Texas Recruiting

This is another very good post by FeelLikeAStranger originally posted at BHF. I think he is on to something here. Lets see how this plays out in the next few years.

Lots of good data and research - great job FLAS!

The thread about trying to compete with Texas in recruiting got me to take a look at how our recruiting in Texas has been and see if there were any trends.

I was also thinking today that it's really how many of the "2nd tier" guys (aka non-Texas selectees) we manage to pull away from OU and A&M, et. al. every year that would seem to matter most, if we trust that those rankings are at least some measure of potential impact.

I don't know how N2FL has the Texas players ranked (within Texas) from 2009, but I could look at Scout for some guidance on how we did against those guys.

Figuring 100+ D1 athletes per year out of Texas (more like 150+, but we only have top 100 rankings on Scout), if we consider 1-20 (in deference to Mack Brown's pick 20 plan) "tier 1", 21-50 "tier 2" and 51-100 "tier 3" in the rankings for Texas, then we did pretty well this past year.

According to Scout's postseason 100 for 2009:

Tier 1
C. Green 19

Tier 2
Burkhead 28
Williams 35

Tier 3
A. Green 71
Ash 81
Randle 83

N.R.
Coffey
Robinson

So if we look at the top 2 tiers, we stole 3 away from the "big boys" in Texas this year, including one of the top 20. We always need to pull a number each year out of tier 3, as we are fighting everyone else and their dog for those guys as well, but you'd figure your "difference maker" guys are those top 50 guys for sure. (although you never know, of course)

For fun, let's check it back to 2002, where their rankings end.

2008 (transition class new HC, RC retained)
1-none
2-Spano 47, Whitmore 41 (NQ), Williams 48
3-Grant(NQ)85, Whaley 88
NR-Osborne, Osborne, Thompson, Ward

(if anyone wants to look up the decommits from 2008, please do)

2007
1-none
2-Castille 36
3-Gilleylen 52, Mendoza 65, Witt 84
NR-Blue, Kunalic, Sullivan

2006
1-none
2-nada
3-zilch
NR-Henry

2005
1-zero
2-Hunter 37 (NQ),
3-Franklin 87 (NQ), Glenn 68,
NR-none

2004 (transition class new HC, RC retained)
1-nope
2-not
3-pffft
NR-Nunn

2003 (transition class with new asst's.)
1-beh
2-meh
3-Brothers 82, Craver 77 (NQ),
NR-Austin, Dyches, Phillips, Turner

2002
1-nope
2-squat
3-donut
NR-Leslie, Demorrio (JC #10)

If one takes a look at that, you can say that it's pretty clear that maybe enough attention wasn't paid to TX athletes in 2002, and that was corrected somewhat in 2003. In 2004's transition class...only Nunn. Callahan then tried in 2005 and got burned by NQ's and then picked up only one guy from TX in 2006.

If you want to look at "failings"...2002-2006 we really failed to get anyone away from any of the other big dogs going after TX players...and barely got any TX players at all.

2007, I would argue was Callahan's best recruiting class (08 was looking even better, but you gotta keep your job too) and it's definitely reflected in the number of TX players he signed that year. Maybe it was a case (and this could possibly be said for Solich's old staff as well) of not adapting to a changing landscape of a Texas-centric recruiting base in the Big 12 until it was a bit too late.

Bo certainly saw it right away...first hand knowledge from OU, I'd gather...and went after as many TX players as he could in the transition class. I can't remember who originally committed etc, but it stands to reason that the groundbreaking started with Callahan in 2007 and was put to work in earnest in 2008 as Gilmore was retained.

This is some telling stuff, IMO.

2002-2006 5 top 100 Texas players (3 NQ's), 13 total (3 NQ, 1 JC)

2007 4 top 100, including our first Tier 2 recruit that stuck, 7 total.

