Wanted: Offensive Recruits
12 comments so far
December 7, 2007 by
You’d have to think that the hiring of Bo Pelini will give the Huskers an excellent chance to retain the defensive recruits that have committed to Nebraska or to replace them with other players. The Huskers also appear likely to meet their needs on the offensive line and at tight end. Offensively, that leaves…well…everything else.
After next season, the Huskers will have only two scholarship quarterbacks with eligibility. They’ll need more. The upcoming class needs to include one to two more. Blaine Gabbert would seem hard to lure back from Missouri, but James Vandenberg, Iowa’s all-time leading passer could become a Husker. Beyond those two, Nebraska doesn’t appear real close on any other quarterbacks.
With the Huskers losing a slew of wide receivers this year (Maurice Purify, Terrence Nunn, Frantz Hardy, and Dan Erickson) and next (Todd Peterson and Nate Swift) new faces will be needed to fill the holes. So far aside from trying to keep juco transfer Adrian Hilburn and lure back D.J. Woods, there’s been little action toward bolstering the receiving corps.
The Huskers have running back options, but they can quickly be depleted. Marlon Lucky could go pro, Cody Glenn could continue struggling with injuries, Major Culbert could be needed on defense, and Collins Okafor could opt to go elsewhere. That would leave only the three running backs from last year’s class (Quentin Castille, Roy Helu, and Marcus Mendoza) unless the Huskers poach another defender like Prince Amukamara to fill out the position. Fortunately, running back is one spot where teams can be late to the game and still find a good one. Brandon Jackson was a late recruit for Nebraska back in 2004.
The Huskers might also want to add a fullback. They don’t have a single scholarship player at that spot on the roster, nor do they appear real close to luring one to Lincoln. Of course, depending on the offense it may not be a need, but if it is then the Huskers have some work to do.
The fact that the Huskers are needy on offense makes sense. For weeks or even months it’s been apparent that the coaching staff at Nebraska would not be returning. Defensive guru Bo Pelini has been announced as the new head coach but so far no formal announcements have been made about the assistants that will be running the offense. Will Nebraska continue to run the West Coast offense? Will it be a spread option? A triple option? Until the coaching staff can get real specific about the future of the Husker offense, it will likely be a struggle to lock in commitments from offensive skill players. And particularly at quarterback and receiver, there’s no time to waste.
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doombob Dec 07 07
It will be simpler. I imagine we'll be coming out in some VERY different sets at times, with fewer plays in each set than we've had in the past. I don't believe we'll go into a "true" spread set with shotgun all the time and O-lineman far apart. But we will see spead-type plays. But above all, we will see plenty of running. Running wins games. Defense wins championships.
Bill in Iowa Dec 07 07
Instead of Cali's WCO, we are going to see Watson's WCO, with a few "wrinkles". Probably a little zone read option to utilize Ganz's running talent and maybe even a triple option package or a power-eye package to be utilized in different game situations. There is a reason a lot of the offensive coaches are being retained...there just isn't a need for disruptive wholesale changes on offense.
James Moore Dec 07 07
Did Kenny Wilson get a medical redshirt or not? It could be easier to plug these gaps than might be thought because it will be easier to give playing time since the playbook won't weigh 8+ pounds. Optimistic on getting offensive recruits. I hope that we can keep Compton, Mohler, Kuli (hear Oklahoma is emerging into his thinking), Givens and maybe get Trevor Robinson back (I think that we will). . .
steve Dec 07 07
James,
He'd certainly seem like a good candidate but I haven't heard anything officially. Truthfully, I'd sort of forgotten about Wilson. But his injury was so severe you really have to wonder if he'll ever be healthy enough to play again.
doombob Dec 07 07
Think of your body as a house. Your bones are your concrete foundation, your tendons and muscles are the 2x4's and structure. You can repair structure, but there's a reason that homes with badly cracked or damaged foundations can't sell. Even if you repair the foundation, you can't replace it totally - it will always be structurally weaker. That's why players who have had broken bones always slide in the draft (Herian).
James Moore Dec 08 07
Steve & Doombob,
Points well taken. I did not realize that his injury was comporable with Herian's. Horrible to hear. Think it goes without say that we all wish him the best. . .
Andrew Dec 08 07
I just read an article on Yahoo, where it was siad that atleast 3 recruits are thinking hard about leaving LSU, and commiting to NE. They are all defensive players however.
Bill in Iowa Dec 08 07
Bad news...James Vandenberg just committed to Iowa on the reassurance that Ferentz was not going to leave for Michigan. As bad as NU needs a QB for the years ahead...Iowa needs one even worse...like next year!
huskerranger Dec 08 07
To all,
I think that the husker program has a handle on getting what they need. now if we need to get a freshman quarerback the yr after next, maybe we will be able to pick up a peach of a player and we can start him his freshman yr. as far as receivers go,as long as you can find a mid star calliber player who is really tall or extremly fast,you can teach to catch and run correct routes. as far as fullbacks, i think we need one pretty bad, not only a fullback, but a slesenger(sp) type player. i think we can all rest assured that the defense is going to be alright. bo knows thats what needs the most work. the offense i think will be better next year and start making subtle changes to the big red big picture.
huskerranger
P.S. sorry about the spellings
kyle Dec 08 07
I think we are pretty set at wr, qb's and te we need to get some good linemen in the upcoming classes but overall i think the offense will be beast next year the line will be good we loose a few receivers but we have gotten a good amount of good players last years (niles paul and others) and we have a good amount at qb witt, ganz, zac lee we might want to pick up a good qb next year but we dont need to rush. For running backs we have a good amount but stars never equal success.
Defense needs a huge over hall but we got a good guy for that
Greg Morrow Dec 08 07
There's plenty of offensive players out there, just not as many with 3 or 4 *'s after their name.
One thing about Callahan's approach, he seemed to recruit players to play the same positions they excelled at, in High School.
Nebraska's little run of recruiting 6'4" wideouts could be over. A couple of young ones are currently on the roster. Hopefully, they don't transfer out.
Nebraska may go back to recruiting good HS runningbacks to play receiver and undersized fast guys who may not have been top HS receivers. Plenty of those guys around.
My point is, the evaluation and projection process most likely will have to be re-tooled.
Osborne offering a scholarship to Micah Kreikemeier is an obvious example.
Callahan may not have even heard of Micah Kreikemeier.
Don't want to disparage him, though. He could turn out to be a fine football player.
Bill in Iowa Dec 09 07
Greg...I too, at first, had doubts about Micah K. until I read that Osborne told him he saw him on film and he reminded Osborne of Trev Alberts. When I read that, I was reminded that Trev also went to a very small school in Iowa and was overlooked by everyone but Iowa and Iowa State. The only reason Nebraska offered Trev was because an alum shot off a game film to TO. Osborne is a genuis at evaluating talent. In the case of Trev Alberts, it resulted in Big Eight Freshmen of the Year, 2 time All American, 8th overall NFL draft pick. All of this is to say, if TO compared Micah to Trev Alberts, then this kid has the goods.