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The final word
Before I start anything today, I want to make one point clear about Rivals.com and how we come up with our rankings.
On Thursday, Kevin Kugler said on 1620 the Zone said he has “no doubt” that Rivals.com elevates the star rankings of Nebraska recruits just because it makes the company money.
This statement by Kugler couldn’t be any more false. First off, I challenge Kugler to find a case where he can prove Rivals.com bumped up a kid to four stars because he was committed to Nebraska. Better yet, I challenge him to ask Jeremy Crabtree that question directly when he interviews him on his show next week.
People tear apart the 2005 class quite a bit, but let me go down some of the four star guys for you. Both Justin Tomerlin (Michigan State commit) and Frantz Hardy (FSU & Auburn offers) were rated four-stars when the JUCO rankings were released and never even considered Nebraska until Zac Taylor committed to NU. Tomerlin led the Jayhawk League in sacks and Hardy was ranked as the top receiver in the league. Their four star rankings were tagged on them way before NU even was in the picture. Now should they have been four stars as we look at things now…no. But by no means were they “bumped up” because they were going to Nebraska.
Chris Brooks was rated four stars right from the start of the process and he was a Missouri commit for 10 months before switching to NU. I’ll go on and on if you want me to, but this notion by Kugler that Rivals bumps up recruits because they’re committed to NU is completely false. A committee of 20+ analysts and experts do the rankings and guys like me actually don’t have any say on rankings. The only players I rank are in-state Nebraska prospects, because I go into 40+ high schools per year during the months on Feb. and March to get film and invite players to the NIKE camps.
I’m sorry to rant about this in Tunnel Talk, but it really bothers me when people take shots at what we do. I work with Kevin on Big Red Wrap-up each Tuesday and I have a lot of respect for his broadcasting abilities, but I will not tolerate somebody taking a public shot at Rivals.com without facts to back it up.
***A group of NFL scouts told some local Division II coaches I know they can’t believe Nebraska is 4-4 at this point. The scouts told the coaches NU has much more talent than a lot of the teams they’re losing to…so take that for what it’s worth. There is talent on this football team, I think we all know that.
***Look for Joey Ganz to potentially run some designed option plays on Saturday against Texas.
***I know people are upset about Jaivorio Burkes coming out of his redshirt to start on Saturday, but to be honest, I’m pretty excited to see what he can do. I’ve heard nothing but good things about him.
***On Tuesday, defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove more or less called out linebacker Phillip Dillard when I asked about his injured quad. Coz said the injury is not that serious and Dillard needs to tough it out.
***Interim Athletic Director Tom Osborne I’m told can call recruits, but he would count as NU’s one NCAA allotted phone call for that week. So more or less, don’t expect him to ever call recruits directly, unless he tells Callahan that he plans to make NU’s one phone call that week for that particular prospect. I don’t see him doing that though, I think if he talks to recruits, the recruits will call him directly.
***I don’t see Nebraska winning in Austin, but I think this game is closer than the 21 point spread. Texas is not a good running team, which obviously helps Nebraska in this match-up.
Hang tight, better days on the horizon
Husker fans got some much-needed good news with the commitment of Simi Kuli this week. It was a nice respite from the ongoing worries that this recruiting class is starting to come apart. Someone posted on RSS in the past week that the current NU commits who stick with Nebraska through the next rough month, and the almost inevitable coaching change, will have a special place in the hearts of Husker fans, and I think that's very true.
It's hard to see how Nebraska wins any of the remaining four games in their regular season as the team seems to be in near freefall right now. Husker fans are just going to have to steel themselves to endure the next month of tough knocks on the field and off of it in regard to any possible further de-commits.
It will help to keep an expectant eye on Thanksgiving because unless there's an early settlement in terms of the coaching staff, that's when there will probably be the longed-for clarification, closure and a turn for change. The holidays should be an eventful time for Husker fans as I'd expect that the future direction of the Big Red program will quickly start to take shape.
Recruit news and notes
*** When I spoke with Josh Williams earlier in the week, I got an inkling that there could be some movement among NU's commits in the immediate future.