2008 5 top 100 in a transition class (2 NQ's), 3 Tier 2's (1 NQ), 9 total (2 NQ)

2009, 6 top 100, our first "Tier 1" recruit and 2 Tier 2's, 8 total

In just 2 classes (including a transition class), Pelini has signed more top 100 Texans than all the classes from 2002-2007 COMBINED, and almost as many total TX players overall for those years.

If you ask me, this is showing a VERY POSITIVE trend line for our future and the sustainability of our program for the longer haul. We are making steady and measurable progress in Texas recruiting under Pelini, which you'd have to say was started somewhat in 2007.

I've been preaching the virtues of a Texas-centric recruiting focus ever since I noticed it in 2008, and I think this breakdown shows that we are making strides in competing with our conference foes down there for talent after ignoring it for far too long.

2008 Final Stats - compiled from cfbstats.com

NEBRASKA FOOTBALL FINAL RANKINGS - 2008
Category	National	Conference
Scoring Offense	#17	#6
Rushing Offense	#37	#4
Passing Offense	#15	#6
Total Offense	#12	#6
Punt Returns	#22	#2
Kickoff Returns	#47	#9
Punting	#95	#9
Field Goals	#9	#1
PAT Kicking	#39	#5
First Downs	#20	#7
Penalties	#99	#11
Turnover Margin	#108	#12
Sacks	#13	#3
Tackles for Loss	#36	#4
Interceptions	#59	#6
Fumbles Recovered	#112	#12
Fumbles Forced	#59	#8
3rd Down Conversions	#14	#6
4th Down Conversions	#89	#12
Red Zone Conversions	#28	#5
Kickoffs	#32	#5
Scoring Defense	#81	#6
Rushing Defense	#22	#3
Passing Defense	#89	#2
Total Defense	#55	#2
Opponent Punt Returns	#66	#7
Opponent Kickoff Returns	#105	#10
Opponent Punting	#25	#2
Opponent Field Goals	#18	#3
Opponent PAT Kicking	#15	#2
Opponent First Downs	#36	#1
Opponent Penalties	#116	#12
Time of Possession	#2	#1
Sacks Allowed	#45	#7
Tackles for Loss Allowed	#106	#11
Passes Defended	#26	#6
Fumbles Lost	#111	#12
Kicks/Punts Blocked	Tied #6	#2
Opponent 3rd down Conversions	#23	#1
Opponent 4th Down Conversions	#61	#4
Opponent Red Zone Conversions	#20	#3
Opponent Kickoff	#83	#8

Life Lessons

I hope this link stays active for a long long time. This is exactly what Tom Osborne ment when he said "Athletics is more than winning".

We need more of these types of coaches and players in high school and college athletics.

http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=914609

To the coach and to the players involved. My hats off to you. Excellent display of sportsmanship!

Thoughts from a Husker fan

Well this month I have been extremely busy and I was to make it my goal to post my thoughts on Husker Football at least once month in the off-season.

AJ - read you last blog entry and I must say I am going to miss your writing. Although I agreed with basically none of it, It was very entertaining to read.

This month I am going to institute a new "law" for my posting. When I see something I like, I may elect to post it rather than writing my own :). I am the blog owner, I can do that.

The following I ran across on redbeerman's blog today. And unlike AJ's blog, this post I agree with 100%. This comes from Nemesis:

I wasted four years trying to explain the basics of Husker football to these fucktards. What a waste of valuable time.

The Husker football program was unique in many ways. From 1968 to 1997, the Huskers were the winningest program in college football by a long shot. Our winning percentage was 0.83699. Second place was a distant 0.80112. That is incredible! Our winning percentage is over 3.5 points higher than second place. That's twice as big of a gap between #1 and #2 as exists between any other consecutive places from #2 to #110. We dominated that 30 year span, thanks almost entirely to the brilliant systems put in place by TO. And I'm not talking simply about offense or defense or Xs and Os. I'm talking about the whole spectrum, from academics to fan support to off-season training to S&C to walk-ons to nurturing traditions and family atmosphere to academics. And TO didn't put these systems into place in secrecy. He documented it all so it could be continued when he was gone.

