[NU Sports] Where do we go from here?

[DPENDERG at aol.com]

My central point is not, as you suggest, the "bigotry of low expectations"  
but the irrefutable fact that we have had little success recruiting top-quality 
 DBs and we need to think very deliberately what we are going to do about  
it.  If there are DB recruits who are strong academically, why are we not  
getting them (and, we should have a big-time advantage with them given the  
University's national reputation)? Or, if we are excluding others who are  NCAA 
eligible, then in the highly competitive business of D-IA football,  is it really a 
good choice to leave us vulnerable and undermanned in a  key skill position? 
 
Bottom line is that over the past five years, we have had statistically one  
of worst defenses in D-IA football.  Mainly because of the porous defensive  
secondary.  I know some think that the D coaches are to blame and when we  
change them, then everything will be all right. I'm not convinced.  Walker  and 
staff have done a reasonably good job recruiting offensive players (and some  DL 
and LB as well), but we have been conspicuously unsuccessful attracting DB  
talent with strong coverage skills.  This problem must be  somehow corrected or 
we will continue to see the pathetic defensive  collapses that have become a 
regular feature of the Walker Era at NU.  
 
 
In a message dated 9/26/2005 4:10:07 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
jeffb at hilgraeve.com writes:

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.   
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