Early Recruiting Gets Interesting

9 comments so far April 7, 2008 by Steve Hanway

Most of the recruiting of Nebraska’s class of 2009 is still to be done. However, the early offers that the Huskers have reportedly made (per Scout.com) give an indication of what may lay ahead. In particular there have been a few patterns among the early offers that are worth noting.

Defensive Line Help Wanted
Perhaps the least surprising pattern of early offers has been that a quarter of them have been made to defensive linemen. It’s no secret that the Huskers need help on the defensive line and so they have been aggressive in addressing the need.

New Terrain
More interesting is where they’re looking. Gaithersburg, Maryland is the hometown of defensive ends coach John Papuchis and is home of the defending state football champion. Two standout linemen from Gaithersburg reportedly hold offers from Nebraska. While those linemen would be nice gets, what’s really nice to see is the Huskers re-establishing an east coast presence in a talent-rich area. Penn State and Virginia Tech are the only major programs that can lay any territorial claim to the D.C.-Baltimore areas (unless you want to call Maryland or Virginia major programs). But with over 8 million people in the region, there are plenty of talented prospects to be had. There’s no reason for the Huskers not to get a foothold here like they once did in New Jersey.

Mobile Quarterbacks
Husker fans may have wondered how Shawn Watson’s new “Nebraska Offense” might differ in philosophy from the west coast offense and whether he’d want to recruit a new kind of athlete. With a number of rushing threats among the eight quarterbacks the Huskers have reportedly offered, it’s clear that the long-term vision for the offense looks a great deal like the present. Dual-threat guys like Joe Ganz, Zac Lee, and Kody Spano very much seem to fit the profile of the quarterbacks receiving offers for 2009. It makes sense given the problems that mobile quarterbacks have given Bo Pelini’s defenses in the past. He’s said his influence on the offense would come from things that he finds hard to defend. Lo and behold, they continue to seek out dual-threat passers.

Rangy Offensive Lineman
The Huskers have reportedly offered five offensive tackle prospects with the following heights: 6’4”, 6’5”, 6’7”, 6’7”, and 6’9”. It’s not hard to imagine Chris Freeman, the tallest of that group hearing from men’s basketball coach Doc Sadler to provide some help on the hardwood. These long bodies on the offensive line have very much been the prototype under Bill Callahan. These offers are another sign that the offensive profile won’t change and that the short term outlook matches the long-term vision for the offense. The Huskers likely have most of what they need in-house already to do what they want on offense.

The Rest
If anything else is noteworthy, it’s that nothing else is all that noteworthy. In other words, there doesn’t appear to be any screaming needs that have the coaches offering a dozen tight ends, or a half-dozen safeties. While the evaluation of the roster is still underway, there don’t appear to have been early indicators of deficiencies that sent these coaches running after one position or another. For example, they appear to have only offered one linebacker a scholarship. That shows some faith in both the kids on the current roster, as well as the batch of recruits they landed in January. In that way, no news is good news.

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