Well, did Coach Solich maintain the dominance? Many shortsighted fanny-come-latelys don't seem to think so. Many so-called "fans" from the dark realms of bigredboard hate Frank with so much palpable passion that he should probably thank his lucky stars that they are hidden behind keyboards in their moms' basements. It's shameful that they propagate the lies about Frank created by the evil Pedey's minions. Frank is a good man. But was he a good coach?

Let's look at what happened to our dominant winning percentage during Frank's tenure. If we look at 1968-2003, we see that we're still number one, but our overall winning percentage dropped from 0.83699 to 0.82280. But what about our lead over second place?

Second place dropped from 0.80112 to 0.78322. Under Coach Solich's care, our lead increased from 3.5 percentage points to almost a full 4 percentage points over the second best team from that same era.

And that's all we should have ever hoped for from Frank. He wasn't a brilliant offensive mind. He wasn't a good public speaker. He didn't put a pretty face on Husker football (actually, this is probably the biggest factor that made the shallow, hateful and insecure BRB-types hate Frank so much.)

But he was a perfectly adequate caretaker. He was the best person at the time to keep TO's systems chugging along. And he did that quite fine, unless you're a spoiled simpleton who doesn't understand the basics of Husker football. He kept us in or near the top ten most of the time. Played for an NC one year. How much more can you hope for? '94-'97???

Frank maintaining TO's systems at Nebraska is a much better and more effective option than almost any other coach doing something different at Nebraska.

Now we have Bo back, who is a much better coach than Frank IMHO. However, the most important thing is that we have TO back helping Bo to put the tried and true systems back in place.

Firing Frank after 9 wins and hiring a career mediocre hack like Callahan to "flip the culture" was the biggest mistake ever made by an AD in D1 college football. Like our winning percentage over the 36 year TO-FS span, there isn't even a close second. True Husker fans must remain diligent and help to insure that NOTHING like that ever happens again in the Husker football program. Don't put up with the spoiled fans. If someone doesn't like to watch good coaches running effective systems for the most successful team in the country and feel like they need a "name" coach who will move on in 5 years anyway and who won't have as much success doing his own thing, then they can find another team to support. Practically every other team in the country could fall in that category.

In college football, there is the Huskers. And then there is everybody else. Let's keep it that way.

I want to thank Nemesis for allowing me to post this here!

Oh and the comment made about the spoiled fans: It's right on the money. The fans almost ran Tom Osborne out of town and in our own efforts to "improve on" our current coaching situation, we almost ran it directly into the ground.

See Nebraska football for what it is and what is stands for, rather than what we sometimes want it to become.

We, as fans, are as much responsible for the 4 years in Husker history most of us would like to forget. Steve Pederson didn't do this on his own, He is quoted as saying he was giving Nebraska what they were asking for. Like Nemesis said, and I reiterate, let not let this happen EVER EVER again!

Recruiting the Nebraska Way

Now that the football season is over and the next "big" event most of us are looking forward to is the spring game (well ok some do look to signing day, but I don't get to wrapped up in that) which is a ways off, I thought I would post a little on Nebraska's (Tom's) philosophy on recruiting.

Lately we hear a lot about the stars when it comes to recruiting. We read a name on the new Nebraska commit list and the first question is "how many stars does this kid have?"

Our thoughts and focus as fans are sometimes tunneled to "what can this recruit do for Nebraska football". Although a valid question, one that is more important in the over all scope of life is "what can Nebraska football do for this recruit'. Sometimes we as fan get a little caught up in laying out some high expectations for these athletes. The question "what have you done for me lately?" is all over various forums and in the local papers.

Now, don't get me wrong, having high expectations for these student athletes is something that we have always, well, expected. WE ARE NEBRASKA! Right!

So where did this attitude come from? Bob? Tom? Winning?

