More photos » by Jerry Larson - AP

Cody Green might be the most talented quarterback to come to Nebraska in over ten years. (AP Photo/Waco Tribune Herald,Jerry Larson)

Browse more photos »

Nebraska offensive coordinator Shawn Watson has been fielding a lot of criticism in recent weeks over the play of the Huskers.  And while the last few weeks haven't been Watson's finest, I don't think Watson the offensive coordinator deserves much of the blame.  Looking over the problems Nebraska is facing, I think Watson's previous role as recruiting coordinator might actually deserve more of the blame.  The Husker offense is suffering from a dearth of playmakers, and that's the result of injuries and, believe it or not, poor recruiting.

Steven M. Sipple of the Lincoln Journal-Star raised my eyebrows this afternoon in a radio interview with Kevin Kugler on KOZN radio (1620 AM in Omaha) when he said that he thought "Baylor had better players on offense, even without Robert Griffin."  Stop and think about that statement, and let that sink in.

Baylor has more offensive talent than Nebraska?

The first response to that is disbelief, but after you think about it, it's hard to argue with that statement.  Granted, injuries to Roy Helu, Rex Burkhead, and finally Dontrayevous Robinson really limited Nebraska offensively in Waco.  When you factor in the dismissal of Quentin Castille, nearly every football team in the country would suffer greatly if they lost their top four running backs.

My primary concern is the lack of production at wide receiver.  Nebraska started redshirt freshman Khiry Cooper, sophomore junior college transfer Brandon Kinnie, and junior Niles Paul at wide receiver on Saturday.  None of those players even appeared in the last spring game (Paul was suspended, Kinnie was still in junior college, and Cooper was playing baseball).  That's a whole lot of inexperience out there, and the direct results of recruiting problems.

That's right.  Bill Callahan, the coach who was supposed to solve Nebraska's so-called "recruiting problem" might actually have created one instead.  Look at his track record after he arrived at Nebraska in finding receivers.  Other than Maurice Purify, just who did Callahan attract to Nebraska?  Niles Paul is the nephew of Ahman Green, so he likely was going to come to Nebraska regardless.  Terrence Nunn and Nate Swift committed to Nebraska prior to Callahan's arrival.  Todd Peterson was a walk-on from Grand Island; he probably was coming to Nebraska anyway. Frantz Hardy might be the best name on the list.

With Swift and Peterson gone, Nebraska's offense has struggled and finally bypassed the depth chart to insert Kinnie and Cooper.  Inexperienced, yes.  But they aren't making the mistakes the older veterans made either.

It's not just wide receiver that's the problem, but receiver is where the problem is most glaring at this time.  There are offensive line problems, to be sure, and substitutions aren't in the cards at this time there.  This one may take time to unwind:  college football doesn't have a waiver wire that allows you to immediately rebuild and start over.  The process takes time and effort.

There's a huge difference between recruiting and recruiting ratings.  The evaluation of recruiting is an inexact science at best, and the ratings are wrong almost as often, if not more so, than they are right.  That doesn't make recruiting overrated, just the evaluation.  Only time allows you to evaluate recruiting.

And right now, time is not reflecting well on Bill Callahan's work at Nebraska.

If Husker fans were rocked by the news that quarterback Patrick Witt was leaving the state, then they'll be pretty blown away by the news of who is coming to Lincoln...to attend high school.

Rumors began swirling early this afternoon that none other than David Oku, a four star runningback, and the #1 rated all-purpose back in the 2009 recruiting class might have enrolled at Lincoln East High. 

The highly touted prospect had originally committed to Tennessee, but did not sign his letter of intent, and had admitted he was looking around. 

Then the rumors started flying, he'd been spotted in class at East.  There were phonecalls made to his old highschool, and they confirmed that he had indeed transferred.  Rumors cropped up that Oku had met a girl on his official visit here, and wants to be closer to her.  Eventually after almost everyone expressed serious doubt that these rumors were remotely true, it came from Oku himself.

He was indeed moving to Lincoln, and would attend East High School.

Initial reactions are that this would be good news for the Huskers football team, however, the staff might not be able to take him.  Rex Burkhead was pretty much told he was to be the man for this recruiting cycle, and going after someone so incredibly late in the game like this could seriously hurt the coach's relationship with Rex, and their credibility in the future.

What is certain, is that none of us have seen the end of this story.

The Sporting News' Matt Hayes (correction, not Stewart Mandel) compared Rivals recruting rankings with on-the-field results over the last five years for BCS programs, then ranked teams from the teams that did the most with the lowest rated classes to the teams that did the least with higher recruiting rankings.  With that criteria, you pretty much know where Nebraska ranks, especially considering that period of time coincides with the Bill Callahan Clusterfool.

