Junior College Recruiting Revisited
6 comments so far
March 17, 2008 by
Prior to the Bill Callahan era, the prevalent opinion among Husker fans seemed to be that it was better to build most of your team with high school players as opposed to junior college transfers. But as Callahan’s staff began to build their recruiting classes with a substantial number of juco players, many fans reluctantly agreed that it might be necessary in order to rebuild the roster in a short period of time.
Bo Pelini’s first recruiting class included two junior college players, both of whom had already been recruited by the Callahan regime. So far none of the initial twenty-seven players Scout.com indicates that Nebraska has offered scholarships to for 2009 come from the junior college ranks. So it’s not hard to believe that the Huskers’ recruiting strategy has been altered to include fewer and perhaps even no junior college players.
However, as the 2008 NFL draft approaches, we are forced to confront an inescapable fact. That is, that most of the Huskers “draftworthiest” players were recruited from the junior college ranks (namely Carl Nicks, Zackary Bowman, Maurice Purify, and Steve Octavien). Additionally, Sam Keller was a transfer (though from another Division I school).
Even if the aforementioned juco players are the only ones drafted from Nebraska it doesn’t necessarily prove that the Huskers need junior college players. First, you don’t recruit players based on NFL potential but rather on their ability to perform well at the college level. Second, it may be an indictment of the prior staff’s ability to develop high school talent (physically or otherwise) that more high school players haven’t emerged for the upcoming draft. And it’s even possible that the high school players that might otherwise have received the scholarships that went to the junior college players would have become pro prospects. We can also look ahead to the likely draft class of 2009 where the top picks for Nebraska might all have come from the high school ranks (e.g. Marlon Lucky, Ndamukong Suh, Matt Slauson, Barry Turner, and Zach Potter).
But we certainly wouldn’t want to see Nebraska rule out junior college players entirely, either. Even in the best of times the Huskers have had a few junior college players on the roster (think Mike Rozier, Terrell Farley, and Michael Booker). It would be premature to think Pelini’s staff has done that, just because they’ve been slow to offer junior college players. Pelini has said on a number of occasions that he doesn’t really know what he has yet.
Once the team has gone through a full Spring the coaches will likely get a good sense of what their needs will be on the roster for 2009 and beyond. At that point, it would not be surprising to see offers made to a few junior college players to fill specific needs. Likewise, as the fall unfolds we might see some junior college players receive offers both as new needs are identified and as many of the top high school make their commitments known.
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doombob Mar 17 08
Kansas State is relying heavily on JUCO players for next year. Missouri Signed ZERO from the junior college ranks, Nebraska, a few. But KSU signed 19. NINETEEN. It signals Ron Prince wants to make a big push the next two or three years. Pelini seem to view it as a stop-gap for filling needs. We'll see who's got the right idea in about 3 or 4 years.
donfl Mar 17 08
Lest we forget Bill Snyder tried the same thing when he first arrived a KState. Guess where it got him? A quick improvement early and the need to continually replace the two year players with more JUCOs. I think BO is taking the correct approach in comitting to develop players who will be with the program for 4 years. I temper my comments by saying had it not been for Zach Taylor, a JUCO, BCs offense would have performed as poorly as the defense he fielded. GBR. doombob, you must be as big a NE as I am to check out the BRN as often as I do.
Greg Morrow Mar 17 08
As a fan, (as you know) you pretty much watch coaches do what they thinks best. Then you complain vehemently, or roll with it. I could see the reaching for JC QB's and WR's early on, but why all the other positions? There were so many "whiffs" from those '04 and '05 JC classes. H.S. guys could have at least developed over 5 seasons. Though I was alarmed that Callahan went soo heavily to JC's the first two classes, he continually said he was going to cut down on it. Which he did, his last two classes. I think his last two classes will soon be looked upon as his best, at all position groupings. Two good Nebraska classes, period. I'm sure he won't get too much credit for that, but just re-look at the players, from his '06 and '07 classes. That's the core of the team, sooner than later.
Micheal Booker was an HS guy, (El Camino HS Oceanside, I also have a nephew who goes there). If I recall correctly, the "triplets" were all a part of the '80 class, but Rozier couldn't qualify, so he went to Coffeyville for a year. I think that's how it went. He's one of the few guys who didn't qualify, then re-sign with Nebraska, like Ricky Henry. Jury's still out on big Ricky, though.
So, when you look at it, Nebraska historically went after JC guys to provide immediate depth and starting talent to the most glaring weaknesses. Devany's late 60's classes (influenced by Osborne, I'm told) had several who were major contributors on his championsip teams and I can think of Osborne's first 4 teams having several JC's on them.
Callahan just kinda went "scattershot" with it, imo.
ze bop Mar 18 08
Overall, i totally agree with the idea of building a team around h.s. players that are gonna be around for the duration. One obvious thing there is that they have more years to deal with delays due to injuries, jail sentences, ,MIA's, 'Beck Syndrome' and the like lol!
Keep the JUCOS to an absolute minimum, but yes, if there is a diamond in the rough from the JUCO ranks, by all means, GET 'EM'!
p.s., that blows me away how many JUCOS Queen Prince has gone after!
zE OUT!
ze bop Mar 18 08
sorry about the double posts, but my computer doesnt seem to 'link up' w this site very well....itsa pain in the ass, quite frankly...
brad Mar 25 08
Pelini isn't encountering an entirely different scenario than the one Callahan faced. Callahan inherited a team with massive holes in its depth and talent and didn't have the luxury of simply recruiting high schoolers from the get go.
If Pelini had taken over for Solich in 2003 and tried recruiting like he is now (with no JUCO's)he would have been completely screwed.
Solich salted the earth in Nebraska, especially on offense.