DE Nathan Rawlins-Kibonge [Oklahoma Commit]

[BigRedBuster]

Maybe the problem was hiring TT with the expectation of getting west coast DL to come?  TT or no, we just can't pull west coast linemen on either side of the ball.  It seems to be more of a institutional problem than a TT problem.  Do west coast linemen leave to go to other Midwest schools?  Because they sure as hell don't come to Nebraska very often.

You would have thought with Riley's staff (and their west coast connections) they could have pulled some lineman from the west coast, but no.

We got Robinson last year, but he had a Husker connection.  So lets see if he is the start of a trend or an outlier.

Since 2000 high school recruits:

West Coast DL - Robinson (AZ 2019), Moss (AZ 2012), Peat (AZ 2011), Meredith (CA 2008), Toailoa (CA 2008), Yancy (AZ 2007), Smith (NV 2006), Suh (OR 2005), Carriker (WA 2002), Thomas (CA 2000)

West Coast OL - Gates (NV 2014), Lewis (AZ 2013), Whitaker (CA 2012), Jones (AZ 2007), Hickman (CA 2006), Picou (CA 2005)

Reading through this discussion, this was my thoughts.  If I remember right, the big hype with his recruiting is that he could start a pipeline of polly guys from the west coast.  Well, that has always been very difficult for us to do.  I agree, it's more of a location/institutional issue than what coach is recruiting them. 

Now, if he really is a good developer and the kids that do come here love him and we see good play on Saturdays, great....sometimes you don't need absolutely every coach on the staff to be top recruiters if they can compensate by contributing to player development.

However, if he continues to struggle recruiting and he does well in development, I could see him wanting to get bak to the west coast where he can recruit better.

 

[HuskermanMike]

Working hard without seeing results (so far) is just wasting precious time. Coach T may be a developmental coach (only time will tell) but let’s not pretend we’ve had any recruiting boost because of him up to this point. Fisher and Held are the best recruiters on staff and it isn’t close. Very happy with Austin too. 

It takes time to build connections. Right now, his recruits don't want to travel to a Midwest sub .500 team from the west coast. Another factor is this cycle we won't take many D-lineman besides a nose and two ends. We only have one senior so he can focus on his bigger targets. Saying it is 'wasting time' is completely false. In a few years these relationships will pay off and they will come when we get the train rolling.

He will get us some great players here in due time. As I said before, this cycle he can't strike out, but I will hold judgement until his 2022 class. If we are reaching to get JuCo's there I will start to be concerned. For 2021, we only lose Ben Stille on the line and one might transfer or leave the team. The numbers are sitting well. Dawson is also on staff and I trust he can pull in one lineman if need be to help us out. Not trying to make excuses for Coach T, but Dawson has those Northeast connections and can help in that regard. We are 7 months out from signing day so he has time to get his puppies in order so to speak. 

He is no Hank Hughes. His development of lineman are his strength and once we get going with football we will see that. I am simply holding judgement on Coach T until the 2022 cycle for recruiting and if that is too long than so be it. 

 

[Mavric]

Maybe the problem was hiring TT with the expectation of getting west coast DL to come?  TT or no, we just can't pull west coast linemen on either side of the ball.  It seems to be more of a institutional problem than a TT problem.  Do west coast linemen leave to go to other Midwest schools?  Because they sure as hell don't come to Nebraska very often.

You would have thought with Riley's staff (and their west coast connections) they could have pulled some lineman from the west coast, but no.

We got Robinson last year, but he had a Husker connection.  So lets see if he is the start of a trend or an outlier.

Since 2000 high school recruits:

West Coast DL - Robinson (AZ 2019), Moss (AZ 2012), Peat (AZ 2011), Meredith (CA 2008), Toailoa (CA 2008), Yancy (AZ 2007), Smith (NV 2006), Suh (OR 2005), Carriker (WA 2002), Thomas (CA 2000)

West Coast OL - Gates (NV 2014), Lewis (AZ 2013), Whitaker (CA 2012), Jones (AZ 2007), Hickman (CA 2006), Picou (CA 2005)

I think there is definitely something to this.  Six of Kibonge's Top 8 are in the Pac-12.

