For the past few years, Nebraska has landed some talented players from Fort Scott Community College (FSCC). These players include Brandon Kinnie, Lavonte David, Jermarcus Hardrick and Stanley Jean-Baptiste. Three of those guys are projected starters this year while Jean-Baptiste will likely see some playing time too.
This past week, FSCC head coach, Jeff Sims, resigned from his position to become the head recruiting coordinator at Indiana University. This is a great promotion for him as he moves up to FBS and into a Big Ten School.
Sims told me last summer: "I really think the whole pipeline, or whatever you want to call it, has been developed off relationships. If I care about a kid, I’m going to send him somewhere where I know I trust the people. I trust Nebraska, and that’s why my guys go up there."
Sims previously had worked with NU defensive coordinator Carl Pelini at Minnesota State-Mankato. The MSU head coach at the time was Jeff Jamrog, now Nebraska’s assistant athletic director for football operations.
Fort Scott offensive coordinator Curtis Horton will take over as head coach of the Greyhounds. Horton joined Sims’ staff in 2007.
At Indiana, Sims will join a staff that includes former Nebraska assistant Mike Ekeler, who was named the Hoosiers’ co-defensive coordinator last December.
Jon even had a chance to talk with him about a year and a half ago.
The connections here are apparent. New Indiana coach Kevin Wilson (formerly Oklahoma's Offensive Coordinator) hired away Nebraska's Mike Ekeler to be his co-defensive coordinator. From a recruiting standpoint, Indiana doesn't sign many blue chips. But, if they could get a Lavonte David/Brandon Kinnie/Jermarcus Hardrick and mold them into play-makers, Indiana could potentially make some waves. It's also pretty obvious that Wilson believes Sims has an eye for talent. While at FSCC, the Greyhounds competed for Regional Championships and were regarded very highly in the Junior College ranks. He was doing something right there and was able to find good players that didn't get scholarship offers or needed help with their grades.
It's worth noting that the Husker's recruiting class this past year had zero players from FSCC. There were a couple of Juco transfers from Chaffey C.C, though. It is located in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, which is on the eastern side of the Los Angeles metropolis.
Perhaps the well has dried up for Nebraska at FSCC and maybe a new source of outstanding Juco's will be tapped from Chaffey. Or maybe Nebraska just does their due diligence and is able to find a couple good Junior College players from schools across the country. I personally think that if we lose the connection to FSCC, it won't be detrimental as long as new relationships are forged elsewhere.