We gave you a week to digest Nebraska’s 2012 recruiting class.
And we highly encourage you to keep chewing through it this offseason. All the best stuff makes for a great read on a snowy day.
But as I wrote last Sunday, NU has to create quick momentum for its larger 2013 recruiting class, doing so with a new recruiting coordinator (Ross Els) and a strategy that looks to return more to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and the 500-mile radius around Lincoln.
It begins with Nebraska’s Feb. 18 Junior Day.
Huskers Illustrated and 247Sports — recruiting partners with The World-Herald — have had tons of updates during the last week. Here’s a rundown of several:
Josh Banderas, 6-2/215, LB, 4 stars/93 rating/No. 141 player in the country
The Lincoln Southwest product — son of former NU tight end Tom Banderas — went to five Husker games last year as an unofficial visitor and is clearly looking for a Nebraska offer on Junior Day.
“I think I could be one of the guys that they don’t have to sub off the field,” Josh Banderas said. “You have some linebackers that are strictly going to stop the run and some that are better in the pass. I think I can do both and they don’t have to sub me out because I’m an all-around versatile player.”
Keith Ford, 5-11/196, RB, 4/96/No. 20
Nebraska is in the top five for this Cypress (Texas) star.
The others: Alabama, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Florida State.
“I just want to get that feeling,” he said. “Right now I don’t really have a time frame. I feel like one day I will just wake up and know where I want to go to college.”
Priest Willis, 6-2/200, DB, 4/92/No. 165
Husker head coach Bo Pelini personally reached out to the Tempe (Ariz.) Marcos De Niza speedster.
“He said ‘Man, I’ve seen your film, so it’s a no brainer that I need to offer you,’” Willis said. “He liked how big and how physical I was and how fast I run to the ball. He thinks I could be a big contributor to the football team.”
Tough get, this kid, who already has offers to USC, UCLA and Washington, among others. But Willis likes Nebraska, in part because his uncle played there. Who is it? Toby Wright.
Nick Ramirez, 6-2/220, LB, 4/91/No. 167
Nebraska was the first offer for the Lee’s Summit (Mo.) athlete. Carl Pelini — now the head coach at Florida Atlantic — made that offer. Now John Garrison is handling the recruiting. And 2012 NU linebacker signee Michael Rose might play a big role in wooing Ramirez, too.
“I’m real good friends from Michael Rose,” he said. “Him and his dad are always trying to get me to go to Nebraska. He tells me that we both know the defense and that the two of us can play out there and everything. Ever since he knew I had a Nebraska offer he’s always been on my tail about it.”
He’s coming for Junior Day. Mizzou and several Big Ten schools have offered.
Chans Cox, 6-2/220, LB, 4/92/No. 171
The Lakeside (Ariz.) Blue Ridge star is recruiting Nebraska as much as the Huskers are pursuing him, it seems. His grandfather went to the school and he visited Lincoln last year for a game.
“They have top notch and real nice facilities,” he said. “The field is awesome. The weight room is a great place. They definitely have some of the top facilities in the country.”
Cox has offers to Arizona, Arizona State and Boise State, among others. Watch the Huskers’ movement here.
Chase Abbington, 6-3/200, RB, 4/91/No. 197
The Huskers are hunting for another big back, and this Saint Peter (Mo.) Fort Zumalt South athlete fits the bill with 1,459 rushing yards, 27 touchdowns, and offers from Arkansas, Missouri and UCLA.
“If I get outside you can try catching me,” he said. “But really if I get around the corner you aren’t catching me. Let’s just put it that way. I can also play between the tackles. I’m big but I’m fast too.”
Abbington said his head coach, Scott Fulton, is from Nebraska.
Demore’ea Stringfellow, 6-3/190, WR, 3/88/NR
Nebraska appears to have targeted this Moreno Valley (Calif.) Rancho Verde pass-catcher as one of its top wide receiver targets. Quincy Enunwa and Eric Martin both hail from Moreno Valley, so there’s a strong connection there.
“They told me they are looking for a big receiver and they like how I play,” he said. “The coaches told me they need a physical presence on the outside.”
UCLA has offered. Other Pac-12 schools will.
Kenny Lacy, 6-5/270, OT, 3/87/NR
Lots of Pac-12 offers already for the Phoenix Mountain Pointe star. Arizona State is in a slight lead, and Oklahoma and Notre Dame are interested. NU, too.
“Nebraska has a great tradition of football,” Lacy said. “I know they always do a good job of developing their lineman. Coach said he likes my athletic ability as a lineman and they could really use someone like me.”
Joe Mathis, 6-4/250, DE, Upland (Calif.) , 3/85/NR
Nebraska failed to land any of its Upland 2012 targets — Kenny Lawler, Marques Mosley or Christian Powell — but those three gave Mathis a positive impression of Lincoln.
“They said the locker room and weight room are beautiful and flushed out,” he said. “The fans are crazy and loud. They even have iPads on every locker. I couldn’t believe it.”
Wide receivers Rich Fisher is the lead guy recruiting Mathis, who also has offers from UCLA and Washington.
“I’ve been talking with Coach Fisher a lot,” Mathis said. “That’s my main man. He cool. You can tell he’s a chill guy and you can tell he’s a good Christian man.”
Mathis wants to visit for the spring game.
Sam Raridon, 6-2/256, DT, NR/NR/NR
Here’s another Rick Kaczenski target. The West Des Moines (Iowa) Valley product was a favorite of Kaczenski’s when the coach was at Iowa. Now, the son of former NU offensive tackle Scott Raridon will be visiting on Junior Day. He can play a 3-technique or at end.