As most know by now, Williams is a part of the "core group" that helped recruit each other to Nebraska over the spring and summer months. When I asked him about their recent discussions he said, ""Yes, I've been talking with Will (Compton), Bryce (Givens), Jonas (Gray) and Blaine (Gabbert). Everybody still seems to be in the Nebraska family, but I've heard a couple things about how people feel about a coaching change."
He wouldn't elaborate on that when pressed, but he was obviously referencing Gray's and Gabbert's pending de-commitments away from Nebraska, as well as all the rest scheduling further official visits as they looked into their respective fallback plans.
When I asked him about a possible coaching change at NU he said, "Having a staff change would be big. It would mean getting to know a whole new group of guys, but that's something I'm up for. I'd have to let it happen first, and other than that I'd sit back and see what happens."
It wasn't in the update, but I then asked him if he'd be open to playing under a different head coach and staff at Nebraska. He said, "There's a good possibility if it was someone like Bo Pelini and a couple other guys. The name 'Bo Pelini' is a good name that I've seen thrown out there, and him being a defensive coordinator now and seeing what he runs (at LSU) would make staying with Nebraska more attractive to me."
*** As far as other NU commits who are not part of the core group, most of them seem set on staying with and playing for Nebraska no matter who the coach is. Eric Harper and David Whitmore would fall into that category. When I spoke with both this week they seemed genuinely unconcerned with the turn of events in Lincoln - almost as if it was an afterthought. The both said that they had their hearts set on "playing for Nebraska" no matter what.
*** In-state commit John Levorson had the exact same attitude as Harper and Whitmore, and though I won't be speaking to Baker Steinkuhler until Thursday evening, I did speak with his mother briefly on Wednesday night. When I asked her if the current tumult and changes at Nebraska would have any effect on Baker's decision to become a Husker she just chuckled and said, "Nah, Baker's one of those who's a huge (Nebraska) fan and nothing's going to change his decision." With Baker and Simi Kuli, that gives Nebraska two legitimate five star recruits who want to play for Nebraska, and not just at Nebraska.
Late Update: I just spoke with Baker Steinkuhler's mother and she said Baker didn't want to talk to anyone right now but he wanted to say "I'm 100 percent committed to Nebraska."
It's very fortunate for fans that during the year Nebraska is having this upheaval of a new athletic director brought in and a probable coaching change, there is probably the best collection of Division I in-state talent available in a decade or so. It makes keeping as much of this class locked up as possible that much easier.
A lucky prediction?
In the September 20 installment of Tunnel Talk, I predicted that Simi Kuli would commit to Nebraska soon after his mid-October visit to Lincoln. Well - sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.
In early fall, I heard that things were looking "real good" for Kuli going to Nebraska. Honestly, for me though, it was more of a gut feeling that he’d pledge to the Huskers.
Even though I once predicted Kuli ending up at Nebraska, I have to admit I was a little surprised this week when the five-star defensive end actually pulled the trigger in favor of NU. So much has changed in the last 30 days.
Committed to the Program
Guys I don’t see leaving the Nebraska class include Baker Steinkuhler, Riley Reiff, Sean Fisher, Dan Hoch, Collins Okafor and Kyler Reed. They aren’t the only ones that will stick with the ‘Big Red’ but are guys that truly want to play their football in Lincoln, no matter who is coaching them.
Tom Osborne is providing somewhat of a calming effect to some of these kids as well in terms of their commitment to the Huskers. I talked to both Kyler Reed and Riley Reiff this week and both feel just a little bit more comfortable with Nebraska knowing that T.O. is on the case.
Decommits?
It was bound to happen. In truth, it was a ticking time bomb. Anytime a team struggles with embarrassing losses and their coaches are rumored to be on the ‘hotseat’ you can expect one or two (if not more) kids to leave the fray.
I think Nebraska will more than likely lose between five and eight current commits when all is said and done but they’ll replenish with some solid, if not star-quality kids (see Simi Kuli).
