Do we have too many walkons playing?

[ColoradoHusk]

but he is only starting because Moss pulled out his crank and Gregory left for the NFL.

So if Pelini would have recruited someone with LESS talent than Randy Gregory, we would be in a better spot now?...

This recruiting is some tricky stuff!

So, that's what you get out my post?

 

[BigRedBuster]

This whole walk-on issue is frustrating and interesting at the same time. I am always amazed at some Husker fans who act like it's such a horrible thing that a Walk-on is doing well. When a walk-on is your leading tackler for the last two games....ummmm....it's not a problem that the walk-on is playing.

I have a friend who was a walk-on right around the Callahan-Bo transition. He ended up playing quite a bit until injuries cut his senior season short.

We were talking about Husker football one night over a few beers and he brought up something that I have always felt. He said that the attitude in recruiting at Nebraska under Callahan and Bo was that (for the most part) they didn't need to offer local kids scholarships because they could get them to walk-on. That was the case with him. He was asked to walk-on, he could afford school without a scholarship and he knew he wanted to play for Nebraska so he never really pursued other schools to get other offers.

Now, he was OK with it because he could afford school on his own. However, his feelings is that this is unfair to a lot of local kids who aren't in that same boat.

I believe this is a casualty of the 85 scholarship limit along with coaches coming into the program that really don't have any idea about local Nebraska football. They feel pressure to go get the kids out of Texas, Florida, Louisiana or California so they save the scholarships for them.

However, I believe we have seen where there are obviously kids in the state that ended up playing well enough once there that they probably deserved a scholarship from the start over some other kids.

Being a walk-on does NOT mean you suck and don't deserve to play. I honestly don't understand some fans attitude like that.

I don't think it matters if a kid is a walk on or scholarshipped, the best players should always play. However, I think what concerns those who write 'negatively' about having so many walk ons in the three deep chart is that it says our scholarships are being wasted really. We should be getting better players with scholarships that without - logically and naturally. If our selection process for awarding scholarships is to use recruiting services 'rankings' instead of actually going out there and finding them ourselves and truly evaluating them, then our recruiting is being done badly - at a minimum. We recruit our walk ons without the aid of recruiting 'gurus' etc. If our coaches are simply offering guys that other schools are offering and they are offering because some 'expert' says so, then it is the blind leading the blind.

I saw absolutely ZERO indication that Bo's staff was using recruiting service rankings to find recruits. In fact, MANY times we were the first to find good players only to have other programs start offering after we found them.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

I'm looking at the 2012 recruiting class right now. 32 players on rivals.com were rated as a 5 star and a majority of them are in the NFL right now including two top 3 picks.

...or...are they in the NFL because they went to programs that had the best coaching, best conditioning and the most exposure to NFL scouts, which elevated them from high school to professional level?

I will always believe that good coaching and conditioning trumps all. Joe Paterno negated Miami's five star and NFL first round speed and talent in Vinnie Testaverde, Michael Irvin, and Alonzo Highsmith for the 1987 National Championship with a philosophy of being the more physical team and making Miami "hear footsteps".

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this.

Yeah, that Penn State team had no talent at all. They only had 13 players from that team drafted in the NFL, and 2 of them first rounders. http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/psu/2011/10/06/Penn-State-s-1986-championship-team-to-hold-reunion-at-halftime-of-Iowa-game/stories/201110060357

 

[huskerfan92]

I'm looking at the 2012 recruiting class right now. 32 players on rivals.com were rated as a 5 star and a majority of them are in the NFL right now including two top 3 picks.

...or...are they in the NFL because they went to programs that had the best coaching, best conditioning and the most exposure to NFL scouts, which elevated them from high school to professional level?

I will always believe that good coaching and conditioning trumps all. Joe Paterno negated Miami's five star and NFL first round speed and talent in Vinnie Testaverde, Michael Irvin, and Alonzo Highsmith for the 1987 National Championship with a philosophy of being the more physical team and making Miami "hear footsteps".

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this.

They're in the NFL because they're naturally gifted athletes. Something that helps make coaching a lot easier. I guess we will have to agree to disagree because I'm failing to understand how you don't think better athletes would translate to more wins, and how your evidence of the 1987 National Championship is supposed to disprove that.....

 

[Bowfin]

I'm failing to understand how you don't think better athletes would translate to more wins,

I am saying "better athletes" are made, not born. Talent doesn't begin and end with what one sees in the Middle school football team. However, those who shine in the 7th grade will get more coaching and more game experience than those who don't, which makes "natural talent" a self fulfilling prophecy.

