Talent

[Iroh2]

Just took a look at recent All big Ten teams 2016-2018) and the only teams that have fewer selections than us are Illinois and Rutgers.. we are on par with Purdue, Minnesota, Minnesota and Maryland and behind EVERYONE else.. I would imagine Minnesota will have a ton of selections this year so we will have been statistically one of the least talented teams over the past four years at least. And, the only reason we had any selections at all are Spielman and Stanley Morgan got picked two years in a row. Other than that, we had one third team player last year. I knew it was bad, but dang. That is awful.

At a program level we are basically starting from scratch with the only thing to bring talent in is promise of new facilities, great fan support and name recognition/potential from Frost...

Better times ahead...

 

[HominidHusker]

Just took a look at recent All big Ten teams 2016-2018) and the only teams that have fewer selections than us are Illinois and Rutgers.. we are on par with Purdue, Minnesota, Minnesota and Maryland and behind EVERYONE else.. I would imagine Minnesota will have a ton of selections this year so we will have been statistically one of the least talented teams over the past four years at least. And, the only reason we had any selections at all are Spielman and Stanley Morgan got picked two years in a row. Other than that, we had one third team player last year. I knew it was bad, but dang. That is awful.

At a program level we are basically starting from scratch with the only thing to bring talent in is promise of new facilities, great fan support and name recognition/potential from Frost...

Better times ahead...

Yeah- for out-recruiting the West every year we are sure left with nothing to show for it.

Sad times. Hope the curse ends soon.... Like next Saturday.

 

[dinglefritz]

Just took a look at recent All big Ten teams 2016-2018) and the only teams that have fewer selections than us are Illinois and Rutgers.. we are on par with Purdue, Minnesota, Minnesota and Maryland and behind EVERYONE else.. I would imagine Minnesota will have a ton of selections this year so we will have been statistically one of the least talented teams over the past four years at least. And, the only reason we had any selections at all are Spielman and Stanley Morgan got picked two years in a row. Other than that, we had one third team player last year. I knew it was bad, but dang. That is awful.

At a program level we are basically starting from scratch with the only thing to bring talent in is promise of new facilities, great fan support and name recognition/potential from Frost...

Better times ahead...

I "liked" your post but hate the message. Our recruiting rankings under Riley were smoke and mirrors. We had too many kids who were over ranked by Rivals in particular that Riley signed. IMO, too many of them maybe had the high school talent to be successful but lacked the work ethic and fire in the belly to be successful at a Power 5 level. JMHO. Somebody cue up the emoji of a beating heart.

 

[Baxter48_rivals204143]

I "liked" your post but hate the message. Our recruiting rankings under Riley were smoke and mirrors. We had too many kids who were over ranked by Rivals in particular that Riley signed. IMO, too many of them maybe had the high school talent to be successful but lacked the work ethic and fire in the belly to be successful at a Power 5 level. JMHO. Somebody cue up the emoji of a beating heart.

If you look at it further we basically lost 3 recruiting classes under mike Riley, now let that soak in.

 

[dinglefritz]

If you look at it further we basically lost 3 recruiting classes under mike Riley, now let that soak in.

Pretty much. The first transition class did have a few players like Devine and we got a couple of good players in each class but man the number of wash outs from some of his highest ranked players was unusual IMO.

 

[inWV]

Riley recruits that are contributors
RS Sr - Alex Davis, Mo B, Ferg(?), Davis twins, Lee
Sr&RS Jr - Lamar, M Farniok, Miller, JD, Wilson, Bootle, Jojo, Stoll, Dismuke, Stille
Jr&RS Soph - Damion, Bando, Jaimes, Allen
Rileys last class includes a lot of kids who either flew the coop or haven't panned out as of yet.

