Winning the recruiting border wars...

[ESPY]

I understand there are quite a few players from neighboring states who have verbally committed to other BCS-AQ schools, so the talent is definitely there. However, I have reason to believe the coaching staff has already looked into the majority of these players & decided to look elsewhere. It's pretty clear this coaching staff looks for more than just talent - they look for character, and I'm thinking they saw a red flag with some of these players.

Bottom line - our reason for recruiting someone should never be "he's from a neighboring state." I can't imagine that will get you very far at all.

 

[mitch7]

The reason why teams like Florida and Texas are in the national championship year in an year out is because they get Texas and Florida recruits. If we want to be mentioned in the same sentence as the elite schools we have to recruit where they recruit. I think that getting a few area kids is good of course, but not necessary because the walk on program. Like others have said, you go recruit where ever the talent is.

Should probably be in the recruiting forum.

 

[Enhance]

I like how this thread has 5 replies and 0 views on the home page :ahhhhhhhh

Anyways, one thing that almost must be considered is the surge of Missouri and Kansas. Both of those schools are doing a very good job of grabbing whoever they want out of their own states thanks to the recent success. Nebraska isn't the only relevant school North of Oklahoma any more.

I don't care if we get kids from Hawaii, Alaska, or a foreign exchange student from Taiwan. As long as they are the best guys for our system, I'm happy.

 

[Enhance]

I like how this thread has 5 replies and 0 views on the home page :ahhhhhhhh

Anyways, one thing that also must be considered is the surge of Missouri and Kansas. Both of those schools are doing a very good job of grabbing whoever they want out of their own states thanks to the recent success. Nebraska isn't the only relevant school North of Oklahoma any more.

I don't care if we get kids from Hawaii, Alaska, or a foreign exchange student from Taiwan. As long as they are the best guys for our system, I'm happy.

 

[Ohio Pete]

If only there was a forum for discussing recruiting. Oh wait, there is!

 

[TheCheshireCat]

I think the article means if there are really good players from surrounding states, we should be able to grab them. It's basically saying that recruiting in these areas isn't that fertile to begin with, so when a player does pop up we should be able to close on them. There's no doubt that you can't be winning NCGs with players solely from Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri.

 

[typ3kal]

But, in three classes, Pelini’s signed as many players from Mooney - two - as he has from the entire state of Missouri. He’s signed just three from Colorado. If you exclude the junior college players from Kansas, Bo’s signed just one player - Kyler Reed - from the Sunflower State. And Reed was a Kevin Cosgrove verbal commit in the first place.

Over the long haul, NU has to own the border states better than that.

http://www.huskerlocker.com/blogs/view/bid/2576/i/husker_monday_takes_winning_the_recruiting_border_wars/o/2

No. He really doesn't. If he is getting better players from Texas, Ohio, Florida, and California from places we haven't recruited from heavily for years we really don't need to be winning the battle in the Midwest. I would rather take top kids from Cali / Texas / Florida / Ohio than top kids from Kansas. Not saying the Midwest doesn't have good players, but the high schools in the south will yield more players over time than those in the surrounding states.

 

[Ohio Pete]

Ideally you get the best players in a 500 mile radius because you should have an advantage over Texas or Ohio State for those guys instead of having to compete with them on their own turf. So when you lose them to Colorado or some other second rate program like Missouri, you are weakening yourself.

 

[omahapanda]

But, in three classes, Pelini’s signed as many players from Mooney - two - as he has from the entire state of Missouri. He’s signed just three from Colorado. If you exclude the junior college players from Kansas, Bo’s signed just one player - Kyler Reed - from the Sunflower State. And Reed was a Kevin Cosgrove verbal commit in the first place.

Over the long haul, NU has to own the border states better than that.

http://www.huskerlocker.com/blogs/view/bid/2576/i/husker_monday_takes_winning_the_recruiting_border_wars/o/2

 

[dylan]

But, in three classes, Pelini’s signed as many players from Mooney - two - as he has from the entire state of Missouri. He’s signed just three from Colorado. If you exclude the junior college players from Kansas, Bo’s signed just one player - Kyler Reed - from the Sunflower State. And Reed was a Kevin Cosgrove verbal commit in the first place.

Over the long haul, NU has to own the border states better than that.

http://www.huskerlocker.com/blogs/view/bid/2576/i/husker_monday_takes_winning_the_recruiting_border_wars/o/2

ideally, we should make it a point to get the elite players in border states. however, i'm not sure we ever did more than land a kid or two from each of these states per year, so i'm not sure i see us really doing anything different.

other issues:

-you say that all coaches look for the same things in kids. obviously, that's true. however, the difference is in how you emphasize the listed characteristics. some coaches (i'm sure you can think of one that got some TV time this weekend) either don't emphasize or don't put the effort into determining a kid's level of motivation and character as compared to his measurables or stats.

-you also list the number of BCS recruits from each state, but you don't discuss what level of players they are. just because iowa state takes someone doesn't mean we should.

-i have never, ever heard a myth that osborne only "made his mark" recruiting in nebraska, so i'm not sure what you're refuting.

-i'm not so sure that our facilities dwarf those of our division rivals. i have no doubt that ours are the best in the north, but other schools are catching up. we're no longer the only school with a fancy weight room.

-as to the huskers getting "back" in recruiting, back to what? further, getting "back" on the field is the only validation that matters for being "back" in recruiting.

-no, i'm not sure that the best player on the best team in the state not going to NU says anything at all. i'm guessing it happens quite often in every state with their flagship university.

-i don't agree with questioning coach sadler for disciplining his players. strict (but fair) accountability is a cornerstone for building character and effort in any organization.