Among the most likely candidates, in my opinion, to leave the Nebraska class, include: Jonas Gray (already done), Blaine Gabbert (de-committed Wednesday night), Bryce Givens, D.J. Woods, Doug Rippy, Darius Parish and Will Compton.
I don’t think it’s just happenstance that most of these kids were all very close throughout the recruiting process. Gray, Gabbert, Woods, Compton and Rippy have been in constant contact. Just like they once influenced each other to choose Nebraska - it seems as though they may now influence each other to go the other way.
Unfortunately, it works both ways.
Gray makes the switch
All the stuff about Jonas Gray played out pretty fast.
I thought Nebraska still had a chance if he had let things play out as the season went along, but those chances went to zero when he made a quick commitment to Notre Dame. Though in all seriousness, it seemed like he had liked Notre Dame for a long time before everything changed at Nebraska.
One of the things that he said to me on the phone, during the very brief moment I spoke with him, was he wasn’t just worried about changes now, but even if it didn’t, something may happen in the long run.
“Even if they do honor the contract (with the coaching staff), I know after that they may not be there,” Gray said. “I knew the coaches were on a short leash and even if they stayed, it wasn’t a good situation.”
He hasn’t ruled out completely listening to a new coaching staff if changes did occur. I just can’t remember a lot of scenarios in the past few years that a prospect recommitted to a school after de-committing earlier in the process.
More on Toailoa
The most interesting thing about the visit this past weekend was Quentin Toailoa was just how impressed his mom was when I spoke with her.
You could tell that when she spoke about her son being far away from home, having a good academic support system there kind of helped with the “parenting” aspect of his college career. They did have a lengthy conversation with all the coaches and they spoke very highly of the talk they had with Tom Osborne. The quote where she said that Osborne made it clear that the “student comes first” you could tell was a big deal.
The fan support also blew them away both at the football and the volleyball game. Let’s put it this way ? mom was very impressed. I have a hard time believing that NU isn’t in the driver’s seat for Toailoa as of now.
Etc.
*** Bryce Givens confirmed with us on Thursday that he is about “90 percent” sure he is visiting Missouri this weekend. He said that he also plans to go to Texas for their banquet in December and possibly to Florida in two weeks for their game against Vanderbilt. He remains committed to Nebraska and says that he will give a new staff a chance if a change takes place.
He said that he isn’t planning on making a visit to Nebraska until after the season when things have been sorted out. Givens has already used his official visit for Nebraska when he came to Lincoln on Sept. 14.
*** I spoke with Trevor Robinson on Wednesday night ? the update went up on the front page this morning for those that missed it. But he also said that he had texted back and forth with Jonas Gray but it was only to find out if he had in fact de-committed. He said they didn’t really talk that much about Notre Dame after that.
*** For those that didn’t get a chance to listen to the Simi Kuli interview from Sports Nightly on Wednesday night, go back and check it out. You can get to it at Huskers.com in the audio archives. His coach and Simi gave a great interview including their thoughts on Nebraska and athletic director Tom Osborne.
Where do you go from here?
It is amazing the developments over the past few days. I always try to find the positive and I sure as heck have seen it. It is not just the Simi Kuli commitment either. Time will show who has been doing what. Time will show that the former players are more active in the program. Simi did end up talking to coach Osborne with his head coach at El Camino. Coach Featherstone has built a real powerful JC football program and he has been doing it for well over 20 years. As it turned out - not much surprise - the coaches knew each other and shared their previous contacts. Of course, coach Osborne expressed his appreciation to Simi and vice-versa. What I like about coach Osborne is that he asks the logical questions. He asked coach Featherstone which of his former players he would compare to Simi Kuli. The coach gave him the following two - DeLawrence Grant and Ryan Riddle. Not too bad.
Side Note: Simi is kidding around at practice to get some of the guys to go to NU, too. He will say - 1,2, Nebraska. Nebraska being go. Look for Simi to be a Captain in his last year. He has leadership qualities.