 

[dinglefritz]

Riley recruits that are contributors
RS Sr - Alex Davis, Mo B, Ferg(?), Davis twins, Lee
Sr&RS Jr - Lamar, M Farniok, Miller, JD, Wilson, Bootle, Jojo, Stoll, Dismuke, Stille
Jr&RS Soph - Damion, Bando, Jaimes, Allen
Rileys last class includes a lot of kids who either flew the coop or haven't panned out as of yet.

That's just an irrefutable indictment of Riley's prospect analysis IMO. Gebbia could have probably been good in Riley's system and maybe Tyjon but man that still isn't much.

 

[bshirt73]

That's just an irrefutable indictment of Riley's prospect analysis IMO. Gebbia could have probably been good in Riley's system and maybe Tyjon but man that still isn't much.

I miss Callahan & Smiling Mike's fluff-ball "system" like another hole in my head. It's rough sledding for us fans now but I gotta believe HCSF knows full well that to have success in the Big10 you simply must be able to run the damn ball. Especially between the tackles.

It blows big chunks knowing to totally rebuild our fluffy, wimpy-*** line play it's going to take a long time. Wayyyyyy longer than I want. But there's no dodging that bullet.....so......so be it. Just get it done coach, you'll get there.

 

[dinglefritz]

I miss Callahan & Smiling Mike's fluff-ball "system" like another hole in my head. It's rough sledding for us fans now but I gotta believe HCSF knows full well that to have success in the Big10 you simply must be able to run the damn ball. Especially between the tackles.

It blows big chunks knowing to totally rebuild our fluffy, wimpy-*** line play it's going to take a long time. Wayyyyyy longer than I want. But there's no dodging that bullet.....so......so be it. Just get it done coach, you'll get there.

I actually liked Callahan's offense in many ways. I'm a "run the ball guy" so some of it drove me crazy but man the idea of being able to pick up a 3rd and long with a QB who could hit a receiver just made me tingle. Or was that tinkle? In any case, Callahan recruited some pretty damned good linemen and put several in the NFL. Riley so far it appears to me might end up with O linemen that he recruited in the NFL. Jaimes. Maybe.

 

[inWV]

Now thinking that Zig covered serious weakness of the present Oline to produce a good run game. It seems that they didn't get much better and teams have had a lot of film to understand how to shut things down. Mills is not as good as we hoped and Wandale is a slot guy playing RB.
Lots of water under the bridge, but I think we probably beat Perdue with MoWash. I also think that when AMart just plays football and gets out of his head. Was at West Laf for the game and there were several instances where yardage was right in front of him and he either hesitated or threw an errant pass. He has to make defenses account for him. I have no idea what his health situation is and I'm wondering if he isn't being coached to avoid too many hard collisions. He finally let things open a bit late against PU and got NU some scores, but the D had already packed up their gear for the trip home.
If opposing coaches are assuming that Martinez will not try to beat them himself, then this offense does nothing against Wisconsin or Iowa. This team is not good enough for AMart to be a "game manager". He has to go out and make defenses account for him in the run game on any given down. That comes with risks, but if NU wants to be playing a game in December, that's what has to happen.

 

[inWV]

I actually liked Callahan's offense in many ways. I'm a "run the ball guy" so some of it drove me crazy but man the idea of being able to pick up a 3rd and long with a QB who could hit a receiver just made me tingle. Or was that tinkle? In any case, Callahan recruited some pretty damned good linemen and put several in the NFL. Riley so far it appears to me might end up with O linemen that he recruited in the NFL in Jaimes. Maybe.

Bo was able to live on Callahan's Oline recruits for a couple of years and as much as this board bitched about Barney, the Olines were serviceable enough to produce a decent running game.

 

[dinglefritz]

Bo was able to live on Callahan's Oline recruits for a couple of years and as much as this board bitched about Barney, the Olines were serviceable enough to produce a decent running game.

Barney was a better coach than he got credit for. He would have fielded very good O lines IF he had coached with Tom.

 

[Baxter48_rivals204143]

Barney was a better coach than he got credit for. He would have fielded very good O lines IF he had coached with Tom.