Most possible a combination, but one name really sticks with me, (and maybe I just didn't know Bob D well enough, I don't know) Tom Osborne. He is the perfect example of the Nebraska work ethic. Tom is one that required 100% out of his players each and every day. But the one thing that separates Tom from most coaches is this: his complete dedication to the Athlete. Tom cares. Not only how the player succeeds on the field but also off the field.

It was this approach to the student athlete that brought Turner Gill to Nebraska.

As a kid growing up, Turner wanted to play football for Oklahoma. It's natural for a kid to want to play for the school near by your home town. But as Turner entered his senior year in high school and looked at his options for college, football was not the only reason to choose a school. He had grown up a bit since his childhood and even though he wanted to attend Oklahoma and receive his education there, history had not been written for him quite yet.

Enter Tom Osborne!

How we look back and see how a combination of events brought something really great to Nebraska. Tom’s past couple of QB’s were more of the “pocket-type” passers. Vince was a great passer, but not so great outside the pocket or on the run. With Tom making the decision to change to more of a power running game, (in the early to mid 70’s the team was basically built for a split offense, 50% run 50% pass) he needed to look at a mobile QB that could run the option. He still wanted a QB with a good strong arm, but more emphasis was going to be put on the running game.

I would venture to guess that Turner never really considered Nebraska as an option, until he met the man, Tom Osborne.

What was it that Tom could offer this high school senior that either Oklahoma or Texas could not?

In the book “Heart of a Husker” Turner said his decision to attend Nebraska was made final on the conversation he had with Tom. Turner was not only interested in playing football, but was also interested in gaining a quality education. Tom Osborne and Nebraska fit this bill for Turner.

This is how Tom recruited.

His attitude towards recruiting was “what can Nebraska do for this student athlete” and not “what can this athlete do for Nebraska”. This approach made Tom a very successful recruiter and coach and mentor for the many student athletes he came in contact with over the years!

Thank you Tom for you untiring dedication to Nebraska Football

NDHusker

Thoughts on recruiting at Nebraska

What I would like to know is where did the posters at the BRB ever come up with the premonition that once Tom became AD that Nebraska was going to build their team with walk-ons?

I do not remember one recruiting class in the 80's when Tom was not out recruiting the best talent he could in the Texas area. In fact, the only real set back he had was the ordeal with Mike Rosier. The next year we had at least 3 top recruits back out and go elsewhere.

In the late 70's and into the 80's Tom found that trying to get the top recruits from Florida, Georgia, California was not worth the effort as these kids had their schools in mind, a bit closer to home than Nebraska and they coould play in warm weather all year long. One of the best recruiting pitches out there was playing Miami for the national championship in the orange bowl in 1984. Didn't really matter to most of the top athletes from the Southeast as most would rather play for Miami, Florida State, Alabama, Georgia, LSU, etc. Tom knew competing against this was not worth the effort. Besides, there were plenty of Texas kids that wanted to come to Nebraska. So why not recruit closer to home. It makes sense. Yes I know Mike Rosier and Irving Fryer are from New Jersey, Tom and Frank did recruit that area as well as California, but the majority of the effort was close to home. Like most all schools, with the exception of Notre Dame, do.

Not only are you recruiting a kid but you are also convincing the parents that Nebraska is the right school. Football wise, in Tom's case, was not hard to convince. But if the top kids from say California also had offers from UCLA, USC, Washigton, and Nebraska - being from California, which school do you think he might chose? Would his parents want him to attend Nebraska where they may never see him play, other than on tv.

For Nebraska to convince the top high school players from the state of California to overlook USC and UCLA today, is no different than the 90's or 80's or even the 70's.

Look at ESPN's top 150 high school athletes, where they are from and what school they have committed. I am going to estimate about 75% of the kids that have committed are going to a school in their home state or in a state close to the school (in the case of LSU). California kids are staying in California, Texas kids are staying around the Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Lousiana area. Florida kids are looking at Miami, Florida State, Florida, Georgia, Alabama.

