Reality of the situation

[lo country]

Taking out everything that was seen today. One question comes to mind.

How many walkons/former walkons do we have that are starting? Cassidy/Thorell/Blatchford/Marlow/Kid on OL? Unsure if those just listed are or were, BUT the fact we have several not only on the two deep, but are starting speaks volumes.

I do not think any other team in the top 20 has as many as we do/did. I know the SEC over sign argument, but seems hard to win with kids that no other schools were terribly interested in. (ie Martinez no QB offers, but us, B/U only offered by W KY)

I know the feelings about the NU kids playing harder as they grew up watching etc, but in the age of limited scholarships and the so called "parity" it seems we could actually get kids that other schools want and play them instead.

Does the fact in recent years we have had prominent walk-ons start ie O'Hanlon and Cassidy come to mind speak negatively about our staff's inability to recruit,develop or both.

Thoughts?

 

[JustaHusker]

Honestly couldn't say with a sense of TRUE knowledge, but (and I hate to do this) but NU used tons of walkons and almost a full team of "Non starred" recruits in the dynamic years. Recruiting slipped under Solich and is being rebuilt to this day. Player developement is my concern.

 

[husker_99]

Honestly couldn't say with a sense of TRUE knowledge, but (and I hate to do this) but NU used tons of walkons and almost a full team of "Non starred" recruits in the dynamic years. Recruiting slipped under Solich and is being rebuilt to this day. Player developement is my concern.

yeah but were also running a power option game which didn't require top notch athletes. Since we are no longer running that we need good athletes. I mean if we are the only ones offering some players schollies and no other school is it should concern us to find out why. We shouldn't be settling unless we really need a player for a position.

 

[lo country]

Honestly couldn't say with a sense of TRUE knowledge, but (and I hate to do this) but NU used tons of walkons and almost a full team of "Non starred" recruits in the dynamic years. Recruiting slipped under Solich and is being rebuilt to this day. Player developement is my concern.

I realize that, but IIRC that was before the 85 schollie limit. NU had several really shine. In todays age, I wonder if we are an anomaly and this is really hurting us. To go back to your post, player development or recruit miscues? I agree with the lack of development.

About development, WTH happened to C Osbourne this year.

 

[AFhusker]

Honestly couldn't say with a sense of TRUE knowledge, but (and I hate to do this) but NU used tons of walkons and almost a full team of "Non starred" recruits in the dynamic years. Recruiting slipped under Solich and is being rebuilt to this day. Player developement is my concern.

TO recruited well, therefore that isn't a true statement.Especially after the butt kicked we got by GT in 1990.

 

[AFhusker]

Honestly couldn't say with a sense of TRUE knowledge, but (and I hate to do this) but NU used tons of walkons and almost a full team of "Non starred" recruits in the dynamic years. Recruiting slipped under Solich and is being rebuilt to this day. Player developement is my concern.

I realize that, but IIRC that was before the 85 schollie limit. NU had several really shine. In todays age, I wonder if we are an anomaly and this is really hurting us. To go back to your post, player development or recruit miscues? I agree with the lack of development.

About development, WTH happened to C Osbourne this year.

In TO's years there weren't a limit on GA's and they handled the 120 or so walk on's. Along with the reduction in scholarships, the NCAA also put a limit on GA's, so that is what really killed the NU walk on program in Frank's first years as HC. So as much as people want to point out that the walk on program was killed by a particular coach, it wasn't. You can blame the NCAA for that. It just had to be cut down big time.

 

[Mavric]

It's a stretch to list Thorrell and Blatchford as "starters" but you do have a point. I've said several times that Bo's first couple classes (2009 & 2010) were not that great. That's why we're so young this year. The 2011 class was much better and could turn into a great class if some of the linemen come through. Depending on who else we get, the 2012 is also looking like it could be really good. Hopefully that means we're getting much better at the recruiting game.

