Epley's comments on Talent

[BigRedBuster]

The entire time I was a kid I wanted to be a professional athlete. Now that I'm 48 I find out that I didn't need talent, all I needed was hard work

If you knew that back then, would it had made a difference?

I guess according to some, it would have. Never mind I was 6'3" and 160 lbs coming out of HS with a 3" vertical jump. I could have gone on to great things. I could have turned that into a 42" vertical and ran a 4.3 40. If I only had the heart and work ethic.

Oh the missed opportunities in life.

 

[Bowfin]

Never mind I was 6'3" and 160 lbs coming out of HS

Pat Fischer was 5'9" and 170 pounds going into the NFL as a cornerback. He played 17 years and went to three Pro Bowls.

So yeah, if you only had the heart and the work ethic...and some good coaching wouldn't have hurt, either.

 

[StPaulHusker]

Never mind I was 6'3" and 160 lbs coming out of HS

Pat Fischer was 5'9" and 170 pounds going into the NFL as a cornerback. He played 17 years and went to three Pro Bowls.

So yeah, if you only had the heart and the work ethic...and some good coaching wouldn't have hurt, either.

The bolded just described Josh Mitchell

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

Tom didn't make his team work harder. He changed his recruiting philosophy, focusing on speedier defensive players and targeting faraway football hotbeds like New Jersey.

Some of that is just revisionist history. Nebraska, under Osborne, and even Devaney before him, were always recruiting NJ. Rich Glover and Mike Rozier are just two of the recruits from NJ, that come to mind, and there are lots more.

It was Florida and Texas where NU wanted to make inroads to in order to get some of their talent. Much like many of the major D1A schools were trying to do.

NU has always recruited speed. NU's rise in the '90s was partly due to the defensive changes made under Kevin Steele's influence. They put safeties at linebacker postions and linebackers at defensive end positions to upgrade the speed, and switched to a 4-3 defense. Exactly what the Florida schools like Miami, and FSU were doing at the time.

Don't know what to say, other than that Tom Osborne is on record himself as crediting the switch to defensive speed as the difference maker that led to the national championships.

Yeah, we'd always recruited New Jersey, but I believe Tom also credits making new geographic inroads in our recruiting.

As for hard work, I don't think he ever, ever overlooked a less flashy talent willing to work his a$$ off, and hopefully bringing some football smarts as well.

 

[BigRedBuster]

Never mind I was 6'3" and 160 lbs coming out of HS

Pat Fischer was 5'9" and 170 pounds going into the NFL as a cornerback. He played 17 years and went to three Pro Bowls.

So yeah, if you only had the heart and the work ethic...and some good coaching wouldn't have hurt, either.

LOL...

Wait....you're actual serious.

I revert back to the statement where someone said they are thinking you really have no clue what you are talking about.

 

[Husker Psycho]

There is no doubt he was given an amazing gift early on.

One man's given gift is another man's acquired skill, I guess. The difference being if we all agree it is a "given gift" then it excuses a lot of people from having to make a considerable effort. Like saying "Computers hate me!" or "I can't do math!" or "I can't swim because I sink like a rock!"

Bowfin

I know where you're coming from. All players on the team should put maximum effort into their development whether they are athletically gifted or not. You make a good point there.

I think we are seeing first hand what happens when all of our players don't have that work ethic. And yes, sometimes gifted players don't do that and sometimes lesser players don't do that. You're right, there are no excuses for not putting all your (players) effort into the sport. This is where great coaches are needed with great motivational skills. It's something all coaches have to deal with all the time.

It's supposedly is the sport the players love so why would they do anything else?

 

[flfmrredfan]

Don't know what to say, other than that Tom Osborne is on record himself as crediting the switch to defensive speed as the difference maker that led to the national championships.

That defensive speed was obtained by following what the Florida schools were doing at the time. That is what Kevin Steele's influence brought.

I suppose I can infer that you believe that NU under Osborne didn't recruit speed on defense before the '90s?

 

[Bowfin]

I revert back to the statement where someone said they are thinking you really have no clue what you are talking about.

Of course, that's got to be it.

Chuck Norris described himself as being un-athletic and on top of that, he broke his shoulder during his first two weeks of marital arts training. Yet he retired as undefeated Middleweight Full Contact Karate champion. Do you think that was because of some "revealed talent" or because he practiced for five hours every day?

 

[Elf]

So Bo Pelini can win 9-10 games a year with no talent, but Riley will need 1.5 years to get the talent needed to get passed 6 wins?

Any way you slice it, it's hard to get past this point.