 

[Warrior10]

It takes time to build connections. Right now, his recruits don't want to travel to a Midwest sub .500 team from the west coast. Another factor is this cycle we won't take many D-lineman besides a nose and two ends. We only have one senior so he can focus on his bigger targets. Saying it is 'wasting time' is completely false. In a few years these relationships will pay off and they will come when we get the train rolling.

He will get us some great players here in due time. As I said before, this cycle he can't strike out, but I will hold judgement until his 2022 class. If we are reaching to get JuCo's there I will start to be concerned. For 2021, we only lose Ben Stille on the line and one might transfer or leave the team. The numbers are sitting well. Dawson is also on staff and I trust he can pull in one lineman if need be to help us out. Not trying to make excuses for Coach T, but Dawson has those Northeast connections and can help in that regard. We are 7 months out from signing day so he has time to get his puppies in order so to speak. 

He is no Hank Hughes. His development of lineman are his strength and once we get going with football we will see that. I am simply holding judgement on Coach T until the 2022 cycle for recruiting and if that is too long than so be it. 

Imo that is way too long. Three recruiting classes to get where he needs to be, then two years for the kids to develop/S&C? That's saying you are ok waiting 5-years to see the guys he brings into the fold. 

You don't wait for the well to be empty before you refill it....

Held, Fisher, Mario, even Rudd to a point hit the ground flying on the recruiting trail. Think all those Florida kids were knocking down the doors to come to Neb? Hell no, Fisher went, busted a$$ and CLOSED to get them here. 

I am willing to give TT a pass, kind of, for last year.... but it's go time now. 

However, you are entitled to your opinion and explained it well...we both want the same thing in the long run. 

Edit: Forgot Austin on list of coaches getting it done. He's landing a nice mixture of studs and developmental guys. Have been really impressed. 

 

[Loe Doesnt Know]

In honesty, I think in general it's a hard match for the more liberal West Coast ideals to mix with the more conservative midwest ideals and thereby making it more challenging to recruit those states. Also, many west coast athletes tend to view nebraska as a hick state and therefore and likewise, the university too which also perpetuates into a more difficult task in recruitment. Just my thoughts. Time will tell but even in Osborne's era we struggled with California recruitment.

I prefer to look at facts before bringing forth judgement and the fact is since 1943 nebraska's total cali athlete list is only 171 students. So, IMO, it's just not TT that's struggled recruiting this state but every person since and before 1943. I think instead of casting stones we should rather appreciate the struggle.

Link of Cali Recruits:

https://dataomaha.com/huskers/state/CA

 

[HuskermanMike]

Imo that is way too long. Three recruiting classes to get where he needs to be, then two years for the kids to develop/S&C? That's saying you are ok waiting 5-years to see the guys he brings into the fold. 

You don't wait for the well to be empty before you refill it....

Held, Fisher, Mario, even Rudd to a point hit the ground flying on the recruiting trail. Think all those Florida kids were knocking down the doors to come to Neb? Hell no, Fisher went, busted a$$ and CLOSED to get them here. 

I am willing to give TT a pass, kind of, for last year.... but it's go time now. 

However, you are entitled to your opinion and explained it well...we both want the same thing in the long run. 

I can see where you want it to be go time for sure. All those guys you mentioned had the UCF momentum that Coach T did not have when he came here. He still needs to get some better results, I am just not panicking/saying he is a liability because it is too early. The reason why 2022 is my year is the roster is loaded with guys and 2021 is a small d line class. 

To the top point, by 2022 his jucos and big junior class are gone. Those dudes need to be ready now and I believe he has them ready. This year is not a we need 4 lineman kind of year, it is get a solid Nose that can contribute down the line- we don't need immediate help at the moment. Next, get one four star DE and another solid player that can develop. Nothing too difficult for this class. The average player he has gotten is a high three star and that has plenty of time to improve. Nobody in the 2021 class will play right away as they will redshirt. 

I think he can get us in on some great Polynesian players. But that will also take some time to get those relationships in order. If we win this year and he still does bad I might be a little worried. I see your point though that he needs to do better and this is a B1G cycle for him- but it might be even more difficult with COVID.

 

[Warrior10]

I can see where you want it to be go time for sure. All those guys you mentioned had the UCF momentum that Coach T did not have when he came here. He still needs to get some better results, I am just not panicking/saying he is a liability because it is too early. The reason why 2022 is my year is the roster is loaded with guys and 2021 is a small d line class. 