Yep.  Tied with Michigan, Arkansas, and UCLA for 53rd place out of 66 BCS programs, to be specific.  Nebraska's rankings were #15 in recruiting, but ended #32 in wins, resulting in a net difference of -17.  Best in the nation was Cincinnati, who had the worst recruiting rankings for the last 5 years, yet still managed to win the Big East this season.  In the Big XII, the most productive schools were #7 Texas Tech (#42 recruiting; #13 wins), #14 Missouri (#35 recruiting, #17 wins), and #16 Kansas (#46 recruiting; #30 wins).  The least productive schools were #58 Kansas State (#30 recruiting; #51 wins) and #64 Texas A&M (#16 recruiting; #43 wins).  (No surprise since those schools were coached by quality coaches like Bill Callahan, Ron Prince, Dennis Franchione, and Mike Sherman.)

Hayes's (Mandel's) formula has a flaw that allows the results to be questioned.  The first season of results on the field (2004) were accomplished primarily by players who were ranked by Rivals prior to 2004.  (Yes, some of the jucos and freshman did contribute that season, but for the most part, the players that season were recruited prior to that season.)  Likewise, relatively few players recruited last season contributed on the field.  Most only saw spot duty, and some were redshirted.

Problem is that it's impossible to completely eliminate those factors, but if Hayes (Mandel) had used a longer period (say seven to ten years), the impact of those factors would have diminished.

Nevertheless, the numbers are striking enough to point out that highly ranked recruits don't necessarily correlate to wins on the field.  In fact, the Bearcats show that you can win a trophy with a bunch of players that Rivals panned.  Meanwhile, fans at Florida State, Miami, and Michigan have to wonder just what the heck the folks at Rivals were thinking as their highly ranked classes keep laying eggs on the football field.

The guys over at the "Ralphie Report" came up with the very good idea of putting together a conference round table, with SB Nation's various Big 12 sites putting together reviews of their team's recruiting efforts.

My review of Nebraska's signing day follow after the jump

Continue reading this post »

While the 2009 class is officially signed, sealed, and delivered; the recruiting season is never really over.

This Saturday, Nebraska will host it's first "Junior Day".  Some of the better players in the class of 2010 will be visiting Lincoln, so that the coaches can check out the players they'll be recruiting over the next year.

It's also a way for the recruits to see the school without usual an "official visit" so it's a bonus day for everybody.

Here's a list of players that are expected.

James Kohler
Position: OT
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 265
Hometown: Westlake Village, CA

Jared Barnett
Position: QB
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 185
Hometown: Garland, TX

Jatasun Beachum
Position: QB
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 265
Hometown: Dallas, TX

Chris Adcock
Position: OT
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 282
Hometown: Mesquite, TX

Beau Allen
Position: DT
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 255
Hometown: Minnetonka, MN

Stephen Hopkins
Position: RB
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 210
Hometown: Flower Mound, TX

Luke Joeckel
Position: OT
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 275
Hometown: Arlington, TX

Matt Joeckel
Position: QB
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 205
Hometown: Arlington, TX

Mason Myers
Position: DT
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 285
Hometown: Moore,OK

Lucas Vincent
Position: DT/DE
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 270
Hometown: Olathe, KS

Jeff Uher
Position: DT
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 255
Hometown: Omaha, NE

Austin Weatherford
Position: OT
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 290
Hometown: Maypearl, TX

Keeston Terry
Position: WR
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 179
Hometown: Blue Springs, MO

This list is far from the only players that NU is looking at.  Most of them may not even get official offers from the Cornhuskers.  But a few of the guys might be the kind of diamonds in the rough that a program like Nebraska needs to thrive on.

 Signing Day is finally here!!  For myself, and recruiting junkies like me, signing day can be like a second Christmas.

Check back here often as we update you on all the commits that sign on the dotted line and officially become Huskers.

There isn't a whole lot of drama expected today for Nebraska, most of the kids who commit are expected to sign, and there aren't many names out there from other schools who are expected to change their mind at the last minute.

However, as Husker fans know too well, the most drama occurs when the least is expected...Stay Tuned!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  The first big recruiting story of the day is that  Myles Wade, a defensive tackle that is rated as a four star recruit by Rivals will not sign with anyone today.  Why is that good news for Husker fans?  Because he was slated to sign with Texas Tech.  Wade has delayed his signing until next Monday so that he can come visit NU.