 

[AFhusker]

The biggest issue I have with Bo is I don't see growth. I don't see where talent is being built up. I don't see where the staff is trying to put extra emphasis on bringing in talent. They had a really good class last year, and yet it could have been even better had they not fallen asleep to recruiting during the regular season. The majority of that class was committed prior to our first game and we only mananged to close out the season the year a couple "solid" recruits. The rest were marginal. This year would have been a great year to be selective and really go after the guys we really needed. That didn't happen and now we are scrambling to finish our class. Unless we get some unexpected commits, and hopefully no decommits I just don't see how anyone can consider this class a success.

I don't see where our offense is finding an a solid identity. I don't even see TM as a true leader of the offense who players rally around. He's not the sole problem with our offense, but he's not the solution either. At some point you expect the game to slow down for him, but we continue to see the same mistakes over and over again. Rex, the lone shining star of this offense can only do so much. At some point we need others especially Taylor to step up and make the hard plays consistently.

One of the selling points of bringing Bo in was at least we wouldn't get blown out anymore because of the belief that Bo's defense would always be there to shut teams down. Well that doesn't see to be the case any more. With the loss of David, Dennard, and Crick, and Moore we will be lucky if our defense can match this years play.

And lastly our team's play seems largely dependent on emotion. When we have things going the our way, we look unstoppable. But once someone punches us back in the gut we fold. We can't seem to rally against adversity. Relying on emotion and instead of discipline and coaching is why I believe we continue to have these types of bi-polar performances. Instead of taking a step back and regathering ourselves, we just continue to let it snowball. That's all on Bo. If your head coach can't keep his composure then how can you expect the players. His lack of discipline reflects in theirs.

But Bo's got his kids in school doing good and they for the most part stay out of trouble. That's about the only good thing I can compliment him on at this point. He's not a bad coach, but I just don't envision him ever getting us to that next level unless he does some significant soul searching and re-evaluates the way he approaches coaching.

 

[Hunter94]

The biggest issue I have with Bo is I don't see growth. I don't see where talent is being built up. I don't see where the staff is trying to put extra emphasis on bringing in talent. They had a really good class last year, and yet it could have been even better had they not fallen asleep to recruiting during the regular season. The majority of that class was committed prior to our first game and we only mananged to close out the season the year a couple "solid" recruits. The rest were marginal. This year would have been a great year to be selective and really go after the guys we really needed. That didn't happen and now we are scrambling to finish our class. Unless we get some unexpected commits, and hopefully no decommits I just don't see how anyone can consider this class a success.

I don't see where our offense is finding an a solid identity. I don't even see TM as a true leader of the offense who players rally around. He's not the sole problem with our offense, but he's not the solution either. At some point you expect the game to slow down for him, but we continue to see the same mistakes over and over again. Rex, the lone shining star of this offense can only do so much. At some point we need others especially Taylor to step up and make the hard plays consistently.

One of the selling points of bringing Bo in was at least we wouldn't get blown out anymore because of the belief that Bo's defense would always be there to shut teams down. Well that doesn't see to be the case any more. With the loss of David, Dennard, and Crick, and Moore we will be lucky if our defense can match this years play.

And lastly our team's play seems largely dependent on emotion. When we have things going the our way, we look unstoppable. But once someone punches us back in the gut we fold. We can't seem to rally against adversity. Relying on emotion and instead of discipline and coaching is why I believe we continue to have these types of bi-polar performances. Instead of taking a step back and regathering ourselves, we just continue to let it snowball. That's all on Bo. If your head coach can't keep his composure then how can you expect the players. His lack of discipline reflects in theirs.

But Bo's got his kids in school doing good and they for the most part stay out of trouble. That's about the only good thing I can compliment him on at this point. He's not a bad coach, but I just don't envision him ever getting us to that next level unless he does some significant soul searching and re-evaluates the way he approaches coaching.

that pretty much sez it all.....maybe TO can help? but can't imagine Bo asking for any...oh well, sit back and watch with guarded optimism.