“I feel like I’m pretty strong and I’m pretty agile,” he said. “Most guys my size don’t get off the ball as fast as I do.”
Raridon won’t lie — he likes Iowa. But ”my dad went to Nebraska and played football there so I could probably be comfortable there too.”
Mitch Parsons, 6-5/220, TE, NR/NR/NR
This Chaparral (Colo.) athlete could be the pass-catching tight end NU’s been looking for since Kyler Reed and Ben Cotton came aboard in 2008. Seriously, folks — it’s been that long since a upper-crust tight end said yes to Nebraska.
Parsons just has an offer to Colorado — so he’s still under the radar — but he had 634 receiving yards last year. Other big-name schools — Virginia, Michigan, Stanford, Oregon — have expressed interest.
“I’ve mostly played wide receiver all of my life,” he said. “This past season was the first season I played tight end and I think I did well. Coaches tell me they love my ability to run after the catch and how I use my body to catch the ball. They all tell me my routes and receiving ability as a tight end are off the charts.”
Parsons will come for NU’s Junior Day.
Eric Biesel, 6-4/235, LB No rating/rank
Expect this Fenton (Mo.) Rockwood Summit prospect to make the Feb. 18 Junior Day visit. Another big linebacker who can play the Big Ten run. He had 128 tackles last year.
“I just flow to the ball, and when I get the chance I try to hit them as hard as I can,” he said.
RSS Feeds
Austin American Statesman yesterday published it’s Fab 55 list of Texas top 55 FB recruits. RB Keith Ford is #1 and lists possible schools as Baylor, ND, TexasA&M, Alabama (no NU!) Listing Nebraska on their possible list are: #6 QB J.T. Barrett from Wichita Falls Rider 6-2/205; #20 LB Mike Mitchell from Plano Christian 6-4/215; #21 ATH Jacorey Warick from Houston Cypress Falls 6-0/175 and #35 DE Deon Hollins from Fort Bend Marshall 6-2/219. Husker in Tx.
Thanks for the excellent info about Tx recruits. It looks like a few good kids at least have us in their sights. We are bringing in a lot of kids next year. Lets make sure we get more great ones.
Shocking that an Austin paper wouldn’t list NU on a recruiting list.
I’ve read that Ford has us in his way too early top 5.
Its really hard to get excited about recruits that prolly wont make a difference in 2 or 3 years, especially when they are coming from a coaching staff more qualified than the one in lincoln.
I think Pelini should put out a suggestion box, there isn’t very much excitement for next season, your as good as your last game.
Sam, great information. Good opportunities for these young men, to grow and become men, graduate and become great football players at NU. I need a translator, to help me thru the jibberish by the moron before me!
Get used to it, Ohio sker. He lives on here. Generally, nothing of signficance that anyone wants to hear.
+1
+1
+ 1
+1 more
I can understand “glass half full people” and “glass half empty” people. Some of us can be accused of drinking too much red kool aid. I’ll never understand “glass always empty” fans.
I can already hear the excuses for the ‘Epic’ defensive melt down next year. “New DC, hasnt been the Boss during a full season.”
I know Pelini wont say anything, but he will surely throw J.P. under the bus, the defense just might give up on O’l Bo next season Coz style.
How’s that Colorado recruiting coming along this year? Shouldn’t you be more focused on your hometown Humps?
I’ll buy the meltdown…just not Coz worthy.
you’re nuts.
Wait we will hear more pelini excuses why we cannot get these kids then his secretary Jamrog will tell everyone at the rotary club speeches how great our walk ons will be…bottom line 4 losses every year with PElini. Maybe 5 with this not top25 class we just signed
The 1995 national championship team was rated 28th in recruiting as freshmen. Numbers do not always equate to the later results.
This one is growing hair Stephen.
The unfortunate thing is we have to wait 2 years before Pelini realizes his under qualified assistant is under qualified.
Submit your application. Show Bo Pelini the full extent of your football genius.
Or, you could just go back to your Colorado Puffalos board, and resume discussion of the upcoming 3-10 season….
Corngoober who schould get the call; how should NU fix all these problems you point out? Show us your insight! I am always willing to listen if someone has an idea, but to bad mouth everyone on and off the field and not say what or who should be replaced is nothing less than self destruction on your part.
Meaning if don’t have who should replace them then sit down. Here have a snivel rag…..ohhhh boooo-whooooo!
#25 on Rivals…third-highest class of its size. Seriously…of all the things to get upset about, recruiting class rankings (of a class of 17, no less!) is about the dumbest.
Bo has already destroyed all of our dreams about having a dynasty. Bring Trev in and let him right the ship.
This has nothing to do with my comment…
Trev sank the ship at UNO. He is not a proven fund raiser. Athletic Directing is 90% fund raising. If Dr. Osborne can’t right the ship no one can.
This is it???? How hard is it to ask??? If you don’t go after the top talent…..you won’t get it. If you try and they say no, at least you tried. If you don’t try……it is a for sure NO.
They have been recruiting these kids for years now, so how do you know that they didn’t try to get in with some of the top talent and they already said no. It’s not like this is the list they are just starting with. They don’t just decide who to recruit at the end of a player’s junior year.
Why do you put so much stock in ratings of HIGH SCHOOL JUNIORS that you’ve never seen play?
