You can go on and on about late rounders from Solich's class, but how do you dispute the first 3 rounds? It's about time all fans recognize the fact that when Solich was hired we hired an extension of TO. TO was not a great recruiter. We hired someone to do the same things TO did. Apparently Husker Nation didn't like TO's way, so FS was fired. It's all new now, we'll see how BC's recruits fair in the draft from here on out.
Where do you arrive at 8? Brandon Jackson was a Callahan recruit. Incognito never played a game for Callahan and was kicked off the team. Bradley was developed as a LB by the new coaching staff, which is where he was drafted. He was DE when Solich was coach. Ruud was drafted early after he dedicated himself to working out instead of drinking after the season was over and improved his stock. Fabian was a workout wonder who seldom showed much on game days.
You can attribute these to either A) Solich didn't develop talent as well or B) Solich couldn't recruit enough depth. Less Solich draftees went high, but yet, under a new coaching staff, these guys that were maybe not high level Solich recruits, are more developed and end up being. higher draft choices.
Chew on this, from the 95-98 recruiting classes, NU was rated in the top 12 for 3 of those 4 years. The 99-2002 drafts produced how many less high level draft picks? Solich inherited a wealth of talent and was not able to develop it as well as Callahan has done thus far.
In the 1999 draft which would have been right after Solich's first year of coaching, NU had one player (ONE PLAYER) selected in the first 3 rounds with the name of Mike Rucker going in the 2nd round. In the 2005 draft which would have been after BC's first year of coaching, NU had four players (FOUR PLAYERS) go in the first 3 rounds by the names of Fabian Washington (1st rd), Ruud and Bullocks (2nd rd), and Incognito (3rd rd). Say what you want about Incognito, but the reason he didn't play was because BC kicked him off the team. Fact is he was recruited by Solich and was drafted into the NFL in the first 3 rounds so he counts in my book. In the 2000 draft, NU managed two players drafted in the first 3 rounds in Mike Brown (2nd rd) and Steve Warren (3rd rd). In 2006, NU had one player drafted in the first 3 rounds with Bullocks (2nd rd). That makes FS 5 players in BC's first 2 years to TO's 3 players in FS's first 2 years. I'd say the talent argument strongly favors more talent to BC than to FS by an overwhelming 40 percent.
You forget to mention that the stable of talent NU had drafted was after TO's last year of coaching with Wistrom, Peters, Frost, and Green gone. We also lost in later rounds great talent in Warfield and All American Aaron Taylor. In FS's first year, he had to replace a stud at QB (Frost) with unproven, young, and inexperienced Newcomb and Crouch. He had to replace a perennial starter at RB with a couple of inexperienced RB's Buckhalter and Alexander. He had to replace the bulk of his defensive line after losing perennial players Wistrom and Peters.
It still appears to me that there was more talent when BC started his career as HC than there was when FS started his career as HC. In terms of the thread starter, I will ask the obvious. When did NU ever have great receivers? I still remember the itty bitty committee. Their only job here at NU until recently was to block especially on option plays. 10 years ago, obviously great receivers were not necessary to win championships. If you're strictly a numbers person, Jamal Lords numbers as a QB were actually really good. He was just as athletic as some of the great to play here. What separated him from the greats was that he wasn't very smart, and he was very predictable. Whenever he audibled, you knew it was going to be an option and that he was going to carry the ball. However, was he better or worse than some of TO's great recruits in Mike Grant or Frankie London?
There are many ways teams can go about winning championships. Talent is one way, but then again TO won for many years taking less talented teams and winning most of the games we played. John Cooper had talent running out of his ears at Ohio State and yet he never won a championship. I don't remember one fullback playing back in the mid-90's that was actually given a scholarship prior to ever playing a down at NU. We developed talent. We developed fullbacks and offensive linemen. We won a lot of games and a few NC with in state talent at some key positions.
It's interesting that in the answer part of the thread starter that the coaching staff was brought into the mix stating that NU doesn't have the caliber of staff at OU or Texas. When Callahan put together his staff, it seems he was more interested in hiring recruiters rathern than great assistants. I don't know whether or not we have any higher turnover of coaches than Texas or OU, but let's face it we've had our fair share of defections with assistants in the past year. In order to win a championship, I still say it takes a veteran QB. We aren't going to have that for quite some time. I don't see us in the title hunt for at least 3 or more years. Sam Keller might be great, but he's never played one single down for NU.
