Husker in WI
All-Conference
Using 247 for the rankings:How often when we didn’t sign the top 5 was it because 5 players weren’t worthy of a scholarship, and how often was it because the coaches made bad choices or couldn’t keep them here?
I can think of at least 2 huge screw ups by Riley in 2 different years so I’m definitely not questioning that part of it.
2002 - RB Stevie Hicks (NE #4) signed with Iowa State - not sure if we wanted him or not, he did have a decent career I think. We did sign another in state RB in David Horne (NE #1).
2003 - K Sean Douglas (NE #4) signed with Washington. We did sign the other 5 players in the top 6 and he was a kicker, so this one is close.
2004 - RB Brandon Gunn (NE #2) signed with Iowa State, QB Allan Evridge (NE #5) signed with K State. I don't think Evridge was a fit for Callahan, and we had Marlon Lucky so Gunn likely wasn't a priority either. Evridge played as a frosh at KSU then transferred to Wisconsin, can't find much on Gunn.
2005 - TE Nate Prater (NE #2, KSU) FB Jake Behrens (NE #3, Colorado) WR Brennan Gleason (NE #5, Houston) - seems like a case where the talent wasn't there, no really surprised we didn't sign these guys.
2006 - WR Derrick Russell (#3, ISU) S Jeff Tarpinian (#5, Iowa) - similar to 2005, although Tarpinian played some for Iowa.
This is where we start missing talent we should have kept, IMO
2007 - G Harland Gunn (#1, Miami) QB Philip Bates (#3, ISU) K Josh Cherry (#5, KSU) - Gunn was the first #1 player in NE to go elsewhere in a while, that was a big deal.
2008 - G Trevor Robinson (#2, ND) TE Tim Biere (#5, KU) - we at least wanted Robinson for sure.
2009 - T Jon Lechner (#1 Ohio) DE Tyrone Sellers (#2, KU) G James Davis (#5, Ohio) - Not a ton of talent, but I think we wanted Sellers? People didn't like QB Daryle Hawkings (NE #7) going to Oregon either.
2010 - T Bryce Dietz (#3, Ohio) - Not a great class.
2011 - LB Cole Fisher (#4, Iowa) WR Teddy Lampkin (#5, ISU) - Fisher was a miss, and while a lot of people wanted Lampkin I don't think we ever offered.
2012 - QB Tay Bender (#1, KSU) DE Drew Ott (#2, Iowa) DE Cory Rahmings (#4, Tulsa) WR Terry Grigsby (#5, Miami OH) - 4 and 5 probably didn't need offers, but we should have grabbed the top 3.
2013 - DT Christian LaCouture (#2, LSU), S Michael Minter (#3, nowhere?) DT Nathan Bazata (#4, Iowa) TE Casey Sayles (#5, Ohio). LaCouture doesn't really count because he moved to Lincoln his senior year, but we had him committed at one point. Bazata and Sayles proved worthy of scholarships, we just lost on Bazata and I don't think offered Sayles.
2014 - DT Harrison Phillips (#2, Stanford) Big miss because we couldn't decide what position he would play.
2015 - OT Adam Holtorf (#3, KSU) WR CJ Johnson (#4, Wyoming) RB Calvin Strong (#5, South Dakota) - Holtorf panned out better than Gaylord in the same class
2016 - TE Noah Fant (#1, Iowa) TE Jared Bubak (#2, ASU) 4 and 5 went to SDSU, but the top 2 were big misses.
2017 - TE Logan Strom (#4, Lousiville?) C Brett Kitrell (#5, Ohio) - not an amazing class, but Kitrell is playing early for Frank at Ohio
2018 - DT Masry Mapieu (#2, Louisiana) DT Bryson Williams (#3, Wisconsin) OLB Zach Schlager (#4, CSU) OL Bryce Stai (#5, Ohio) There are lot of strong feelings about this one. Slager and Stai are both playing already, albeit at smaller schools
So overall there were definitely years we wouldn't want to sign all top 5, but we absolutely started missing on the top in-state guys in the last 10-15 years.