Thank you for your service. Your ? key is stuck, however. How do you know who NU has offered and who they haven’t? The main way that teams recruit today is to get kids into their summer camps to see them in person and make judgements. If they won’t come, they might not get a look. Depending on recruiting services and coachs’ judgements are not the way to go.
i meant high school coaches judgements are somewhat prejudiced.
Yeah but BO has ur back husker fans. Waitin for the Bo cam to see another meltdown now that Carl the philanderer cant be on the sidelines to hold BO back
Really insightful contribution there, J. Thanks for the input!
Sam-
Nick Martinez should actually be Nick RAMIREZ, no?
Come on people when are you going to get over this love affair of how many stars a kid has? Are you really going to let a few “no it all’s ” to everyone who is the best? Not me go back and look at the top 10 classes ,see how many of those 4 or 5 star kids either quit,got booted ,or just were not good enough to play.
I will take a 3 star kid with heart and plays for the love of the game any day and history is on my side .
No… history is not on your side. Teams full of 3 star talent get beat… a lot… by teams full of 4 and 5 star talent. History shows it. Texas… a team full of a lot of star talent has beat us how many times? How about OU? The rule is… more talent wins more. The exception is what you say.
Texas is a poor example. They beat Nebraska but generally, those loses were close and were the result of NU making backbreaking errors rather than being outplayed. OU under achieved this year also, or didn’t you notice. USC is another big underachiever especially since they stopped paying players. Notre Dame has problems meeting expectations with their high star rankings. As usual your analysis only applies to the SEC’s Top 2 who are sitting in the middle of the best recruiting areas. Their recruiting methods are distasteful because of the rules they stretch and people they get rid of. And, their arrogance is legend. As the bible says “What profits a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?”
Generally speaking, Fan is right. Outside of Notre Dame, the teams that recruit the best, year in and year out have the most success. Sure there are exceptions, but overall it is pretty much accurate. But along with the 5-stars you often have to accept some other issues. Egos, work ethic, attitudes, etc. That is what the coaches are paid to manage. But if Bo can’t get 5′s, and very few 4′s, he needs to show us that he can win with 3′s and JC’s.
The last time OU played us… they beat us. After spotting us a 17 point lead. When it mattered, their guys made plays… ours didn’t. Most of that goes to the kind of athletes recruited.
If we don’t recruit better classes, we will not compete at the top level, consistently. It’s as simple as that.
How many 5 stars have ever been recruited to Nebraska and by what coach?
And the year before, Pelini beat them.
Corn devil, Who would you want to be the head coach?
I never played college ball, but I do know the games are fun and the winning attitude is great. One thing for sure, I have never been perfect in my dealings in the business world, so perfection with an oblong ball, played by 18-22 year olds isn’t going to be a perfect either. Looking forward to seeing the spring and anticipate the fall. GBR
What is current recruiting status of Drake Martinez ?
For the 1,000 time, back in early 90′s there were no rivals or scouts type system like what is in place today. You bascially had just a couple individuals who rated players Lemming and Max Emfinger. So to say TO’s 91 class was rated 28th is just a myth and so is the belief that TO’s always had low rated classes and just coached them up. That is so far from the truth. Sure he coached guys up but if you rated his classes with todays rivals and scouts rating system, TO’s classes would be be Top 10 to top 15 evey year. If you want to use that logic that his 91 class was 28th, than also mention in there that is 92 class (Tommy Frazier’s class) was rated as high as 10th by some and the 93 class was rated as high as #7 byt Atlanta Journal. Obviously the 92 and 93 class had as much or more to do with the national chanpionships than any. Are today ratings systems perfect, no of course not but those of you out there who still want to beieve the myth that TO’s just developed a bunch of average rated players and made them all into All American, you are going to be disappointed in the next couple years. Bo’s recruiting has not been up to par and neither has his overall player development, One of two players a year is all we are seeing playing at a high level is not enough unless 9-4 or 10-4 is ok with you, it is not good enough to be any better. We need more difference makers as I have stated on countless OWH postings i have made over the last couple months
Yes, I’ve read your previous comments on this topic. The problem with your theory is it *necessarily* means the ratings in the early 90s were *uniquely* stacked against Nebraska. For Nebraska’s ratings to be consistently off by 10-15 spots, that means 10-15 teams had to be overrated, and no teams below Nebraska were more underrated. That’s pure silliness.
NOTE: I’m not arguing that 90s recruiting services were AT ALL equivalent to what we have today.
If you’re saying, “looking back at the talent in that class and evaluating it by today’s standards, they would have been #x,” I’d counter, first off, that that’s impossible to back up. But more importantly, you can still play that game today. Something tells me if Rivals could go back and re-rate Oklahoma State’s last six classes, at least one of them would have been in the top 25.
Today’s rating systems or services is still less than perfect. All of the services target areas before individuals. Their rating system is at best just an attempt. Case in point, Texas’s bench is full of four and five star recurits and performing at 7-5 and 6-6 overall game records, so much for all their stars. So the rating services are nothing more than a starting place, in my opinion, and their stars are for the fans to drool over, no more or no less.
A more accurate read on recruits… who is recruiting them. If Nebraska beats out Ohio State, USC, Alabama, etc, for kids… then we’ve done our job. If we’re beating out Washington, Arizona, Ohio… we’re not doing our job.
You are not going to “beat out” those schools for players from their own backyard. You are delusional at best.
We’ve done it in the past. You don’t like that, who gives a shxt. You’ll get over it. Promise.
