Huskers Use Late Visits to Woo Walk-ons
8 comments so far
January 26, 2009 by
With only a few spots left in the 2009 recruiting class, Nebraska used this past weekend to solidify their position with some potential walk-ons.
Linebacker Eric Martin was expected to visit Lincoln over the weekend. The three-star prospect out of California, would give the Huskers three linebackers in this class. The Huskers had as many as four commitments before it became apparent that Earnest Norman and Emerson Evans wouldn’t be coming to NU. Clearly it’s a spot the coaches have identified as a position of need and Martin is ranked higher by sites like Rivals.com and Scout.com than either of those players. Arizona and Arizona State are also in the running for his services.
Wide receiver L’Damian Washington of Louisiana is 6’4� and 185 lbs. He’s said to have offers from Missouri, Minnesota, Louisiana Tech, Tulsa, and Louisiana-Lafayatte in addition to Nebraska. He’d add another big body to the receiving corps of NU. He’s said to be highly interested in the Huskers.
Ron Kellogg Jr. is a walk-on prospect from Omaha who was also the MVP of NU’s quarterback camp last summer, which included 90 high school quarterbacks, including some three-star prospects. Cody Green was also at the camp but was hobbled by an ankle injury.
Ty Kildow is an undersized but fast wide receiver and return specialist from Omaha (5’7�) who will walk-on at Nebraska.
Brodrick Nickens is an intriguing offensive line prospect from Alliance, Nebraska. Listed at 6’6.5� and 286 lbs., he has the kind of size the Huskers have sought out, particularly at tackle. Like last year’s Brian Thorson, he’d seemingly have a real opportunity to compete in a few years when the mass graduations happen on the offensive line after the 2010 season.
Safety Wil Richards will visit. At 5’10� and 177 lbs., he doesn’t jump out on paper, though he does have offers to play at military academies. While the Huskers have a number of defensive backs both on campus and in the recruiting class, Richards would hardly be the first walk-on to get playing time at safety.
Next weekend the Huskers are scheduled to host three-star defensive tackle prospect Justin Brown. Brown has a slew of offers including Colorado, Oregon, Arizona State, New Mexico, Boise State, Washington and Washington State.
Only a week and a half remains before players sign letters of intent. Aside from grabbing the last few scholarship players, locking up some good walk-ons seems like a good move.
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zE bOp Jan 26 09
Looks pretty good, but I'm still a little confused as to why NE, which now passes alot, is not seeming to attract more blue chip type WRs.
Would think we'd be more competitive now recruiting for that position.
JBLING22 Jan 26 09
The biggest advantage Nebraska has in this day.. the walkons . Kids are growing up and choosing to walk on to Nebraska then take scholarships else where.. The deeper the talent pool the better, especially when we are not yet able to recruit the big time recievers and other position players.. Not only do they add to the talent pool, they bring the right type of attitude with them.. Maybe these guys aren't the 5 stars guys everyone talks about, but Im guessing well have more walk ons contributing down the road then 5 stars.. The walkons come in knowing they have a lot to prove to get on the field and will work their arse's off to get it... 5 stars just expect to get playing time....
Steve Jan 26 09
Ze,
I realize Nebraska's not yet Wideout-U but I'd say the recruiting's been pretty respectable. Niles Paul, Mo Purify, Chris Brooks, Frantz Hardy and Mark LeFlore all were 4-star recruits (per Rivals.com) and there have been a bunch of three-star guys there too. It may not be the haul that USC gets, but not bad.
zE bOp Jan 27 09
Steve^^,
I dunno, me thinks those guys are overrated. Brooks hasn't done squat, but I guess still has a chance. Mo P was very good, but needed more time, more yrs here to be great.
Frantz Hardy, forget it, inconsistent. LeFlore, did he even play?
Niles Paul is still young, but looks like he was getting more solid this year. I expect alot outta that guy. He was supposed to be a great KO returner, which he was the guy, but Swifty beat him out as a punt returner.
Menelik Holt is going to be the go to guy, he was getting better and better.
Gilleylen could be a real weapon if he could catch and break some tackles.
I like McNeill alot!
I dunno, I give our receiving corps a "B" at this point. We dont' have any 'scarey' guys.
I'm just thinking though, a school like USC has great guys about 3 deep, you'd think some of those guys woulda wanted to come to NE so they could play and not wait around the whole time.
Swifty and Pete are going to be missed... It's funny that Swift and Ganz turned out to be our biggest difference makers considering there lowly recruiting ranking.
I just see alot of middle of the road teams that look like they have some great rcvrs--UNC, Pitt, those types of teams, and I'm thinking, why can't we get those types of guys more easily?
Andy Jan 27 09
zE bOp-
The question you asked was why don't we get more blue chip WRs. I would interpret that to mean guys highly rated coming out of HS (or JuCo), ie 4 and 5 star players. We have gotten them. They just haven't panned out. Moving forward, if we continue to push towards a spread option type scheme, we will probably see more guys like Swift and Pete, not burners, but sure handed guys who make tough catches in tight spots. If our recievers make the catches when they count, who cares how many stars they had?
zE bOp Jan 27 09
Well, I generally agree that a guy like Swift is more valuable than, say, Dez Bryant, who drops the ball 30% of the time.
But if those receivers we got are 4-5 star, than I say they were overrated, though who knows, maybe Paul will break out at some point, just don't see it now.
donfl Jan 28 09
Zebop, how much more blue chip can you be than Swift and Peterson, did ya even watch some of the catches they made this year? Gimme another set of WRS like these two and I'll be happy!!
zE bOp Jan 30 09
Hey, I've been saying all along that Nate Swift would be my 1st pick at WR, if I had a team, from any other of the glamour receivers in the conference.
But Swift and Peterson are more like blue collar guys, they are not generally viewed as blue chippers, mainly because they lack big time speed to stretch the field.