NamelessHusker
Banned
Recruiting is not an exact Science
By ######
Date: July 9th, 2005
It began small, and ended with a bang. In less then 2 months, Bill Callahan will begin his second season as head coach of one of the finest institutions in college football. Bill Callhan came to Nebraska,with the chance to resurrect the big red Empire and bring it back to its glory days.With limited amount of time to work with and few resources,he managed to scrap and salvage together a recruiting class from the prior regime that gave us a glimpse of what might be expected. The following class ended up being one of the best recruiting classes in the history of the program and a top 5 class.
Looking at the program a year ago, it had disaster written all over it, but Billy knew it was never going to be an easy task. The mention of a passing game was enough to raise eyebrows from fans and players alike "we are going to do what again with the ball?". It is never an easy task changing the mindset of a nation that had been used to doing things a certain way.
Sometimes you take the good with the bad and you make it work. Easier said then done is what this staff figured out.by the end of the season. No worries, help was on the way.In the form of super charged mutant humans and speedy monsters, something bagan to emerge.The greatest joy in the world to any kid is watching several million dominos falling one after the other to form a beautiful masterpiece.This is exactly what Billy did last season.We as fans have become the children. Billy setup a domino show for us and it began with the first piece (Harrison Beck) and ended with a masterpiece recruiting class. Once that first piece was in place, the domino effect took place. Domino after domino, recruit after recruit, this coaching staff managed to keep us entertained in a period of time we never really did pay much attention to, and is managing to paint it's second masterpiece again with 5 commitments so far in the 2006 recruiting class.
What is it about this coaching staff that drives kids to want to play for this group of coaches? Phillip Dillard might give us some insight into that:
Coach blake welcomed me with open arms. I sat down in his office and my eyes immediately went to the HUGE ring on his hand. It was a Super Bowl ring! When he first started talking to me I think he noticed that I was looking at his ring so he asked me if I like it. I said no I don't like it, I love it! He mentioned to me that he had another one at home. That was impressive! I started thinking, I wish I had one!"
So is it the NFL experience that drives recruits to want to play for Nebraska? Surely their has to be more to it then that. Maybe Craig Roark can answer that
"Coach Callahan treats you like a son.You know he will take care of you during those 4 years.Being comfortable around the coaches is the main reason i decided to come to Nebraska, and i think coach Callahan and the rest of the staff are upfront and honest with you about everything.They take the time to sit down and explain everything for you.With them, it's not just about football, but it's everything. They really care about you"
We can all conceed that tradition is an important factor in recruiting, as well as top notch training facilities. Most importantly, great coaching and recruits surrounding themselves with other great talent is what this coaching staff has promised them. Gone are the days of lazy attitudes and missed practices.Gone are the days of slow reaction time players. All of that is now replaced by speed, speed, and more speed. We are recruiting new types of athletes that we once dreamed about. We are recruiting athletes that Nebraska fans "aww'd" and ohh'd" about when it came to the opposition. We are recruiting players who in past years, would never have even considered Nebraska in its top 3, let alone top 10.
You can bet on it that the coaching staff is sitting around a table as we speak, all smiles from cheek to cheek. The biggest thing that this coaching staff is pleased about is the attitude, charachter and quality of this group of young men coming in. Some do not realize how important this recruiting class is yet, but it is very important for the future of Nebraska football. It is the stepping stone to that coveted trophy that all 119 Div-A programs dream about. Even though recruiting remains an inexact science, it's going to take a a while for this group of new faces to mesh well together like a well oiled machine
I had the pleasure of meeting Coach John Blake at a Big Red Breakfest last season and he not only looks at you in the eyes and shows you respect, but he listens to the conversation. When speaking to him, i wanted to know exactly how he approached recruits and is able to convince them into coming here. Little did i know back then that i was speaking to a monster recruiter. He said that selling Nebraska is easy. He walks into a recruits house, sells the program to the recruit, but in particular to the mother. He lets the recruits family know that Academics is the most important thing to this coaching staff and the University. He lets the recruits and his mom specifically know that he, the coaches and god will take care of him during his college years. All this before he even talks about the tradition at Nebraska, All-Americans, and the numerous NFL experience this coaching staff has to offer.
College football magazines are out with predictions already and recruiting analyst have begun to put together their list of favorite players this season to watch. Some might be worried about the amount of recruits we have heading into July, but i say "do not worry, all will be good in the land of red". Last year, Nebraska managed to sign 4 players this early in the season, one of them was a rivals 100 member at the time (Harrison Beck). This class already has its Rivals 100 player in Josh Freeman, plus 4 other quality recruits who should get good rankings from recruiting analyst. Will this recruiting class be even better then last year? That remains to be seen, but all signs already point to yes. Nebraska leads the nation in recruits visits so far at 16 and has other top notch blue chippers buzzing about visiting Lincoln. Last year Nebraska had only 10 visits scheduled before camp practice began, so we are well over the quota at this point. There's also news about 2 other 4 star prospects visiting Lincoln during its second game which would push the total to 18 visits. We may have lost several key battles for certain recruits, but all is fair in recruiting. You can't expect to win them all. In the meantime, just sit back, relax and open a cold beer, because it's going to be another exciting recruiting class to follow
By ######
Date: July 9th, 2005
It began small, and ended with a bang. In less then 2 months, Bill Callahan will begin his second season as head coach of one of the finest institutions in college football. Bill Callhan came to Nebraska,with the chance to resurrect the big red Empire and bring it back to its glory days.With limited amount of time to work with and few resources,he managed to scrap and salvage together a recruiting class from the prior regime that gave us a glimpse of what might be expected. The following class ended up being one of the best recruiting classes in the history of the program and a top 5 class.
