Moves, Departures Make News Among Arrivals

I’m sort of like, well, we did alright yesterday.  We didn’t do great, we didn’t do terrible.  But I can’t help but think we, at most, foul tipped when we swung for the fences with this class.  I really don’t understand Fuller going to a team all the way across the country to play in a different system, almost guaranteeing he will play DB in college.  Also, Peat going to Stanford…where they signed 6 or whatever OL.  And does it really matter where you go when you major in “Professional Football”?  Two positions of need for us and we let them slip through…we should have had the inside track on both.  Also, I’m really disappointed we didn’t do better at DB in this class when it was a major position of need.  In the end, Michigan took another huge step forward, just like they did this past season, while we’ve been standing in place.  We’ve put ourselves squarely in second place in the Legends now and with each of these shortcomings, our primary goal becomes harder to reach.

Mase-

I’m going to have to strongly disagree with you. We swung for the fence and hit a GS! Yeah we lost out on Peat but that wasn’t a huge need for us this year. We NEEDED LBs and DTs to fill spots and add depth with the B1G schedule and we killed it! We took VV from Florida and Curry from Iowa. We also landed Rose, Afalava and Brown at LB. Those are 3 kids that alot of schools were chasing. You throw in Anderson, JUCO #1 LB, and Pelini and Co. did an outstanding job! I think one reason we don’t see a standout HS CB is the fact they are banking on Charles Jackson to come in still. Pelini said they still have scholarships available and will cross that bridge when they come to it, meaning he’s probably sure he will come in late, alot like Braylon Heard who is moving to CB. Do you remember a guy named Prince Amukamara? I’m not sure but I think he was a 3 star RB recruit coming out. I could really care less about Fuller as well. As you said, he’ll end up playing on the defensive side or not at all. Tommy Armstrong has all the tools and more to succeed under Beck. Michigan did have a “great” class by stars. Yeah the class was larger, but they also had more leaving. Think about this, would you rather have a ton of 4 and 5 star pri-madonnas that need press conferences and catered to 24/7 or the 3 star and JUCO kids that haven’t had it all handed to them that are hungry and will work their butts off for playing time? Only time will tell how good of class we have but I’m sure this will be the game-changer all Husker Nation has been looking for. I didn’t even get into what else we got our hands on but if you haven’t read about them do it now, Jordan Westerkamp, Imani Cross and Greg McMullen.

GBR!

fanTAStic move in switching Heard to corner.
He has the athletic ability to become a dominant shut-down corner if he is able to pick up the technique well.

Make no mistake, I’m definitely on the bandwagon with a lot of these guys.  I think we have a good class…just failed once again to really make waves.  Numbers or not, the other major schools in our conference did - heck, Missouri even made hay down the stretch.  We seem to always miss on the big names we try to close on, whether it’s earlier or on signing day.  Maybe I put too much emphasis on Fuller/Peat…I just really liked what I saw from them and hoped they would be N.  I do believe that some of these guys will surprise.  I will give you that Pelini seems to go hard after guys that haven’t peaked, that can develop into really good players if things come together for them (and who really want to be at Nebraska).  I also would like to see Jackson make it as that would help a lot.  It’s good that Pelini doesn’t give up on these players when they don’t make it in initially.  I guess in the end, it’s what we already have that is most important right now and we really need some guys to have a monster spring!

I’m not an expert at judging recruiting classes, but I think this class looks very good and has a lot of potential. I think you two (David & Mase) are on to at least part of why we don’t get the big names generally at Nebraska. We all know Bo’s personality along with his conservative values. In addition to the things you guys mentioned (not wanting premadonna’s and wanting players that genuinely want to be here) I honestly wonder if Bo would even take half of the top ranked 4 and 5 star kids.  I see him taking a reasonably talented player with a humble, respectful and hard working personality over the most talented player who is selfish, disrespectful, not willing to give his all and who may be prone to causing dissention among the team. That’s just an example and obviously is not always the case, but I would bet the really talented ones who have had the spotlight on them, who may not have had to work as hard, would more often be the ones to bring those “non-team-player” traits in the door if Bo’s ideals lined up with those 4 and 5 star rankings that seem to over-excite so many others.

Plus, you never know about high school seniors. I was listening to the radio today at work, and there was some highly touted recruit who had a name that would make anyone say “who would name their kid that”, (he was named after some romantic figure in literature - can’t remember but a ridiculous name) and he switched and left the school high and dry at the last minute and went to Auburn (I think?) because…get this…they have a ChicFila on campus!
Ohio State had a huge recruiting class and so did Michigan. But after that, no one had a better class than we did. And I think only 2 other schools nationally had better classes that had as few recruits as we did. We got some great guys, really. And we got a lot of great players last year that haven’t even seen the field yet! Lots of 4 star linemen. That’s good man!

It’s not the number of star’s the kid is rated at that counts, it’s how does he fit the system the coach runs.  Coach O rarely had top 10 classes, yet we all know what he accomplished.  I think Big Red took in a solid class that will be hungry and play through the whistle.
Besides, the huskers have played well against nearly everyone, until we start turning the ball over.  take those mistakes away and our boys are in every ball game last year.  Ball control and a positive turnover margin would have won 2 more games last year against quality opponants.

I agree with Wb63. For example the recruiting class of 1991 was ranked number 28 and they were arguably one of the most dominating classes in college football history.