Do we have too many walkons playing?

[Red Five]

The data says yes...

How much should a walk-on fill the role of a man on the 2 deep? At Nebraska, it's more than what probably should happen.

I know that many folks think that finding good, renewable talent in recruiting is tiresome to talk about. Hence, a few of our staff hates recruiting talk period.

While I respect that, it's also important to realize what you need to recruit for in the future. If you're not looking at issues on your roster 2, maybe even 3 years down the road and hoping you can just plug in walk-ons to fill it, that's a problem.



And, yes, the Nebraska Cornhuskers have one of if not the most storied walk-on programs in America. However, in the end, it doesn't make up for laziness in recruiting.

A friend of mine, Kevin Koenig and his buddies did some numbers crunching when it came to the two-deep of Nebraska and comparable programs across FBS.

They all compared the top 40 S&P teams at Football Outsiders and their 2 deep in Week 5 or 6 of their seasons. These are going off the depth charts provided in a team's game notes.

How many walk-ons are in the 2 deep across the board? The numbers may shock you.

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This is what happens when you have a lot of marginal guys on your recruiting classes that don't have very many Power 5 offers. Granted, you do indeed find kids that work out, but more often than not you're looking to have to plug in with walk-ons and such.



Iowa has almost as many walk-ons in the 2 deep as Nebraska does, and has lower-ranked recruiting classes. However, the Hawkeyes are 6-0 while Nebraska, as we know, is far from that. It does not mean that Mike Riley's staff is not as good, but it does mean that Mike Riley's staff has their work cut out for them.

Development is one thing. Recruiting is another thing. Both, however, will get you to promised lands like the CFB Playoff and Conference championships.

 

[NUance]

Right now our walkons are filling in the gaps where our recruiting failed us. Just think where we'd be without a solid walkon program.

 

[ADS]

It's a damn if you do, damn if you don't kind of deal. People are always going to b!^@h about not having a strong walkon program and people are going to b!^@h about having too many walkons. The ones currently on the roster are filling in nicely this year and we'd be screwed without them.

 

[Sargon]

Good info Red Five thanks.

Recruiting needs to improve. Seems it might be. I think we'll have a decent idea on the 2017 signing day.

 

[huskerfan92]

And the thing is two of our walk-ons, Janovich and Weber, might just be our best players this year.....

 

[junior4949]

Can anyone find the data back in the mid-90's? I'm going to go out on a limb and say we were near the top back then when we were playing for and winning multiple NCs. It wasn't a problem back then. However, I do agree we are filling key roles that recruiting failed. Our last five classes ranked pretty high per rivals. One has to assume those that put us that high probably aren't on the team any longer though.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Can anyone find the data back in the mid-90's? I'm going to go out on a limb and say we were near the top back then when we were playing for and winning multiple NCs. It wasn't a problem back then. However, I do agree we are filling key roles that recruiting failed. Our last five classes ranked pretty high per rivals. One has to assume those that put us that high probably aren't on the team any longer though.

I think you are honestly mistaken. NU fans have this grand idea that the walk-ons were the main reason that NU won championships in the 90's. Yes, they did contribute, but they weren't the main factor.

Of the players at that time, the big walk-ons were the Mackovickas. Jared Tomich is mentioned at being a former walk-on, but he was a recruited Prop 48 guy who couldn't be on scholarship his first year at NU. I can't remember if Brendan Holbein was a former walk-on. Other than those guys, I can't remember too many walk-ons being starters or in the two-deep.

Yes, there were a lot of Nebraskans in the starting line-up, but they weren't walk-ons. That was a period of time where there was a lot of talent in the state of Nebraska, and many of those guys were recruited by schools all over the country.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Recruiting and development needs to be improved. Walk-ons are great to fill-in areas of need at times, but they shouldn't be counted on to be 20-25% of the two-deep.

 

[NUinID]

Can anyone find the data back in the mid-90's? I'm going to go out on a limb and say we were near the top back then when we were playing for and winning multiple NCs. It wasn't a problem back then. However, I do agree we are filling key roles that recruiting failed. Our last five classes ranked pretty high per rivals. One has to assume those that put us that high probably aren't on the team any longer though.

