That is too simplistic and a bit revisionist. Osborne's success using that recruiting formula was similar to what Wisconsin and Iowa have now, until the early 90's. At that point there was more emphasis placed on getting better players from around the country.
This is a bit revisionist as well. Nebraska had good players recruited from the 80s, that's why they did so well. Shields, Croel, Clark, Parella, Weigert, Broderick Thomas. The major difference in the mid-90s was the emphasis on skill players, especially the qb position, and also more skilled players in the secondary.
Wisconsin has had a great defense, great running backs, good offensive line, and even solid receivers even while never coming close to approaching the "blue chip ratio." The major ingredient they've been missing is a good qb. If Wisconsin had a good qb in the 2016 and 2017 seasons, they would have made the playoffs and likely held their own. Even in some later seasons, a quality qb could have made all the difference and got them to playoff contention. There's no reason we can't do something similar here. In fact, we had a better version of Wisconsin's program in the 80s and add good qb play which we found in the 90s led to multiple championships. I think we can recruit better, I think we can build a better program here than they have at Wisconsin, but it all starts with coaching. Recruits aren't going to want to come here if they can't develop and improve their draft stock while they're in college.
