tennessee) 38–24
2017
4–8
3–6
5th