The Next Two Years

[Husker Psycho]

This years team (2016) and last years team (2015) was comprised mostly of players from the 2012 and 2013 recruiting classes.

2012: Recruiting class rank 30th - Number of elite athletes - 8

2013: Recruiting class ranking 22nd - Number of elite athletes - 7

Total number of elite athletes (4 or 5 star athletes) from 2012 and 2013 recruiting classes - 15

The next two years teams (2017 and 2018) will be made up of mostly players from recruiting classes from 2014 and 2015.

2014: Recruiting class rank 36th - Number of elite athletes - 2

2015: Recruiting class rank 30th - Number of elite athletes - 4

Total number of elite athletes from 2014 and 2015 recruiting classes - 6

​That's a 60% drop in elite talent over the respective 2 year periods. Things are going to get much more difficult going forward for Nebraska.

 

[Nebfanatic]

How many of those 15 players were still on the roster and could contribute? Also, the 2014 class can hardly be used in this to compare, that was mostly bo putting that class together

 

[junior4949]

What I want to know is how many of those 15 elite players play the same position. Are 3 or 4 of them RBs? Are 4 or 5 of them WRs? Stockpiling elite players into one position group adds depth but really not much else.

 

[soup]

According to 247 composite:

2012: 8 elite players. 3 contributed this year. (TA, MRI, Westercamp)

2013: 7 elite players. 3 contributed this year. (T Newby, M Newby, Banderas)

2014: 2 elite players. 2 contributed this year (Nick Gates, Farmer)

2015: 4 elite players. 2 contributed this year on ST. (Eric Lee, Avery Anderson)

2016: 5 elite players. all 5 redshirted.

2017: 3 elite players so far. I'm guessing 1-2 will probably contribute next year.

It isn't as bad as you sound comparatively speaking, but we need consistently 5-10 "elite" players contributing every year.

 

[beorach]

Where are you pulling this from, please? I agree with Nebfanatic's comment about 2014 also. Even Sipple thinks you have to consider 2015 a mixed bag: http://journalstar.com/sports/huskers/life-in-the-red/driving-for-big-ten-whiffs-comparing-pelini-and-riley-recruiting/article_f26964dc-b655-11e6-9c4a-c32633327f00.html

 

[soup]

http://nebraska.247sports.com/Season/2017-Football/Commits

 

[Nebfanatic]

Wait wasn't the 2014 class Bo's last class and 2015 was started by Bo finished by Riley?

 

[Husker Psycho]

Wait wasn't the 2014 class Bo's last class and 2015 was started by Bo finished by Riley?

In addition to the players we lost to the NFL and graduation last year...

This year we loose:

Jordan Westerkamp

Alonzo Moore

Brandon Reilly

Tommy Armstrong

Terrell Newby

Cethan Carter

Sam Cotton

Dylan Utter

Kevin Maurice

Michael Rose-Ivey

Nathan Gerry

Josh Banderas

 

[GBRFAN]

I don't get the purpose of this thread.

Trying to knock on MR's recruiting? If so their is plenty of data to show otherwise.

Trying to say it will be tougher to win games over the past two years? probably better to look at the depth charts of next year and the following over the previous two.

 

[jcsmhammel]

We are not any different then every other program in the country. That's what's great about college football players come and go. Not just at Nebraska. It's a challenge for every single team in the county to replace "elite" players. Yeesh. You make it sound like we are replacing everybody with junior high kids.

 

[SuperBigFan69]

Well, the fact is you can consider Riley's first class however you want...but they have got to play and play well.

 

[Nebfanatic]

Wait wasn't the 2014 class Bo's last class and 2015 was started by Bo finished by Riley?

In addition to the players we lost to the NFL and graduation last year...

This year we loose:

Jordan Westerkamp

Alonzo Moore

Brandon Reilly

Tommy Armstrong

Terrell Newby

Cethan Carter

Sam Cotton

Dylan Utter

Kevin Maurice

Michael Rose-Ivey

Nathan Gerry

Josh Banderas

what are you talking about? 2014 wasn't Riley's class at all and the 2015 class was started by Bo and wrapped up by Riley so I wouldn't say that is a Riley class. Last year was Riley's first full class and with the addition of D Williams I think Riley's second full class may end up being one of the best we have had in a long time. No evidence to back that up at this point but things are looking up right now for the class of 17

 

[Husker Psycho]

Wait wasn't the 2014 class Bo's last class and 2015 was started by Bo finished by Riley?

In addition to the players we lost to the NFL and graduation last year...

