Huskers in the 2017 NFL Draft

[Saunders]

I think it's fair to say that the talent dropped off during Bo's tenure. However, there wasn't many people saying guys like Armstrong, Westerkamp, Carter, and Banderas couldn't be very good players at NU when they were being recruited. Westy went down to ND and NU when he was recruited and that was a big win for NU. I think where Bo was beginning to do well in recruiting is in the final 2 years before his firing. There are plenty of talented players that are now juniors and seniors that should get a look in the NFL in 2018 and 2019. Should Bo get credit for bringing those guys on campus? I think so.

Yeah, I think it's entirely accurate to say that the talent level dipped, but at the same time, it was never as bad as some people tried to say in 2015.

 

[Mavric]

Having 2/3rds of the coordinators being poor, and the other one running an offense that is not built for the talent we had sure didn't help us in the draft. Next year we will look back and see how bad banker was. 450 was terrible too. Hard to shine when you are not put in position to be successful.

This is a great point.

The problem with the "talent" argument is that it depends on what kind of talent you're referring to. Have we had enough talent to compete for national championships? No. Have we had enough talent to win the conference? Not necessarily although in our division we'd really only have to play one good game. Have we had enough talent to win the division? Absolutely. Have we had enough talent to not lose to Ohio State by nearly 60 and Iowa by 30? I think so. Have we had enough talent to not give up 55 points to Purdue or only score 13 on Illinois? Any suggestion otherwise is ludicrous.

We haven't had as much talent as we'd like. But we also took a defense that had 3 NFL draft picks (so far - probably 1-2 more next year) and four other guys who signed NFL contracts and turned it into one of the worst defenses we've ever had. And we took one of the best WR corps we've had and paired them QBs who could barely compete 50% of their passes and a questionable-at-best running scheme.

So I don't think anyone would argue that we don't need more talent. I think we've had quite a few pretty solid guys but not a lot of true difference makers. But we also haven't done a particularly good job of maximizing the talent we do have. Fortunately we've upgraded quite a bit of the talent on the sidelines as well.

 

[Mavric]

I'd really like to see some numbers on overall small school draft picks this year. Really seemed like there were quite a few more than I remember.

In addition to the note below, a D-II school in Georgia had more draft picks than the Bulldogs did. Obviously not everywhere but there were a lot of big schools that didn't produce a lot of draft picks this year. I wonder if there is more talent available in the smaller schools or the NFL is just doing a better job finding it. Probably a bit of both.

 

[Making Chimichangas]

Well, lowest number of huskers taken since 1965. I'm surprised anyone was drafted out of our class.

For all those who argued coaching or talent, I give you these draft results......... Damn. One guy. In round 5, who IMO, was one of our best players........(I thought we had talent)

"Talent" is relative, subjective, and in the eye of the beholder.Talent to win and play at a high level in college is NOT the same as having draftable NFL talent. It's not even close to being the same.

Well, I would say the fact that the colleges with the most players drafted are the ones competing for championships tells a different story

Well, lowest number of huskers taken since 1965. I'm surprised anyone was drafted out of our class.

For all those who argued coaching or talent, I give you these draft results......... Damn. One guy. In round 5, who IMO, was one of our best players........(I thought we had talent)

"Talent" is relative, subjective, and in the eye of the beholder.Talent to win and play at a high level in college is NOT the same as having draftable NFL talent. It's not even close to being the same.

Well, I would say the fact that the colleges with the most players drafted are the ones competing for championships tells a different story

What "tells the story" is the hard work and sheer effort Alabama players put forth to win.

Yes they are talented, but if they didn't out-work and out-compete other schools they'd be just another team.

There's also staying healthy, being coachable, knowing (and doing) your assignment every snap while minimizing mistakes/errors, lucky bounces of the ball, timely calls by referees that go a teams' way.

Yes talent is very important...but it's just one ingredient. No team wins a national championship on just talent.

If talent was all it took, Alabama would literally win every single year.

 

[Mavric]

Well, lowest number of huskers taken since 1965. I'm surprised anyone was drafted out of our class.

For all those who argued coaching or talent, I give you these draft results......... Damn. One guy. In round 5, who IMO, was one of our best players........(I thought we had talent)

"Talent" is relative, subjective, and in the eye of the beholder.
Talent to win and play at a high level in college is NOT the same as having draftable NFL talent. It's not even close to being the same.

