For those looking at our recruiting classes and thinking we should be better From the 2015-2017 classes....we have 3 4 star recruits seeing the field as starters or major contributors. Only 6 ever see the field. We recruited a total of 19 4 stars in those 3 years. This is where the 3 defensive coordinators and multiple offensive systems comes in to hurt us. Only having 30% of your top recruits even contribute means there are going to be major gaps and it puts a ton of pressure on less recruited kids. 40 kids contribute every game and about 15% of these were highly ranked...we just do not have the talent to make mistakes and do not have the depth to create competition when guys do make mistakes. The last two classes do seem to have better depth. With strong looking 4 stars, with 3-4 already contributing, and a number of 5.7 3 stars...often a staple of a 9 win nebraska team. Hopefully having more guys, in better shape, and knowing that they always have a chance to play will increase depth.
3 four stars.....
- Thread starter Solana Beach Husker
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I think it was brought up last year that IF you looked at just the guys who played in the game, Purdue actually had higher ranked talent on the field than we did because of the number of non-contributors we had.
I feel like we get more four star busts than most programs. Is it because we only seem to snag the overrated four star prospects who get dropped by the top tier of schools or could it be that because we get a relatively low number of blue chip kids, that they feel enormous pressure? I'm not sure.
Or could it be that player development has sucked?
But But But, here is a list of the 4 and 5 stars that could have been contributors on the 2015-2017 seasons
Todd Peat
Charles Jackson
Aaron Green
David Santos
Bubba Starling
Ryan Klachko
Tyler Moore
Ryan Reeves
Paul Thurston
Greg McMullen
Adam Taylor
Monte Harrison
There are always going to be busts, injuries and transfers. It can always be an excuse if you let it.
Todd Peat
Charles Jackson
Aaron Green
David Santos
Bubba Starling
Ryan Klachko
Tyler Moore
Ryan Reeves
Paul Thurston
Greg McMullen
Adam Taylor
Monte Harrison
There are always going to be busts, injuries and transfers. It can always be an excuse if you let it.
I don't know the answer. I think you are on to something when it comes to the relative number of 4 star kids. I don't think it is pressure, I just think when you have a 6 or 7 and half of them bust, transfer or get injured, it looks worse than the team that has 14 and half bust, transfer or get injured. The team that brings in 14, still has as many 4 stars left as you had to begin with.
Yeah, there's got to be an element of salience in there. When a walk-on who never played quits, you don't even notice. When a 4* can't crack the 2-deep you talk about it.
The attrition of the best players in already so-so classes has been an absolute killer. You're dead right about Purdue having equal or better talent than NU does. Frost has said it repeatedly, but I'm not sure most fans really get it. The talent level on this team is B.A.D. Like really bad. They seem to have some kids who can play, some kids who can think, and not a lot of kids who can do both.
That thought has been on my mind lately, wondering if we were eating other teams' leftovers sometimes with the 4* kids we had been getting, not with their physical skills but their mental skills.
Was talking to my neighbor, he said they have this kid who is a freak and EVERYONE is offering him. I mean everyone. Well, turns out this kid literally has to be told by the player behind him which way to go on every play. He doesn't know thing one about the playbook.
My neighbor was like, "Yeah I'd love to have him on my side of the ball from a physical standpoint but he's not smart enough to do it."
You think they tell that to SEC and B1G coaches when they call up? I bet they don't. You don't torpedo a kid like that, you're his coach, your job is to talk about what a good kid he is.
It really made me think about how often a guy like that gets to campus and you give him a playbook and then practice rolls around and he knows NOTHING about football theory and you go, "Oh f***. This kid is a three-year project at the very best."
Some kids get their stars by being good in shorts and shirts not full pads. I coached a kid who plays at an sec school and I would have been upset had Nebraska offered him a few years ago.
Yep, that's the reality of it. People keep citing classes in the 20s and thinking NU should be able to be a top-25 team because of it. They don't realize that tons of those kids aren't on campus any more.
You gotta figure they sign 25-30 guys this class. It's going to be a doozy.
By the end of Riley's reign, he could not hope to beat poor competition. This team in 2017 was the most pathetic husker iteration in 50-60 years. 4 games in they have replaced a veteran qb with a true freshman, and added a newer more complicated offense and defense. The outcome is predictable and acceptable at this point.
You change your stance on a daily basis. College football is a revolving door, players leave, players quit, players get injured. It happens everywhere.
Alabama, OSU, Clemson, etc disagree with you. As does the NFL. Facts are facts. 4 and 5 stars are a must if you want to be a top 15 team. And we aren’t close with all our 3 stars. Hence 18 years and counting of no conf championships.
Off the top of my head. The 4 stars actually playing, in any class, would be: Martinez, Morgan Jr, Farmer, Lindsay, C. Davis, L. Jackson. That is six total and I'm not so sure we see much more of Jackson or Lindsay.
