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

More on the reply

Correct. Last year they also beat Western Michigan (going off memory here) I believe. If I were Minnesota, I wouldn't want to play them either. We literally had as many fans as they did!

Hurt, as in they are not going to get the talent that they did the last 4 years because Bill and company did not give a legitimate look at the local talent? Or hurt as in the left overs from Tom's years of running the walk-on program?

The first definitely! In 2 cases we have players that were willing to walk on next year rather than keep their scholarship from their current school, or have turned down scholarships to walk on at Nebraska.

The second, not so much. The interest the University of Nebraska produces in football is way to great for the school to handle. Many many kids each year want to play for the huskers. It is simply not possible. The ones that don't end up going to the smaller schools and do just fine.

Colorado, Colorado St are prime examples of this - the school that benefits from these two school (at least when I was following division 2) was one of NDSU's rivals in division 2, the Northern Colorado Bears. At the division 2 level they attributed a lot of success and talented athletes to the higher Division 1 schools.

I don't know that the football interest has dropped off in Nebraska, but there is going to renewed excitement in the air not that Tom is back and Bo is running the program

My reply to corn blight RE: Walk-ons

I did have the opportunity to talk with Tom Osborne on one occasion and this is one of the questions I asked of him. What is the strength in Nebraska's walk-on program? Tom said every once in a while a talented player will emerge, one that we over looked and make a big impact for us. But for the most part, these walk-on players bring a lot of Nebraska heart and soul to the recruits we bring in from out of state. Their work ethic is hard and they give 110% every practice. That effort and work ethic is transfered to the recruited players. Tom said the walk-ons (for the most part) do more behind the scenes than than actually on the field.

It also ties a small state community to Husker football. This is one of the most important factors of the walk-on program IMO. Any kid growing up in and around Lincoln knows they can have a shot, make a dream come true, to one day put on the scarlet and cream and possible play for one of the powerhouses in college football.

Craig Bohl has taken NDSU from division 2 up to division 1aa, has the support of the community and last year we beat Minnesota at the Metrodome and we had such a following that it felt like a home game.

The walk-on program has a knack for working in the mid-west when applied properly. I am not so sure it is beneficial to schools where a wealth of high school talent is readily available.

My two cents on the walk-ons

NDHusker

Tom Osborne's Success

I had the opportunity to ask Tom Osborne this very question, "what does it take to put a championship team together?"

He kind of smiled and went on to explain. He said first he started with the coaching staff. He liked continuity. He wasn't necessarily looking for the best coaches, but rather the best coaches for him, for Nebraska. Loyalty was big with Tom and his coaches, trainers, medical staff, etc.

Yes I am sure there were times that assistants would come and go, but not all to often as Tom looked for those that would be loyal. More often than not, Tom found those people. When he was considering the HC position in Colorado, he was going to make sure that he and as many assistants that wanted to come with him would be welcome. That was made very clear when he was offered the position.

Hiring the best assistant available might mean the assistants departure to a HC position in a few years. Hiring the best Loyal assistant ment more to Tom than simply the "best" available.

Family! Tom treated his staff like family!

I asked Tom about Irving Fryer as he was one of my favorite players. One I got to meet and talk to. Tom said Irving was an amazing young man. Very religious. Hard working. The years he played for Tom, he knew he was going to grow into a positive member of society. Very pleasant to be around and had a lot of positive energy. He went on a little more, never once mentioning his athletic ability. Finally Tom said and I quote, "Oh yea, and it turns out he was one heck of a football player too!" I just laughed. Tom cared so much about the individuals that came through his system and still does today! It is one of the admirable qualities of Tom Osborne. It saddens me to see individuals who know very little of Tom's life, judge him for a few incidents. Tom is truly a man with character.

Tom looked for those young men that would give 100% for the big red N on the field. They did not always come from Nebraska, but they all had Nebraska in their heart. Tom believed in the words John Wooden spoke, "we are like a father to these kids" and that is what Tom believed. It did not always work out but Tom always stuck to it. He believed his players were better off within the system where he could mentor them, rather than kicking them out of the system where he no longer had a influence on them. Did it always work out for the best? No. But more often than not it did. Tom believed these kids were important. Each and every one of them.

Tom's system fit the area in which he was coaching. This did take him some time to learn and perfect but he did. And with that given system he recruited players that fit. First in the Nebraska area, then outside the 500 mile radius of Lincoln. Local talent Tom believed was a key to keeping the fans, boosters, parents, community and high school kids happy and in turn the desire of the young athletes to play for NU kept the program alive.

Many of you know Craig Bohl and not many think too highly of him while he was at NU. And that's ok. I happen to think differently of him. Craig had taken what he learned from Tom and is applying it at NDSU today. He has got the community behind him using local talent when he can, one player was drafted from NDSU this past weekend and others were expected to possible be drafted. Two years ago they came very close to beating Minnesota, in Minnesota. This year they did! In Minnesota. And it was like a home game for the Bison as it sounded like more NDSU fans than Gophers.

