The Talent Debate - 2017 Edition

Do you think Nebraska is 'talented?'

  • Yes

    Votes: 29 51.8%

  • No

    Votes: 18 32.1%

  • Undecided (explain below)

    Votes: 9 16.1%
  • Total voters
    56
Our Lines, collectively, have been the worst I've seen at Neb.

I truly believe that the majority of games are still won in the trenches, so I would argue that our talent is as bad, or worse, than any point in the past two decades. I don't care what our recruiting class rankings have been the last 5 years.

I think we have some talent/depth at receiver/RB; but w/ a questionable QB, and a bad O-line; it's like shooting armor-piercing explosive rounds from a defective rifle.

 
Definitely not enough talent to compete for a national championship. Enough talent to be in the back half of the top 25 if coached well.

 
Red_Payne said:
Our Lines, collectively, have been the worst I've seen at Neb.

I truly believe that the majority of games are still won in the trenches, so I would argue that our talent is as bad, or worse, than any point in the past two decades. I don't care what our recruiting class rankings have been the last 5 years.

I think we have some talent/depth at receiver/RB; but w/ a questionable QB, and a bad O-line; it's like shooting armor-piercing explosive rounds from a defective rifle.
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I disagree, we have had lineman in our program for 2 to 4 years and have not got better.  This is called coaching.  Plus, if we have issue pass blocking, why are we throwing 60 times a game.

 
unlfan said:
I don't think talent can be defined by on the field performance. That creates circular logic. If that's the case, every team that performs well on the field is talented and teams that don't perform well on the field aren't talented.

Need to look at objective data, and recruiting rankings are the best we have. They are very accurate as well. Yes, when you pick one recruit they may whiff. But they are accurate in the aggregate. That's why the teams with the most 5 star recruitsyear after year win titles.
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I agree...

Mich. was losing under one coach... a year later (and w/ many of the same players) Harbaugh has them at 10-3 and finishing the season ranked #12. Talenet can't always be evaluated by on-field performance; sometimes coaches do a poor job of putting player in a position to perform well, game-plan improperly, can't motivate, etc.

... or maybe Harbaugh has some fairy dust lying around.

 
SouthLincoln Husker said:
I disagree, we have had lineman in our program for 2 to 4 years and have not got better.  This is called coaching.  Plus, if we have issue pass blocking, why are we throwing 60 times a game.
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The fact that they have not gotten better strengthens my argument. You are saying that we have juniors and seniors playing at a freshman level, and I'm assuming our freshman and sophomores are playing at a freshman level, since they haven't beaten them out.... that means the talent level on the line is bad.

I agree. coaching can lead to bad player development; which can cause a lack of talent on a squad.

 
Nebraska's current talent is enough to challenge anyone in the west. But Ohio state, Michigan and penn state are a different story. The way those schools are recruiting is only widening the talent gap and they're coaching is better as well. 

Nebraska desperately needs to get a great coaching staff or its doomed to be a has been school like Minnesota.

 
We have talent, but it's not being maximized in all areas.

Case in point, the offense line.

We were starting 4* guys at 4/5 spots on Saturday. Could have fooled me. Guys like Nick Gates have regressed under Cav (Sean Callahan's words, not mine) and they simply look lost.

 
QB  :star :star

RB  :star :star :star :star

TE NR
LT  :star :star :star :star

LG  :star :star :star
C NR
RG  :star :star :star :star
RT  :star :star :star
WR  :star :star :star :star
WR  :star :star :star
WR  :star :star :star

DE  :star :star :star
NT  :star :star :star
DE  :star :star :star
OLB  :star :star :star :star
ILB  :star :star :star
ILB NR
OLB  :star :star :star
CB  :star :star :star :star
CB  :star :star :star :star
SS  :star :star :star
FS  :star :star :star

 
Honestly I don't think we need that much higher recruiting classes overall but just need coaches that can actually coach the talent that we have present to the best of their abilities. 

Sure we want to be like the mid 90's or what Ohio State is now but in reality we should hope to be Wisconsin, Kansas State or Virginia Tech.  These programs do not get top 25 classes but they coach their players to 9-11 win seasons regularly.  Get to this point first and then we can hope to build to the very top. 

 
SouthLincoln Husker said:
No, you recruit a position.  You do not what is going to happen.  We had 7 WR in spring football and lost 3 before season started, so we have to use walk-ons who would never see the field.
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What are you trying to argue? My post was in response to a claim that we, right now, have depth at WR. I'm arguing that we do not. The reasons why are beside the point.

 
On paper we are the most talented team in the West and have been since we joined the B1G.  On the field for some reason or another, most years we haven't looked like the most talented team in the West.

I don't believe our talent is really any better or worse now than under Bo (save the Suh years on D).  But we haven't been putting our players in positions to succeed (see Banker, Mark or running a "no tempo" offense as examples).

 
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