Where are the Nebraska Kids?

[Count 'Bility]

We have a pretty good little kids football league here. I think it starts with 4th and 5th grade playing flag and then 6th and 7th playing tackle. I know my son was much more prepared for middle school football than I ever was without it. They have practice every day after school and then play I think 5 games on Sundays.

Oh it's a big part of preparatoin. I played in our league, and, was fortunate enough to play in it for 3 years (4-6) because I was just barely old enough as a 4th grader. When I played 7th grade, the difference of kids that played 2-3 years in the league to those that didnt was night and day.

 

[jmfb]

There is youth football about anywhere you live in the state of Nebraska

In most areas it starts in the 3rd grade

A number of teams even travel out of state to play

Millard and Elkhorn have the highest participation rates and as a group are probably the best organized and funded

The quality of coaching/commitment varies greatly

UNFORTUNATELY MANY basketball/baseball/sokker people covet the kids year round- take kids away from football

Football isnt a year round sport here- IMO at the youth level none of them should be year round- play a variety

 

[kchusker_chris]

There is youth football about anywhere you live in the state of Nebraska

In most areas it starts in the 3rd grade

A number of teams even travel out of state to play

Millard and Elkhorn have the highest participation rates and as a group are probably the best organized and funded

The quality of coaching/commitment varies greatly

UNFORTUNATELY MANY basketball/baseball/sokker people covet the kids year round- take kids away from football

Football isnt a year round sport here- IMO at the youth level none of them should be year round- play a variety

^ what you consider youth football - and what kids in Texas consider youth football are two very, very different things. the youth football kids down here in KC, if you added up the yearly practice hours/games...likely exceed most high school football programs in the state of Nebraska. then you add on the fact that a number of these elementary/junior high kids are in lifting programs - and the gap widens even farther.

 

[BigRedBuster]

And, there are places down south that take youth football way too far. I would not allow my son to be in youth football if he were required to lift weights...etc. at that age.

Some adults need to get a clue.

Youth Football Gone Wrong

 

[jmfb]

There is youth football about anywhere you live in the state of Nebraska

In most areas it starts in the 3rd grade

A number of teams even travel out of state to play

Millard and Elkhorn have the highest participation rates and as a group are probably the best organized and funded

The quality of coaching/commitment varies greatly

UNFORTUNATELY MANY basketball/baseball/sokker people covet the kids year round- take kids away from football

Football isnt a year round sport here- IMO at the youth level none of them should be year round- play a variety

^ what you consider youth football - and what kids in Texas consider youth football are two very, very different things. the youth football kids down here in KC, if you added up the yearly practice hours/games...likely exceed most high school football programs in the state of Nebraska. then you add on the fact that a number of these elementary/junior high kids are in lifting programs - and the gap widens even farther.

I lived in 2 different areas of Texas and traveled the state for business

I understand Texas youth football- attended lots of clinics in Dallas, Houston etc

The game does vary a bit from location to location

Pretty much every year I take youth football teams to Kansas to play the very best teams willing to play in the state

We have yet to lose any of those games

There isnt much difference between Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas

South Dakota isnt very good

Get to places like Tulsa and Jenks/Union and it's a whole different world

Youth football comes in all shapes and sizes in many states

Omaha youth teams have won some VERY large national tournaments in Florida- beating some pretty amazing teams from all over the country. A lot of those kids come from Millard.

Some take it very seriously and even offer year round activities including Spring Tackle leagues- Texas, California, Florida

SInce the baseball and basketball guys like to go year round at the youth level and grab up as many as they can and exclude them from playing other sports- some are doing that for football- the last sport to start to embrace that approach

In Texas, Florida and California at the youth level- you have very competitive select leagues, average Joe leagues and Rec leagues- the quality varies. The participation rates are very high in many of these "football" player states.

The coaching quality varies in those locations as well, but since they do take it more seriously, for the most part the coaches are more committed and invest more time in becoming better coaches. Nebraska youth clinics are sparcely attended

However from watching those teams play in person what does stand out is some of the athleticism compared to the average Joe leagues in Nebraska

From a "select" perspective there really arent any "select" leagues in the state anymore, where the best play the best week in and week out- that's why a handful of teams travel out-state to play games.

 

[allen68601]

I'm sure Harrison Philips will get a offer but he is not your typical Nebraska kid and have Nebraska as his 1st choice. I know he has interest from Texas, Wisconsin, and Ohio. There is a freshman at Millard West that is behind Harrison his name is Elijah Zoucha. He will be someone to watch also.

 

[Minnesota_husker]

Gotta wonder if enough kids are willing to just walk on, that you dont need to use a Scholly to get them?

