Remaining Recruiting Targets

[NorthwoodHusker]

I'm not making the argument for TOP. I don't really care about that. I just want a defense that can get a stop when they need to rather than feeling like there's no way they're going to get a stop. Turnovers are good too, but I don't think you can have a strategy based on that. Turnovers happen when you play good defense. When you have a strategy just based on getting turnovers, when it fails it fails badly as we saw last year.

I fully agree with you here.
But I'm just talking about most of the game, it'll be aggressive and get after it, but yes, get the stop when we need to.
Those long drives against us wasnt just one long 3rd down made, it often was several.
When we stayed home, we still didnt have the effect we needed.

What I see as different is the front, vastly improved, try moving us out at your own risk from now on, because we are just better enough there for the other things to fall into place.
When needed, that ucf team got it done, but the first year, it was the defense trying to keep them in the games, and the offense with no consistency.
It was the next year where things flipped,and they made those stops,plus the offense was clicking.
Thats what I expect to see this year too, get those stops,aybe not every time, but our offense puts it in the end zone more often.
They wont look completely dominant on D, but this year they will get those stops, enough for the offense to win, or win going away.

 

[jflores]

We're currently at 8 commits. Lets be fairly conservative and say during the course of the season we end up with commits from the following realistic targets:

RB Sevion Morrison or Marvin Scott
WR Brenden Rice
TE Donavon Johnson
DE Joe Moore
DE Morven Joseph
LB Choe Bryant-Strother
LB Kaden Johnson
DB Christopher Townsel

That would put us at a reasonable 16 commits and would rank the class about 21st overall with roughly 6-8 players (4 countable) to add before the end of the 2nd signing day. (going 3 for 5 of the article's top 5/6)

If we round out well with:
WR Xavier Betts
OC Paula Vaipulu
DB Jacobe Covington
DB Darion Green-Warren

That gets us to 20 commits and we would be just outside the top 15 in ranking. (you could flip any of these 4 for any of the above commits pre/post 1st signing day)

We'll likely take 2-3 players on top of that 20. If those 2-3 players are higher than our two lowest rated commits out of the ranking we'll actually have a very likely shot at finishing inside the top 15.

Two Examples (there are more) of players who could fill those final spots rated higher than those two lowest overall rated players, who play at positions where we could take another player:
DT Marquis Black
LB Derrick Lewis

And that's without any surprise late 4* additions, no flips and means we won a couple good battles but also missed out on at least a couple guys we currently are in on (ie Jackson Bratton, Brennon Scott and Omar Manning)


It is very possible we land a top 15 class this year and landing lower than at least 18-20 would be extremely surprising at this point. We'd have to have at least one recruiter (looking at you Travis Fisher) completely bomb to land a sub 20 class.

Yah my own expectations for years now have been stay in the top 25 but somewhere between 15-20 consistently and occasionally that big class that gets you top 15.

I don't know there are too many coaches who are going to recruit at a top 10 level consistently *before* they start winning big here. At least initially were going to have to out develop and out system other teams.

I feel like Frost has the all around acumen to get that done. Pelini might have but tended towards the bottom end of that recruiting range too much

 

[oldjar07]

No one is saying the defense can't be good but offense and defense are somewhat mutually exclusive when it comes to TOP.

No NCAA in over 100 years of football has ever fielded a team that had the potency of Oregon on offense and the potency of Bama on defense.

It just doesn't happen. Because if you're three and out good on defense every time then most coaches are going to sit on the ball with their O and deny the other team a chance to do anything. No one goes out there and tries to out their number one defense back on the field immediately.

And if you are Oregon good on O your defense is just going to be on the field alot because you are so efficient in scoring. So you necessarily are going to take ratings hits because your d is simply defending more than average.

I think everybody would love to have a team that had Oregon O and Bama D but it's never happened yet. Then we could have 25 possession let game and score on all of them and never lose.

Bama has gotten around this somewhat by having a ridiculous amount of talent but their best defenses were when they ran a pro style o.

There might be years where the D is lights out good and carries the husker offesne but with the way Scott has set up the program it's more likely going to be the other way round in most years

I wouldn't say it's never been done. Alabama and Clemson last year both had an Oregon O and a Bama D. Our teams in the 90's were like that as well. I'm sure there are other examples if you look close enough.

 

[oldjar07]

You are mostly quoting Tom osborne here...not Frost. TO was happy to get 100 first downs in a game.

The offense Scott runs is about creating mismatches and attacking with speed to get chunk yardage and speed of execution to wear out your defense and prevent adjustments during the drive. Which create more mismatches and more chunk yardage. The Oregon style offense doesn't work as well if you take the speed out of it so Scott's going to avoid the 100 first downs four yards at a time if he can.

TO was driving and old tractor and enjoying every lemonade stand on the side of the road and scott is blowing through in a Lambo

TO's teams had plenty of chunk yardage plays as well. Frost's offense is also going to be more effective if he can get first downs the hard way if he has to.

 

[Ewooc]

I fully agree with you here.
But I'm just talking about most of the game, it'll be aggressive and get after it, but yes, get the stop when we need to.
Those long drives against us wasnt just one long 3rd down made, it often was several.
When we stayed home, we still didnt have the effect we needed.

What I see as different is the front, vastly improved, try moving us out at your own risk from now on, because we are just better enough there for the other things to fall into place.
When needed, that ucf team got it done, but the first year, it was the defense trying to keep them in the games, and the offense with no consistency.
It was the next year where things flipped,and they made those stops,plus the offense was clicking.
Thats what I expect to see this year too, get those stops,aybe not every time, but our offense puts it in the end zone more often.
They wont look completely dominant on D, but this year they will get those stops, enough for the offense to win, or win going away.

I could be dreaming it but I swear there was a game, maybe Iowa that converted 7 3rd downs in a row. You are right it was to the point last year and in years past that if it was 3rd or 4th and long you almost expected it to be converted.

 

[DudznSudz]

I could be dreaming it but I swear there was a game, maybe Iowa that converted 7 3rd downs in a row. You are right it was to the point last year and in years past that if it was 3rd or 4th and long you almost expected it to be converted.

With our D-line this year, Iowa absolutely will not be doing that again.

 

[jflores]

TO's teams had plenty of chunk yardage plays as well. Frost's offense is also going to be more effective if he can get first downs the hard way if he has to.

All teams have big plays. TO built an offense that was happy to grind it out until they came. And against lesseer teams they came early and often.

An Oregon style spread more or less lives and dies by chunk yardage and mismatches because it's not built to grind. I would definitely categorize it as an offense and really a whole program mindset about seizing the initiative and not getting behind

Your last comment there sort of dovetails with the comment I made about starting another thread a few posts back

Namely how does Frost paste on some of the TO physicality to an Oregon system. Some of the early restrictions we've seen on more physical play is the elimination of the fullback, a blocking scheme that is not designed to go head up and pancake people, and the transition of the TE into a long rangy slot receiver

Schematically the movement and misdirection plays as well as the option are easily covered by what we've installed now. It's sort of the grind it out bits that are hard to see how we're going to address that in our approach.