[NU Sports] Where do we go from here?

[Jeff Beamsley]

Hopefully you didn't mean what it appears that you said.

What I read is that the reason we have had problems at DB is that those who
play that position well aren't smart enough to get into NU.  On top of that,
you threw out a generalization about other schools with strong academic
standards and suggested that they must have "bent" their rules in order to
recruit the good CB's that they have, so we should contemplate doing the
same thing.  Unless you can put some data behind that claim, it smacks of
the same sort of "everybody knows" bigotry that has been used to oppress
minorities for centuries. I really have a tough time believing that this
sort of stuff still gets a pass in this day and age.

If you figure the best of the college players are the ones who end up
playing in the NFL, then the data there could provide some insight.  The
Wonderlic data by position from NFL starters shows that highest scores are
shared by Safties, QB's, and Centers.  We don't seem to have a problem
recruiting QB's or Centers. Why should we have a problem recruiting DB's?

There are great DB's getting great grades in HS and great entrance exam
scores all over the country who would love to come to NU.  The schools
you've cited along with others like Stanford seem to find them.  We only
need to find a couple of them every year to meet our needs.  This is a
problem of ineffective recruiting not defective genetics.

Jeff


 





 

-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On
Behalf Of DPENDERG at aol.com
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2005 9:00 AM
To: nwu-sports at romaine.tssi.com
Subject: [NU Sports] Where do we go from here?

The very disappointing loss on Saturday only exposed again the chronic
weakness in the secondary which has plagued the Cats for the last five
years.  When our top defensive back (Cole) gets burned twice by -- in my
view -- a very mediocre Penn State quarterback, then we cannot hide from the
fact that the talent level back there is at best suspect and poor at worst.

 
I know some think our defensive preparation and schemes (courtesy of  
Colby/Brown) are responsible, but I still return always to the recruiting.
We just 
don't have the horses.  While Walker does a good job  recruiting QBs, WRs
and RBs, why hasn't there been more focus on CBs  and safeties, especially
since that has been our most glaring weakness? 
 
It might be observed that the top DBs are often weak academically and
simply cannot qualify for Northwestern.  If we accept that proposition,
however, we permanently handicap ourselves and will continue see wide open
receivers wandering around our secondary with predictable results.  Perhaps
this is heresy, but the University may have to look at those academic
standards  if we want to play consistently well.  Let's face it.  The CBs at
Notre Dame, Michigan, Virginia or other fairly "selective" schools probably
would not be admitted 
without their football credentials, but they are.   D-IA football is a 
business, period, and if we're going to compete, then I  really believe we
cannot hide behind sanctimonious pretensions of academic  purity.  Unless we
get some highly skilled DBs (and admittedly there are  fewer of them than
RBs or WRs, which makes recruiting tougher), we will continue  to see the
horrific displays we have seen the last two weeks.  
_______________________________________________
nwu-sports site list
nwu-sports at tssi.com
http://romaine.tssi.com/mailman/listinfo/nwu-sports