Well, I would say the fact that the colleges with the most players drafted are the ones competing for championships tells a different story

For the most part, yes.

But there are also several schools on this list that only managed to go 8-5 or 9-4.

UCLA managed a 4-8 record. So it's not the only thing.

 

[Redux]

Carter's 10 drops to 43 catches in '15 & '16 probably scared some teams off.

Westerkamp, though, I thought that guy was better than at least a handful of WRs that we're drafted.

Agreed, as sure of hands as you can get in a WR. Sure his size is an issue, but he catches everything. I would have gambled on him late if I needed a WR.

 

[Mavric]

[No message]

 

[Making Chimichangas]

Last year's team was the least talented Husker team I'd seen, so no surprise with the lack of draftees. Here's to having more talent in the future.

I got roasted when I argued that we didn't have talent. I got further roasted when I said Westy and Cethon wouldn't get drafted, and that Gerry would go in the later rounds. I'd say I am a genius typically, but this draft wasn't surprising at all

. We lacked talent in a big way. For those who argued against me, I still don't know what you were watching. This lack of talent was obvious.

Again, "talent" to win at a high level and "talent" to be drafted into the NFL are not the same.

I literally have no idea why you think the two are one in the same.

 

[Dagerow]

No one is mentioning the elephant in the room. Bo's Youngstown State had more players drafted then us.

 

[Saunders]

So I don't think anyone would argue that we don't need more talent. I think we've had quite a few pretty solid guys but not a lot of true difference makers. But we also haven't done a particularly good job of maximizing the talent we do have. Fortunately we've upgraded quite a bit of the talent on the sidelines as well.

This right here. We've consistently out-recruited Wisconsin and Iowa by a wide margin, and yet, they've owned us the last few years. They've also produced more draft picks with lower rated classes and players.

 

[zoogs]

I think if we had elite coaches we would see more evidence of that after 2 years. I appreciate they had it tough, but lots of teams have it tough or tougher -- and they've done an "on par" job with that.

I'm OK with on par, just trying to be real here about what we're seeing. It's not a team on the cusp of Top 10 finishes year in, year out, but that's also a LOT to ask. To be very clear, I'm just happy our coaches have class now.

 

[ADS]

Pretty sobering article...

http://www.omaha.com/huskers/blogs/recruiting-the-nfl-draft-and-its-effect-on-the-great/article_02628272-2d5e-11e7-9bb6-ff3adb1bd02e.html

 

[zoogs]

Next year is more understandable if it's such a small class. This year is just tough to swallow, but to be fair, there were some ill-timed injuries and luck to keep us from a typical maybe 3 or 4 picks. Meanwhile Michigan, which only had 10 wins, had 11 picks.

Still, I hope those three bubble guys (Kalu, DPE, Brown) make it. And heck if Tanner has a good year, go for it. It's better for Nebraska recruiting when we have more Huskers in the draft.

Sam makes a great point about the '13 and '14 classes. Ouch.

 

[SuperBigFan69]

My concern, since it is clear that NU has out-recruited pretty much everyone in the west year in and year out are the games that Riley (and Bo) lose to crap teams.

Purdue

Minny

Iowa

NW

Illinois

Nebraska, no matter who the coach, can't lose those games to those teams.

 

[southernoregonhusker]

Last year's team was the least talented Husker team I'd seen, so no surprise with the lack of draftees. Here's to having more talent in the future.

I got roasted when I argued that we didn't have talent. I got further roasted when I said Westy and Cethon wouldn't get drafted, and that Gerry would go in the later rounds. I'd say I am a genius typically, but this draft wasn't surprising at all

. We lacked talent in a big way. For those who argued against me, I still don't know what you were watching. This lack of talent was obvious.

Again, "talent" to win at a high level and "talent" to be drafted into the NFL are not the same.

I literally have no idea why you think the two are one in the same.

Those talented players that win at a high level seem to get drafted into the NFL at a high frequency. How odd that Alabama would have more draft picks than UNL, right? Michigan? OSU? The fact that we've turned into a middling program isn't a surprise to anybody that watches the product. It's also not hard to figure out why we had one player drafted with the last pick in the 5th round. Not the type of talent that wins conferences. I'll bet you're one of those people who thought Westy would get taken in the third round which explains your final sentence.