I bet we will get a few kids from the 2013class that will see PT that will end up being Walk-ons from Nebraska.

 

[kchusker_chris]

Gotta wonder if enough kids are willing to just walk on, that you dont need to use a Scholly to get them?

I bet we will get a few kids from the 2013class that will see PT that will end up being Walk-ons from Nebraska.

But someone would still be scouting/ranking them...and that doesn't happen. Iowa, Colorado, Minnesota, K-State, Kansas, etc....if there was D1 talent in Nebraska they'd be after it. Plenty likely walk-on with scholarships to Northwest Missouri, SD State, Chadron...but very rarely do I see a kid walk-on with a D1 type of offer equal to Nebraska.

 

[dylan]

Agree in general, but wanted to point out that plenty of our walkons have D1 talent. They just didn't have the offers. Do you think some schools would go back and offer spencer long a scholarship in hindsight? Janovich? Choi? O'hanlon? Recruiting isn't an exact science.

 

[Count 'Bility]

Agree in general, but wanted to point out that plenty of our walkons have D1 talent. They just didn't have the offers. Do you think some schools would go back and offer spencer long a scholarship in hindsight? Janovich? Choi? O'hanlon? Recruiting isn't an exact science.

I really dont think so. Most coaches and recruiters understand the culture here. If you grow up in Nebraska, live in Nebraska, and have the talent to play big boy college football, youre playing for Nebraska. That's how it was before 2004. That's how it's been since 2008. I dont know the exact number, but I bet you can count on one hand the number of in-state prospects Nebraska has lost to other FBS programs, and even if that how many have made or will make and legitimate impact to that of Choi, Long, O'Hanlon and so on?

 

[dylan]

I agree that, for the most part, if NU doesn't offer an in-state kid, other D1 programs aren't likely to either. My point though is that the walk-on program allows us to prove over and over again that local kids do actually have the talent to play D1, even if they are overlooked during recruiting.

 

[kchusker_chris]

I agree that, for the most part, if NU doesn't offer an in-state kid, other D1 programs aren't likely to either. My point though is that the walk-on program allows us to prove over and over again that local kids do actually have the talent to play D1, even if they are overlooked during recruiting.

some have the "potential" to "develop" the talent to play D1. most are extremely raw. most don't possess the skills necessary to garner D1 interest at the time they are seniors in HS, and 95% don't have the talent necessary to make the 2 deep after 5 years in the program. We cling to the 5%, but ignore the 95%. I think we graduated 10ish guys this year that were originally walk-ons. In an unusually high year, 2 (Chio/Maher) cracked the 2 deep - maybe throw Blatchford in there. I think we saw something like 30 walkons come with that 2008 class. So over 20 never even made it to graduation. If 66% of our scholly guys weren't with the program through their senior year we'd be having some issues.

 

[dylan]

My point is that the talent is there and that recruiters and recruiting services aren't omniscient. It's the same reason a similarly small percentage of quality players end up at lower level schools or divisions.

In retrospect, we got a four star talent in spencer long. Choi probably was a three star talent. People get missed and I'm not blaming the people that miss it. I'm just pointing out that D1 talent is still coming out of Nebraska schools. It's nice that we got the walkon program chugging again so we can harness what talent there is.

 

[Goal-line]

Could be that there just isn't that many great players in this generation.

Previous success wasn't because NU had kids from NE, it was because they were good. ;-)

No, I think that the culture of developing players is a thing of the past. Either there is no interest in a developmental program or the current coaching staff does not have the necessary expertise in developing the athletes. A lot of folks did not like Boyd Epley and his strength/conditioning program but his method of individual evaluation of player and team needs took us to the greatness of the 1990's program dominance. He took athletic body structures and made them into great players, especially on the offensive linemen. He knew how to develop both strength and speed. I knew him personally and participated in many of his clinics. He was extremely innovative in both the evaluation and implementation of his program. We have not had anyone like him since he left.

 

[QMany]

There is youth football about anywhere you live in the state of Nebraska

In most areas it starts in the 3rd grade

A number of teams even travel out of state to play

Millard and Elkhorn have the highest participation rates and as a group are probably the best organized and funded

The quality of coaching/commitment varies greatly

UNFORTUNATELY MANY basketball/baseball/sokker people covet the kids year round- take kids away from football

Football isnt a year round sport here- IMO at the youth level none of them should be year round- play a variety

^ what you consider youth football - and what kids in Texas consider youth football are two very, very different things. the youth football kids down here in KC, if you added up the yearly practice hours/games...likely exceed most high school football programs in the state of Nebraska. then you add on the fact that a number of these elementary/junior high kids are in lifting programs - and the gap widens even farther.

Kansas still needs to loosen some of their rules.