-i do agree though that we missed our mark on getting top WR talent. other than that, and preferring another OL, i love the way this class is shaping up.

 

[kozzman555]

Why? I think Bo and co are doing a damn fine job of getting recruits from wherever they find them. FL, TX, OR, MO, I don't care if they are in the state next to us, or from freakin Guam. Bo is gonna go where the good players are and get them, not just pick guys from neighboring states because they're from neighboring states.

 

[kozzman555]

Yeah, I believe he is concerned about keeping semi-local support up. But if we continue to succeed, people will know who we are and want to come play with us. That's why I'm excited to have the walk-on tradition that we have. That way, the local guys, who may not have warranted a scholarship offer at the time, can come in and prove the coaches wrong.

 

[Huskertone14]

I agree that it would help out a lot if he could land 2-3 of the top recruits out of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and Colorado, and obviously keep our top recruits in-state. If you look at the class Callahan was putting together (2008 class) before he got fired, he was getting some of the top recruits from the surrounding states, and if I can remember right we made our way to number 7 on rivals recruiting rankings before everyone started de-committing.

I'm sure most of you guys already know this, probably followed it closer than I did, cringing every time someone de-committed that year.

The Rankings are from Rivals.

1. QB. Blaine Gabbert 5* Pos rank/1, Nat/14, State(Mo)/1

2. OT. Bryce Givens 4* Pos/12, Nat/98, State(Co)/1

3. OG. Dan Hoch 4* Pos/18, State(Iowa)/1

4. Ath. Will Compton 4* Pos/34, State(Mo)/3 (Eckeler got him to stay)

Then we also had good talent at the top in-state that year

5. OT. Baker Steinkuhler 5* Pos/2, Nat/8, State(Ne)/1 (obviously stayed)

6. OG. Trevor Robinson 4* Pos/1, Nat/37, State(Ne)/2 (IMO this de-commit hurt the most) Was on the field as a Frosh at ND, could have used him this year on the line.

7. LB. Sean Fisher 3* Pos/43, State/3 (stayed)

7 Top recruits out of Nebraska and surrounding states, that would be a 3rd of the recruiting class on a year like this year, and then go to your other pipelines, like Texas, Cali, and Florida. Location is the number 1 reason a recruit chooses a school. It is easier to convince a recruit to commit when the location is close to home. We should be going after the top recruits from the border states. If you can get a combination of the border recruits and do what we've been able to do Nationally as well, we should have top 15 recruiting classes year in and year out...

 

[kchusker_chris]

I agree that it would help out a lot if he could land 2-3 of the top recruits out of Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, and Colorado, and obviously keep our top recruits in-state. If you look at the class Callahan was putting together (2008 class) before he got fired, he was getting some of the top recruits from the surrounding states, and if I can remember right we made our way to number 7 on rivals recruiting rankings before everyone started de-committing.

I'm sure most of you guys already know this, probably followed it closer than I did, cringing every time someone de-committed that year.

The Rankings are from Rivals.

1. QB. Blaine Gabbert 5* Pos rank/1, Nat/14, State(Mo)/1

2. OT. Bryce Givens 4* Pos/12, Nat/98, State(Co)/1

3. OG. Dan Hoch 4* Pos/18, State(Iowa)/1

4. Ath. Will Compton 4* Pos/34, State(Mo)/3 (Eckeler got him to stay)

Then we also had good talent at the top in-state that year

5. OT. Baker Steinkuhler 5* Pos/2, Nat/8, State(Ne)/1 (obviously stayed)

6. OG. Trevor Robinson 4* Pos/1, Nat/37, State(Ne)/2 (IMO this de-commit hurt the most) Was on the field as a Frosh at ND, could have used him this year on the line.

7. LB. Sean Fisher 3* Pos/43, State/3 (stayed)

7 Top recruits out of Nebraska and surrounding states, that would be a 3rd of the recruiting class on a year like this year, and then go to your other pipelines, like Texas, Cali, and Florida. Location is the number 1 reason a recruit chooses a school. It is easier to convince a recruit to commit when the location is close to home. We should be going after the top recruits from the border states. If you can get a combination of the border recruits and do what we've been able to do Nationally as well, we should have top 15 recruiting classes year in and year out...

good post. economically it's more efficient to recruit within that 200 mile radius as well. I'd also think it would be easier to maintain contact and therefore reduce the de-commits. We lost out on some really solid tallent in neighboring states. Look at Colorado alone. With their coaching situation this was easy picking this year...yet we didn't do nearly as well as we could have. I don't know historically if we've taken a lot of tallent out of CO or not, doesn't seem like players would want to leave the mountains for the plains. However, one thing I noticed going through some of the nearby state lists - a lot of the states top recruits in KS, IA, and MO are leaving the state. Look at the CO top 5, none went to Boulder. I'd think we could move in and grab some of the players - it's not as if they are staying close to home.

Chris Martin (CO) - 5* (California)

Austin Hinder (CO) - 4* (California)

Danny Spond (CO) - 4* (uncommited)

Dillon Bonnel (CO) - 4* (Stanford)

Mister Jones (CO) - 4* (A&M)

With that said - when Nebraska starts winning championships - the nearby recruits will be more interested in NU. A lot of kids want to get out of the midwest, and without a championship team we have a more difficult time convincing them to stay.

 

[Ohio Pete]

The issue may be one of focus. If you totally concentrate locally, you will not have enough players to fill the class. If you focus on Texas, there are more than enough players to fill the team.

As far as economics, you can see as much talent in a weekend in Dallas or Houston as you would across the 5 or 6 other states. Saves a ton of travel time.

Ideally wee don't lose guys from Kansas to Miami and guys from Colorado to UCLA, but you can't get everyone.