Interesting Article..We Need Speed!

H

Hunter94

Heisman Trophy Winner
Poll: Pick your top 3 D-1 prospects

By Will Cummings

myHitNews.com

Aurora's 6-foot-6, 310 lb Andrew Rodriguez remains the only Nebraska high school class of 2010 prospect with a D-1 scholarship offer.

High School football recruiting in Nebraska: is it time to panic? Well, maybe, if you stop to think about this: The Nebraska high school class of 2009 was considered by many to be one of the state’s weakest recruiting classes in memory. However, last year by this time in the recruiting cycle that “weak” class of 2009 had 6 players (Tyrone Sellers, Jon Lechner, Cole Pensick, C.J. Zimmerer, Vondrae Tostenson and Eric Koehlmoos) who received a combine total of 11 D-1 offers. Now compare those figures to the class of 2010—1 player—Aurora’s Andrew Rodriguez, a Rivals 4 star OT–with 1 D-1 Offer.

The 2009 class had three players (James Davis, Scott Criss and Daryle Hawkins) who received D-1 offers after April and two players (Vondrae Tostenson and Eric Koehlmoos) who lost their D-1 offers. So if last year’s numbers serve as any indication for total D-1 offers in the class of 2010—things do not look good!

Recruiting Cycle Continues To Accelerate

Every year the recruiting cycle accelerates, it is now to the point that many D-1 schools have their top prospect list made out by the beginning of the junior year high school football season. By the end of the junior year high school football season, most D-1 schools have their entire prospect board ranked and have already offered the top players on their boards. Players that receive D-1 offers after April of their junior year are generally players that are already on a college’s “radar” (ranked prospect board) but the college needs to evaluate the player more in camp and/or through his senior year and/or to see whether or not a prospect they have ranked higher and have already offered will commit to their school.

Any 2010 player that does not have a D-1 offer by this time in the recruiting cycle is going o have to make a hell of a statement in summer camps and through their senior year.

If you are a Class of 2010 prospect and you go to a college camp this summer and do not get an offer—guess what? You didn’t do enough to impress. You will get another chance at your next camp. Still no luck? Then you better have a whale of a senior season!

Players in the Nebraska high school class of 2010 will have to do all of the above if they are to even have a chance to better the slim D-1 numbers from the class of 2009.

Developing Trend

Is there a trend developing here? You bet there is!. The college game with its ever growing number of quick attack spread offenses has evolved to rely almost purely on quickness and speed at every position. It’s no longer good enough to be big and strong—you have to be quick and/or fast too. Just look at the teams that have won the BCS championship since its inception in 1998. Only 2 non-Southern schools, Ohio State University and USC, have been crowned champions*.

BCS Champions

1998 Tennessee

1999 Florida State

2000 Oklahoma

2001 Miami

2002 Ohio State

2003 LSU

2004 USC

2005 Texas

2006 Florida

2007 LSU

2008 Florida

More and more college coaches are seeking talent almost exclusively within the southern parts of the United States and California. Even big lineman, traditionally found in the Midwest, are becoming a sought after commodity in the South.

Colleges Seek Speed

College coaches are looking for quickness and speed on both sides of the ball—and they go South and to California to find it because that’s where it is. The schools that are winning BSC championships are almost exclusively southern schools—located in the middle of “speed alley.”That means that pospects in the Midwest and North better possess elite speed and quickness if they desire D-1 scholarships, because that’s what D-1 colleges are demanding. Even your lower tier D-1 schools are not an exception to this reality.

So Nebraskans get quicker and faster or continue to see the numbers of D-1 offers from this state stagnate at around the current pace.

*Oklahoma is considered by many to be a part of the Southern United States.
Click to expand...
 
Hunter94 said:
Poll: Pick your top 3 D-1 prospects

By Will Cummings

myHitNews.com

Aurora's 6-foot-6, 310 lb Andrew Rodriguez remains the only Nebraska high school class of 2010 prospect with a D-1 scholarship offer.

High School football recruiting in Nebraska: is it time to panic? Well, maybe, if you stop to think about this: The Nebraska high school class of 2009 was considered by many to be one of the state’s weakest recruiting classes in memory. However, last year by this time in the recruiting cycle that “weak” class of 2009 had 6 players (Tyrone Sellers, Jon Lechner, Cole Pensick, C.J. Zimmerer, Vondrae Tostenson and Eric Koehlmoos) who received a combine total of 11 D-1 offers. Now compare those figures to the class of 2010—1 player—Aurora’s Andrew Rodriguez, a Rivals 4 star OT–with 1 D-1 Offer.

The 2009 class had three players (James Davis, Scott Criss and Daryle Hawkins) who received D-1 offers after April and two players (Vondrae Tostenson and Eric Koehlmoos) who lost their D-1 offers. So if last year’s numbers serve as any indication for total D-1 offers in the class of 2010—things do not look good!

