[Husker] Summarizing

Wed Aug 27 09:08:55 CDT 2008

I have been staying out of this discussion since I felt Bob was so far off base that there was no way to bring him back.  However, your comment is about "rarely to we get a walkon good enough to be offered a scholarship" is pretty far off base too.  Current walkons who earned scholarships are Todd Peterson (Pederson?) at WR and Teafatiller at TE.  Two more walkons prominent on the two deeps include Wortman at LB (starter) and Caputo (future starter) at Center who haven't yet received scholarships, but should shortly.  Nebraska history is rife with walkons who have stepped into starter roles -- on average two per year.  
If you make a general observation that only one third of most scholarship recruits ever reach starter status (not exact, but close), then two starters per year equate to six additional scholarships per year.  yes, I know it takes 30 or so walkons to generate those two starters, but so what?  It is like "found money."  And don't forget the added benefits mentioned by many (more and better training reps, attitude, et al).
The flip side of your comment is also illuminating.  Last year, NU recruited nearly 40 walkons.  ALMOST ALL OF THEM received  scholarship offers from other schools (many D1) and two of them even started at other D1 schools (the OL from KSU and the defensive player from U of Ohio).
The '95 team (best of all time) had six former walkons starting.  And the above data doesn't even come close to including special teams starters, punters and kickers.
Nebraska needs walkons because we can't attract the five star talent out of Florida, Texas and California (roughly half the NFL talent base) when competing with UF, FSU, UMiami, UTexas, and USC. The three stars who were bypassed by UTexas et al -- yes, we can get those but not the Adrian Pederson's. They want to stay home so their families can see them.  They certainly don't want to go to the middle of nowhere to play for some farmer fan base (the image held by the talent rich population areas).  To be successful, NU needs to find the diamonds in the rough (the Carrikers, et al), pick the occasional star from the talent bases (Lucky), cherry pick the midwest area (Wistrom), secure the local talent (Steinkulers) and augment the balance with walkons.  And mentioning Lucky, we did get this five star athlete, but he wasn't offered by USC.
Walkons don't secure the top talent level of the team, but they do fill in those areas where the stars haven't developed as expected (Peterson and Wortman this year).  Think of the talent level as peaks and valleys where the walkon group fills in the valleys, increasing the average talent of all starters.  But even beyond that, there are something like 16 former walkons who have played in the NFL for more than one season.  Nothing to sneeze at.
Two starters per year where you need them the most is a pretty valuable commodity.  An NFL player every second or third year is even more impressive (most recently Stewart Bradley).
Duane Feldman

----- Original Message ----
From: Mike and Kel <mikelp73 at peoplepc.com>
To: Bob Beach <baseballguy at neb.rr.com>; Husker List <husker at tssi.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 5:39:58 PM
Subject: Re: [Husker] Summarizing

Bob,

When have you ever tried to get the last word in on a subject? Just kidding : ) Appreciated your comments but just disagreed with them. One other thought that I had was rarely we do get a walk-on that is good enough to be offered a scholarship - and has offers from other schools -but has a family that is financially secure enough to pay his own way.

Bring on WMU.

Mike

-----Original Message-----
>From: Bob Beach <baseballguy at neb.rr.com>
>Sent: Aug 26, 2008 10:16 AM
>To: Husker List <husker at tssi.com>
>Subject: [Husker] Summarizing
>
>
>
>      We were discussing the walk on program last weekend.  I am not 
>trying to have the last word but as I think about things I am not sure I 
>did a good job of explaining myself.  First and foremost I am not 
>against the walk on program.  If the team can find a diamond in the 
>rough on occasion and at the same time make the fans feel good I am all 
>for it.  My feeling, though it helps on occasion, if the NCAA would rule 
>that walk on programs be eliminated would it severely hinder the Husker 
>program?  I really doubt it.  That is really all I was trying to say.
>
>
>    I also made the statement that with the walk on program population 
>were the school is located shouldn't be a huge factor.  I know on the 
>list the sentiment was what kind of dummy is this guy?  Of course if you 
>have more people there are more to pick from.  It's that obvious.  Bob 
>just doesn't get it.  Here is where I was coming from.  When you are 
>talking recruiting then population ala Texas, Ohio State, USC, Florida, 
>Florida State, and the like have an advantage in that they don't have to 
>travel as far to recruit.  Pete Carroll has more quality recruits in the 
>city of Los Angeles than NU has in the whole state of Nebraska.  That, 
>and the recruits build a base that want to go to those schools from a 
>large population base.  I get that. Walk ons don't come from the general 
>population.  They come from the student population.
>
>
>      But, schools are not limited to recruiting within the boundaries 
>of the state they are in.  NU can recruit the same kids as can any other 
>school.  They may have to travel farther to do it but they can do it.  
>With the exception of a few years NU seems to recruit very well.  So, 
>now you recruit and fill out your 85 scholarships which would consist of 
>Freshman, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors.  Every school can have 85 
>players on scholarship so no one is at an advantage that way.  Now, 
>after all that is done you can take walk ons.  And, one would want to 
>limit how many can walk on.  It really wouldn't be too manageable if 200 
>kids walked on and your first priority is still the scholarship 
>players.  I can see where a walk on program can be helpful and can see 
>where you may get to rely on it somewhat.  But if it is vital I am not 
>convinced.  Because of what I just mentioned I don't still see why NU 
>needs walk ons to stay competitive any more than anyone else.  If they 
>have walk ons and they help then great.  But is it essential to NU's 
>success?
>
>
>      Thanks for allowing me to ramble.  I really appreciated all of the 
>comments on this.  Obviously, I don't agree with some of the opinions 
>but if everyone agreed all the time lists like this would be pretty 
>dull.  This may not be my last word on wal ons forever but I'll drop it 
>now for a while.
>
>
>Bob Beach
>
>
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