OWH: Hits, Misses and What Might Have Been from the Last 10 Recruiting Classes

Mavric

Mavric

Yoda
Staff member
So we can look back on 10 years of Husker recruiting classes — 2007 through 2016 — and examine the best and worst of that era. The big hits. The whiffs. The not-quites.

Let’s take a tour through each class and revisit the highs and lows of the last 10 years. That’s one Bill Callahan class, one Callahan/Bo Pelini class, six Pelini classes, one Pelini/Mike Riley class, and one Riley class.
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OWH

 
I'm pretty sure Sharp and Benning did this the other morning at least with the 2011-2014 classes to illustrate how we aren't even hitting on 40% of the classes that have been put together.

 
The biggest what could have been for me would have been if Jason Pierre Paul chooses Nebraska instead of USF. Imagine how crazy that line in 2009 would have been.

 
Pretty telling about our D line recruiting during this period. Pretty sad when this is post Suh.

2010

Missed the mark: The defensive line recruits. All of them. Walker Ashburn, Tobi Okuyemi, Jay Guy, Donovan Vestal and Chase Rome. The complete failure of this class was the bedrock problems that followed NU into the Big Ten era.

2012

What might have been: NU’s defensive line class — Vincent Valentine, Avery Moss, Aaron Curry and Greg McMullen — was a very good one, but none of these guys played a full four years at NU. Moss was kicked out of school following sexual misconduct. Valentine left for the NFL early. Curry transferred to TCU. McMullen retired from the sport.
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Pretty telling when you look and see how few of those amounted to anything.

 
I personally think articles like this are stupid.

Just another form of self delusion and misery in company.

Let's do an article next on the injury what-ifs over the last 10 years

Then let's do one on everyone who left early for NFL over last ten yrs.

Then let's do one coaches who left when we were trending up

Then let's do one about how many fans left early in the 3rd when we were losing.

I mean...they're stupid articles.

 
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I am I said:
I personally think articles like this are stupid.

Just another form of self delusion and misery in company.

Let's do an article next on the injury what-ifs over the last 10 years

Then let's do one on everyone who left early for NFL over last ten yrs.

Then let's do one coaches who left when we were trending up

Then let's do one about how many fans left early in the 3rd when we were losing.

I mean...they're stupid articles.
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You could do one on what if our best players chose their second choice for college and predict our records. That'd be fun too

 
Unless you are going to follow up and do similar analysis of our opponents' recruiting ups and downs, etc, it really only highlights the tremendous challenges of recruiting and building a college football team in general. I suspect that most other programs have their share of disappointments too.

One might also breakdown the success / failure of the many walkons and look at graduation rates and academic performance as well. Are there any idenitifiable common denominators and or trends or other indicators that could be helpful in considering future recruits? For example - how are the 'success' rates (measured by academics and athletics both) for the 500 mile / local recruits vs those from afar?

Are there recurring problems or issues that complicate the success or lack thereof of recruits which might be remedied by alternative handling, policies, etc? For example, are the academic advisors and assistance programs working as well as we'd like? Perhaps there are reasons that players are 'dropping out' or becoming disillusioned by their time in Lincoln? A careful, thoughtful, detailed 'study' might be a great project for the University (its various departments, etc) to go back and interview and analyze the whats and whys from the many players over the past couple decades. Why did they not succeed in football and or school? What did the enjoy and what not? Perhaps this sort of thing is being done but results are not publicized for many reasons?

The results of such studies might be very eye opening or not but surely there would be a great deal of valuable information gleaned that could help formulate strategies for the future?

 
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That 2010 defensive line class a complete failure. I wonder if we've ever had a bigger position miss in one single class that's worse then those guys.

 
Hard to believe that Suh was already more than 10 years ago. I thought Mason Wald was going to be great. Just goes to show that there are many factors outside of athleticism that makes a recruit a success.

 
I remember reading an article a few years back about what happend to top rated recruits. It's amazing how many 5* never saw the field. Michigan and OSU both had one or two that got kicked off the team and other schools had guys that just didn't play. So I guess I don't feel so bad when a 3* or low 4* doesn't pan out

 
I am I said:
I personally think articles like this are stupid.

Just another form of self delusion and misery in company.

Let's do an article next on the injury what-ifs over the last 10 years

Then let's do one on everyone who left early for NFL over last ten yrs.

Then let's do one coaches who left when we were trending up

Then let's do one about how many fans left early in the 3rd when we were losing.

I mean...they're stupid articles.
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That's a pretty surface level analysis of why articles like these are written. I find them incredibly fascinating for a couple of reasons.

One, they can highlight a coaching staff's successes/failures. For example, one of my biggest critiques of Bo Pelini was that he was never able to capitalize on the accomplishments of one of the most dominant defensive tackles in college football history. That's a useful analysis if you're a fan or even an administrator - is your coach competently using all the tools available to him to win on the recruiting trail?

Second, these articles help draw a picture of why a team like Nebraska hasn't been able to get over the hump for several years, and a lot of it has to do with recruiting failures. You shouldn't look at this as 'they're just playing the coulda-woulda-shoulda game,' and instead look at it as 'this is one of the reasons Nebraska has been an average to above average team for 10 years.' I mean, you just can't recruit all those defensive line guys like we did in 2010 and not have a single one turn into a productive starter or an all-conference guy. You just can't.

 
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I am I said:
I personally think articles like this are stupid.

Just another form of self delusion and misery in company.

Let's do an article next on the injury what-ifs over the last 10 years

Then let's do one on everyone who left early for NFL over last ten yrs.

Then let's do one coaches who left when we were trending up

Then let's do one about how many fans left early in the 3rd when we were losing.

I mean...they're stupid articles.
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Then don't read them. It's the middle of recruiting season. I don't find an article looking back at past successes and failures out of line.

 
There was an interesting article a couple days ago about the surprising number of two star and NO star recruits who will playing in the Super Bowl this Sunday.

 
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