Okay, name the recruits that we have gone head-to-head with Ohio State, USC, Alabama, LSU, etc. in their own states and come out on top. I can think of Tommy Frazier as a big name. We got him because we would give him a chance at QB. Lucky out of Cali.
Green out of Texas last year. Any more I am missing?
texas has had a top 5 class almost every year since 2005, ND has been in the top 10 almost every year also,
Or course it is just wild coincidence that the top SEC teams which in the last 10 years have always had their classes in the Top 12 or so and just happen to also be winning every National Championship over the last 6 years. Do you think Les Miles is a brilliant coach, take a look at how he did Ok. State. How did Saban do at Mich State? The SEC teams are loading up with Top 100 talent every year. You take all that talent with average coaching and it will get it done almost every time, the last 6 years are proof of that. If it didn’t matter that we would not have had 4 losses each of the last years. If you bring all that talent and you are a coach like Callahan, then you end up with what he did
Yes, Arkansas’ amazing classes of 2011 (#24), 2010 (#49), 2009 (#16), 2008 (#36), and 2007 (#31) are what propelled them to the top. Oklahoma State had zero top-25 classes over the same period (before you make the flash-in-a-pan argument, note that they’ve won 41 over a 4-year period in a BCS conference).
The problem with these arguments is when I counter with teams that did well in spite of bad rankings, it’s because they have some supernaturally gifted coach. Or when I give examples of teams that get highly rated classes that haven’t panned out on the field, it’s because of poor coaching. There’s always a reason, and, miraculously, it’s never that the ratings were/are simply unreliable.
hawkins at CU had some top 20 classes The Class with Darrel scott the top running back in the nation,was number CUs 2008 class was rated 15th
the big thing thats getting missed in every recruiting class and how it pans out, star ranking and all the other worthless info is that if you dont have a capable QB to carry you then your team isnt going to be all that good. Just as the next level if the you have an upper tear Qb you tema goes farther. FSU had top recruitibg classes every year, but they cant seem to find a Qb to get them over the hump. Basically QB stinks team is going to stink. How much talent does Stanford have if not for Luck these last couple of years you wouldn’t have heard about them. Where were they before he got there?
Another point that everyone keeps missing is Rivals rated our class higher but Scout had us at #50, that is is even lower than any of Solich’s classes. We fell behind such powerhouses as ASU, Maryland, Oregon State, Vanderbilt, Louisville, Cincinatti Kentucky, Pitt. and Northwestern. Boy you are right, the future couldn’t look brighter, My bad
Small list so far and overall unimpressive. It seems this staff has very little skill in recruiting and landing 4 & 5 star talent. The only way the Huskers will even get a shot at top talent is by WINNING championships period! Looks like we have a catch 22 with this staffs lack of experience,talent and overall leadership. I could be Years before this staff finally has the experiance to Win consistantly and not have breakdowns. I think the team has enough playmakers on roster to win championships but the Staff (infection) is the problem. I see players 4 star players sitting on the bench or used sparingly at other positions example (Brion Carnes, J Turner.) I see coaches being promoted to higher positions IE :DC when there D Line couldn’t push a grocery cart downhill.) Got a O-line coach that only knows how to make 2 holes and thats when he is spelling his last name (cOttOn). But atleast our OC has a gamblers chance because our playbook consist of everything and anything in no specific plan of attack. Hell thats gotta work sometimes LOL. Sorry to rag. I LOVE the Huskers and just feel that the team,fans and HuskerNation deserve the highest quality standards in the Coaching staff and I have yet to see it.
Solid
Solid Baloney.
for many years i watched NU come down to florida or whereever their bowl game was to get beat by these much faster teams. it wasnt until they matched their speed that they were able to win, and now it seems as they have gotten away from that because the joined the big 10. i think it is the biggest mistake they can make to start recruiting these bigger stronger kids that cant run. speed kills! i feel they were on the right path when they were recruiting for the Big 12. Make these other teams match their team speed not slow it down. if you cant catch me you cant tackle me. if i can catch you you arent going anywhere. get the big slobber knockers up front, but everyone else needs to be able to run. lavonte david wasnt very big but the young man could run and make plays. size is over rated.
I just wanted to say to all though”s BO haters and recruiting experts!!!!! U don’t no what type of players BO is looking for!!!! first off it does not make a difference how many stars u have under your belt! what matters is what type of kid is going to put in the work that is going to make that person want to excel in the classroom as well as the football field as well as with the community. i no for a fact that TO has brought the right guy in to teach these young men to become the men they should be!!! I love the fact that TO has done a great job with handling the firing of Callahan and brought in guy who i think is very capable of winning many i mean many national championships before he retires as the head football coach of the huskers!! SO i think u BO and the rest of the coaching staff for putting in the time to bring in the right fit for our program!!!! go huskers!! have faith and patience!!!!
#get real, How do I know……well, if I ask, that is one way. Let’s play nice. I am just saying. You have to try. There is a network of Former/ExHuskers throughout the country. My phone works. I call and ask/talk to people. Check the Rivals 100!! There are kids that have offers from directional schools listed. You are going to tell me that THEY WOULD NOT INCLUDE NU….???? I am aware that it is Junior Day, but you have to get on these kids radar. For some, it is an EGO thing just to have “ALL” the schools writing. For others, it may give them an option that they weren’t considering because they REALLY NEVER THOUGHT about it.
