McKewon: Huskers face slim margin of error with smaller recruiting class

[Saunders]

Depending on the service you prefer, Nebraska ranks fourth (according to ESPN) to seventh (according to Scout) in the league headed into August. NU’s per-prospect score is better than seventh.

But, remember: This class is going to be modest in size.

Because of that, the Huskers have had to move on from several mid-level targets that have been snatched up by other teams.

Because of that, many of the remaining targets, which include five-star prospects Micah Parsons and Talanoa Hufanga, are big fish.

That means Nebraska’s recruiting margin of error is smaller.

So there’s one thing, above all, that Nebraska can do to keep its recruiting momentum headed into the December signing period.

Win. Win a lot.

Obvious, right? Perhaps, but, as Nebraska stumbled to 6-7 in 2015, coach Mike Riley and his staff successfully sold hope and playing time for the future.

The 2016 recruiting class ranked fifth in the Big Ten and 26th nationally according to 247 Sports Composite. That was Riley’s “regime change” class, his first full class.

But the third full class, that’s a little more about Ws and Ls. You can’t sell hope quite as easily. You show hope in the product on the field.

Nebraska can look at its own recruiting history for proof.

http://www.omaha.com/huskers/football/recruiting/mckewon-huskers-face-slim-margin-of-error-with-smaller-recruiting/article_8de861f3-48f3-5dcf-a503-017f02682db4.html

 

[Red Five]

Is the class small? Aren't we now in the low 20s that we can sign?

edit: Looking at what Mav has put together on the recruiting forum, we will have 18 open schollys and can go +3 to get to 21.

The 18/21 number counts Chris Jones and KJJ not being around next year. If either of them come back, drop the number by 1 or 2.

But with the way Riley has used to +3 the previous couple years, I am not holding my breath seeing us sign a "full" class.

 

[Mavric]

In my numbers, I'm still counting KJJ as being on the team in 2018. But not Jones.

 

[Caliborn72]

Good article, thanks for posting this. I agree with it for the most part, Riley needs to prove it on the field otherwise I don't see the top level recruits being sold on hope anymore. We also have to have solid back-up plans which I'm not sure I'm seeing in some spots.

But I also think the old saying "recruiters recruit" holds true. The Williams duo are having no issues recruiting while Cav and Davis are mostly crickets. A strong brand also helps obviously which ours has taken some hits. UCLA has had no issues recruiting despite the 4 win season and the inability to win a weaker Pac12 south for years. They underachieve on the field but have a staff of recruiters. Same with TAMU. They're also in hotbeds of talent though.