Recruiting the "odds" for the top players has always been, and always will be getting the best talent you can find with-in, say, a 500 mile radius of your school. Given this you have the best odds of not only getting the kids to commit but also have the support of the parents. This is not always possible so the top schools do verture out to find what talent they can. Tom and Frank were very good at this, and thrived in the 80's and 90's doing so.

Baylor is the one example of the true "home grown" recruiting. Look at the recruiting map from last year and look where Baylor recruited. I would guess it's no more than a 200 mile radius of the school.

Yes I know, we are not Baylor! But, recruiting starts at home, and works out from there. The best college player is one that wants to be there. This is not the Pros. This is not their job, but rather in college football it is their passion to play football for at least 4 more years. The passion of a play cannot and never will be judged in terms of speed or muscle, but it is an invaluable tangible when it comes to high school athletes.

Tom went after the best players for his system, and you can bet Bo will do the same.

Both Pete Carrol and Bob Stoops won the national championship by installing a working system that included most of the same players that previously saw losing seasons. It wasn't until after winning, that the "star" players started showing intrest.

Recruit the very best kids you can get to fit your system - mix that in with hoem grown kids that have done nothing but dream of playing for Nebraska - toss in good coaching to mature the talent and you have what Tom Osborne experienced over his years of coaching. Success in the Mid-West.

Enjoy the time between now and the Bowl game husker fans. This was something I sorely missed last year. Having the season end after Colorado was, well, Just not the Nebraska Way!

NDHusker

Hard Numbers

With all the top coaches Nebraska could have gone after last year, does it surprise anyone that Tom went after Bo Pelini? I mean, really, is Pelini the right guy for Nebraska?

Time will surely tell.

The more I look at the numbers, the more I love the decisions that Tom made this year.

First - hiring Bo (a defensive guy) is going to be huge and here's why:

In 2004, Nebraska vs conference opponents score an average of 22.3 ppg - vs winning teams it dropped to 16.8 ppg - and against the 3 ranked AP teams Nebraska could only muster 12.3 ppg.

2005, vs conference opponents 25.1 ppg - against winning teams 26.1 - and against ranked AP (2 games) averaged 27.5

2006, vs conference opponents 27.0 ppg - against wining teams 24.3 - and against ranked AP (4 games) averaged only 12.8

2007, vs conference opponents 32.1 ppg - against winning teams 23.8 - and against ranked AP (4 games) averaged 25.3

How did this offense rank nationally?

(Against conference opponents) - (against winning teams) - (against ranked AP opponents)

2004 - (NU ranked 80) (ranked 87) (ranked 79)
2005 - (NU ranked 67) (ranked 36) (ranked 14)
2006 - (NU ranked 29) (ranked 28) (ranked 66)
2007 - (NU ranked 34) (ranked 57) (ranked 31)

Many fans, including myself, saw the improvement in the offense between 2004 and 2005. Now this is not total offense but scoring offense.

But after the 2005 season, Nebraska went down hill and never came close to reaching their offensive level of the 2005 season. Remember to, I have thrown out the teams that did not have a winning record outside of conference play.

What is this telling me?

Tom not only made the correct choice in selecting a defensive minded head coach, but he had the presents of mind to hold on to Shawn Watson. Look at the offensive numbers against winning and AP opponents. Although not outstanding, they are very good.

Bill's offense hit it's peek in 2005 and was never going to go any higher. Shawn is going to take this offense, mixed with a little ole fashion power running and option, and be very effective with it.

This is also going to take some pressure off the defense and keep them on the sidelines a bit longer. Our defense had little to no chance last year as they were off the field and then right back on.

We do not need to score quickly to win, but we do need to score effectively.

For me, the season is going to start against Virginia Tech. We have had problems in the past winning quality games and this one is going to be good.

Let's get the season underway - I am ready!

GBR

NDHusker

All stats taken from cfbstats.com