Can’t we all just get along???? I am sure that there are “the right kind of guys” out there that are also “difference makers”. I’m not saying that NU needs a team full of “THUGS”…….but, if we have some and they have the quality character leadership, …….I’m just saying.
Agree. If Pelini sticks to this idea of recruiting a bunch of 3 star guys who love their Mommy’s and drink their milk… we’re going to get our clocks cleaned.
It is good to see so many talented players looking at NU. I agree the star ratings can be over-played. Some kids mature early others later. The pundits also have a habit of over-rating kids from big market areas as well. If the star rating made the team, Texas and Notre Dame would rule football.
On TO, he had an uncanny ability to see potential. He picked up kids that no one else offered and made them All Americans. He also picked kids on how they fit into his system.
I like football.
High star ratings are mostly lavished on kids that mature early, some will pan out, some have already peaked and won’t develop any further. I think Bo understands that and he looks for kids first and foremost have the right personality to be on his team.
And as stupid as this sounds, I really believe Nebraska kids would get higher ratings if the state would change the high school classifications from A, B, C1, C2, etc… to 6A, 5A, 4A, etc…
Oh, I also like that the Cox kid from Lakeside, AZ is looking at the Huskers. Lived in the area for a couple years and they play good football up there and being at high altitude, those kids are in great shape and a little cold weather in Lincoln won’t mean a thing.
The Huskers are on the verge of a huge break through. This team has all the talent it needs to win the NC. What it doesnt have is confidence, experience or discipline across the board to get it done. Im a Pelini fan, but he has three years from now to get it done. I dont need the NC tommarrow, but I expect to be top 10 every year starting yesterday. The clock starts now. When it comes to recruiting, we dont need the best class every year, we need solid classes which we have been getting. But we need a few more playmakers, difference makers to put us over the hump. I believe we already have them. Now its up to to the staff to bring it on!
A ridiculous comment. We don’t have the talent at QB to be a NC contender. Behind Martinez… who do we have to run the offense? Let alone the idea that Martinez doesn’t throw the ball very well, has lost a step and has issues turning the ball over. With the current cast, especially on offense, we will not win the Big 10.
Sipple?!!
I think a lot of you guys are media types who hide out on the boards taking potshots that you afraid to make in your columns.
Heard an interesting comment on talk radio around signing day from NFL coach….said there are some high school players who like football for all the perks it gives them, attention, dates, scholarships, etc….then there are those players for whom football is a passion…..and there is the difference
This team is on the brink of collapse, this football staff has the same shot at winning a Legends title as a Chinese Nationalists winning Talladega, let alone national title. Did anyone watch the bowl game?!!! Thats how good this team is! All else are excuses.
Seriously…..Pelini hired a sCUm LB to coach WR’s, that will attract all those 5 star recruits, sounds to me like he gave one of his buddies a job, cause we all know about Fisher’s highly sought after coaching skills.
What area are your skills in?
Hey Caramba and his followers, Did anywhere in my argument did I mention Arkanasas, I said Top SEC teams , Alabama, LSU, Florida Auburn for example. Of course if you get great classes and a coach like Callahan that has no clue, you are going to stink, that is common sense pal.. What I said was great classes year after year, you can be an average coach like Les Miles and play for all the marbles simply because there is talent all over the field. Not an idiot like Houston Nutt or Callahan. Let me simplify for you since you have your Bo blinders on. Bo has a lot to prove, everyone banked on the fact that he was a great defensive coach, anyone that knows anything about football would have to say the jury is still out on that one. We were decent in the Big 12 overall, really good in year 2 but last year our defense was only average. If you take one player with last name of Suh off those first 2 defenses, how good would we have really been? Suh was a Top 100 player coming out, In the Army Allstar game back his senior year both the offensive and defensive coaches wanted him to play on their side of the ball, his talent was no secret, he was a stud. Can you honestly say Bo can recruit the big time player. again jury is out on that one, he failed miserably this year on that point. Not 1 Top 100 plaer, not one even close to the Top 100. TO alwys got anywhere from 2-5 Top 100 players evey year. Bo has gotten some good kids to come here but not kids that are going to lead us to any conference championships or BCS bowls. The last 4 years are proof of that. His demanor on the field is painting an unfavorable image of NU and that is not helping with recruiting. Let me give you another example of where in coaching that hurts you in this day and age. Bobby Knight, great great BB coach, legendary temper, for 20-25 years he was fine coaching that way but with media the way it is today, eventually even Indiana got tired of it and ran him out of town, he was no longer getting the cream of the crop for players. The other point everyone keeps falling back on is saying well TO had average talent coached them up becsause he had a system and plugged guys in. That is partial truth, yes he did have a system but he still had “difference makers”on the field and he plugged in guys around that All American type talent. Back then we had 120-140 walkons, not 40. The walk on program can still help but it is not the same as it was 15-20 years ago, Back in the 80′s we had freshman FB at NU, I’m guessing you didn’t even know that. Now walk ons can’t even show up in the locker room until after classes start. So what is Bo’s system? Is it working? Again results would say maybe not so much. We lost 3 out of 5 games from Nov on, this past year and in 2010, we lost 3 out of last 4. Wheres the system? Is it falling apart in the last 1/3 of the year and think if you yell at officals more, it will change things. If your team plays more undisipline with penalty after penalty and fumbles more later in the year, that you will get better. Is your system on offensive to never play your backup QB, the most important position on the field. Because I can’t imagine that your starting QB could ever get hurt, it never happened to Tommy Frazier, oh wait it did, hmm then came Berringer. Wait Berringer then got a collapsed lung and we had to play a third string QB for a game and a half. Yes that was a system. Is not playing your backup QB ever, a system. No his system is to limit what he does on offense so the QB who is a dynamic runner doesn’t get hurt, take away the best attribute of what he does and that is run and limit him in doing that so he can stay on the field and be a non-factor with his feet.