So did frank and bo hold him back?

 

[oldjar07]

It's hard to know how much talent you actually have if they're not coached properly. Everywhere else you see players get a lot better from year to year. How many players have actually gotten better over the course of their 4 years here? Heck we've had more guys regress than get better. That's just a sign of really poor coaching.

 

[WestCoastCornhusker2]

Just took a look at recent All big Ten teams 2016-2018) and the only teams that have fewer selections than us are Illinois and Rutgers.. we are on par with Purdue, Minnesota, Minnesota and Maryland and behind EVERYONE else.. I would imagine Minnesota will have a ton of selections this year so we will have been statistically one of the least talented teams over the past four years at least. And, the only reason we had any selections at all are Spielman and Stanley Morgan got picked two years in a row. Other than that, we had one third team player last year. I knew it was bad, but dang. That is awful.

At a program level we are basically starting from scratch with the only thing to bring talent in is promise of new facilities, great fan support and name recognition/potential from Frost...

Better times ahead...

Excellent point! Still think Chins is not a legitimate good DC.

 

[WoodRiverJennings]

JD went from a near certain All-conference type of guy to a nobody this year. 2AM went from a Heisman contender to the worst QB in the B1G. Don't blame everything on talent when this staff has been poison for the development of players.

 

[PeliniTheCrutch_rivals294365]

Riley just needed more time...got saddled with Bo’s recruits.

 

[catch54]

If you look at it further we basically lost 3 recruiting classes under mike Riley, now let that soak in.

And most everybody on this board was all cowbell.

 

[PeliniTheCrutch_rivals294365]

Let’s be honest, if Frost doesn’t win 10 games by his 4th season, then he needs to be ****-canned. That would mean he’s the same as Riley and worse than Pelini. Not saying it will happen, but it is what it is.

 

[WoodRiverJennings]

Let’s be honest, if Frost doesn’t win 10 games by his 4th season, then he needs to be ****-canned. That would mean he’s the same as Riley and worse than Pelini. Not saying it will happen, but it is what it is.

He's already worse than Riley.

 

[Baxter48_rivals204143]

He's already worse than Riley.

Really! Mike never went 12-0 I understand you think frost was a wrong hire.

 

[WoodRiverJennings]

Really! Mike never went 12-0 I understand you think frost was a wrong hire.

I think we need to stick with Frost and hope.for the best. He was who I wanted, but he and his assistants have failed miserably thus far. Any other scrub with no Nebraska ties and the same resume would be kicking rocks down the road by now.

Undefeated at UCF is about as relevant as a Grey Cup.

 

[dinglefritz]

So did frank and bo hold him back?

No. Tom made everybody around him better and was great at maximizing the ability of his assistants. Barney wasn't probably the best OC we had but he wasn't the worst when Frank hired him. Barney arrived after Frank was already struggling with recruiting and on his way out. You'll remember that we won more games Barney's only year as our OC than we did under Frank the year before. Bo got most of the credit for that but Barney had a hand in it IMO. Barney did a reasonably good job of recruiting and developing O linemen as Bo's O line coach. He put a fair number of guys in the NFL which I think it a pretty good barometer.

 

[dinglefritz]

Let’s be honest, if Frost doesn’t win 10 games by his 4th season, then he needs to be ****-canned. That would mean he’s the same as Riley and worse than Pelini. Not saying it will happen, but it is what it is.

IMO Frost at 4 years in should get the same leash as Pelini did. Win 8-9, develop players and don't act like an imbecile and you can keep your job.

 

[Iroh2]

I didn’t blame it on talent, simply stated data from the Big Ten site. I would love to know the behind the scenes as it is quite possible a number of players may not be coachable or not able to be motivated.

Should be an interesting few years..

 

[RealTucoSalamanca]

The OLine depth that Riley had for his second year at Nebraska.