This year we loose:

Jordan Westerkamp

Alonzo Moore

Brandon Reilly

Tommy Armstrong

Terrell Newby

Cethan Carter

Sam Cotton

Dylan Utter

Kevin Maurice

Michael Rose-Ivey

Nathan Gerry

Josh Banderas

what are you talking about? 2014 wasn't Riley's class at all and the 2015 class was started by Bo and wrapped up by Riley so I wouldn't say that is a Riley class. Last year was Riley's first full class and with the addition of D Williams I think Riley's second full class may end up being one of the best we have had in a long time. No evidence to back that up at this point but things are looking up right now for the class of 17

Wait wasn't the 2014 class Bo's last class and 2015 was started by Bo finished by Riley?

In addition to the players we lost to the NFL and graduation last year...

This year we loose:

Jordan Westerkamp

Alonzo Moore

Brandon Reilly

Tommy Armstrong

Terrell Newby

Cethan Carter

Sam Cotton

Dylan Utter

Kevin Maurice

Michael Rose-Ivey

Nathan Gerry

Josh Banderas

what are you talking about? 2014 wasn't Riley's class at all and the 2015 class was started by Bo and wrapped up by Riley so I wouldn't say that is a Riley class. Last year was Riley's first full class and with the addition of D Williams I think Riley's second full class may end up being one of the best we have had in a long time. No evidence to back that up at this point but things are looking up right now for the class of 17

You're right about 2014 being Bo's last class. My comment is not a comparison between coaches... it's about the drop off in athletic talent we have on the team going forward.

So I edited-eliminated the coaches names from my original comment.

We had a lot of talent on the team the last 2 years... a result of the 2012 and 2013 recruiting classes. Not so much going forward.

 

[GBRFAN]

Wait wasn't the 2014 class Bo's last class and 2015 was started by Bo finished by Riley?

In addition to the players we lost to the NFL and graduation last year...

This year we loose:

Jordan Westerkamp

Alonzo Moore

Brandon Reilly

Tommy Armstrong

Terrell Newby

Cethan Carter

Sam Cotton

Dylan Utter

Kevin Maurice

Michael Rose-Ivey

Nathan Gerry

Josh Banderas

what are you talking about? 2014 wasn't Riley's class at all and the 2015 class was started by Bo and wrapped up by Riley so I wouldn't say that is a Riley class. Last year was Riley's first full class and with the addition of D Williams I think Riley's second full class may end up being one of the best we have had in a long time. No evidence to back that up at this point but things are looking up right now for the class of 17

Wait wasn't the 2014 class Bo's last class and 2015 was started by Bo finished by Riley?

In addition to the players we lost to the NFL and graduation last year...

This year we loose:

Jordan Westerkamp

Alonzo Moore

Brandon Reilly

Tommy Armstrong

Terrell Newby

Cethan Carter

Sam Cotton

Dylan Utter

Kevin Maurice

Michael Rose-Ivey

Nathan Gerry

Josh Banderas

what are you talking about? 2014 wasn't Riley's class at all and the 2015 class was started by Bo and wrapped up by Riley so I wouldn't say that is a Riley class. Last year was Riley's first full class and with the addition of D Williams I think Riley's second full class may end up being one of the best we have had in a long time. No evidence to back that up at this point but things are looking up right now for the class of 17

You're right about 2014 being Bo's last class. My comment is not a comparison between coaches... it's about the drop off in athletic talent we have on the team going forward.

So I edited-eliminated the coaches names from my original comment.

We had a lot of talent on the team the last 2 years... a result of the 2012 and 2013 recruiting classes. Not so much going forward.

At the time of the recruiting classes it looks like we had a lot of talent. However:

- we have had numerous kids leave

- we have certain positions that have been over/under recruited

- some of that talent wasn't sure if they wanted to play for this staff

I would say we will be surprised by the future group "overachieving" based on the elite talent that has or hasn't arrived recently.

 

[84HuskerLaw]

This has been my concern expressly repeatedly since last summer:

- we lost 3 D tackles that would have been really helpful to J.P. and the defense. We did "ok" without them. What do we lose and who replaces them for next fall?

- we are graduating a bunch of regulars/starters on the offense that WILL be missed and who will replace them?

We will not have the luxury of redshirting many frosh this fall in my view as there simply are not enough 'ready for prime time' players developed and or in the cupboard from years past.

Recruits need to know that they will have a tremendous opportunity to play right away in Lincoln, Nebraska. If they are as good as they think they are, then they should play right away!

Either that or these coaches need to redshirt as many upper classmen as they can and 'waste' if you will this coming season and build for the future. Sickening the thought and I wish we could have done that 2015 and or 2016. The howling would have been Earth shattering but we are at least a full recruiting year behind the rest of the top 25.