I am not saying Bo can’t eventually figure some things out, problem is so far in my opinion, he has not not. He may not figure it out for 20 years, long after he is gone from here.
Look I want Bo to be successful but he has some serious work to do or we are just going to keep spinning our wheels.
Oh and don’t try the argument again that teams like Boise get average talent and look how good they are. We are not Bosie St and we never want to be Bosie State, They will never win a D-1 NC trophy FB, never. As weak as their schedule always is, they will always lose that one game to a Nevada or TCU, they are not really one of the big boys,they are smoke and mirrors. And with the changes in conferences and teams bouncing from conference to conference Boise if they ever play a legitimate schedule will just be average, just like their overall talent is.
I’m sorry, I assumed when you said “Top SEC programs”, that would include the #5 team in the country. I didn’t know we were talking about unranked teams. My bad.
I’m not arguing about Pelini. I’m arguing that recruiting rankings are notoriously unreliable and a terrible thing for you (or anybody) to base an argument on. I’d be making the exact same argument if this class were ranked #1 in the nation. No one should praise or condemn their team based on class rankings. Leave it at what you see on the field (mind you, you have not seen any of these kids on the field).
As a general rule… the top programs in CFB have had top recruiting classes the last 10 years. As long as some Nebraska fans keep denying the obvious… they will continue to be disappointed by the Cornhuskers. We will not win the Big 10 or get to a BCS bowl when we have a recruiting class ranked every year somewhere between 20th and 30th. May be with Osborne as head coach, we would have a chance. Anyone else, forget it.
I’d argue you’re confusing cause and effect, Fan. I’m not claiming Nebraska is a top program.
Sorry I sent my first post a little quick, I cont’d on my 2nd post of the day
There is no doubt that recruiting at Nebraska is a harder job than for other elite teams. It’s cold. There aren’t a lot of fun hot spots in Lincoln, and, although we have wonderful academic and workout facilities and fantastic graduation rates, we don’t have the moxie that comes with a Stanford or UCLA or USC or Michigan degree. Our primary selling point is our legendary fan support. When I read posts with so much negativity, it depresses me and I’m a fan. Imagine what they do to young men who are considering coming here because of the fan support….There goes our advantage. “The sky is falling, the sky is falling.”
Blogs have given the angry and depressed low-lives the power to spread their misery and angst. It is sad to see it on NU blogs but it happens everywhere. I truly believe they are the vocal minority. I do believe all the persistent pessimism hurts the program.
You’ll get over it.
You just proved his point.
Caramba
I will give you kudos on one thing, Okie State. They have done pretty well with maximizing what talent they get, their classes have been rated consistenly a little behind ours in the last 4 years. And they had a great year this year. But one thing to keep in mind, we beat them in 2010 in Stillwater. The only time we played them in the last 4 years. I was there. I was up in the suites eating from 14 buffets all game long. Don’t know if you have ever been down to a game down there. It is not the same as Lincoln. It just seems like a big time high school game, they do a nice job but it doesn’t give you the atmosphere of a BCS program. And as great of a year as they had this year, they still came up short. Do you really think they will be relevant for the long haul? Again you probably won’t agree with me but I would be willing to bet, they will be a 3 or 4 loss team next year. And even if they don’t, are you then saying they are able to recruit lesser talent than us and develop their players better than Bo. I don’t know if that helps your argument. My argument is their classes were consistently lower than ours and the only time we played them on their home field, we beat them. Are the ratings exact, no they are not but if you consistenly don’t bring in the Top level talent at NU, we are are never going to be any better than a 3,4 or 5 loss team
Nails
Out of curiosity, how would you rate Iowa State’s recruiting classes as compared to Okie St’s?
I think you misunderstood my point about Okie State slightly. I’m not suggesting they did better with lesser talent — I’m suggest their talent wasn’t accurately evaluated.
I’m not even suggesting Nebraska’s last two classes were actually underrated. I’m saying that writing off a class because of its ranking is completely silly. As much as it pains our ADD sides to hear, it will take a couple years to accurately evaluate this class.
Right now, coming off a 12-1 season and #3 finish, Oklahoma State probably doesn’t care that no player on their team was part of a top 25 recruiting class. And I seriously doubt anyone at Texas takes comfort in the fact that they were part of a top 5 class.
Great points Cambra.
OSU is actually a better example of oversigning than maybe anything else.
It’s much easier to build a winning team if you have no qualms about firing 18 year olds because they aren’t as fast or skilled as you first thought they were when you commited to them.
Thats not a team I want to root for.
A better measurement of this… what’s our history over the past 10 years with Okie State? We won in 2010, a great victory. However, OSU kicked our axx in 2007, they beat us in 2006. We won in 2003, they won in 2002. 7 games in 10 years. They beat us 4 times. I think the Cowboys have had better luck with skill players (QB, WR, RB) than us over the past 10 years. In that recruiting sense, they won.
They have been pumping a lot of money into the program recently and it has paid off. However, when a program starts to win with a lot of oil money being passed around, it can lead to some curiosity by the NCAA. USC hasn’t done too well since they stopped paying players. Miami, well they have gotten sone some bad publicity lately. SMU is just starting to recover from its death penalty.