I see where the question about Justin Thompson keeps getting asked. May I please get that stopped? Do you really think that players that are close like Simi and Justin are not going to be talking about it? Of course, they are and have been. Will it make a difference with Justin? Well, certainly. Will it result in his commitment? Heck, I don’t know. That is up to Justin. Let him do his thing. He is likely going up to Oregon this weekend, as the weekend California JC games - as I hear - will cancelled. Obvious reason - fires.
The same question has been asked about Tavares Pressley, the running back from Simi‘s school - El Camino College. Tavares doesn’t have a formal offer as of now. Will that change? Well, with the loss of Jonas Gray, I would say the chances just went up, but my gosh, Collins Okafor should stick and I understand that he is very solid prospect. The cupboard is not bare as it is. I understand that Tavares will consider the Huskers, so let’s see what happens. How good is Tavares? You might check out his film. Check out these stats for the year so far through seven games:
- 55 carries for 575 yards and 10 TD’s - leads the team by wide margin and he is fifth in rushing for his conference, but his YPC average is tops. He leads the conference in TD’s.
- 13 receptions for 113 yards and one TD - third on the team
- 733 all-purpose yards - no one is close on El Camino
JUCO linebacker and NU commit Shaun Mohler is looking around and has the one visit set for Colorado for Dec. 8. He told me though that he considers himself still committed - would be a soft commit. As you may recall, Shaun switched from Cal to NU and he loved NU. The potential coaching change has him concerned. I suspect that he will eventually stick. He did tell me that he wants to meet the new coaches. Well, I guess that will have to happen with an in-home visit, as he has used his official and they don’t have the means to take an unofficial. Be patient and let’s see how that plays out. I would put Shaun at about 60% and depending on the next coach, it could move up fast.
I have an update coming on Tyson Hetzer for tomorrow morning. Tyson has to be the nicest kid on this side of the Mississippi. He is like most - little concerned on what could happen. I would put him at 70%.
Another one that will want to meet the new coaches - assuming it happens - is linebacker Sean Fisher. He is committed, but he ‘could’ open it back up with a change. If that change does happen, I suspect a visit to meet the new coaches will solidify him. I have him at 80%.
Before I start anything today, I want to make one point clear about Rivals.com and how we come up with our rankings.
On Thursday, Kevin Kugler said on 1620 the Zone said he has “no doubt” that Rivals.com elevates the star rankings of Nebraska recruits just because it makes the company money.
This statement by Kugler couldn’t be any more false. First off, I challenge Kugler to find a case where he can prove Rivals.com bumped up a kid to four stars because he was committed to Nebraska. Better yet, I challenge him to ask Jeremy Crabtree that question directly when he interviews him on his show next week.
People tear apart the 2005 class quite a bit, but let me go down some of the four star guys for you. Both Justin Tomerlin (Michigan State commit) and Frantz Hardy (FSU & Auburn offers) were rated four-stars when the JUCO rankings were released and never even considered Nebraska until Zac Taylor committed to NU. Tomerlin led the Jayhawk League in sacks and Hardy was ranked as the top receiver in the league. Their four star rankings were tagged on them way before NU even was in the picture. Now should they have been four stars as we look at things now…no. But by no means were they “bumped up” because they were going to Nebraska.
Chris Brooks was rated four stars right from the start of the process and he was a Missouri commit for 10 months before switching to NU. I’ll go on and on if you want me to, but this notion by Kugler that Rivals bumps up recruits because they’re committed to NU is completely false. A committee of 20+ analysts and experts do the rankings and guys like me actually don’t have any say on rankings. The only players I rank are in-state Nebraska prospects, because I go into 40+ high schools per year during the months on Feb. and March to get film and invite players to the NIKE camps.
I’m sorry to rant about this in Tunnel Talk, but it really bothers me when people take shots at what we do. I work with Kevin on Big Red Wrap-up each Tuesday and I have a lot of respect for his broadcasting abilities, but I will not tolerate somebody taking a public shot at Rivals.com without facts to back it up.
***A group of NFL scouts told some local Division II coaches I know they can’t believe Nebraska is 4-4 at this point. The scouts told the coaches NU has much more talent than a lot of the teams they’re losing to…so take that for what it’s worth. There is talent on this football team, I think we all know that.
