***2018 Recruiting***

In this week's Pick 6 Podcast, Sam McKewon and the other guys spend the last 15-20 minutes discussing the 2018 class.  I know Sam can get "preachy" on these podcasts at times, but he usually does back up his opinions and thoughts with examples.  Sam advises that Frost and the staff limit this year's class to 17-18 scholarships, and not go overboard on recruiting guys "late in the process" to fill their numbers for this year's class.  Frost should hold back numbers for big classes in 2019 and 2020 when he has a better understanding of NU's roster and he has more time to recruit guys to NU.  Sam provided examples of how late recruits for Callahan, Pelini, and Riley didn't pan out very well.  The big thing that Sam points out is that late in this process is that the player doesn't know "Nebraska" very well at this point.  He may well have a great relationship with the coaching staff, but he doesn't have a good idea of the city and campus he's going to be living in for the next 4-5 years.  It will be interesting to see how aggressive Frost is in filling up this class, just to get his numbers filled up.  Sam even pointed out how Harbaugh limited his first class at Michigan, but then was able to get 2 huge classes in his 2nd and 3rd years.

 
ScottyIce said:
Rafdal and Allen would fit the "redzone nightmare" characteristic that many people are calling McGriff. 

Yes, none of them have done anything because they are underclassmen and we have had JR, SR, SR featured at the position for the past 3 years.  Stoll looked to do a pretty solid job last year. You may be correct that they don't fit Frost's needs, but you don't know that for sure. Your post says as much anyways.

The position isn't lacking depth, that's for damn sure.
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I agree with you here but i will say that not lacking depth has nothing to do with a position being weak.

 
ScottyIce said:
It's unproven depth. We have no clue what those guys are able to do at this point.
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McGriff said the plan is for him to start out as a WR and he may shift to TE if his body fills out in the next 2 years and he can handle putting on more weight.  So, you may be right in that Allen and Rafdal can man the TE position very well for the next 4 years, and provide the same attributes that McGriff does.  Either way, having multiple players on the field that can be versatile in the run and pass game never hurts.

 
ColoradoHusk said:
McGriff said the plan is for him to start out as a WR and he may shift to TE if his body fills out in the next 2 years and he can handle putting on more weight.  So, you may be right in that Allen and Rafdal can man the TE position very well for the next 4 years, and provide the same attributes that McGriff does.  Either way, having multiple players on the field that can be versatile in the run and pass game never hurts.
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Right. Plus we also have Matt Snyder, Jack Stoll and Cameron Jurgens on board. Also, we have a couple other TE's visiting yet for this class.

I realize position switches could happen, but it hasn't been reported that way yet. TE room is deep.

I'd be much more concerned about the RB room and OL room. We have seen what those groups can do, and it isn't great right now. I'd say the OL room can improve with coaching, I'm not sure coaching can improve our RB situation that much right now. Need different style runners. Feels like only Bradley and Bryant are fits as of now.

 
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Wiltfong did a show with the Ohio State guys and they summed up Cam Brown as a “lay-up” for Ohio State and that he will be signing with them next week. They spent about a minute talking about him and moved on to the next recruit quickly because of how little intrigue there is with Brown.

 
ColoradoHusk said:
In this week's Pick 6 Podcast, Sam McKewon and the other guys spend the last 15-20 minutes discussing the 2018 class.  I know Sam can get "preachy" on these podcasts at times, but he usually does back up his opinions and thoughts with examples.  Sam advises that Frost and the staff limit this year's class to 17-18 scholarships, and not go overboard on recruiting guys "late in the process" to fill their numbers for this year's class.  Frost should hold back numbers for big classes in 2019 and 2020 when he has a better understanding of NU's roster and he has more time to recruit guys to NU.  Sam provided examples of how late recruits for Callahan, Pelini, and Riley didn't pan out very well.  The big thing that Sam points out is that late in this process is that the player doesn't know "Nebraska" very well at this point.  He may well have a great relationship with the coaching staff, but he doesn't have a good idea of the city and campus he's going to be living in for the next 4-5 years.  It will be interesting to see how aggressive Frost is in filling up this class, just to get his numbers filled up.  Sam even pointed out how Harbaugh limited his first class at Michigan, but then was able to get 2 huge classes in his 2nd and 3rd years.
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There is definitely truth to this.  I don't think we should add guys to to add them and I don't think Frost will.

The other side of that coin is that we have a 19-scholarship senior class right now so next year's class can already be at least 22.  And our junior class is 17 at the moment (counting current JUCO commit Woodyard) and will probably increase by a couple more JUCOs.  So that recruiting class will be above 20 as well.  And that's before you account for any attrition in the next two years, which there will be some.

So I'm not very concerned about saving spots at this point.  Get the best guys we can at positions of need.  It won't be the worst thing if we don't fill the last couple possible spots but I wouldn't slow anything down to make sure we have spots for later years.

 
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Mavric said:
There is definitely truth to this.  I don't think we should add guys to to add them and I don't think Frost will.

The other side of that coin is that we have a 19-scholarship senior class right now so next year's class can already be at least 22.  And our junior class is 17 at the moment (county current JUCO commit Woodyard) and will probably increase by a couple more JUCOs.  So that recruiting class will be above 20 as well.  And that's before you account for any attrition in the next two years, which there will be some.

So I'm not very concerned about saving spots at this point.  Get the best guys we can at positions of need.  It won't be the worst thing if we don't fill the last couple possible spots but I wouldn't slow anything down to make sure we have spots for later years.
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I also think we may see some greater attrition in the coming months that happened under previous staff's.  I think there will be some guys who won't be willing to put in the work and will just leave on their own or Frost and staff will recommend guys that they move along.  That will open up more spots.

One thing that Sam also pointed out was how Riley and his staff whiffed in their 2nd year of recruiting, when they didn't bring in 25-26 guys.  I know they got some guys in their 2nd class, but they seemed more interested in building that 3rd class.  I was so upset when Riley was taking the "long game" at NU and not showing any urgency, and I am sure you were pointing similar things out, too.

 
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