USC is turning it around. The NCAA is not looking at Oklahoma State for any violations involving oil money. There’s an investigation going on involving Blackmon and two others… about possibly signing autographs for cash.
Is the Sky falling? Not saying one way or another but let me ask you a question. You say our one advantage is fan support. I agree we are known for that. But let us not forget, Devaney was almost run out of town as was Osborne. When things got the hottest, both coaches looked at what they were doing and realized, they needed to change. Both changed and learned and developed and the rest is history. My point is, if Bo is going to get us where we should be, he has a lot of learning to do, as did Devaney and Osborne, they would be the first to tell you that. My fear is, whether or not Bo is too stubborn to change. I was a huge supporter of Bo for the first three years but he is making it more and more difficult. Let me give you another example. A guy that works for our company is from South Carolina, he actually played for the Gamecocks in the late 70′s. During our bowl game with them this year, we were texting back and forth all game. As the wheels starting falling off for us, his exact quote was. “Your coach scares me, he is a scary dude, Is he on Xanax, if not he should be.” So if he picked up on that, how do think a high school kid watching that on TV would feel? Is he going to want to play for a coach that seems to blow up on TV continuosly like that. I would say that same kid is not going to be reading posts like this and change his mind nearly as much as seeing the meltdowns on national TV. Not only were we know for great fan support but we used to known for great classy coaches. Since TO retired, has that been the case?
Awesome post, a large part of that sideline behavior comes from extreme frustration, being overwhelmed, condusion, and ignorance.
I guess you would be the one to know where embarrassing behavior comes from.
I think that you are usually wrong, but maybe I’m just condused.
A lot of frustration comes from dealing with inept or corrupt officials. One third of all plays reviewed in the B1G were reversed this year. That’s pretty bad officiating. Bo’s anger in the bowl game and last year’s aTm game was caused by this type of thing. Part of his growth as a coach will depend on his contolling his rage. There are very, very few coaches who don’t get angry with them at some point. Many refs should be weeded out.
Rant about Pelini’s demeanor all you want — at least that’s based on something you’ve seen with your own eyes. I can’t argue with that.
I just think it’s ignorant and disrespectful to write off a teenage player (THAT YOU’VE NEVER SEEN PLAY) because some recruiting site only gave him three stars (which, by the way, they’ll up to four as soon as LSU comes calling). It’s a silly system, and a silly thing to get upset about.
Pelini does his share of getting rid of players that dont live up to expectations, all schools do it. I seriously cant believe how ignorant and completely blind many fans are, point fingers at all the other schools and have some blind spot NONE of the same things happen @ NU.
Please, spare us all the holier than thou speech, 80% of football recruiting is a scam to sell magazines, ive seen 5 stars on kids in Florida that only had 3 in New Jersey from the same publications.
This in no way relates to my comment. I have no idea why you thought I was talking about oversigning… Maybe you should re-read my comment.
easy
Names of kids Coach Pelini has gotten rid of?
Josh Williams?
Collins Okafor?
Dontrayevous Robinson?
im sure there is one or two more in the last year im missing.
Castille
Castille, Robinson, Williams all broke team rules (drugs?). Collins Okafor graduated. Your reaching here.
Frank was classy, could we get him back? Bo gets too emotional on the sideline and has a obvious disdane for distractions (reporters) but from all accounts from players, coaches, recruits and parents Pelini is honest, down to earth, and all class. No one is or will be Osborne again.
Solich was completely out of his league. A hallmark of performance excellence is to position your team, your company for the challenges ahead. And then to beat those challenges. Solich was the OC for 5 years before it dawned on him he couldn’t do head coach and OC at the same time. That’s the definition of arrogance and mediocrity. I guess it took a 7 – 7 season for Solich to figure it out. Then in 2003… who do we get for an OC? Barney Cotton… the guy who ran the offense at New Mexico State. A “wow” hire if there ever was one.
Let it go. Frank wasn’t fired for his coaching. He had other issues.
Yes, he did have other issues. However, the biggest reason he was fired… he was a dud in big games. Especially the last two seasons he was head coach. Personal character flaws will be overlooked/tolerated if you win enough.
Tell that to Penn State.
However, me thinks he was too conservative. On the other hand, his biggest problem was following a class act. On the other other hand so did Osborne.
That is what I’m afraid of
Don’t know what this is in reference to.
Also, I don’t get why you insist I’m defending Pelini when my argument is 100% about recruiting rankings.
All I’m saying is recruiting rankings are a stupid thing to base your argument on. Honestly, I’d be making the exact same argument if we had the #1 class in the country and everyone was excited about it.
The recruiting rankings are not a exact science, I get that, but the evaulation process is much better than it used to be and my argument has been been too many people are taking comfort in saying TO had low(er) rated classes and coached them up and Bo is going to be able to do the same thing. And so far he has not. He says he is recruiting to fill his system, basically I take that to mean at least verbally, he doesn’t care about the rankings. I would buy that argument if it appeared we were getting better progressively, but the last 2 years, with the way we finished don’t prove that either. Let me throw one other thing out there. The coaching staff did clearly recruit higher profile type players this year. We went after more 4 and 5 star guys than ever before. If all the stars and rankings were so far off then why did our coaching staff change their approach. Talman and Sean Callahan said it on a weekly basis that NU was targeting higher profile players. Out first offers went out to more 4 and 5 star guys than ever before. So again I am not saying the rankings are always right because they are far from it but if you look at all the offers that went out for each position, a big big percentage of those were 4 and 5 star players who were our top targets for the respected position and way too many of those told us no and then we took 3 star type guys later.You are not always going to get your top target, I get that too. We offered probably 5 or 6 different 4-star high school CB’s and didn get a single one to commit. Bo didn’t offer them because they were 4-star he offered them because he like what he say but my concern is he couldn’t get any of them to come here. Why? My guess is it doesn’t help when you are recruiting against teams that can show about 15 games in the last 4 years where Bo is out of control and chewing on his plaers and coaches on the headset. Some of it is unfair I agree, he seems to be a target by the media to show every time he scowls but he admited multiple times he needs to control that.
