Huskers' droughts in draft

[cmb23]

Marlon Lucky arguably possesses NFL-caliber talent.

I'll go ahead and say it....I don't see him in the NFL. People keep wanting him to be Reggie Bush. He isn't. Plain and simple.

No NFL at all for Lucky? You will be surprised man.

Year Team G Rush Yds Yds/G Avg TD Rec RecYds Yds/G Avg Lng RecTDs

2005 Nebraska (8-4) 10 43 129 12.9 3.0 0 2 30 .3 1.5 5 0

2006 Nebraska (9-5) 14 141 728 52.0 5.2 6 32 383 27.4 12.0 42 0

Career 24 184 857 35.7 4.3 6 34 386 16.1 7.6 47 0

He better put up better numbers than this to surprise me and a lot of other people. He might get drafted...but I don't see him making any waves. Maybe a couple years on a roster here or there but nobody we'll remember 10 years down the road. I think that 5-star is a little crooked and tarnished in my eyes. And he is by no means the Big Red version of Bush.

 

[Ohio Pete]

Calvin Jones made it to the pros, but his lack of cutting ability due to knee problems kept him from being great.

Drug problems from what I heard, but perhaps those came later.

It is a bit curious that a running attack did not produce more DRAFTED RBs.

On the other hand the trickle for the 80s and 90s was completely shut off after 2001. Here come the numbers (courtesy of the NFL):

(Note: drafts prior to 1993 had more than 7 rounds)

1982 1

1983 1

1984 0

1985 1

1986 1

1987 0

1988 1

1989 0

1990 2

1991 0

1992 1

1993 2

1994 1

1995 0

1996 1

1997 0

1998 1

1999 0

2000 0

2001 2

2002-2006 0

However, there has been a slight decline overall in the numbers of running backs from any school taken from the mid-90s to the 2000s. For instance from 1993-1998, 130 RBs were taken and from 2000-2004, only 98 were taken.

 

[Ohio Pete]

Even with the drought of the past 5 years, from 1993-2006 (14 drafts), only 4 teams produced more than our 7 drafted RBs: Ohio State(10), Miami (8), Tenn. (8), Georgia (8). If we go back to 1982 (25 drafts), we are tied with Michigan, Georgia, Ohio State with 15 behind only Miami, Tenn, and PSU and their 16.

So who has been best in our absence, 2002-2006 (5 drafts):

4 Miami

4 Virginia Tech

3 Georgia

3 Virginia

3 Louisiana State

3 Southern California

3 Kansas State

2 Tennessee

2 Penn State

2 Ohio State

2 Auburn

2 UCLA

2 Wisconsin

2 Michigan State

2 Oregon

2 California

2 Colorado

2 Louisville

2 Oklahoma State

2 Stanford

2 Minnesota

Now as far as Nebraska being known for QUALITY RBS in the NFL, someone will have to point me to the data if they'd like a similar break down. (What would you use? HOFers? 10-year vets? Kind of unfair at a poistion which averages 5 years.)

 

[chuckd]

The fact is, Solich never recruited a RB that got drafted. You can choose to blame whoever, or whatever you like, but for a team that had just come off winning 3 national championships and was KNOWN FOR running the football, to not have a single RB drafted is pretty sad.

It's undeniable that once Solich took over the offense, it became a system that didn't produce NFL caliber recruits. Osborne's offense wasn't going to produce alot of NFL QB's or WR's but it churned out the RB's, OL, and FB. Solich and his staff did a good job of getting defensive talent, but the offense became brutal. Crouch was a band-aid and was able to overcome the deficiencies, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see what happened after he graduated. For as tough as Lord was, he wasn't a very good quarterback. And say what you want about Dailey being forced into a system he couldn't run, but I don't think he would have made a good QB in any system. And he being moved to WR at UNC pretty much backs up my opinion.

Offensive recruiting tanked under Solich, that's just a fact and while players drafted isn't the only (or even best) way of proving this, it certainly does show up.

 

[indianahusker]

I believe the biggest knock on NU RB's was that they couldn't block in TO and Solich's days. They weren't asked to block, so they couldn't do it very well...however, the FB's were good blockers AND good runners, so they were better pros. I always have said that Roger Craig moving to FB part time for his senior year was the best decision he ever made...

 

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

The fact is, Solich never recruited a RB that got drafted. You can choose to blame whoever, or whatever you like, but for a team that had just come off winning 3 national championships and was KNOWN FOR running the football, to not have a single RB drafted is pretty sad.

It's undeniable that once Solich took over the offense, it became a system that didn't produce NFL caliber recruits. Osborne's offense wasn't going to produce alot of NFL QB's or WR's but it churned out the RB's, OL, and FB. Solich and his staff did a good job of getting defensive talent, but the offense became brutal. Crouch was a band-aid and was able to overcome the deficiencies, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see what happened after he graduated. For as tough as Lord was, he wasn't a very good quarterback. And say what you want about Dailey being forced into a system he couldn't run, but I don't think he would have made a good QB in any system. And he being moved to WR at UNC pretty much backs up my opinion.

Offensive recruiting tanked under Solich, that's just a fact and while players drafted isn't the only (or even best) way of proving this, it certainly does show up.

:thumbs I'm becoming a fan of chuckd.