Oh I am just a bit passionate about Tom's success. I believe I got a bit carried away, but know this, Bo is going to use the most valuable resource he has available to him, and that is the knowledge of GREATEST coach in college football history, Tom Osborne!

Parity

This is a little research I did last year when a certain Athletic Director from Nebraska (Steve Pederson) tried to explain why the Huskers were not always going to be on top like we were in the 90's. Thank goodness Tom and Bo are back to show, not only Nebraska, but the rest of college football that we CAN and WILL be a power football team once again.

Let me set the foundation first.

I looked at all of the teams that finished the year in the top 20 according to the AP poll (except in 1960's, had to use the coaches' poll as AP only ranked the top 10) starting in 1960 through last year.

Teams that ranked in the top 20 at least once per decade:

(1960-1969) 64 teams

(1970-1979) 54 teams

(1980-1989) 51 teams

(1990-1999) 57 teams

(2000-2006) 53 teams (and counting)

Of the 64 teams in the 1960's, (17) seventeen of them had at least 5 appearances in the top 20 including:

Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Arkansas, Ohio State, Alabama, Michigan State, Penn State, Syracuse, Purdue, Texas, UCLA, USC, Oregon State, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Tennessee.

Of these (17) seventeen schools, only 4 remained consistant through 1999:

Ohio State 8 top 20 finishes in the 70's

7 in the 80's

7 in the 90's

Alabama 9 top 20 finishes in the 70's

7 in the 80's

6 in the 90's

Penn State 9 top 20 finishes in the 70's

6 in the 80's

9 in the 90's

Nebraska 10 top 20 finishes in the 70's

10 in the 80's

9 in the 90's

With teams like Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Michigan State, Syracuse, Purdue and Oregon State dropping out of the "power" ranks (not having 5 or more years ranked in each of the next 3 decades 70's, 80's and 90's) that left room for other teams to emerge.

The 70's saw new comers Arizona State, Michigan, Auburn, Houston, Oklahoma and Maryland enter the ranks of at least 5 years ranked in the 70's. These 6 teams basically took the place of the 7 that dropped out (from whatever reason) in the 60's.

(3) three of these teams have consistantly been near the top in the remaining decades:

Michigan 10 top 20 finishes in the 70's

8 in the 80's

9 in the 90's

Auburn 5 top 20 finishes in the 70's

7 in the 80's

Oklahoma 10 top 20 finishes in the 70's

8 in the 80's

Although both Auburn and Oklahoma did not have 5 or more seasons in the 90's ranked in the top 20, they are both back in the current decade with over 5, Auburn (5) and Oklahoma (6).

The 1980's is where we saw the greatest number of new teams enter as possible future powers. All we ranked in the top 20 at least 5 of the 10 years:

Georgia, Pittsburgh, Florida State, BYU, Washington, Miami, SMU, Clemson, Iowa and LSU. (4) of these teams (Georgia, Flordia State, Washington and Miami) remained near the top in the 1990's. Miami, Georgia and the resurgent LSU squads each have 5 top 20 finishes this decade.

The 90's saw teams like Colorado (7 top 20 finish seasons), Florida (10 top 20 finish seasons), Texas A&M (8 top 20 finish seasons) and Kansas State (7 top 20 finish seasons).

2 out of the 4 additional powers in the 90's were opponents of Nebraska on a regular basis. Throughout the 90's, Nebraska not only had Oklahoma on their minds, but now had to contend with Colorado and Kansas State who were on the rise. Did that affect Nebraska? Hardly, only 3 national titles and a very impressive streak of 60-3.

Pittsburgh - interesting school to pick right? 5 times in the 80's Pitt finished in the top 20. 1989 Pitt was ranked 17th at the end of the year. In the past 17 years, they have ranked in the top 20 only 1 time since then, in 2002 they finished the year 19th.

Of the "power" programs over the last 4 decades, Ohio State is currently ranked 4th, Alabama (under new leadership) is currently unranked, Penn State is unranked, Nebraska is ranked 25th, Michigan is unranked, Auburn is unranked and Oklahoma is ranked 10th.

Every year and sometimes for a stretch of 3 years, teams come into the top 20 and then just like they came in, they drop out. Parity? Hardly. More like factors of a good recruiting year, excellent high school seniors, etc. All these play into teams having a good run. But the powers of college football, those that can consistently find a way to win, can overcome the ever changing game of college football.

Oh, this decade, there is only one team that has 5 or more seasons in the top 20 - Virginia Tech.

Nebraska - Once a team rich in power, now searching for a new identity.

Parity did not hit Nebraska like it did other schools. Parity hit Nebraska the day Steve Pederson announced that Frank Solich would no longer lead the Nebraska football team and that the team needed new leadership and direction to take them into the future.

NDHusker