Recruiting Cycle Continues To Accelerate

Every year the recruiting cycle accelerates, it is now to the point that many D-1 schools have their top prospect list made out by the beginning of the junior year high school football season. By the end of the junior year high school football season, most D-1 schools have their entire prospect board ranked and have already offered the top players on their boards. Players that receive D-1 offers after April of their junior year are generally players that are already on a college’s “radar” (ranked prospect board) but the college needs to evaluate the player more in camp and/or through his senior year and/or to see whether or not a prospect they have ranked higher and have already offered will commit to their school.

Any 2010 player that does not have a D-1 offer by this time in the recruiting cycle is going o have to make a hell of a statement in summer camps and through their senior year.

If you are a Class of 2010 prospect and you go to a college camp this summer and do not get an offer—guess what? You didn’t do enough to impress. You will get another chance at your next camp. Still no luck? Then you better have a whale of a senior season!

Players in the Nebraska high school class of 2010 will have to do all of the above if they are to even have a chance to better the slim D-1 numbers from the class of 2009.

Developing Trend

Is there a trend developing here? You bet there is!. The college game with its ever growing number of quick attack spread offenses has evolved to rely almost purely on quickness and speed at every position. It’s no longer good enough to be big and strong—you have to be quick and/or fast too. Just look at the teams that have won the BCS championship since its inception in 1998. Only 2 non-Southern schools, Ohio State University and USC, have been crowned champions*.

BCS Champions

1998 Tennessee

1999 Florida State

2000 Oklahoma

2001 Miami

2002 Ohio State

2003 LSU

2004 USC

2005 Texas

2006 Florida

2007 LSU

2008 Florida

More and more college coaches are seeking talent almost exclusively within the southern parts of the United States and California. Even big lineman, traditionally found in the Midwest, are becoming a sought after commodity in the South.

Colleges Seek Speed

College coaches are looking for quickness and speed on both sides of the ball—and they go South and to California to find it because that’s where it is. The schools that are winning BSC championships are almost exclusively southern schools—located in the middle of “speed alley.”That means that pospects in the Midwest and North better possess elite speed and quickness if they desire D-1 scholarships, because that’s what D-1 colleges are demanding. Even your lower tier D-1 schools are not an exception to this reality.

So Nebraskans get quicker and faster or continue to see the numbers of D-1 offers from this state stagnate at around the current pace.

*Oklahoma is considered by many to be a part of the Southern United States.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Nothing new in this article, that's why NU transformed in 92 into a speed/power killing machine, just like Washington did in 91. Ahman Green is plenty fast.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Speed kills, no question, but the best teams are the ones that field strong defenses with reputation for physicality as well as speed. The faster you can get to the guy you're supposed it hit as hard as you can, the better. Which, oddly enough, is exactly Bo's philosophy.

55 days, 33 hours 'til kickoff.

 
I was about to say Oklahoma is considered Midwest, not South, until I saw the author's asterisk at the bottom of the page. People really don't consider OK the South, do they?

 
i don't see why its like all the sudden some one switched on a light and everyone became aware that speed is NOW important in football. its always been if not the most looked at attribute one near the top. That article is kinda poorly written, IMO. This is like, environmental determinism applied to football. I just think that the law of averages would apply more, and that generally "speed" per capita varies little. I just think there are other reasons for the concentration of "talent" but who knows.

 
shyndy said:
i don't see why its like all the sudden some one switched on a light and everyone became aware that speed is NOW important in football. its always been if not the most looked at attribute one near the top. That article is kinda poorly written, IMO. This is like, environmental determinism applied to football. I just think that the law of averages would apply more, and that generally "speed" per capita varies little. I just think there are other reasons for the concentration of "talent" but who knows.
Click to expand...
I agree. When we were winning NC, there was a lot of local talent on the field. There just isn't the local talent right now, but to say there won't be again is absurd. One of the reasons for the concentration of talent in the South stems from they play football all year long. What's the old saying? Practice makes perfect. Up in the Northern states, football is played in the summer and fall. Down South, they play all the time. One would assume then that players from the South will be further ahead than those from the North. Anyone ever wonder why the best hockey players in the U.S. come from the Northern states?

 
no, there is much more to it than the seasons. football is worshiped in the south. there are high schools in Texas that have better facilities than some college teams use. competition to be a high school football coach down here is unbelievable, money, politics, win/loss records, even huge recruiting pressure to get kids to move from one school district to another, it all factors into how coaches coach and how the game is taught and the development of the talent level as well. the emphasis is just over the top down here, most Nebraska kids never get exposed to that level of competition, it just doesn't happen...

 
HuskerExpat said:
Yeah, big strong and slow and been a thing of the past for 20 years. Nothing new here....
Click to expand...
What about the entire Big 10 conference shows you that big, strong, and slow have been a thing of the past for 20 years?

 
junior4949 said:
HuskerExpat said:
Yeah, big strong and slow and been a thing of the past for 20 years. Nothing new here....
Click to expand...
What about the entire Big 10 conference shows you that big, strong, and slow have been a thing of the past for 20 years?
Click to expand...
True dat. I guess I should add a caveat so it reads more like, "Big, strong and slow LEADING TO SUCCESS is a thing of the past"

:nanalama

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top