[Husker] Recruiting

[Mark Landin]

On 12/14/07, Rod Wellman <gobigred66 at mac.com> wrote:
> I don't follow recruiting very much, as far as reading the various
> boards or subscribing to Rivals, but I AM curious as to how many of
> our "commits" are still with us, how many have defected for sure and
> how many are on the bubble. I haven't seen a real comprehensive list
> anywhere.  I know Gray and Gabbert are pretty much gone, but are
> there any others who have jumped ship for sure?  How many "spots" do
> we have open to offer other kids right now?

DJ Woods, WR - WVU commit
Shaun Mohler, LB (JUCO) - CU commit

Numerous other players have indicated they are listening to offers and
taking visits to other schools, but none have de-committed that I know
of.

Of course, commitments at this time are verbal and non-binding on both
sides. Anything can, and likely will, happen between now and Signing
Day in February.

Gary asked:
>In reply to the question about the recruiting and why we don't seem to
>be hearing much about it - could it be that the current staff (starting with
>Coach Osborne) don't pay much attention to "Rivals.com" and their
>rating system?

There is a lot going on in recruiting. BP and TO spent most of the
last two weeks on the road visiting our existing commits. As for new
visits and commits, there is not a lot going on for anybody. Students
are wrapping up their seasons and semesters, a "no contact" period is
fast approaching, and those HS kids who haven't decided yet are likely
of a mind to wait until after the holidays to make a decision. I am
not sure how "ignoring" Rivals would have anything to do with
recruiting activity...

As for Rivals, I believe the vast majority of staffs do not use Rivals
or Scout as their recruiting bible. Those sites became popular due to
fans, not coaches.

I think some people have the impression Bill Callahan would say "Ted
[Gilmore], find out Rivals Top 100 list today and send each one a
scholarship offer", and accepted the first 20 or 25 that answered.
Notice that those Top 100 players are getting offers from every
football power. Whatever strategy Bill was using, it yielded roughly
the same set of players that OU and USC and Florida and LSU and Ohio
State were targetting, and we've seen that those schools have been
succesful with that caliber of athlete. Somehow Bob Stoops and Pete
Carroll and Urban Meyer are great evaulators of talent, but Bill is a
flop, even though they are chasing the same players?

I've seen others say "our players were overhyped and underdeveloped".
Well, you really can't have both. Which is it? Did we develop our
players to their fullest potential, but their potential just wasn't
that high? That's overhyped. Or did the players possess the potential
people expected them to have, but we just didn't get them to reach
that potential? That's underdeveloped. In my opinion, our players were
very undeveloped, whether that was technique, attitude, chemistry,
maturity, whatever. I firmly believe the existing returning
"overhyped" players will all of a sudden seem a lot more talented with
some solid coaching behind them.


-- 
"If hard work were such a wonderful thing, you'd think rich people
would have kept it all for themselves" - Lane Kirkland