Jalin Barnett
Lawton, OK
OL
6-4
310
Freshman


Cole Conrad
Fremont, NE
OL
6-5
290
Freshman (RS)


Michael Decker
Omaha, NE
OL
6-4
285
Freshman


Tanner Farmer
Highland, IL
OL
6-4
310
Freshman (RS)



Jerald Foster
Lincoln, NE
OL
6-3
310
Freshman (RS)


Ryan Freudenburg
Norfolk, NE
OL
6-5
305
Freshman (RS)


Nick Gates
Las Vegas, NV
OL
6-5
290
Freshman (RS)


Christian Gaylord
Baldwin City, KS
OL
6-6
275
Freshman


Sam Hahn
DeWitt, NE
OL
6-6
300
Junior


Zach Hannon
Kansas City, MO
OL
6-5
305
Sophomore


Dwayne Johnson Jr.
Houston, TX
OL
6-6
280
Sophomore


David Knevel
Brantford, ON
OL
6-9
310
Sophomore



Robby Painter
Centennial, CO
OL
6-4
290
Junior






Paul Thurston
Arvada, CO
OL
6-5
295
Junior


Dylan Utter
Papillion, NE
OL
6-1
285
Junior


Corey Whitaker
Murrieta, CA
OL
6-4
290
Junior

There is a lot of young players on that line. Where is the RS juniors and RS sophs that were going to be the leaders.

Half that group were complete and utter busts, some were at best marginal talents.

The talent looks at least comparable to what Frost inherited.

 

[CatColumbia]

IMO Frost at 4 years in should get the same leash as Pelini did. Win 8-9, develop players and don't act like an imbecile and you can keep your job.

I’ll always strongly believe that the imbecile part was just a excuse used by our admin. Had Bo beaten then big boys his jerk behavior would have been tolerated.

 

[dinglefritz]

I’ll always strongly believe that the imbecile part was just a excuse used by our admin. Had Bo beaten then big boys his jerk behavior would have been tolerated.

I don't believe that at all. While the blowout losses to Wisconsin etal were an irritant, his behavior was despised by Pearlman, some boosters and some regents. Pelini was Tom's pick. He had a LOT of rope. Eichorst made the mistake (among many) of linking Pelini's firing to his W/L record with his Iowa comment. In reality the W/L record didn't have that much to do with it. Maybe if you win the conference and are in the hunt for the playoff you can get away with the way he treated some people. His on camera blowups at media and officials didn't stop when he was in South Stadium.

Pelini and NU were very lucky Tom was there to smooth things over on several occasions to prevent legal action and news stories. As Urban Meyer found out when he was forced out at OSU, winning doesn't soothe all sores.

 

[dinglefritz]

JD went from a near certain All-conference type of guy to a nobody this year. 2AM went from a Heisman contender to the worst QB in the B1G. Don't blame everything on talent when this staff has been poison for the development of players.

Cmon man. JD is getting the extra attention this year that Stanley got. It was a LOT easier for him to get open last year. On top of that Farmer and Foster >>>>>> than Hixson and Jurgens at this point. Jurgens is going to be great but man he really screwed up our offense early this year. I think when you look at AM's play you have to look at all the the people around him, his injuries and practice time missed.

 

[WoodRiverJennings]

Cmon man. JD is getting the extra attention this year that Stanley got. It was a LOT easier for him to get open last year. On top of that Farmer and Foster >>>>>> than Hixson and Jurgens at this point. Jurgens is going to be great but man he really screwed up our offense early this year. I think when you look at AM's play you have to look at all the the people around him, his injuries and practice time missed.

Yeah, some of the struggles can be chalked up to the crap OL and lack of playmakers at WR, but we've had plenty of guys open. AM simply fails to deliver. On top of that, he's scared AF to run. He's just not a good player anymore.

