Where has the in-state talent gone?

[BiggerRed]

Since 1982, the population of Nebraska has gone from 1.5 million to 1.7 million.

Since 1982, the population of Texas has gone from 14 million to 24 million.

Since 1982, the population of California has gone from 24 million to 36 million.

Where would you look for players?

It's all relative. Nebraska's population is about 5% of California's. California produced approximately 150 high school football players who signed with BCS conference teams last year alone. All other things being equal, one would assume that Nebraska should have produced 7-8 BCS school commits last year. There were 4. I would argue that the percentage should be higher than California's because of the popularity of football in the state and the accessibility of high schoolers to actually be able to make a team and play.

And to answer you question, if I were a college coach I would first look for players in my own backyard.

 

[Danimal]

Along with having a lower population we also have a whiter one than the big recruiting states. While there are certainly plenty of explosive, athletic guys that are white you just find fewer per-capita than in the black population.

Back when TO was coaching I think we were better suited to use locals. We used 6'2" roadpavers with quick feet on O-line, local fullbacks, and wr's that blocked more than anything else. Plus we had better S&C that enabled us to get more out of guys.

Of course we're also less likely to offer a local than back in the day. They used to get a little benefit of the doubt, now that doesn't happen. Might even hurt them in some cases if they haven't gotten to show what they can do against better competition. Who knows what Tyler Evans's market-value would be if he was playing safety/wr in a recruiting hotbed rather than out of position at qb in Waverly.

It does hurt that we can't rely on homegrown as much as we used to. Back in the day it seemed we could count on several good guys per year. Now we're down to a couple. Maybe starting Spring-ball would help a little.

 

[HuskerJen]

Jen are you sure you weren't a coach at one point? The fact that you would pick a standard 4-3 to counter a standard I formation is astounding. Hopefully Bo will look in to that this year.

You know, if I wanted any excrement from you I'd put my hands just above your ears and squeeze.

 

[HuskerInLostWages]

Jen are you sure you weren't a coach at one point? The fact that you would pick a standard 4-3 to counter a standard I formation is astounding. Hopefully Bo will look in to that this year.

You know, if I wanted any excrement from you I'd put my hands just above your ears and squeeze.

Jen haha. I may be off but wasn't that a compliment? I played soccer, so I may be wrong.

 

[HuskerJen]

Jen are you sure you weren't a coach at one point? The fact that you would pick a standard 4-3 to counter a standard I formation is astounding. Hopefully Bo will look in to that this year.

You know, if I wanted any excrement from you I'd put my hands just above your ears and squeeze.

Jen haha. I may be off but wasn't that a compliment? I played soccer, so I may be wrong.

No it was a passive-aggressive insult. See the part I high-lighted? I'm pretty sure Bo knows when it is situationally appropriate to use base 4-3 personnel.

 

[HuskerInLostWages]

Jen are you sure you weren't a coach at one point? The fact that you would pick a standard 4-3 to counter a standard I formation is astounding. Hopefully Bo will look in to that this year.

You know, if I wanted any excrement from you I'd put my hands just above your ears and squeeze.

Jen haha. I may be off but wasn't that a compliment? I played soccer, so I may be wrong.

No it was a passive-aggressive insult. See the part I high-lighted? I'm pretty sure Bo knows when it is situationally appropriate to use base 4-3 personnel.

Ahhh i gotcha now. My mistake.

 

[Spooky Tooth]

Jen are you sure you weren't a coach at one point? The fact that you would pick a standard 4-3 to counter a standard I formation is astounding. Hopefully Bo will look in to that this year.

You know, if I wanted any excrement from you I'd put my hands just above your ears and squeeze.

Jen haha. I may be off but wasn't that a compliment? I played soccer, so I may be wrong.

No it was a passive-aggressive insult. See the part I high-lighted? I'm pretty sure Bo knows when it is situationally appropriate to use base 4-3 personnel.

Okay, I don't care who you are. That right there is funny stuff.

 

[huskers1]

After watching the 2001 TT NU game the other day I'm wondering more and more where the in state talent has gone. There were a lot of guys that were in state guys on that team. Crouch, Davies, Shanle, Mcpherson, Swiney, Kelsey, Ruud, Wilson Thomas. There are probably a lot more that I don't know of but all these guys were main contributors. Now we are lucky if we get one impact lineman a year out of nebraska.

 

[Red Storm Brewing]

Nebraska instate talent is hit and miss from year to year. The class that included Levorson, Okafor, and Fischer was widely regarded as the deepest crop of instate talent for the Division I level in many a year, and NU cleaned up on the pretty well. Last year other than the two we took, had Sellers who ends up at KU and Letcher at Ohio who at one time was a Wisconsin commit until an academic problem among others. We live in a state with sparse population so as stated the crop of D1 talent isn't going to huge. As stated we can generally pluck better talent as preferred walk ons and develop them into what the coaches want but with limited scholarship numbers primary recruit are looked for elsewhere.

 

[robsker]

Jen are you sure you weren't a coach at one point? The fact that you would pick a standard 4-3 to counter a standard I formation is astounding. Hopefully Bo will look in to that this year.

You know, if I wanted any excrement from you I'd put my hands just above your ears and squeeze.

Jen --- you made my morning! that was a great response. Do I need your permission to borrow that one? I can think of at least two people today who I'd like to share that with --- one is my boss --- but perhaps as much as I'd like to, I aught to refrain.