Who's Leaving? 2024/25 version

It was interesting to hear how Rhule wants to handle the 105 while still developing players.  Comparing a bit to the NFL.  You essentially have two 53 man rosters.  One for the team that plays during the week, and the other is full on development team. ie Practice squad.  

I'd be curious if they actually put some structure behind that and start working on promoting guys from the practice squad as injuries happen, or "other things"

 
I had the opposite feeling- I felt that they saw something in this kid and wanted him to redshirt (didn't bother to look up to see if he only played 4 games) to develop and had plans for him down the road. 

I sincerely doubt, however, that he is going to be able to follow TW / TK to FSU though. 

GO BIG RED!!!!!!!

 
floridacorn said:
I didn't have time to address this when I saw it last night, but it's a fair question even if it's dripping in sarcasm (all good).  The short answer is you recruit and process players out at an increasingly better rate until you are there.  You add difference makers from the portal.  You have to be better evaluators and developers of talent, a little more cut throat, and eventually you are attracting the volume of players at the level you want.  Alabama wasn't great under Saban because they landed high level recruits here and there.  They were great because they never quit landing them and processed the one's who didn't make it out and NU doesn't get better pretending those players are the answer imo.

I appreciate how easy that sounds, but I probably have a little more insight into the recruiting process than most, and there is a lot of room to be better evaluators of talent than the competition.  I probably see coaches from 50 schools roll through our practices during spring ball.  For all the millions these programs spend in recruiting, they are doing less than they did when I played in the 90's.  Big time programs literally show up and ask who certain players are, if there is anybody else they should be aware of, introduce themselves to the players, spend 5 minutes watching his hudl highlights with him, and offer.  The only difference between now and then is that some of these kids attend more combine camps and have verifiable testing.  

I've heard some of them tell players they are going to evaluate their practice and full game film, they don't.  None of them.  But, they all ask, "who else has offered you"?  With the resources these programs have, I would be digging a lot deeper on prospects, & I would have an organizational psychologist interviewing them.  I'm not going to throw out names on a public forum, but there are 4 star prospects I've seen who can't play ball, & others who have neon red flags.  But, they pass the eye test, somebody put them on a list, & now coaches are trying to convince them they are pretty and deserve a rose.  

All this to say, being better is not that difficult.  You don't even need to be Pittsburg Steelers good at talent evaluation, you just need to be more diligent imo.  
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I appreciate the answer.

The only sarcasm intended was the bioengineering part.

I thought from your prior post you were against taking transfers from the portal because they were elite program’s scraps. But you have clarified that we need both recruiting and transfers which I agree with.

I do think we could likely put more effort and resources into identifying talent, the caveat being that I’m not sure exactly how much we are currently doing in that area. I do think on field success will open more doors to better players. It doesn’t matter how much effort you put into it if the players don’t want to lose 50% of the games they’ll play so we also have to do more with less until we get the W-L looking better. Winning begets better players begets winning. Probably not the easiest cart before the horse to switch around. With 105 roster limits it should be easier but also more critical to identify the right players. Can’t afford to miss now.

 
soup said:
It was interesting to hear how Rhule wants to handle the 105 while still developing players.  Comparing a bit to the NFL.  You essentially have two 53 man rosters.  One for the team that plays during the week, and the other is full on development team. ie Practice squad.  

I'd be curious if they actually put some structure behind that and start working on promoting guys from the practice squad as injuries happen, or "other things"
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Definitely seems like that will be the case. As Rhule mentioned, we probably won't see a case like John Bullock again. The coaches probably won't be able to allocate roster spots for guys who may take 3+ years to grow into a role if the roster is limited X number of spots per position.