Sure, development is essential. Recruiting rankings are only an indicator of what the recruiting services believe a player may develop into. But we are in a situation, where due to coaching turnover and incompetency, we do not have a talented roster and the players have not been developed. Throw in all the indecision and lack of confidence and you have the shitstorm that is, currently, Nebraska football.
This I agree with!! Need talent desperately!!! SF will get them to play hard and want to be here I have no doubt. The talent part scares me
I don’t think you read my post. I have never once said that you don’t need talent. Maybe you are confusing me with someone else.
Purdue had the worst recruiting class in the conference for like 3 straight years under Darell Hazell.
As a Purdue fan, I can tell you our talent if graded by the star system is way lower than Nebraska. We have 1 3* Starting on the OL rest are 2 *, our TE’s were 2*. We were left devoid of depth and talent from the Hazel years. We have a coach that has the ability to maximize the talent we do have. I will say multiple OC and DC, destroyed the developent of our team prior to Brohm. Coach Frost will weed out the players that don’t belong and get his own in there.
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So you are saying that the current staff is to blame? Riley invested huge amounts of energy to recruit the west coast and nearly every west coach kid was a bust...that meant the recruiting time spent on others was limited and our haul outside of his california connections was weak. Another thing...we lose 85% of our 4 stars we are a 3 star team. That puts us in the range of the top 50 in recruiting. Throw in 3 defensive coordinators, 2 offensive systems in 3 years and that puts our efficiency in the 70 to 80 in the NCAA...throw in transfers and a losing streak and it is what it is. One last thing...many of Bo's kids on your list played and contributed...many of Rileys never made it campus to even provide depth and competition. And then a new coach takes over and more of them jump ship. In many cases Frost barely had a chance to turn them into good players...they just left because Riley recruited them for the NFL not for NU.
First off, I want to say I have a ton of respect for Nebraska. As a boilermaker, the respect and passion and intelligence your fan base exhibits is nothing short of first class.
I simply want to add its 100% inconceivable that Nebraska had less talent than Purdue on the field. Please look at the evidence, this is the current 4th year in the program class. If you toggle to the 2016(3rd year guys) it’s even worse. In short, our 5th year, 4th and 3rd year guys all represent the worst class in the B10. The first solid top 30ish class that Purdue since 2012 has will be showing up this summer.
https://purdue.rivals.com/commitments/football/2015
I simply want to add its 100% inconceivable that Nebraska had less talent than Purdue on the field. Please look at the evidence, this is the current 4th year in the program class. If you toggle to the 2016(3rd year guys) it’s even worse. In short, our 5th year, 4th and 3rd year guys all represent the worst class in the B10. The first solid top 30ish class that Purdue since 2012 has will be showing up this summer.
https://purdue.rivals.com/commitments/football/2015
with all due respect to Nebraska fans saying Purdue had higher rated players on the field. I don't believe we have even one 4* rated player on the roster currently.
I don’t know your roster, but I know Moore was a 4-Star. Not that it has anything to do with this topic.
Only a 3-star according to Rivals. 247 had him a 4-star.
Up until the 2019 class, the last 4-star recruit Purdue has had (again according to Rivals) was one in 2014 who graduated last year. Zero 4-star recruits from 2015-2018. In fact, the 2015-2017 classes all had more 2-star than 3-star recruits. They've been pretty terrible, at least as far as Rivals ratings go.
I would rather have a 3 star out of the southeast than a low 4* out of California. It just seems like there is a different mindset.
We have had so many 4* fail to break the starting lineup or contribute in any meaningful way.
I'm done with the hype and the ratings. Im in Show me mode. Let's get some football players.
As an aside, you ever notice how a low 3* non-camp kid starts getting all these offers from the blue bloods late in their senior season because of their production? Their rating doesn't change.
We have had so many 4* fail to break the starting lineup or contribute in any meaningful way.
I'm done with the hype and the ratings. Im in Show me mode. Let's get some football players.
As an aside, you ever notice how a low 3* non-camp kid starts getting all these offers from the blue bloods late in their senior season because of their production? Their rating doesn't change.
So does having a superstar like Suh. Pelini found that out after Suh graduated.
Amazing he won and loss just as many games without Suh...And went to 2 conference title games with a Dline that had a converted OT at DL.
With basically all 3 star players.
Would Suh have been as great as he was without a coaching change? I don't think so. Don't get it twisted. We need athletes. They don't have to be camp champions tho.
My point is that the 2009 defense was great mostly because of Suh. And not because Pelini was a great coach.
I think Pelini coached him up, but Suh is what made the defense great. I agree with you. 80% Suh, 20% coach.
Coaching helped him up his game.
Would you rather have 10- 4* recruits or 4- 10* recruits????
Debate
Debate
Was the 2010 defense great or just good.
I'm not sure this is the same argument.