  Four star defensive end Jason Ankrah has signed his LOI

  Offensive Lineman Nick Ash has signed

  Four star running back Rex Burkhead is officially a Husker

  Offensive lineman Jesse Coffey has signed his LOI

  Three star DB Dejon Gomes is a Husker

  Defensive back Andrew Green has faxed his LOI

  The star of this recruiting class, quarterback Cody Green has signed his letter of intent

  WR Brandon Kinnie has turned in his LOI

  DT Cole Pensick is a Husker

  Offensive lineman Brent Qvale is a Cornhusker officially

  Defensive tackle Thaddeus Randle has signed an LOI

  Runningback Dontrayeveous Robinson is now officially a Husker

  OL Jeremiah Sirles has signed his LOI

  Four star linebacker Chris Williams is a Cornhusker

  Runningback C.J. Zimmerer has faxed his LOI

  Eric Martin has signed his LOI, I was a bit worried that we might see a signing day switch from him, so this is a relief

  Three star tight end J.T. Kerr is sending in his LOI now.

  Lazari Middleton has signed with the Huskers

  Cornerback Dijon Washington has signed with Nebraska

  All purpose Athlete Taylor Martinez has signed his LOI

This means that all players that were truly expected to sign did.  That appears to be a rare occurrence when you look around the country at some other high profile schools who lost kids at the last minute

With National Signing Day next week, many college football fans can hardly wait to see who signs and how their team will rate in comparison with other programs.  Other fans, such as myself, just roll their eyes and cringe.  One thing is for sure is that recruiting coverage is huge...and profitable for sites such as Rivals and Scout, who very existence depends on fans paying for coverage of recruiting.

As the hype has increased in recent years, recruiting starts earlier and earlier each season.  Commitments used to be handed through phone calls; now they take place in press conferences and in scripted hat productions that even end up televised.  Earlier this month, the NCAA declared that 7th grade basketball players should be considered prospects since the recruiting process is starting to begin by that point.  Think about that one:  Children who are closer to their kindergarten graduation than their high school graduation are considered college prospects.

Is this for the best of college athletics?  Depends on your perspective.  Some people believe strongly in the recruiting process.  Talent is important, and if you can get a jump on your competition, you give yourself a decided edge.  As the adage says, you can't race a Clydesdale against a Thourghbred.

Others enjoy the competitive aspects of recruiting, especially during the off-season when there are no games to review.

But in this day when recruiting starts earlier and earlier, sometimes scholarships are given prematurely.  Take the case of Shawn Bodtmann, a linebacker from Scranton, PA who committed early on to Nebraska.  He suffered an injury in his senior season, and Nebraska is now pulling his scholarship offer.  His high school coach and family are incensed that Nebraska backed out on him, as Bodtmann stopped considering other offers once he made the decision to attend Nebraska.  Now, he's scrambling to find another way to college with few takers.

In this situation, it's obvious that Nebraska offered Bodtmann prematurely.  But would a later start to recruiting help Bodtmann?  Likely not, because everybody would probably be just as gunshy as they would be now.  (But since there wouldn't have been an offer to rescind, there wouldn't be the hurt feelings that currently exist.)  Would an early signing period have helped Bodtmann?  Perhaps, but then Nebraska would have used a scholarship on a guy they've changed their mind on.

Recruiting is a complex beast.  What are your thoughts about recruiting and the publicity it receives?  Is it good for college athletics, good for your team, harmless fun, or is it something that's out of control?

I know, King of the Horrible Pun.  That said, Nebraska’s newest commit, 6’4" 248 pound Jason Ankrah is deserving of far more praise.  In the end it came down to Nebraska and the Maryland Terrapins.  In the end the Cornhuskers have themselves another young gun defensive end to add to their collection alongside Cameron Meredith and Josh Williams of last year’s class.

I bring up Meredith and Williams specifically because Ankrah reminds me of the bookends that Nebraska signed last year.  Quite honestly, I see traits of both in Jason.  He’s got the "motor", he never quits on a play even if he whiffs and whistle to whistle, he’s hunting the ballcarrier down.  Jason’s already got both the bulrush and the swim move down which he’ll need to perfect to an even better level since he’ll be stepping up to some of the best tackles and guards in the country within the Big XII conference.

Ankrah’s ability to keep up with a quarterback on a rollout is impressive whether coming from the side for a hit/sack or even getting his hands up for a possible pick.  If a QB takes off, they need to have some speed, because outrunning Jason is going to be a feat once he introduces his body to Division 1-A strength and conditioning.  Ankrah’s a special talent and gives Nebraska fans even more reason to be excited about having amassed quite a bit of raw talent at the end spots.  In a year or two, I think that with Ankrah, Williams and Meredith Nebraska has secured a solid corps of defensive ends for the next several years.