I think you are honestly mistaken. NU fans have this grand idea that the walk-ons were the main reason that NU won championships in the 90's. Yes, they did contribute, but they weren't the main factor.

Of the players at that time, the big walk-ons were the Mackovickas. Jared Tomich is mentioned at being a former walk-on, but he was a recruited Prop 48 guy who couldn't be on scholarship his first year at NU. I can't remember if Brendan Holbein was a former walk-on. Other than those guys, I can't remember too many walk-ons being starters or in the two-deep.

Yes, there were a lot of Nebraskans in the starting line-up, but they weren't walk-ons. That was a period of time where there was a lot of talent in the state of Nebraska, and many of those guys were recruited by schools all over the country.

Holbien was a walk-on. It was not uncommon for NU to have at least 1 walk-on FB, or wr, or O-lineman contribute even in the 90's.

 

[True2tRA]

We say "walk-on" around here as if it's some sort of defining label these guys wear. As if it means anything. It means that some recruiting service didn't find them and probably should have. If they're getting on the field here ahead of three and four star recruits, then somewhere somebody was wrong huh?

We need to drop these mathematical formulas for explaining every single thing around this program. I think some of it is ridiculous, personally. You can either play or you can't. Chris Weber had 17 tackles one week and 12 another week. Those tackles came against teams that were full of three and four star guys that were trying to stop him.

You belong out there or you don't. The discussion shouldn't be about if we have "too many walk-ons" on the field, the question should be where the hell are guys like Natter, or Newell? Weren't they big time coming out of high school?

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Can anyone find the data back in the mid-90's? I'm going to go out on a limb and say we were near the top back then when we were playing for and winning multiple NCs. It wasn't a problem back then. However, I do agree we are filling key roles that recruiting failed. Our last five classes ranked pretty high per rivals. One has to assume those that put us that high probably aren't on the team any longer though.

I think you are honestly mistaken. NU fans have this grand idea that the walk-ons were the main reason that NU won championships in the 90's. Yes, they did contribute, but they weren't the main factor.

Of the players at that time, the big walk-ons were the Mackovickas. Jared Tomich is mentioned at being a former walk-on, but he was a recruited Prop 48 guy who couldn't be on scholarship his first year at NU. I can't remember if Brendan Holbein was a former walk-on. Other than those guys, I can't remember too many walk-ons being starters or in the two-deep.

Yes, there were a lot of Nebraskans in the starting line-up, but they weren't walk-ons. That was a period of time where there was a lot of talent in the state of Nebraska, and many of those guys were recruited by schools all over the country.

Holbien was a walk-on. It was not uncommon for NU to have at least 1 walk-on FB, or wr, or O-lineman contribute even in the 90's.

Yes, I understand that. I was in high school and at NU in the 1990's. But, the revolutionary history of people acting like NU won only because of the walk-ons is crazy. I am not trying to say walk-ons are worthless, but the best teams in NU history won because of great recruiting and gameday coaching.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

We say "walk-on" around here as if it's some sort of defining label these guys wear. As if it means anything. It means that some recruiting service didn't find them and probably should have. If they're getting on the field here ahead of three and four star recruits, then somewhere somebody was wrong huh?

We need to drop these mathematical formulas for explaining every single thing around this program. I think some of it is ridiculous, personally. You can either play or you can't. Chris Weber had 17 tackles one week and 12 another week. Those tackles came against teams that were full of three and four star guys that were trying to stop him.

You belong out there or you don't. The discussion shouldn't be about if we have "too many walk-ons" on the field, the question should be where the hell are guys like Natter, or Newell? Weren't they big time coming out of high school?

Where I give credit to the walk-ons is that they have the "want-to" to go out and play hard. That "want-to" can make up for some talent deficiencies. Chris Weber was playing great before he got injured. Gangwish has shown very good play at times, and always gives the effort. Janovich is just a football player, walk-on or not.

I think where a lot of the concern is why aren't the more talented, recruited kids aren't "getting it" or "playing hard" or have the "want-to".

