Life in the Red Group

Posted by: ghost_elf on October 22, 2009 4:20PM CST This team, despite the set backs, is coming together nicely. Stay the course, regard patience as the virtue we've all heard about, and continue to cheer for the best team in all of college football.

Posted by: Outside The Box on October 22, 2009 4:23PM CST Man, I need to get my eyes checked. At first, I thought the young man's name was GLO. If you're reading this, no offense and enjoy your visit.

Posted by: rattenkriegplatte on October 22, 2009 4:31PM CST I think we need someone to say something perhaps........step?

Posted by: POWERHUSKERS on October 22, 2009 4:40PM CST great opportunity to use cody green and robinson to show this kid we will play freshman and maybe that would help his decision to come here if playing early is something he wants.

Posted by: BleedingRed on October 22, 2009 4:43PM CST I have to hand it to this staff. There is no question that the people that they go after AND GET are outstanding. Even the ones that are off the radar are turning out to be outstanding. Maybe it's the coaching of potential and bringing out the best in each person. I don't know but I know that I like it.

Posted by: BleedingRed on October 22, 2009 4:46PM CST If he decides to come here he had better be in shape. As he will see this Saturday, our defense which will probably only get better and better, gives the ball to our offense a LOT. In other words he will have plenty of opportunity to rack up the yards. Both running and passing.

Posted by: POWERHUSKERS on October 22, 2009 4:49PM CST I know stars don't say everything about a recruit but the last time we've gotten a 5 star is Baker Steinkuhler. Is this something we'll just have to deal with forever or will Bo eventually be able to bring in at least 1 or 2 five stars like the Elite programs out there right now?

Posted by: BleedingRed on October 22, 2009 4:53PM CST POWERHUSKERS, Does it really matter? I mean really? Look at what a lot of these young kids have done. Whatever the staff is doing it is working. I can't recall talking about so many young players that are contributing in so many different areas. And they are not just out there to be out there. Some of these guys are just advanced.

Posted by: POWERHUSKERS on October 22, 2009 4:55PM CST Yes they are getting the most out of the guys but could they get more from better talent and will that better talent ever arrive in more numbers is what i'm asking?

Posted by: ChicagoAttitude on October 22, 2009 4:57PM CST The programs that are consistently in the top 5 seem to think it matters.

Posted by: atlhusker on October 22, 2009 5:01PM CST didnt we have somebody like him move in our own backyard last year and we let him go? oku

Posted by: BleedingRed on October 22, 2009 5:01PM CST Sure guys. What does your crystal ball tell you? Mine seems to only be showing me that they are getting a lot out of the players they have. I absolutely understand why Bo looks at someone and asks them if they watched the game. Geesh, I think that I would be throwing things.

Posted by: Cornhead on October 22, 2009 5:16PM CST Give me Pelini coaching and all the 2 and 3 stars in the world over the former regime coaching and all the 4 and 5 stars in the world. However, yes, sprinkling in phenomenal talent never hurts!

Posted by: Corky on October 22, 2009 5:18PM CST we'll get some 5 stars eventually. This year there is only about 25 5 star recruits and most of them will go to the top teams. I'm happy with the four star guys personally.

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 5:20PM CST I'd die if he actually commited to NU, I mean why would he when he could go to FL?

Posted by: HeiSUHman on October 22, 2009 5:21PM CST I too hope Cody starts Saturday just to see what he can do with a clean slate as far as the scoreboard goes. If he doesn't, I'll be madder than Janet Reno's blind date...

Posted by: Corky on October 22, 2009 5:22PM CST BR, for the amount of money Bo gets paid, i think he can come up with a better answer than "you watched the game, what do you think". That being said, i wouldn't trade Bo for any other coach out there. Watson and Gilmore is another story.

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 5:23PM CST Ya gotta have some big time difference makers to win championships. This year we have Suh and that's about it. I wouylodn't call anyone on our O a big time difference maker, except Helu is very very good.

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 5:24PM CST guess I have to start using the edit button more...

Posted by: Utah4NU on October 22, 2009 5:26PM CST Im glad we didnt land Oku. He seemed like he had a lot of off the field issues..... Remember Jonas Gray that committed before going to the Irish? Is he getting any playing time or was he a bust? I thought for sure he was going to be a big time player for us....

Posted by: NU fan at KU on October 22, 2009 5:29PM CST I wish we had Travis Lewis and Jason Pierre-Paul...

Posted by: BleedingRed on October 22, 2009 5:29PM CST bruNo, Be careful what you wish for. Corky, Regardless of what someone gets paid there is only so much that someone can take. I could speak with you for a year and nit pick every single thing that you do. I could find a fault or a plausible better alternative to anything that you throw out there. I can't wait for someone to ask, after winning 5 national championships in a row, why we could not win the sixth. I guess that Bo will just tell them that he is sorry and must have screwed up. For crying out loud. It is really unbelievable.

