February 03, 2010

Well I've been uber busy compiling up information for Husker Baseball and working on my internship. Today is all about one topic: Recruiting

THE HOT LIST:

1. Husker Recruiting Class 2010 Breakdown
2. What does a 5-star recruit actually mean?
3. Husker Recruiting Needs for 2011

1. Well its official, Nebraska inked 21 new recruits today. As with any recruiting class there was some excitement and disappointment. Nebraska received two surprising commitments today in Corey Cooper and Brion Carnes. Both were slated to make college choices at other programs today but decided to put on the Husker Red and ink with Nebraska. The loss obliviously today was when Owa spurned the Husker today for UCLA. Its amazing how many people across the Husker nation were extremely disappointed in Owa and upset at how Rick at UCLA snagged a stud from Oregon. But a interesting question has to be asked about why Owa chose to be Bruin. Most people think the impact of what Suh did was a major player in why Nebraska should have signed him. The reality of it is that maybe Owa thought that coming to Nebraska may have made a bigger shadow for him that Owa may have not have been ready to step out of. Look theres no question if he came to Nebraska that the expectations for him would be monumental. I think that by going to UCLA he can remain close to his mom, which hate to say it was a major factor in his recruiting, and make his own legend at a program that didn't just have a guy do the same thing from his home town. I wish him the best of luck, it days like these that make us take a step back into how much stock we put into recruiting because clearly the business is outta control and can easily consume our lives.

Nebraska inks what I think is a pretty good class with 11 guys on defense and 10 on offense. Pretty balanced if you ask me. I think the biggest signees are Carnes, Cooper, Hardrick, Harper, and Rome. These are the guys that I feel could make an immediate impact at Nebraska although I do feel that Carnes has a bigger mountain to climb with Cody Green already getting first team reps. The scary thing that we have to start considering is that kids at QB and RB may decide to start leaving the program due to the number of kids we have on scholarship at those positions. Nebraska has already secured a commitment for the 2011 class at QB and sometimes chose to leave a program when they feel like they are buried on the depth chart and not getting any playing time.

I think all in all its a solid class of talent that doesn't have to be too flashy at the national level to be key pieces to the future of the success of the program.

2. I thought I would take some time to discuss what I think about what a 5-star kid actually means. I think in today's society waaaay to much hype is put into 18-19 year old kids before they have even laced up a football cleat for their institution. Clearly its a multi-million dollar business that is outta control right now putting stock and faith into kids...just kids. Look at the last "5-star" kid to actually make an impact at Nebraska. The answer...Demario Williams. He was the last big time recruit that came to Nebraska and made an impact on the football field. Its still unclear what Baker will do, but today's society has placed unfair expectations on these high recruits to be Heisman winners, major award winners, All-Americans, and make themselves become legends at their institutions. Could anyone have predicted what Suh would have done when he came to Nebraska in 2005. Yes he was a 4-star kid, but I don't think anyone would have expected the impact that he left at Nebraska in 4 years. It clearly shows that you can't put that much stock into the star rating system that we all have seemed to become infatuated with. Marlon Lucky, Andre Jones, and Zach Bowman really never lived up the 5-star expectations at Nebraska. I'm sure for those fans who live in the world where 5-star kids make or break your program...you'll be sorely disappointed again when a few more 5-star kids don't pan out at Nebraska. I'll call it that it'll happen again.

3. With the 2010 class in the books, we can turn our attention the 2011 class. I won't name any names that Nebraska should land, because I don't put that much stock into the ratings system. What I look at is the positions that Nebraska needs to address the most. Heading into 2010 Nebraska losses Pierre Allen on DE, Prince at CB, Eric Hagg at CB, Roy Helu, Alex Henery, Adi Kunalic, Ricky Henry, Mike McNeil, Ricky Thenarse, and Dreu Young at TE.

The high needs for 2011 are TE, DB, RB and a kicker (two). I think ideally Nebraska needs to land two kickers (one kick off specialist, one place kicker), Three defensive backs, a safety, two running backs, and two tight ends. These are likely of high interest for this team. I do think that this is the prime opportunity to seek some hot WR's to this group as well by landing 2 of them. Either way I do anticipate that Nebraska will look to sign a bigger class of kids next year somewhere in the 25-28 range with the max at 30. For those that live the hype of recruiting 24/7 now is the time to turn your focus to the 2011 recruits.

I'm planning on blogging again tomorrow before retiring for my birthday weekend. Till then...Skocz Out and Go Big Red!!!