***Look for Joey Ganz to potentially run some designed option plays on Saturday against Texas.
***I know people are upset about Jaivorio Burkes coming out of his redshirt to start on Saturday, but to be honest, I’m pretty excited to see what he can do. I’ve heard nothing but good things about him.
***On Tuesday, defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove more or less called out linebacker Phillip Dillard when I asked about his injured quad. Coz said the injury is not that serious and Dillard needs to tough it out.
***Interim Athletic Director Tom Osborne I’m told can call recruits, but he would count as NU’s one NCAA allotted phone call for that week. So more or less, don’t expect him to ever call recruits directly, unless he tells Callahan that he plans to make NU’s one phone call that week for that particular prospect. I don’t see him doing that though, I think if he talks to recruits, the recruits will call him directly.
***I don’t see Nebraska winning in Austin, but I think this game is closer than the 21 point spread. Texas is not a good running team, which obviously helps Nebraska in this match-up.
Hang tight, better days on the horizon
Husker fans got some much-needed good news with the commitment of Simi Kuli this week. It was a nice respite from the ongoing worries that this recruiting class is starting to come apart. Someone posted on RSS in the past week that the current NU commits who stick with Nebraska through the next rough month, and the almost inevitable coaching change, will have a special place in the hearts of Husker fans, and I think that's very true.
It's hard to see how Nebraska wins any of the remaining four games in their regular season as the team seems to be in near freefall right now. Husker fans are just going to have to steel themselves to endure the next month of tough knocks on the field and off of it in regard to any possible further de-commits.
It will help to keep an expectant eye on Thanksgiving because unless there's an early settlement in terms of the coaching staff, that's when there will probably be the longed-for clarification, closure and a turn for change. The holidays should be an eventful time for Husker fans as I'd expect that the future direction of the Big Red program will quickly start to take shape.
Recruit news and notes
*** When I spoke with Josh Williams earlier in the week, I got an inkling that there could be some movement among NU's commits in the immediate future.
As most know by now, Williams is a part of the "core group" that helped recruit each other to Nebraska over the spring and summer months. When I asked him about their recent discussions he said, ""Yes, I've been talking with Will (Compton), Bryce (Givens), Jonas (Gray) and Blaine (Gabbert). Everybody still seems to be in the Nebraska family, but I've heard a couple things about how people feel about a coaching change."
He wouldn't elaborate on that when pressed, but he was obviously referencing Gray's and Gabbert's pending de-commitments away from Nebraska, as well as all the rest scheduling further official visits as they looked into their respective fallback plans.
When I asked him about a possible coaching change at NU he said, "Having a staff change would be big. It would mean getting to know a whole new group of guys, but that's something I'm up for. I'd have to let it happen first, and other than that I'd sit back and see what happens."
It wasn't in the update, but I then asked him if he'd be open to playing under a different head coach and staff at Nebraska. He said, "There's a good possibility if it was someone like Bo Pelini and a couple other guys. The name 'Bo Pelini' is a good name that I've seen thrown out there, and him being a defensive coordinator now and seeing what he runs (at LSU) would make staying with Nebraska more attractive to me."
*** As far as other NU commits who are not part of the core group, most of them seem set on staying with and playing for Nebraska no matter who the coach is. Eric Harper and David Whitmore would fall into that category. When I spoke with both this week they seemed genuinely unconcerned with the turn of events in Lincoln - almost as if it was an afterthought. The both said that they had their hearts set on "playing for Nebraska" no matter what.
*** In-state commit John Levorson had the exact same attitude as Harper and Whitmore, and though I won't be speaking to Baker Steinkuhler until Thursday evening, I did speak with his mother briefly on Wednesday night. When I asked her if the current tumult and changes at Nebraska would have any effect on Baker's decision to become a Husker she just chuckled and said, "Nah, Baker's one of those who's a huge (Nebraska) fan and nothing's going to change his decision." With Baker and Simi Kuli, that gives Nebraska two legitimate five star recruits who want to play for Nebraska, and not just at Nebraska.