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 5:29PM CST Haven't seen Gray on the field this year. He did play some last year as a backup. I dunno, Oku and Bryce Brown(?) are a heckuva duo @ TN along w their starter.

Posted by: ChrisHa3 on October 22, 2009 5:31PM CST Suh was a four star. Helu = 3*

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 5:32PM CST BR, I doubt I will die cuz he's not coming here, I'd put $$ on it, unless he had some SPECIAL connection @ NU which was not mentioned.

Posted by: BlackshirtBeado on October 22, 2009 5:33PM CST Stars don't matter. Dr. Tom did it without top tier recruiting classes. Pelini has said He doesn't concern himself with the rating system. Bo go get YOUR players for YOUR system. Rivals.com doesn't make a team

Posted by: PT Husker on October 22, 2009 5:33PM CST Movin on up. That is what this program is doing. Next year? The year after? Don't matter it will be there. The Legend is building is resume.

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 5:34PM CST Suh has been coached and has made himself a 5 star, and I would say Helu is a 4 star at this point, if he was a little faster and could outrun everybody I would say he's as valuable as any back in the country.

Posted by: ChicagoAttitude on October 22, 2009 5:39PM CST I'm tired of the argument that Osborne didn't do it with top tier recruiting classes. That is BS. If there had been the type of recruiting exposure back then like there is now, i.e Rivals and Scout, T.O.'s recruiting classes would have been consistently in the top 10. Sure, they had recruiting rankings back then, but they were arbitrary at best. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. WE NEED BETTER TALENT. Especially on offense.

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 5:40PM CST Not to belabor the whole stars issue again and again, but stars DO matter: USC, FL, TX, OU, BAMA, they don't lose too often, do they?

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 5:42PM CST Yea, I agree, that in the 90's w OZ we had some excellent, top flight players, especially on both the O and D lines. Tommie Frazier was a big time guy obviously and anybody would have wanted LP(for his skill).

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 5:43PM CST But, obviously, they have to be coached and have to play as a team. FSU is ongoing example now of great talent going to waste for lack of good coaching.

Posted by: PT Husker on October 22, 2009 5:43PM CST Who plays on TV tonight?

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 5:44PM CST FSU, UNC

Posted by: Utah4NU on October 22, 2009 5:44PM CST Speaking of stars, how many stars would you guys give terrell pryor right now? Do you think its the system or is he not as good as advertised? I personally think ohio st's offense is a bad fit for a mobil qb. He would have been better off at michigan or some place else that runs a zone read. Ill give him 2 stars for a qb and 3 stars for a wr....

Posted by: NU fan at KU on October 22, 2009 5:47PM CST From 2004-2008 KU only had 6 four star recruits... Reesing, Meier, and Briscoe....all three stars..

Posted by: Huskerville_50 on October 22, 2009 5:47PM CST The argument that stars DON'T matter is a joke.... Every elite program gets the big time recruits and in order for us to become elite again I think we will need to get our fair share of the 5 star and 4 star guys... Now Having said that I do think that Bo can do more with a 3 star or 2 star recruit then most other coaches in the country..... I think he recognizes talent and knows what to do with it when he gets it (for example, look at all the underclassmen playing).. And with the CB that committed to Vandy ( I think Hal was his name).. Bo must see something in him that the other bigger programs did not, and in my opinion the 50/50 thing with us and Vandy is a joke lol.. I think the kid might be trying to let Vandy down easy... I like what I'm we are hearing from recruits around the country.. Like that WR Reese from Florida sounds very high on us.. The Curtis Carter kid and I have a good feeling about Gio... I trust Bo and I'm extremely confident he gets Nebraska "back" in a couple years....

Posted by: PT Husker on October 22, 2009 5:48PM CST Maybe he would transfer to NU. we run a zone read. Problem is our QB can't read the book.

Posted by: NU fan at KU on October 22, 2009 5:50PM CST From 2004-2008 NU had 4 five stars and 30 four stars...

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 5:51PM CST UNtil NE starts knocking of teams like we used to we won't get 5 star guys with any regularity, though alot of good D players should want to play here after this year. I would think we could attract some great WRs but it hasn't happened yet.

Posted by: Huskerville_50 on October 22, 2009 5:52PM CST I don't know what Pryor was thinking going to OSU.. Should went to Michigan .. Florida would be a good system for him... Guess he didn't want to play competition so he went to the little 11..

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 5:53PM CST Posted by: NU fan at KU on October 22, 2009 5:50PM CST From 2004-2008 NU had 4 five stars and 30 four stars... ______________ the elite teams get 4 or more 5 star guys PER YEAR.