 

[RealTucoSalamanca]

Yeah, some of the struggles can be chalked up to the crap OL and lack of playmakers at WR, but we've had plenty of guys open. AM simply fails to deliver. On top of that, he's scared AF to run. He's just not a good player anymore.

I won't go as far as to say he isn't a good player. He isn't playing well and he is definitely playing tentatively. The offense has left a lot of yards and points on the field this season. For some reason, Frost does everything in his power to protect Martinez from criticism. It seems like every week, when someone asks about the QB play, he says we need others play makers to do their job too, it isn't just the QB. That leads me to believe that even if there was someone playing better, Frost is going to go with Martinez because that was his guy from the jump.

 

[CatColumbia]

Yeah, some of the struggles can be chalked up to the crap OL and lack of playmakers at WR, but we've had plenty of guys open. AM simply fails to deliver. On top of that, he's scared AF to run. He's just not a good player anymore.

I have a feeling if our QB doesn't finish the year well he'll hit up that transfer portal. Too much competition knocking on the door.

 

[WHCSC]

Any other scrub with no Nebraska ties and the same resume would be kicking rocks down the road by now

You really think we'd have fired another coach by now? I highly doubt it. As I've said before, the most popular person in Nebraska is the next head football coach.

 

[RealTucoSalamanca]

I have a feeling if our QB doesn't finish the year well he'll hit up that transfer portal. Too much competition knocking on the door.

why would he leave? He has been protected and regardless of how he performs, he remains the starter. He isn’t getting that treatment elsewhere. You are more likely to see one of the other QBs leave or decommit

 

[CatColumbia]

why would he leave? He has been protected and regardless of how he performs, he remains the starter. He isn’t getting that treatment elsewhere. You are more likely to see one of the other QBs leave or decommit

I see your point and I can see it play out that way. But if he starts getting the boos from our fans that will not be something he would probably want to deal with.

 

[dinglefritz]

why would he leave? He has been protected and regardless of how he performs, he remains the starter. He isn’t getting that treatment elsewhere. You are more likely to see one of the other QBs leave or decommit

I guess in a way I can understand Frost trying to shield a young QB from some of the criticism. Martinez knows he's not playing well. He no doubt hears the fan criticism through social media. The last thing you want for a QB is to destroy his confidence. I'm also still pretty sure that Vedral was not 100% for that Purdue game. Yes he was available but it sounds as if AM was the healthier of the two. So, what do you do? Greg Sharp made the point that AM played better late in the game and he did to a certain extent I guess. He still was tentative IMO unless it was a designed hand off or QB run that didn't require a decision. Missing almost a month of practice and games was not a positive for Adrian.

 

[dinglefritz]

Yeah, some of the struggles can be chalked up to the crap OL and lack of playmakers at WR, but we've had plenty of guys open. AM simply fails to deliver. On top of that, he's scared AF to run. He's just not a good player anymore.

One of the problems with Frost not acknowledging injuries in some way is the criticism that some players take for their performance when playing with a very limiting injury. It leaked out that AM had some sort of arm injury earlier this year. One rumor is a shoulder. We do know about the knee injury but they haven't discussed it. By how it limited him in practice it appears more severe than they let on. I'll be surprised if AM doesn't have at least one surgery after the season based on what I've heard. Then there's Vedral. He's injured too but nothing has been spilled officially about how limited he is. Sounds like McCaffrey may be done for the year but Frost has made no statement about that.

 

[huskerbaseball13]

I miss Callahan & Smiling Mike's fluff-ball "system" like another hole in my head. It's rough sledding for us fans now but I gotta believe HCSF knows full well that to have success in the Big10 you simply must be able to run the damn ball. Especially between the tackles.

It blows big chunks knowing to totally rebuild our fluffy, wimpy-*** line play it's going to take a long time. Wayyyyyy longer than I want. But there's no dodging that bullet.....so......so be it. Just get it done coach, you'll get there.

“Fluff Ball”......is that like not calling a run play from the 2 yard line?