*** 2020 Recruiting ***

I’m definitely more concerned about OLB than D-line. As someone mentioned earlier, OLB talent/ athleticism is harder to find and is highly sought after.

Frost has taken 3 grad transfer or JUCO D-lineman in the last 2 classes (if I’m not mistaken) and I think that is something we will continue to do. I would love to get another D-lineman or 2 in this class but if we don’t I won’t be as concerned.

I am very concerned about our OLB talent and depth. That’s something to keep an eye on.

 
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In my opinion the target number for D-line is 11.    This is how I arrive at that target.  You have 85 scholarships.  Lets say you budget 3 for special teams.  (Now that is a soft number and it could be anywhere from 0-3 but for a high level planninng view assume you never have more than 3 but potentially you could have a scholarship LS,K,P so you plan worst case scenario)

So basically year to year you have 82 overall.  Divide that in half for offense and defense and basically you can figure you have 41 scholarships to allocate for defense.   Now if you had 4 scholarships at every position that would be 44 which is 3 over.  To scale back to 41 just take 1 guy off at each level as there are 3 levels on defense.   so if you are in a 3-4 defense than (3*4)-1 = 11.   DB's and LB's are (4*4)-1 = 15.    (IMO target numbers are tough to hit as rosters are pretty dynamic and sometimes you just might not have the talent or experience so you might load up on a position or you have unexpected attrition and the number of recruits that may or may not commit are unknown.  So really they are probably working with ranges.  So you could say that they want to be in the range of 10-12.   But for this discussion I am saying 11 is optimal.   If you go 12 than you have to be 1 short somewhere else.  

Okay  if you were to break down the 11 DL I would say that you would want 7 DE's and 4 NG's.   I think it's important to have 4 NG types because you may play an additional nose in goal-line defenses.  

Just going by body type or ability I would say that Daniels and Hutmacker are every down noses.

I would say that Stille, Thomas,Rogers,Walker,Newsome, Wildeman and Robinson are  more DE types.   Green has been penciled as a DE.   I think he could be a nose though if needed and will count him as a DE/NG.    

This means we need at least 1 more nose.    Personally I feel pretty good about the numbers and talent at DL.  We are pretty close.    I agree with the concern at OLB.  We have not done so well there.  

 
Reports are the staff is still planning on 22-25 at this point.  

Current Scholarships/Commits

QB - 1 - LOGAN SMOTHERS
RB - 2 - SEVION MORRISON, MARVIN SCOTT
WR - 3-4 - ZAVIER BETTS, WILLIAM NIXON, Lawaun Powell, Logan Loya, Johnquai Lewis, Thad Johnson, JUCO Omar Manning, Xavier Hill, Donavon Johnson, Rishard Densmore, Justin Robinson*
TE - 0-1 - 
OT - 2-3 - TURNER CORCORAN, ALEX CONN
OG/C - 1-2 - Paula Vaipulu, Chandler Durham

NT - 1-2 - NASH HUTMACHER, MARQUIS BLACK, Alex Harrison
DE - 1-2 - Tuli Tuipulotu, Nusi Malani
ILB - 1-2 - RODNEY GROCE, Choe Bryant-Strother, Devyn Curtis, Mister Williams, Caleb McCullough, Desmond Tisdol

OLB - 2-3 - BLAISE GUNNERSON , Brennon Scott, Kaden Johnson, Regen Terry, Morven Joseph, Jared Ivey

CB - 3-4 - TAMON LYNUM, HENRY GRAY, RONALD DELANCY, Christopher Townsel, Darion Green-Warren, Kendrick Simpkins, Tyson McWilliams, Myles Slusher**
S - 0-1 - Xavion Alford

ATH - Jalen Suggs, Jaquan Randolph, Lavon Bunkley-Shelton

*-Current Georgia commit

**-Current Oregon commit

Early Enrollees - Smothers, Corcoran, Groce, Gray, Lynum (maybe Morrison)

 
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Throw Dem Bones said:
I’m definitely more concerned about OLB than D-line. As someone mentioned earlier, OLB talent/ athleticism is harder to find and is highly sought after.

Frost has taken 3 grad transfer or JUCO D-lineman in the last 2 classes (if I’m not mistaken) and I think that is something we will continue to do. I would love to get another D-lineman or 2 in this class but if we don’t I won’t be as concerned.

I am very concerned about our OLB talent and depth. That’s something to keep an eye on.
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The way Alex Davis has looked, and with our lack of other OLB options currently who can stop the run, set the edge, and rush the passer, I really feel Chins needs to roll with 4 DL. Daniels, Davis twins, & Stille would be much more imposing than what we're rolling out there now. 

 
BigRedBuster said:
We used 4 D linemen most of the Minnesota game.
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ActualCornHusker said:
I'll have to watch some of it again, but i saw a lot of Alex Davis out there. He's played really poorly in the last few games
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Watch how often Alex Davis plays coverage... He’s a stand up DE. I also don’t know why you’d run a 4-3 set with 3 players that are basically all NT size. There’d be no pass rush generated. 

 
CalhounHusker said:
Watch how often Alex Davis plays coverage... He’s a stand up DE. I also don’t know why you’d run a 4-3 set with 3 players that are basically all NT size. There’d be no pass rush generated. 
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We use our OLB to just sit and react most plays. There is no point for someone to stand there. At least the DL would be able to take on blockers better. 

 
CalhounHusker said:
And you would think a thousand lbs on the DL would eat blocks and be good at run blocking. The Davis brothers aren’t good, and our LBs play themselves out of position constantly.
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I think they're good, but a bad fit as 3-4 ends. Particularly against the run - they can sometimes shed and make the play, but there's a reason you don't have a ton of 6'2 ends in a 3-4. I would think with their weight they would hold up a little better, but they don't have a lot enough length to stand up offensive lineman.

 
Husker in WI said:
I think they're good, but a bad fit as 3-4 ends. Particularly against the run - they can sometimes shed and make the play, but there's a reason you don't have a ton of 6'2 ends in a 3-4. I would think with their weight they would hold up a little better, but they don't have a lot enough length to stand up offensive lineman.
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I do agree that they would perform better in a 4-3, but they’ve underwhelmed in the past couple games. Would like to see some of the younger guys get some time. Which may happen after the shenanigans Khalil keeps pulling.

 
That time of year where whispers of potential transfers are popping up. Not posting to be pessimistic or worry anyone. There are some good attrition candidates. Hopefully, we don’t lose anyone super impactful.

But we will see some offers fly out and/or some heavy emphasis in some places where the staff might know we need to replace someone. WR seems like a place we might end up looking at 3-5 signees instead of the current 3-4 for example.

 
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