Posted by: Huskerville_50 on October 22, 2009 5:54PM CST bruNo, Speaking of WR recruits, I wonder if Keeston Terry is still solid on KU.. Would have been nice to see that kid "N"..

Posted by: ChicagoAttitude on October 22, 2009 5:55PM CST Absolutely agree bruNo. You have to have the coaching too. Look no further than when Meyer took over for Zook and won a title, or when Stoops replaced Blake. Those teams had loads of talent, and when they got a coach with a clue, everything clicked. Bo has the opposite task at hand. He's a grat coach, but the talent level has to be raised.

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 5:56PM CST I think a guy who has overachieved according to his star rating is Briscoe of KU, I mean, you just throw it in his general direction and more times than not he will make the grab, plus can run with it.

Posted by: AlanAn on October 22, 2009 5:58PM CST We have a pretty good chance of getting him. The fact that Pelini has so many young players on the field, and so few established RB has sparked the interest.

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 5:59PM CST CA, Well, BOs D has made great strides very quickly, they can compete with about anybody at this point which is really saying something. We haven't been getting the big time O skill players though, except for some elite QBs, 3 of which didn't end up here in the end.

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 6:02PM CST Not on a personal level, but on a skill level, I would trade our roster with USC's or FL's rosters over the past 9 yrs or so. With a few guys we'd have to keep of course(The NDominator).

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 6:05PM CST There are some excellent backs that fly under the radar though: I dont know how those 2 guys @ ARK were rated, but that is one helluva RB duo, that Green guy is the beastiest beast I think I've ever seen.

Posted by: ChicagoAttitude on October 22, 2009 6:05PM CST huskernks I believe you mean Scott Shanle.....and what did any of the teams that any of those players played on ever do? The answer....not much. You're going to have players that weren't 5* guys that are great football players...that's not the argument....but you can't compose an entire team of them and then wonder why you suck. Also, not to nit-pick, but Demorrio Williams was a very highly rated/recruited JUCO prospect.

Posted by: AlanAn on October 22, 2009 6:06PM CST In my opinion the best thing recruiting stars do for you is get other high value players looking into your program. They all want to go where other so-called talented players are going. I think there are plenty of 3* players in the northern states that would be 4 or 5* star players if they got the exposure they get in the south or east and west coast.

Posted by: drivebyposter on October 22, 2009 6:08PM CST Sure glad he didn't come last week.

Posted by: Huskerville_50 on October 22, 2009 6:08PM CST If Nebraska lands a top 15 class every year that will be enough for Bo to take us to the elite year after year...

Posted by: drivebyposter on October 22, 2009 6:10PM CST 5'9" 190 is big?

Posted by: Huskerville_50 on October 22, 2009 6:11PM CST In my opinion the most important pieces that Bo is adding to our classes now is O-Linemen... We need em bad and it sounds like the young ones we have and the ones we are getting are a talented bunch...

Posted by: drivebyposter on October 22, 2009 6:14PM CST PT So unlike you, so mean.

Posted by: AlanAn on October 22, 2009 6:14PM CST In his clips he seems to run with good power but he chooses to jab step people rather than lower the shoulder. Looks to have some pretty good speed and go full speed by step two.

Posted by: Huskerville_50 on October 22, 2009 6:15PM CST If we did get Gio he would probably we our number 3 back next year as a true frosh... It sure doesn't appear to be much talent at the RB position ( Who would of thought we'd say that 3-4 months ago).. .We'll see how this Tray guy works out though.

Posted by: Cornhead on October 22, 2009 6:18PM CST Yes, Bruno and Chic Att, you need talent to compete with the elite, but that's my point. I think we had a top 20 recruiting class every year under Callahan...........so supposedly we had a ton of talent, right? Right? But why have we languished with all that talent? The recruiting classes that won the 94 and 95 Championships were rated, what, #25 or so? My point is coaching is more important than the # of stars. Obviously you need talent, no one is debating that, but we supposedly have a ton of talent on this team as determined by the recruiting gurus, and we haven't seriously sniffed the top 10.

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 6:20PM CST was just looking @ ARK's '09 recruiting class: of 31 recruits only 6 were from the state of ARK; the rest were from FL, TX, and a ton from CA. A few other states represented too, here and there.

Posted by: Cornhead on October 22, 2009 6:25PM CST I meant to say that last sentence that we've had a lot of talent from 04-07, but didn't sniff the top 10. Bo and co. are showing us how coaching the top talent along with the 2 and 3 stars (and 0 star walk ons!!!!!) can make you a successful program. No, we're not top 10 material yet, but no doubt we'll get there.........