To the top point, by 2022 his jucos and big junior class are gone. Those dudes need to be ready now and I believe he has them ready. This year is not a we need 4 lineman kind of year, it is get a solid Nose that can contribute down the line- we don't need immediate help at the moment. Next, get one four star DE and another solid player that can develop. Nothing too difficult for this class. The average player he has gotten is a high three star and that has plenty of time to improve. Nobody in the 2021 class will play right away as they will redshirt. 

I think he can get us in on some great Polynesian players. But that will also take some time to get those relationships in order. If we win this year and he still does bad I might be a little worried. I see your point though that he needs to do better and this is a B1G cycle for him- but it might be even more difficult with COVID.

I don't think we are far off from each other in our expectations for this class. A 3 man class like you mentioned of a 4-star DE, a development DE (Tobin/Buckley) and a solid nose (high 3starish) would be a step in the right direction and a group I could live with for this class. 

 

[Mavric]

Imo that is way too long. Three recruiting classes to get where he needs to be, then two years for the kids to develop/S&C? That's saying you are ok waiting 5-years to see the guys he brings into the fold. 

I'm not trying to make excuses.  Because the results haven't been there.

But, to be fair, this is only his second full recruiting class.  

 

[Warrior10]

I'm not trying to make excuses.  Because the results haven't been there.

But, to be fair, this is only his second full recruiting class.  

I can agree with that. I said i'll, semi-reluctantly, give him a pass in the 2020 class. I'm just not willing to give him a pass for the 2021 class and wait till 2022 class to see results. 

Just my personal opinion. Which, quite frankly, means absolutely nothing. 

 

[GBRFAN]

That's good to hear. But if Held is closing regularly, why can't T? Obviously this is just my personal/uninformed opinion but seems like wasted energy/effort for no results. Maybe it'll come this class and we are way off, but so far there's little to no traction. 

Decked mentioned it earlier, maybe he's a development guy that does "more with less".... maybe his time at Cal showed that. Im nervous to fall into being comfortable with that thought though. 

I hear you here - but this may be a little too black/white (recruit/no recruit)

The Polynesian's could be a hugh part of the trenches for NU however it takes time and it may just take a couple extra years for coach T to figure it out 

 

[ArkanSkers]

OU CB

 

[HANC]

In honesty, I think in general it's a hard match for the more liberal West Coast ideals to mix with the more conservative midwest ideals and thereby making it more challenging to recruit those states. Also, many west coast athletes tend to view nebraska as a hick state and therefore and likewise, the university too which also perpetuates into a more difficult task in recruitment. Just my thoughts. Time will tell but even in Osborne's era we struggled with California recruitment.

I prefer to look at facts before bringing forth judgement and the fact is since 1943 nebraska's total cali athlete list is only 171 students. So, IMO, it's just not TT that's struggled recruiting this state but every person since and before 1943. I think instead of casting stones we should rather appreciate the struggle.

Link of Cali Recruits:

https://dataomaha.com/huskers/state/CA

TT came to our school last fall to recruit our 3* DT, who went DI.  We are nowhere close to California.  He did a "decent" job here. He didnt knock our socks off, but I thought he was personal and left good impression.  Granted, pretty sure our kid wasnt a HIGH target, so I know that under those circumstances we didnt see him go all out. Would like to see TT close a few big timers. 

 

[HuskermanMike]

I don't think we are far off from each other in our expectations for this class. A 3 man class like you mentioned of a 4-star DE, a development DE (Tobin/Buckley) and a solid nose (high 3starish) would be a step in the right direction and a group I could live with for this class. 

Yep, we both agree about this class for sure. Great minds think alike! He really needs to show he can get a solid player because he does not have to go after many guys with the 3-4 system. Also, not sure how well Rawlins fits our system as someone noted he was more of a 4-3 end. We won't get those types as easy who want to play in a 4-3 as a DE because it is not our system.  

Honestly, I would not be surprised to see Dawson get a dlineman from the Northeast and TT has to only get two players. Of course, he could be a secondary recruiter for some west coast guys that play other positions. There is a lot of time before we need to panic for dline recruiting. And that is not directed toward anyone just throwing that out there. 

 

[Mavric]

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[Mavric]

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