Looking at the program a year ago, it had disaster written all over it, but Billy knew it was never going to be an easy task. The mention of a passing game was enough to raise eyebrows from fans and players alike "we are going to do what again with the ball?". It is never an easy task changing the mindset of a nation that had been used to doing things a certain way.
Sometimes you take the good with the bad and you make it work. Easier said then done is what this staff figured out.by the end of the season. No worries, help was on the way.In the form of super charged mutant humans and speedy monsters, something bagan to emerge.The greatest joy in the world to any kid is watching several million dominos falling one after the other to form a beautiful masterpiece.This is exactly what Billy did last season.We as fans have become the children. Billy setup a domino show for us and it began with the first piece (Harrison Beck) and ended with a masterpiece recruiting class. Once that first piece was in place, the domino effect took place. Domino after domino, recruit after recruit, this coaching staff managed to keep us entertained in a period of time we never really did pay much attention to, and is managing to paint it's second masterpiece again with 5 commitments so far in the 2006 recruiting class.
What is it about this coaching staff that drives kids to want to play for this group of coaches? Phillip Dillard might give us some insight into that:
Coach blake welcomed me with open arms. I sat down in his office and my eyes immediately went to the HUGE ring on his hand. It was a Super Bowl ring! When he first started talking to me I think he noticed that I was looking at his ring so he asked me if I like it. I said no I don't like it, I love it! He mentioned to me that he had another one at home. That was impressive! I started thinking, I wish I had one!"
So is it the NFL experience that drives recruits to want to play for Nebraska? Surely their has to be more to it then that. Maybe Craig Roark can answer that
"Coach Callahan treats you like a son.You know he will take care of you during those 4 years.Being comfortable around the coaches is the main reason i decided to come to Nebraska, and i think coach Callahan and the rest of the staff are upfront and honest with you about everything.They take the time to sit down and explain everything for you.With them, it's not just about football, but it's everything. They really care about you"
We can all conceed that tradition is an important factor in recruiting, as well as top notch training facilities. Most importantly, great coaching and recruits surrounding themselves with other great talent is what this coaching staff has promised them. Gone are the days of lazy attitudes and missed practices.Gone are the days of slow reaction time players. All of that is now replaced by speed, speed, and more speed. We are recruiting new types of athletes that we once dreamed about. We are recruiting athletes that Nebraska fans "aww'd" and ohh'd" about when it came to the opposition. We are recruiting players who in past years, would never have even considered Nebraska in its top 3, let alone top 10.
You can bet on it that the coaching staff is sitting around a table as we speak, all smiles from cheek to cheek. The biggest thing that this coaching staff is pleased about is the attitude, charachter and quality of this group of young men coming in. Some do not realize how important this recruiting class is yet, but it is very important for the future of Nebraska football. It is the stepping stone to that coveted trophy that all 119 Div-A programs dream about. Even though recruiting remains an inexact science, it's going to take a a while for this group of new faces to mesh well together like a well oiled machine
I had the pleasure of meeting Coach John Blake at a Big Red Breakfest last season and he not only looks at you in the eyes and shows you respect, but he listens to the conversation. When speaking to him, i wanted to know exactly how he approached recruits and is able to convince them into coming here. Little did i know back then that i was speaking to a monster recruiter. He said that selling Nebraska is easy. He walks into a recruits house, sells the program to the recruit, but in particular to the mother. He lets the recruits family know that Academics is the most important thing to this coaching staff and the University. He lets the recruits and his mom specifically know that he, the coaches and god will take care of him during his college years. All this before he even talks about the tradition at Nebraska, All-Americans, and the numerous NFL experience this coaching staff has to offer.
College football magazines are out with predictions already and recruiting analyst have begun to put together their list of favorite players this season to watch. Some might be worried about the amount of recruits we have heading into July, but i say "do not worry, all will be good in the land of red". Last year, Nebraska managed to sign 4 players this early in the season, one of them was a rivals 100 member at the time (Harrison Beck). This class already has its Rivals 100 player in Josh Freeman, plus 4 other quality recruits who should get good rankings from recruiting analyst. Will this recruiting class be even better then last year? That remains to be seen, but all signs already point to yes. Nebraska leads the nation in recruits visits so far at 16 and has other top notch blue chippers buzzing about visiting Lincoln. Last year Nebraska had only 10 visits scheduled before camp practice began, so we are well over the quota at this point. There's also news about 2 other 4 star prospects visiting Lincoln during its second game which would push the total to 18 visits. We may have lost several key battles for certain recruits, but all is fair in recruiting. You can't expect to win them all. In the meantime, just sit back, relax and open a cold beer, because it's going to be another exciting recruiting class to follow
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