Cy the Cyclone
Starter
Watching the last couple of years makes me ask myself if Nebraska and especially Bo could be shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to the future of bringing big time offensive recruits to Nebraska.
First, you have to realize that today's big-time recruits have been coddled by fans, the press and their coaches for years. They are used to being told how great they are and getting whatever extra perks come with being a five or four star recruit (I wouldn't know anything about that as I would have probably been a NR recruit if Rivals existed back in my day...when dinosaurs roamed the earth and we played with leather helmets with no face masks...). Anyway...here these coddled offensive recruits sit watching a little Nebraska football on TV and what do they see? The coach grabbing offensive linemen by the facemask and screaming at them as they come off the field...the coach blowing a gasket on the sideline at his QB...let's face it, Joe Paterno he ain't. Now this might work on defensive recruits but if I was a five star QB with six or seven offers, do I really want to go to Nebraska where chances are the coach, who seems to hate offensive players as a general rule, is going to grab me by the face on national TV and scream at me in front of millions? That offer from Arizona starts looking a lot better to me...nicer weather and a coach who isn't humiliating me in front of millions....
Second, if I'm a big time recruit watching Nebraska play over the last couple of seasons, I have to be asking myself...is it so important to this coach that he's going to make you play whether you're 100% or not? Lots of times last season and this Helu was out there with a bum shoulder and Martinez was out there with an ankle sprain and turf toe (or whatever it was) and what about Lee last season? If I'm a big time recuit with NFL aspirations I'm thinking "Gee...this coach wants to win so bad, he'll put me out there even if I have a broken skull. Don't they have anybody else who can play?" Nobody wants to think about a season or career ending injury because a guy is out there playing at less than 100% but Bo appears to throw them out there that way regardless. At least that's how it appears...
Finally, if I were a big time recruit watching Nebraska under Bo, I would be asking myself "Does anyone ever get to actually play besides the starters?" The Huskers seem to have a way of ending the game with the same players who started it no matter what the score. Player development through actual game participation seem to be no existant. Frankly, there have been some blowouts where some liberal substitutions seemed to be in order but never seemed to take place. It would appear to a recruit that the only time you would ever get to see some game time is when it's forced by an injury or one of Bo's "You suck...I'm yanking you" moods.
Now, as this is my opinion from my observations over the last couple of years, I may be totally off base BUT to me it seems that Bo is a great defensive motivator and I can see a lot of defensive success in Nebraska's future but as long as Bo Pelini remains the face of the entire team, I'm fearing that the offensive side of the team is not only not going to improve but will probably deteriorate from where it is now
Except kickers...recruiting kickers to NU should be easy because everybody loves the kicker!
First, you have to realize that today's big-time recruits have been coddled by fans, the press and their coaches for years. They are used to being told how great they are and getting whatever extra perks come with being a five or four star recruit (I wouldn't know anything about that as I would have probably been a NR recruit if Rivals existed back in my day...when dinosaurs roamed the earth and we played with leather helmets with no face masks...). Anyway...here these coddled offensive recruits sit watching a little Nebraska football on TV and what do they see? The coach grabbing offensive linemen by the facemask and screaming at them as they come off the field...the coach blowing a gasket on the sideline at his QB...let's face it, Joe Paterno he ain't. Now this might work on defensive recruits but if I was a five star QB with six or seven offers, do I really want to go to Nebraska where chances are the coach, who seems to hate offensive players as a general rule, is going to grab me by the face on national TV and scream at me in front of millions? That offer from Arizona starts looking a lot better to me...nicer weather and a coach who isn't humiliating me in front of millions....
Second, if I'm a big time recruit watching Nebraska play over the last couple of seasons, I have to be asking myself...is it so important to this coach that he's going to make you play whether you're 100% or not? Lots of times last season and this Helu was out there with a bum shoulder and Martinez was out there with an ankle sprain and turf toe (or whatever it was) and what about Lee last season? If I'm a big time recuit with NFL aspirations I'm thinking "Gee...this coach wants to win so bad, he'll put me out there even if I have a broken skull. Don't they have anybody else who can play?" Nobody wants to think about a season or career ending injury because a guy is out there playing at less than 100% but Bo appears to throw them out there that way regardless. At least that's how it appears...
Finally, if I were a big time recruit watching Nebraska under Bo, I would be asking myself "Does anyone ever get to actually play besides the starters?" The Huskers seem to have a way of ending the game with the same players who started it no matter what the score. Player development through actual game participation seem to be no existant. Frankly, there have been some blowouts where some liberal substitutions seemed to be in order but never seemed to take place. It would appear to a recruit that the only time you would ever get to see some game time is when it's forced by an injury or one of Bo's "You suck...I'm yanking you" moods.
Now, as this is my opinion from my observations over the last couple of years, I may be totally off base BUT to me it seems that Bo is a great defensive motivator and I can see a lot of defensive success in Nebraska's future but as long as Bo Pelini remains the face of the entire team, I'm fearing that the offensive side of the team is not only not going to improve but will probably deteriorate from where it is now
Except kickers...recruiting kickers to NU should be easy because everybody loves the kicker!