Why do you guys consistently try to misrepresent the talent that Bo had on the team and act like we won't notice?
He had NFL caliber running backs EVERY YEAR he was here. He had Suh and some of the nastiest DBs early on and one of the best LBs in the NFL. He won 9 games last year and had three most talented players on the team drafted. Three cornerstone players the offense and defense were absolutely built around.

But by all means, continue to act like Bo coached with no talent.

Can't give Bo credit for winning 9-10 games every year, but we can sure blame him for only a 5 win team that he didn't even coach.

Can't make this stuff up. Some of you actually think this way.

^^^This^^^

You guys sound surprised about this stuff. I mean, you have guys like RADAR on here who unabashedly claim that Solich was a horrible coach while they're busy slobbering all over Riley.

I don't understand how people can function under such cognitive dissonance, but we see it here every day. It shouldn't be surprising any more.

You do realize it's possible to think Riley is a good coach while Solich was not? It's perfectly logically to think Solich, Callahan, Pelini, and Riley are good or bad coaches in any combination. This whole notion that people must be on certain "sides" of the debate is false.

For example, I think Pelini had a decent record but was an a-hole, bad representative of the university, and therefore needed to be fired. I also think Riley is good at the CEO type activities but was an uninspired hire and has a bad record, and think we'll fire him in a couple seasons (although I wish we'd never hired him).

Yes, I realize it's possible to think that a demonstrably bad coach is better than a demonstrably good coach. I've observed that type of "thinking" here for quite awhile. That's why I made the comment. I just don't understand it.

I wonder how Solich could have gone 7-7 in 2002. I mean, there is evidence from 2001 that he should have at least gone 11-2 and played for a national championship...

If we can believe Boyd Epley's comments about the talent difference between this year and the 90's players (which I have no reason to doubt), I wonder how the 2002 team would have fared? I wonder how much the talent level dropped off, if any, during three year's of Frank's recruiting?

You mean guys like Tenopir's lack of recruiting. All I know is that we can't expect 90s talent every year, and Frank left more talent on the roster for Callahan (at least based on NFL draftees and their position in the respective drafts) than Callahan left for Pelini.

And what did any of this get us? Not a f'ing thing. So who cares?

He should just add the sentence about draft picks and Callahan/Pelini to his tag. It will save him the trouble of reposting it over and over again as he has here and in other threads.

When people stop repeating the same inaccuracies about recruiting abilities and talent levels, I'll happily stop repeating the facts that disprove them.

Except now, those of us who say we need talent upgrades at multiple positions have been vindicated by someone who knows far more about football than both of us combined. No one that I know of has ever said we don't have any talent, but we do need talent upgrades at multiple positions.

 

[flfmrredfan]

It would better help if NU had an upgrade in their head coach. Having upgrade talent would be icing on the cake then.

 

[HuskerShark]

I revert back to the statement where someone said they are thinking you really have no clue what you are talking about.

Of course, that's got to be it.

Chuck Norris described himself as being un-athletic and on top of that, he broke his shoulder during his first two weeks of marital arts training. Yet he retired as undefeated Middleweight Full Contact Karate champion. Do you think that was because of some "revealed talent" or because he practiced for five hours every day?

Any time you start something new or unfamiliar, you're going to "suck" for at least a while. That doesn't mean you don't have some God-given ability. It just means it's undeveloped.

Obviously hard work is extremely important, but without raw ability, Chuck Norris could never have done that, and Ameer Abdullah would not have been the RB he is today.

 

[StPaulHusker]

If Tom Herman or Jim Harbaugh had come to Lincoln instead of Riley and gone 5-7 in their first year with the same amount of talent on the roster, would people have this much hatred for them as they do Riley?

 

[Waterloohusker26]

If Tom Herman or Jim Harbaugh had come to Lincoln instead of Riley and gone 5-7 in their first year with the same amount of talent on the roster, would people have this much hatred for them as they do Riley?

No

 

[GBRedneck]

If Tom Herman or Jim Harbaugh had come to Lincoln instead of Riley and gone 5-7 in their first year with the same amount of talent on the roster, would people have this much hatred for them as they do Riley?

Why the inflammatory rhetoric? Nobody hates Riley. I like Riley a lot better than Harbaugh. but I realize that Harbaugh is a MUCH better football coach.

 

[StPaulHusker]

If Tom Herman or Jim Harbaugh had come to Lincoln instead of Riley and gone 5-7 in their first year with the same amount of talent on the roster, would people have this much hatred for them as they do Riley?

Why the inflammatory rhetoric? Nobody hates Riley. I like Riley a lot better than Harbaugh. but I realize that Harbaugh is a MUCH better football coach.

So because you think Harbaugh is a better coach than Riley you wouldn't sh#t on him as much as you have Riley?