The roster flip

[BubbaGene]

Good stuff here

 

[Show Me State Red]

So far the only thing that makes me believe that the future is bright is the strength of the walk on program.

It looks like a lot of good kids, players who would have gotten offers from schools like South Dakota State, etc have decided to come to Lincoln and get developed into Cornhuskers like in the good old days.

With the 85 scholarship rule and the low population density in our recruitment area, the success of the walk on program is critical to getting back to where we want to be (see the Wisconsin Badgers, especially the o-line).

The fruits of this will only truly be seen in 2021, sigh, but they will be seen and were always part of the plan right from Scott's hiring.

GBR

I agree about the walk-on program. I might rephrase the bolded as it isn't 'the only thing' I'm believing in right now but your point is well made. There seems to be a genuine year round interest in recruiting walk-ons and the new building layout will be a great way to let them showcase their talents. I am optimistic that once they get a key win or two the win at all cost mentally will really set in quickly. Despite some key coaching mistakes we are close now.

 

[Show Me State Red]

I agree with all these and similar posts. I do not mind them having those conversations with the team, but I really think Frost needs to learn when to shut up outside the room. Some of his comments this year and last would not have set well with me even if I was hustling and all in. I dont want to hear we suck because we dont have the right players, I wan t to hear how we are goiung to win with what we got. Even today, the "vast majority of guys are exited" statement just wasn't necessary, imo, and sounds like a built in excuse to me.

No doubt. Especially the upper classmen who have been told twice they aren't talented enough. There is only so much of that attitude I would accept before I decide that it's time to focus on life after a game. I trust the coaching staff is tired of hearing that they don't have the talent or attitude to win at Nebraska so maybe all this bad karma will fade out this year.

 

[Hugoniot]

How pervasive are the off-the-field issues? *** you mentioned alcohol in a post, is that a problem? We’ve seen the MJ issues in the offseason and the Hunt/Legrone suspensions.

 

[The Big Red Lebowski]

Speaking of flipping the roster, one has to wonder about the wisdom of running off Avery Roberts. He played in every game as a true freshman in 2017 and then Rudd came in and apparently chastised him for being out of shape and buried him on the depth chart. He transferred to Oregon St.

He’s now leading the Beavs in tackles. Oh well, I guess we are so deep at ILB, we don’t need a lazy kid like that.

 

[HuSkaBob]

FWIW, Tyrin Ferguson "parted ways" with the football team this week. Someone (***?) had mentioned that he was kind of checked out, but now he's gone. Losing players at a position of need isn't a good look. I hope that some of the ILB's can transition - how fast is Luke Reimer or Caden McCormack?

 

[Huskerwisdom]

I agree about the walk-on program. I might rephrase the bolded as it isn't 'the only thing' I'm believing in right now but your point is well made. There seems to be a genuine year round interest in recruiting walk-ons and the new building layout will be a great way to let them showcase their talents. I am optimistic that once they get a key win or two the win at all cost mentally will really set in quickly. Despite some key coaching mistakes we are close now.

So far the only thing that makes me believe that the future is bright is the strength of the walk on program.

It looks like a lot of good kids, players who would have gotten offers from schools like South Dakota State, etc have decided to come to Lincoln and get developed into Cornhuskers like in the good old days.

With the 85 scholarship rule and the low population density in our recruitment area, the success of the walk on program is critical to getting back to where we want to be (see the Wisconsin Badgers, especially the o-line).

The fruits of this will only truly be seen in 2021, sigh, but they will be seen and were always part of the plan right from Scott's hiring.

GBR

we're seeing a bit of it now -- Reimer, Stalbird, Hixson, and others are guys that can play. As we get further into the new era we'll see more and more. At the very least some of the depth issues we've seen should be smoothed out. At the very best we'll see a few of those walk-ons become starters and sometimes even very good starters.

The competition level overall needs to keep moving upwards. Right now, there just isn't enough competition for spots and people pushing. The sheer numbers of younger guys who will have been in the S&C program for a year or two will be so much higher next year and that alone should change the way people compete.

 

[CornMan]

So far the only thing that makes me believe that the future is bright is the strength of the walk on program.

It looks like a lot of good kids, players who would have gotten offers from schools like South Dakota State, etc have decided to come to Lincoln and get developed into Cornhuskers like in the good old days.

With the 85 scholarship rule and the low population density in our recruitment area, the success of the walk on program is critical to getting back to where we want to be (see the Wisconsin Badgers, especially the o-line).

The fruits of this will only truly be seen in 2021, sigh, but they will be seen and were always part of the plan right from Scott's hiring.

GBR

I agree completely. I think it will help build the culture more than anything else. Nebraska kids for the most part still have a great work ethic compared to other states. Not to mention they're proud of where they're from and want to do everything they can to represent the state of Nebraska. When you have so many out of state kids on the roster, I think you lose some of that drive to represent the state rather than just the program.

 

[Brodeboy87]

Had a great conversation this weekend with some people that have some great tradition within the Nebraska football family. We started talking about things, and the "roster flip" that gets brought up so much here was brought up. I will leave some of what was said to privacy, but i'm curious the thoughts here now that over 70% of the roster is Frost guys.

For me, I think we flipped the heck out of the roster, and we are so young that a lot of these guys are learning how to be college student-athletes. I do think that's part of our issues, and guys like Cam Jurgens, Ethan Piper, Garrett Nelson, Nick Henrich, they will all be studs for us eventually. But you look around the country and see other schools not have the same issues. In fact, one of the big reasons we were so excited about Coach Frost was that he took an 0-12 team to an 13-0 team, ending the season beating Auburn. So much has to go right for you that you can't just luck into things like that, you have to be an outstanding coach. But it got me thinking when we were hashing this out this weekend, we have heard things like "UCF actually had more talent than us when they got there" or other things like that. It had me look into something....

