Talent Vs. Developement

Snowbird said:
The formula to win at Nebraska is not recruiting top 10 recruiting classes. It wasn’t when Osborne was here and it won’t be when Frost is here. He will get great recruiting classes and add 20 walk ons a year. In 5 walk on classes you hope to get 2/3 kids who become studs for you, that helps your recruiting class each year. Once they establish themselves maybe they will routinely recruit in the top 10 but I don’t see it happening for some time. 
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The formula is modern college football dating back as far you as you can with recruiting rankings tells a very different story than you are telling.....this includes TO. 

 
In the movie Generation Iron a few years ago, the #2 bodybuilder in the world Kai Greene is trying to unseat the #1 guy Phil Heath as Mr. Olympia champion. Greene said: "Hard work beats talent." Heath laughed and said, "Not if talent works harder." Heath is still the #1 guy today.

That is the crux of this conversation, right? 

 
There shouldn't be a debate of Talent vs. Development.  The simple fact is that you need both.  Osborne's teams always had great talent in the 80's, and then he changed his focus on recruiting to bring in more speed from California and Florida.  Then when Osborne added great S&C approaches, great schemes, and great mental approach, that's what produced championship football.

Solich used the same approach as Osborne for S&C and other items, but he wasn't as good as a recruiter and he wasn't a OC.  Who knows what would have happened if the new staff hired in 2003 was given more time.

Callahan and his assistants could bring in talent, but he was poor at managing college athletes and a college roster.  He was not good at the development side of the sport.

Pelini was a decent recruiter, but not great, and couldn't bring in the abundant amount of talent needed to build championship rosters

Riley was awful at player development, and his recruiting is also questionable, judged by the amount of players which Frost was willing to let go this offseason.

 
Going on the site you wanted? We can argue about the rankings in 1986 all day. If you talk to Osborne and or frost they will tell you those classes aren’t top 15. 

 
Snowbird said:
Going on the site you wanted? We can argue about the rankings in 1986 all day. If you talk to Osborne and or frost they will tell you those classes aren’t top 15. 
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Snowbird said:
Going on the site you wanted? We can argue about the rankings in 1986 all day. If you talk to Osborne and or frost they will tell you those classes aren’t top 15. 
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That site literally goes off of recruiting publications just like they do today.....numbers don't lie my friend....

 
Hedley Lamarr said:
On top of that frost has said he expects to sign top 25 classes every year and recruit ahead of everyone in the west as we historically have. 
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I expect Frost's classes to be in the Top 20-25 in the next year or two, and if the program improvement goes as planned, the recruiting rankings should improve as Frost and his staff are able to attract better talent.

 
ColoradoHusk said:
I expect Frost's classes to be in the Top 20-25 in the next year or two, and if the program improvement goes as planned, the recruiting rankings should improve as Frost and his staff are able to attract better talent.
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And that is exactly what will happen in my opinion. I honestly wont be surprised if we sneak into the teens though and stay out of the 20's all together. 

 
Ulty said:
In the movie Generation Iron a few years ago, the #2 bodybuilder in the world Kai Greene is trying to unseat the #1 guy Phil Heath as Mr. Olympia champion. Greene said: "Hard work beats talent." Heath laughed and said, "Not if talent works harder." Heath is still the #1 guy today.

That is the crux of this conversation, right? 
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Yup, this is my biggest deal in it. People act like "talent" and "development" are mutually exclusive. You don't have to choose one or the other. "Talent" prospects can be developed and work hard just like the "development" prospects.

It's a long row to hoe and on field results will be a large factor. 

 
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What I am saying is it is easy to go back and rank players after it’s done? Look at the starters on the 94 team. Besides maybe Peter and Frazier, Phillips where are most of those guys being ranked? Is it just a miracle that the players in 80s and 90s from Nebraska would have all been ranked as 4 Star kids and now they are 3s? Aaron Taylor prime example on Big10 network yesterday, had 3 offers? He would not be ranked today? Look at the starters on 94 team many more 3 stars/ not ranked than 4 and 5 star players 

 
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Snowbird said:
What I am saying is it is easy to go back and rank players after it’s done? Look at the starters on the 94 team. Besides maybe Peter and Frazier, Phillips where are most of those guys being ranked? Is it just a miracle that the players in 80s and 90s from Nebraska would have all been ranked as 4 Star kids and now they are 3s? Aaron Taylor prime example on Big10 network yesterday, had 3 offers? He would not be ranked today? Look at the starters on 94 team many more 3 stars/ not ranked than 4 and 5 star players 
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Looking at the classes from the early 90s and the key contributors on the mid to late-90s teams, this is what I see:

1990 - 10th ranked class by Wallace - class included Terry Connealy, Corey Dixon, Calvin Jones (turned pro before '94), Donta Jones, Corey Schlesinger, Brendan Stai, Ed Stewart, Zach Weigert, Kenny Wilhite, Rob Zatechka

1991 - 28th ranked class by Wallace - class included Trumane Bell (not sure if he was still around in '94), Brook Berringer, Doug Colman, Phil Ellis, Mark Gilman, Aaron Graham, Luther Hardin, Clester Johnson, Abdul Muhammad, Christian Peter, Tony Veland

1992 -5th, 14th, and 10th - Damon Benning, Clinton Childs, Tommie Frazier, Jon Hesse, Mike Minter, Larry Townsend, Riley Washington, Tyrone Williams, Toby Wright, Kareem Moss

1993 - 18th by Wallace - Eric Alford, Eric Anderson, Michael Booker, Tim Carpenter, Josh Heskew, Vershan Jackson, Jason Peter, Lawrence Phillips, Fred Pollack, Aaron Taylor, Jamel Williams, Jon Zatechka

1994 - 6th and 20th - Kenny Cheatham, Jay Foreman, Sheldon Jackson, Octavious McFarlin, Mike Rucker, Eric Warfield, Shevin Wiggins, Jason Wiltz, Grant Wistrom

1995 - 3rd, 11th, and 5th - Kris Brown, TJ DeBates, Terrell Farley, Scott Frost, Mike Fullman, Ahman Green, Julius Jackson, Eric Johnson, Adam Julch, Chad Kelsey, Tony Ortiz, Aaron Wills

So, those 6 classes were very highly ranked classes.  4 of them had rankings in the top 10, with another in the top 20.  There was only one class outside the top 20.  I don't have the individual rankings for each player, but those classes had a lot of talent, and the coaches did a great job of developing them into great players and team.

 
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It's a culture...Frost knows that. Pelini kinda knew that. Riley and Callahan didn't have a clue. Coaching matters more than any aspect in CFB, recruiting and development is apart of that. 

 
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