 
Wistrom Disciple said:
Definitely seems like that will be the case. As Rhule mentioned, we probably won't see a case like John Bullock again. The coaches probably won't be able to allocate roster spots for guys who may take 3+ years to grow into a role if the roster is limited X number of spots per position.
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I think you'll see John Bullocks, but they are going to spend their first couple years at G5 or FCS schools and then transfer up. The new "walk-on" route is going to be go to a small school and try to develop into a player that can make Nebraska's roster, or whatever big school you're aiming for.

I don't think it's ever going to be like a minor league system, and not everyone will transfer up when they could. But I think relationships will develop where certain smaller schools will find a niche as feeder schools for P4 teams. Never fun to see guys transfer out, but there will be some coaches who embrace it and get a few years of higher-upside talent because of it. And there will also be some players who stick it out and just become really good players at that school.

 
Husker in WI said:
I think you'll see John Bullocks, but they are going to spend their first couple years at G5 or FCS schools and then transfer up. The new "walk-on" route is going to be go to a small school and try to develop into a player that can make Nebraska's roster, or whatever big school you're aiming for.

I don't think it's ever going to be like a minor league system, and not everyone will transfer up when they could. But I think relationships will develop where certain smaller schools will find a niche as feeder schools for P4 teams. Never fun to see guys transfer out, but there will be some coaches who embrace it and get a few years of higher-upside talent because of it. And there will also be some players who stick it out and just become really good players at that school.
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Agree. To add further, the days of the Genatone type players are absolutely over. You can't start somewhere, have potential but not play or contribute there, and then expect to transfer and be counted against the 105. The math just doesn't work unfortunately. 

GO BIG RED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 
Husker in WI said:
I think you'll see John Bullocks, but they are going to spend their first couple years at G5 or FCS schools and then transfer up. The new "walk-on" route is going to be go to a small school and try to develop into a player that can make Nebraska's roster, or whatever big school you're aiming for.

I don't think it's ever going to be like a minor league system, and not everyone will transfer up when they could. But I think relationships will develop where certain smaller schools will find a niche as feeder schools for P4 teams. Never fun to see guys transfer out, but there will be some coaches who embrace it and get a few years of higher-upside talent because of it. And there will also be some players who stick it out and just become really good players at that school.
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Yes, you are making my point. We will not be able to hold roster spots for multi-year projects very often at all. If a player isn't contributing or hitting the two-deep within two years, I anticipate the staff shuffling players in and out. 

 
SouthLincoln Husker said:
I don't agree.  We are going to have 105 scholarships, instead of 85 & 2 deep is 44 players. 
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Yes, 20 scholarship opportunities are added and ~65 walk-on spots are being removed, net loss of 40-45 players to the program. 

Therefore, how many of those remaining ~55 position players will be allowed to stay on the roster 3+ years before making meaningful contributions as was the case with John? I think it will be more and more rare for P4 programs to hold multiple spots for mutli-year developmental projects. Instead of having several players developing within the program for years, as Rhule intended and Osborne had perfected, many will likely need to prove it at a different school and transfer in later on, as @Husker in WI had noted.

 
I don’t mean to be a pessimist, but more of a realists. I will be nervous about guys until the report back from Christmas break. Traditionally, we are always watching a guy or two… but this year some of those young defensive players from Florida, namely Mcgahee and others who just had their coaches head south.  Even Barney on offense. They get home, far away, warm, poachers in their ear…. Until they are physically back on campus, I would not count on them. After break is where we lost guys like Wandale ( I believe) and Luke McCaffrey, etc

 
HANC said:
I don’t mean to be a pessimist, but more of a realists. I will be nervous about guys until the report back from Christmas break. Traditionally, we are always watching a guy or two… but this year some of those young defensive players from Florida, namely Mcgahee and others who just had their coaches head south.  Even Barney on offense. They get home, far away, warm, poachers in their ear…. Until they are physically back on campus, I would not count on them. After break is where we lost guys like Wandale ( I believe) and Luke McCaffrey, etc
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I think Wandale was set before Xmas break. Just my opinion, but I think that factored into Frost turning down a bowl invite. 

 
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