I took a look at UCF 2016 and 2017 recruiting classes, and calculated how many starts those recruiting classes accounted for in the 2017 13-0 run:
2016 class:
Snelson - 10 starts
Johnson - 13 starts
Moore - 7 starts
Killins - 12 starts
Hill - 13 starts
2017 class:
Luyanda - 1 start
Davis - 13 starts
Anderson - 1 start
Hughes - 12 starts
Total 2017 starts from Frost recruiting classes - 82

It got me thinking, if UCF truly had more talent than what Frost saw when he was here, we had to be close to the 100s for starts from his 2018 and 2019 class, right?
2018 class:
Taylor-Britt - 7 starts
DWilliams - 1 start
Jurgens - 9 starts
2019 class:
Robinson - 9 starts
Total 2019 starts from Frost recruiting classes - 21

Disclaimer - I left Milton and Martinez out because Frost got his QB first year at both places, didn't need that skewing things one way or the other. Secondly, I realize i'm doing this experiment with 3 games left, so guys like Robinson, Jurgens, and Taylor-Britt probably gonna bring another 9 starts to things. I also know DWilliams would have been starting every game if not for getting hurt (but I didn't take that into account for UCF guys either).

So they had over 3 times the amount of starts, but let's just call it double since our season isn't over and someone could end up starting for us. Why is that? If UCF had more talent, why could more recruits come in and play right away for Frost? Are we not recruiting as well as they were at UCF? This list also doesn't include guys like Gabriel Davis who in his true freshman campaign in 2017 had 27 catches for 391 yards and 4 touchdowns.

I just found this fascinating because there's a lot of narratives out there, and they are all starting to overlap and cancel each other out. If UCF was that much better than Nebraska, why could he get twice as many starts out of his first recruiting classes? What did he say down there that resonated and got the team going that isn't working here?

Anyways, just found these stats interesting.

Had a great conversation this weekend with some people that have some great tradition within the Nebraska football family. We started talking about things, and the "roster flip" that gets brought up so much here was brought up. I will leave some of what was said to privacy, but i'm curious the thoughts here now that over 70% of the roster is Frost guys.

For me, I think we flipped the heck out of the roster, and we are so young that a lot of these guys are learning how to be college student-athletes. I do think that's part of our issues, and guys like Cam Jurgens, Ethan Piper, Garrett Nelson, Nick Henrich, they will all be studs for us eventually. But you look around the country and see other schools not have the same issues. In fact, one of the big reasons we were so excited about Coach Frost was that he took an 0-12 team to an 13-0 team, ending the season beating Auburn. So much has to go right for you that you can't just luck into things like that, you have to be an outstanding coach. But it got me thinking when we were hashing this out this weekend, we have heard things like "UCF actually had more talent than us when they got there" or other things like that. It had me look into something....

I took a look at UCF 2016 and 2017 recruiting classes, and calculated how many starts those recruiting classes accounted for in the 2017 13-0 run:
2016 class:
Snelson - 10 starts
Johnson - 13 starts
Moore - 7 starts
Killins - 12 starts
Hill - 13 starts
2017 class:
Luyanda - 1 start
Davis - 13 starts
Anderson - 1 start
Hughes - 12 starts
Total 2017 starts from Frost recruiting classes - 82

It got me thinking, if UCF truly had more talent than what Frost saw when he was here, we had to be close to the 100s for starts from his 2018 and 2019 class, right?
2018 class:
Taylor-Britt - 7 starts
DWilliams - 1 start
Jurgens - 9 starts
2019 class:
Robinson - 9 starts
Total 2019 starts from Frost recruiting classes - 21

Disclaimer - I left Milton and Martinez out because Frost got his QB first year at both places, didn't need that skewing things one way or the other. Secondly, I realize i'm doing this experiment with 3 games left, so guys like Robinson, Jurgens, and Taylor-Britt probably gonna bring another 9 starts to things. I also know DWilliams would have been starting every game if not for getting hurt (but I didn't take that into account for UCF guys either).

So they had over 3 times the amount of starts, but let's just call it double since our season isn't over and someone could end up starting for us. Why is that? If UCF had more talent, why could more recruits come in and play right away for Frost? Are we not recruiting as well as they were at UCF? This list also doesn't include guys like Gabriel Davis who in his true freshman campaign in 2017 had 27 catches for 391 yards and 4 touchdowns.

I just found this fascinating because there's a lot of narratives out there, and they are all starting to overlap and cancel each other out. If UCF was that much better than Nebraska, why could he get twice as many starts out of his first recruiting classes? What did he say down there that resonated and got the team going that isn't working here?

Anyways, just found these stats interesting.
[/QUOT

 

[MadRat]

Speaking of flipping the roster, one has to wonder about the wisdom of running off Avery Roberts. He played in every game as a true freshman in 2017 and then Rudd came in and apparently chastised him for being out of shape and buried him on the depth chart. He transferred to Oregon St.

He’s now leading the Beavs in tackles. Oh well, I guess we are so deep at ILB, we don’t need a lazy kid like that.

Ruud was a WiP. He really only brought personal experience to the table and that is not a healthy way to approach coaching. You really have to seek out all the different ways to skin a cat before deciding what works and does not. The Linebackers have certainly been the weak link this season.

 

[Hugoniot]

Ruud was a WiP.

What does WiP mean?

 

[MadRat]

He's pretty green as a coach, so he's a work in progress (WiP).