All I’m asking is you admit the jury is out on this class until (at least) they have a couple years on campus. That’s all I’m saying. Complain all you want about the ’08, ’09, and ’10 classes. But you simply can’t say ’11 and ’12 aren’t up to snuff until that proves to be the case on the field. Do you not see the ridiculousness of writing off teenagers before they set foot on campus?
Again, this isn’t about defending Pelini and/or his staff’s recruiting. It’s about defending sanity.
I think that fans are more aware of Bo’s action’s during games. A sideline is a battlefield. Emotions fly high. Most of these kids are warriors. I think they have greater concerns than worrying about Bo yelling at the refs. I only recall his anger with Martinez at aTm over something he had a right to be angry about. Not sayin’ it looked the best, but I can understand it. You don’t think other coaches get mad at their players? II see it all the time on TV. Tom Osborne was known to have a pretty good temper at practice. Kept it under wraps most of the time during games. He was NOT a saint. He was just a great football coach. Whats the name of the NFL championship trophy? The Lombardi Trophy. Was Lombardi a nice guy? What Bo needs to do is win. That is what saved Devaney and Osborne. They were on the hot seat, won National Championships and then got out while the gettin’ was good. Barry Switzer once said that every coach is headed for getting fired. He was the winningest coach in college football when he was FIRED at Oklahoma. Coaching is a great profession but one should never expect gratitude from the fanatics. Tom Osborne couldn’t even get elected governor after what he did for the state of Nebraska.
Switzer was fired because the football team was out of control. Gun violence, drugs… you name it, it was going on at OU at the end of Switzer’s career. Had nothing to do with him winning… a lot.
But you said if you win a lot, they will overlook it.
Sure I will admit that the jury is out on this incoming class. Obviously we don’t how good some of them will end up being. And we don’t know how some of the ’10 class will develop. ’09 and ’08, I think we have a pretty good idea although some things can still change. But I will say this, I have been involved in athletics my whole life and after my playing days, I have coached 20 plus years in multiple sports at all age levels thru high school, I currently scout for our high school, I have watched and studied film thru that whole time. I have refereed high school basketbal, high school football and umpired baseball, heck, I have even run the chains on the sideline where you are closer to the action than some of the coaches. When you see special type players in any sport, you know instantly. You said I probably never saw any of those recruits play. Well actually I did see a couple of this years walkons play in person, one in particular I have seen him play the last 3 years, probably about 15-16 games. One young man is from our local high school from last years class and I saw him play FB, basketball and I helped coach him in summer Legion baseball. I know them very well and I know their parents very well and I had beer Saturday night with one of this kids dads. That is just the last 2 years, I could go back like that for 20 some years where I saw kids play in high school in person and then saw how it translated in D-1 sports, specifically FB. T
Have you actually watched all 17 of our recruits play a game? If you’re like me, and 99.99% of cfb fans, the answer is no. That’s all I mean. I don’t doubt you have seen recruits play in your day. Honestly, I just feel bad that kids are already being written off by portions of our fan base, based on unreliable, wholly subjective star ratings, before they even have a chance to prove themselves. That is totally contrary to what this school, state, and fanbase have always stood for.
The 2013 has many more offers and others with interest than are listed here. Pelini’s classes have gotten better every year and a suspect this one will continue the trend. I generally think Rivals does the best evaluations and at this point they have a lot of the guys we are in on very highly ranked (top 50) I think it was about 30 of our 47 offers are to 4 and 5 star players.
Thanks for the updates Sam
Sure I will admit that the jury is out on this incoming class. Obviously we don’t how good some of them will end up being. And we don’t know how some of the ’10 class will develop. ’09 and ’08, I think we have a pretty good idea although some things can still change. But I will say this, I have been involved in athletics my whole life and after my playing days, I have coached 20 plus years in multiple sports at all age levels thru high school, I currently scout for our high school, I have watched and studied film thru that whole time. I have refereed high school basketbal, high school football and umpired baseball, heck, I have even run the chains on the sideline where you are closer to the action than some of the coaches. When you see special type players in any sport, you know instantly. I have seen how their high game translated into D-1 and acutually several of this years walkons, I have seen in person and that goes with almost every class, over the last 20-25 years where I saw them play personally and then at NU or other D-1 schools
sorry, my computer took a blip and then I didn;’t know it posted my half completed comment, I tried to shorten it the second time
And I just read your followup comment to my last one and I hear what you are saying, I can tell you this, I am not pointing out a lot my concerns to hurt the program and I am not writing off any kid and saying he can’t be successful. Sure he can. But I also think if something is obvious, it needs to be pointed out whether people are happy to hear it or not. And you certainly have the right to do so as well
Fair enough. Fun debate. Thanks.