Late Update: I just spoke with Baker Steinkuhler's mother and she said Baker didn't want to talk to anyone right now but he wanted to say "I'm 100 percent committed to Nebraska."
It's very fortunate for fans that during the year Nebraska is having this upheaval of a new athletic director brought in and a probable coaching change, there is probably the best collection of Division I in-state talent available in a decade or so. It makes keeping as much of this class locked up as possible that much easier.
A lucky prediction?
In the September 20 installment of Tunnel Talk, I predicted that Simi Kuli would commit to Nebraska soon after his mid-October visit to Lincoln. Well - sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.
In early fall, I heard that things were looking "real good" for Kuli going to Nebraska. Honestly, for me though, it was more of a gut feeling that he’d pledge to the Huskers.
Even though I once predicted Kuli ending up at Nebraska, I have to admit I was a little surprised this week when the five-star defensive end actually pulled the trigger in favor of NU. So much has changed in the last 30 days.
Committed to the Program
Guys I don’t see leaving the Nebraska class include Baker Steinkuhler, Riley Reiff, Sean Fisher, Dan Hoch, Collins Okafor and Kyler Reed. They aren’t the only ones that will stick with the ‘Big Red’ but are guys that truly want to play their football in Lincoln, no matter who is coaching them.
Tom Osborne is providing somewhat of a calming effect to some of these kids as well in terms of their commitment to the Huskers. I talked to both Kyler Reed and Riley Reiff this week and both feel just a little bit more comfortable with Nebraska knowing that T.O. is on the case.
Decommits?
It was bound to happen. In truth, it was a ticking time bomb. Anytime a team struggles with embarrassing losses and their coaches are rumored to be on the ‘hotseat’ you can expect one or two (if not more) kids to leave the fray.
I think Nebraska will more than likely lose between five and eight current commits when all is said and done but they’ll replenish with some solid, if not star-quality kids (see Simi Kuli).
Among the most likely candidates, in my opinion, to leave the Nebraska class, include: Jonas Gray (already done), Blaine Gabbert (de-committed Wednesday night), Bryce Givens, D.J. Woods, Doug Rippy, Darius Parish and Will Compton.
I don’t think it’s just happenstance that most of these kids were all very close throughout the recruiting process. Gray, Gabbert, Woods, Compton and Rippy have been in constant contact. Just like they once influenced each other to choose Nebraska - it seems as though they may now influence each other to go the other way.
Unfortunately, it works both ways.
Gray makes the switch
All the stuff about Jonas Gray played out pretty fast.
I thought Nebraska still had a chance if he had let things play out as the season went along, but those chances went to zero when he made a quick commitment to Notre Dame. Though in all seriousness, it seemed like he had liked Notre Dame for a long time before everything changed at Nebraska.
One of the things that he said to me on the phone, during the very brief moment I spoke with him, was he wasn’t just worried about changes now, but even if it didn’t, something may happen in the long run.
“Even if they do honor the contract (with the coaching staff), I know after that they may not be there,” Gray said. “I knew the coaches were on a short leash and even if they stayed, it wasn’t a good situation.”
He hasn’t ruled out completely listening to a new coaching staff if changes did occur. I just can’t remember a lot of scenarios in the past few years that a prospect recommitted to a school after de-committing earlier in the process.
More on Toailoa
The most interesting thing about the visit this past weekend was Quentin Toailoa was just how impressed his mom was when I spoke with her.
You could tell that when she spoke about her son being far away from home, having a good academic support system there kind of helped with the “parenting” aspect of his college career. They did have a lengthy conversation with all the coaches and they spoke very highly of the talk they had with Tom Osborne. The quote where she said that Osborne made it clear that the “student comes first” you could tell was a big deal.
The fan support also blew them away both at the football and the volleyball game. Let’s put it this way ? mom was very impressed. I have a hard time believing that NU isn’t in the driver’s seat for Toailoa as of now.
Etc.