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 6:25PM CST cornhead, yes, agree that coaching IS more important than talent if you had to chose between the 2. But teams like USC. FL. etc. have both. We need more talent. Cali/Coz obviously were not great coaches though they recruited some talent, but frankly, I think those classes were overrated. We haven't seen a regular flow of escellent skill players here for sometime, and really we've had a constant transition at the QB position for some time now.

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 6:31PM CST I think some of our younger backs are gonna be ok once they get some PT, but it kind of disturbed me that Burk had beat out some of the other uppper classman, like Mendoza for e.g., though he had been slotted as a WR all summer, still, I was surprised that Burk beat him out. I'm anxious to see what Ward and Robinson and perhaps Okafor can do.

Posted by: Cornhead on October 22, 2009 6:31PM CST I can agree to that.....................you need both and the big guys have both........

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 6:34PM CST I can't even specualte about Gio, mainly because I think he will chose one of the high level teams over us, if he's THAT good, that is. Who knows, maybe we'll get 'lucky', ha ha(c what I did there?). We need another bruiser guy like Q, Q was pretty special, IMO.

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 6:39PM CST I guess we have our sites on Aaron Green(Andrew Green's bro/cousin?) for 2011. He'll prolly be a 5 star guy.

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 6:44PM CST Utah, yea, rgdg Pryor it appears that they are trying to fit a square peg in a round whole. He should be in an exclusively spread option offense w a big emphasis on the run.

Posted by: ChicagoAttitude on October 22, 2009 6:44PM CST I agree that the Callasham classes were overrated. I follow recruiting almost religiously, and it seemed as though after a mediocre player would sign under Callahan, his rating would rise. Its no secret that he and Tom Lemming had a serious BROmance. Those classes were highly overrated. The players that Bo and Co. are going after are ballers.

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 6:50PM CST chi A, yea, i was thinking back on the Cali classes and other than Lucky and the QBs he recruited I can't think of too many other 5 star guys. There were a number of 4 star guys, though, that either have done alright, underachieved or washed out. The lacked the coaching that BO is giving them though, at least the defensive guys, I'm still uncertain about our O coaches and scheme at this point, it just keep moddling along, but a big part of that may be because of the QB turnover. Zac Bowman is starting on the Bears now, and he was a clear standout player @ NU when he was healthy.

Posted by: ChicagoAttitude on October 22, 2009 6:56PM CST bruno - I was just looking back at some of those classes on Rivals.....it's almost embarrassing. Rodney Piccou was a 4*????? Wtf?? There are a ton of other examples like this that make you scratch your head.

Posted by: bruNo on October 22, 2009 7:08PM CST Chi A, yea, I know, fairly overrated. We did get to the top 15-18 rating at one point in '06 I think, so the class ratings had SOME merit, but we did not have what I would call top 15 teams in those yrs by any stretch...

Posted by: jeromethechicken on October 22, 2009 7:29PM CST Posted by: drivebyposter on October 22, 2009 6:10PM CST 5'9" 190 is big? 190 is pretty solid for 5'9", if he truly is 190. I had a buddy in college that was 5-8 185 and was built like a Howitzer. That dude could bench 500 and squat 675. Remember Barry Sanders? That dude was short too. The good thing about short guys is they have a low center of gravity and are tougher to arm tackle.

Posted by: WyHuskerFan on October 22, 2009 8:27PM CST Remember Cory Ross, he was a tank at 5' 10, 200, with a powerful lower body. TO had more scholarships to play with which helped stockpile talent that made it possible to reload instead of rebuild. The game has really changed in the last decade and much of the big time talent is staying in the warm weather climates. One of the primary reasons the SEC is stacked with talent as is the Big XII south and all those smaller schools like USF that are fielding very competitive teams. NU enjoyed a solid reputation for developing O lineman, running backs and defensive players that were successful in the NFL. Hopefully Bo will polish the tarnish of the schools reputation of developing players for the next level. Not that it's his job to do so, however it doesn't hurt a program to have the NFL scouting your games. GBR!

Posted by: WyHuskerFan on October 22, 2009 8:29PM CST Cory was 5' 6", my bad.

Posted by: NU fan at KU on October 22, 2009 9:23PM CST Harrison Beck

Posted by: TommyOC on October 22, 2009 11:02PM CST He's a talent. What more do you want? Labels and stars aside, he's a talent. I'm sure that's what the coaches are all about. I also would assume that when he sees the competition as RB at NU, he'll certainly feel pretty good about his chances here of making a strong impact. Game Day in Lincoln is the big selling point for recruits, we'll lets put on a show for the kid and kick some a$$.

Posted by: jeromethechicken on October 22, 2009 11:35PM CST Kid looks like a stud. I watched some of his highlights. I'm impressed. Hopefully he'll commit and help bring back the return of the once great Husker rushing attack.

Posted by: N_trepid on October 22, 2009 11:51PM CST Let's make this a Gio-centric weekend! BO BIG RED