 

[True2tRA]

We say "walk-on" around here as if it's some sort of defining label these guys wear. As if it means anything. It means that some recruiting service didn't find them and probably should have. If they're getting on the field here ahead of three and four star recruits, then somewhere somebody was wrong huh?

We need to drop these mathematical formulas for explaining every single thing around this program. I think some of it is ridiculous, personally. You can either play or you can't. Chris Weber had 17 tackles one week and 12 another week. Those tackles came against teams that were full of three and four star guys that were trying to stop him.

You belong out there or you don't. The discussion shouldn't be about if we have "too many walk-ons" on the field, the question should be where the hell are guys like Natter, or Newell? Weren't they big time coming out of high school?

I think where a lot of the concern is why aren't the more talented, recruited kids aren't "getting it" or "playing hard" or have the "want-to".

That's what I was getting at.

As to your other comment. Janovich, Weber, and Gangwish are all good football players too. Yeah they have want to, but all football players should have that. That's the name of the game. If Jano, Weber, and Gangwish had three or four stars beside their name, we would'nt even talk about the "want to" factor as part of their equation. I do think the part about being a Nebraska kid and understanding what we are about around here is important. There's a certain edge there, but I would think all of these guys would adapt that edge at this level.

So again, instead of questiong the walk-ons who are out there and kicking a$$ or if we have "too many", I'm more worried about the three and four star guys we have out there that don't seem to put it all on the line, or the guys that aren't even getting out there at all that had those shiny stars beside their names in high school. Those are the guys that are the issue here.

 

[NUinID]

Can anyone find the data back in the mid-90's? I'm going to go out on a limb and say we were near the top back then when we were playing for and winning multiple NCs. It wasn't a problem back then. However, I do agree we are filling key roles that recruiting failed. Our last five classes ranked pretty high per rivals. One has to assume those that put us that high probably aren't on the team any longer though.

I think you are honestly mistaken. NU fans have this grand idea that the walk-ons were the main reason that NU won championships in the 90's. Yes, they did contribute, but they weren't the main factor.

Of the players at that time, the big walk-ons were the Mackovickas. Jared Tomich is mentioned at being a former walk-on, but he was a recruited Prop 48 guy who couldn't be on scholarship his first year at NU. I can't remember if Brendan Holbein was a former walk-on. Other than those guys, I can't remember too many walk-ons being starters or in the two-deep.

Yes, there were a lot of Nebraskans in the starting line-up, but they weren't walk-ons. That was a period of time where there was a lot of talent in the state of Nebraska, and many of those guys were recruited by schools all over the country.

Holbien was a walk-on. It was not uncommon for NU to have at least 1 walk-on FB, or wr, or O-lineman contribute even in the 90's.

Yes, I understand that. I was in high school and at NU in the 1990's. But, the revolutionary history of people acting like NU won only because of the walk-ons is crazy. I am not trying to say walk-ons are worthless, but the best teams in NU history won because of great recruiting and gameday coaching.

I wasn't implying that at all. Those positions were areas where walk ons could shine due to the type of offense that was run. Most of NU's FB contrary to popular belief were scholarship players. Tom Rahman, Micha Heibel, Judd Davies, Cory Schelsenger, Phil Bates, Bryon Carpenter, Steve Krewald, Brian Schuster, Andre Franklin were all scholarship guys and they are just the ones I remember off the top of my head.

A lot of times there were walk on WR that contributed, but that was more to the fact that they needed to be great blockers and not some great pass catcher. Holbein was phenomenal athlete. He rushed for about 2000 yards his senior year at Cozad behind Chris Dishman who was not a walk on. Still most of the were scholarship guys. Most were great athletes, but were a little undersized. So big time passing schools weren't after them. Clester Johnson, Abdul Mohammad, Riley Washington, Reggie Baul, Matt Davidson, they were all scholarship guys.

O-line is where you saw the most contribution to the team IMO with walk ons. That is where you should see it. Take a 6'3" 240 lb RB/athlete at some class C school and put 60 lbs on him and turn him into a guard.