*** Bryce Givens confirmed with us on Thursday that he is about “90 percent” sure he is visiting Missouri this weekend. He said that he also plans to go to Texas for their banquet in December and possibly to Florida in two weeks for their game against Vanderbilt. He remains committed to Nebraska and says that he will give a new staff a chance if a change takes place.
He said that he isn’t planning on making a visit to Nebraska until after the season when things have been sorted out. Givens has already used his official visit for Nebraska when he came to Lincoln on Sept. 14.
*** I spoke with Trevor Robinson on Wednesday night ? the update went up on the front page this morning for those that missed it. But he also said that he had texted back and forth with Jonas Gray but it was only to find out if he had in fact de-committed. He said they didn’t really talk that much about Notre Dame after that.
*** For those that didn’t get a chance to listen to the Simi Kuli interview from Sports Nightly on Wednesday night, go back and check it out. You can get to it at Huskers.com in the audio archives. His coach and Simi gave a great interview including their thoughts on Nebraska and athletic director Tom Osborne.
Where do you go from here?
It is amazing the developments over the past few days. I always try to find the positive and I sure as heck have seen it. It is not just the Simi Kuli commitment either. Time will show who has been doing what. Time will show that the former players are more active in the program. Simi did end up talking to coach Osborne with his head coach at El Camino. Coach Featherstone has built a real powerful JC football program and he has been doing it for well over 20 years. As it turned out - not much surprise - the coaches knew each other and shared their previous contacts. Of course, coach Osborne expressed his appreciation to Simi and vice-versa. What I like about coach Osborne is that he asks the logical questions. He asked coach Featherstone which of his former players he would compare to Simi Kuli. The coach gave him the following two - DeLawrence Grant and Ryan Riddle. Not too bad.
Side Note: Simi is kidding around at practice to get some of the guys to go to NU, too. He will say - 1,2, Nebraska. Nebraska being go. Look for Simi to be a Captain in his last year. He has leadership qualities.
I see where the question about Justin Thompson keeps getting asked. May I please get that stopped? Do you really think that players that are close like Simi and Justin are not going to be talking about it? Of course, they are and have been. Will it make a difference with Justin? Well, certainly. Will it result in his commitment? Heck, I don’t know. That is up to Justin. Let him do his thing. He is likely going up to Oregon this weekend, as the weekend California JC games - as I hear - will cancelled. Obvious reason - fires.
The same question has been asked about Tavares Pressley, the running back from Simi‘s school - El Camino College. Tavares doesn’t have a formal offer as of now. Will that change? Well, with the loss of Jonas Gray, I would say the chances just went up, but my gosh, Collins Okafor should stick and I understand that he is very solid prospect. The cupboard is not bare as it is. I understand that Tavares will consider the Huskers, so let’s see what happens. How good is Tavares? You might check out his film. Check out these stats for the year so far through seven games:
- 55 carries for 575 yards and 10 TD’s - leads the team by wide margin and he is fifth in rushing for his conference, but his YPC average is tops. He leads the conference in TD’s.
- 13 receptions for 113 yards and one TD - third on the team
- 733 all-purpose yards - no one is close on El Camino
JUCO linebacker and NU commit Shaun Mohler is looking around and has the one visit set for Colorado for Dec. 8. He told me though that he considers himself still committed - would be a soft commit. As you may recall, Shaun switched from Cal to NU and he loved NU. The potential coaching change has him concerned. I suspect that he will eventually stick. He did tell me that he wants to meet the new coaches. Well, I guess that will have to happen with an in-home visit, as he has used his official and they don’t have the means to take an unofficial. Be patient and let’s see how that plays out. I would put Shaun at about 60% and depending on the next coach, it could move up fast.
I have an update coming on Tyson Hetzer for tomorrow morning. Tyson has to be the nicest kid on this side of the Mississippi. He is like most - little concerned on what could happen. I would put him at 70%.
Another one that will want to meet the new coaches - assuming it happens - is linebacker Sean Fisher. He is committed, but he ‘could’ open it back up with a change. If that change does happen, I suspect a visit to meet the new coaches will solidify him. I have him at 80%.