I don't believe football is a God given talent any more than naturally becoming a machinist or an accountant, a cello player or a combat assault Marine because one "naturally has those talents".

 

[Elf]

but he is only starting because Moss pulled out his crank and Gregory left for the NFL.

So if Pelini would have recruited someone with LESS talent than Randy Gregory, we would be in a better spot now?...

This recruiting is some tricky stuff!

What the frig...

 

[Elf]

I'm failing to understand how you don't think better athletes would translate to more wins,

I am saying "better athletes" are made, not born. Talent doesn't begin and end with what one sees in the Middle school football team. However, those who shine in the 7th grade will get more coaching and more game experience than those who don't, which makes "natural talent" a self fulfilling prophecy.

I don't believe football is a God given talent any more than naturally becoming a machinist or an accountant, a cello player or a combat assault Marine because one "naturally has those talents".

Actually....some people are born with abilities that lend themselves to various professions. Some of those people are born with a gift for athletics. I do agree that some athletes are "made" by good coaching but there are some things you can't coach, speed and natural born talent are two of them.

 

[Bowfin]

but there are some things you can't coach, speed and natural born talent are two of them.

They do have speed coaching. In fact, all of cross country training and track training is to coach runners to get faster.

I had a cousin who played for the Huskers in the '80s and he said that both he and Mitch Krenk worked on lengthening their stride and improving their running motion to get faster.

 

[NUance]

I have a friend who was a walk-on right around the Callahan-Bo transition. He ended up playing quite a bit until injuries cut his senior season short.

We were talking about Husker football one night over a few beers and he brought up something that I have always felt. He said that the attitude in recruiting at Nebraska under Callahan and Bo was that (for the most part) they didn't need to offer local kids scholarships because they could get them to walk-on. That was the case with him. He was asked to walk-on, he could afford school without a scholarship and he knew he wanted to play for Nebraska so he never really pursued other schools to get other offers.

Now, he was OK with it because he could afford school on his own. However, his feelings is that this is unfair to a lot of local kids who aren't in that same boat.

I've wondered about this for several years now. It sure seems like it happens--that is, NU tries to get local guys to walk-on in order to save a couple scholarships. This is the first time I've ever had anyone confirm it though. I guess it helps the team out. But it sort of sucks for the local guys trying to earn a scholie. That, and we've ended up losing several good local players over the past few years because we tried to slow play them.

 

[Red Five]

but there are some things you can't coach, speed and natural born talent are two of them.

They do have speed coaching. In fact, all of cross country training and track training is to coach runners to get faster.

I had a cousin who played for the Huskers in the '80s and he said that both he and Mitch Krenk worked on lengthening their stride and improving their running motion to get faster.

I could go to all the speed coaches in the world, but none of them are going to get me a 4.6 forty or a 10.5 hundred.

 

[Bowfin]

I could go to all the speed coaches in the world, but none of them are going to get me a 4.6 forty or a 10.5 hundred.

Speed coaches are not the same as miracle workers!

Besides, all the speed in the world doesn't help if a player runs the wrong way, never gets going, doesn't get a chance to catch the ball, or is too far out of position...which brings us back to coaching...

 

[junior4949]

I have a friend who was a walk-on right around the Callahan-Bo transition. He ended up playing quite a bit until injuries cut his senior season short.

We were talking about Husker football one night over a few beers and he brought up something that I have always felt. He said that the attitude in recruiting at Nebraska under Callahan and Bo was that (for the most part) they didn't need to offer local kids scholarships because they could get them to walk-on. That was the case with him. He was asked to walk-on, he could afford school without a scholarship and he knew he wanted to play for Nebraska so he never really pursued other schools to get other offers.

Now, he was OK with it because he could afford school on his own. However, his feelings is that this is unfair to a lot of local kids who aren't in that same boat.

I've wondered about this for several years now. It sure seems like it happens--that is, NU tries to get local guys to walk-on in order to save a couple scholarships. This is the first time I've ever had anyone confirm it though. I guess it helps the team out. But it sort of sucks for the local guys trying to earn a scholie. That, and we've ended up losing several good local players over the past few years because we tried to slow play them.

TO did this as well. It's nothing new, and it's nothing to hold against Clownahan and Bo. The primary difference is the fact college was much cheaper when TO was coach than it is now. Thus, the quality of walk-ons today is not nearly as gifted as they were when TO was coach. My total college cost back in the mid-90's was roughly the same price of a new pickup then. Can anyone go through college for what a new pickup costs today? Those who would have walked-on two decades ago are now taking scholarships from Kearney State, Chadron State, etc. This has stifled the walk-on program far more than anything any coach has done.