McKewon: 2011 Recruiting Class Review

[Red Five]

Sam takes a look at the 2011 class. It basically was Ameer and a bunch of meh.

In 2011, Nebraska signed 20 players and generally landed what was considered at the time Bo Pelini's strongest class. According to Rivals, 11 of the 20 signees had four stars, and only two players — grayshirt David Sutton and kicker Mauro Bondi — had two stars. Here are the team rankings from that year, Nebraska’s first in the Big Ten:

>> Rivals: 15th nationally (2nd Big Ten)
>> 247 Sports: 17th (2nd)
>> Scout: 19th (2nd)
>> ESPN: 17th (2nd)

By the time the class was actually signed, Pelini had bunkered deep into his own frustration, going silent for weeks after having blown it in 2010 with the most talented Nebraska team since 2001 (and perhaps the most talented, outside of quarterback, since 1999). He hadn't yet announced major changes to his staff. The class, while still ballyhooed — essentially the second-best rated class in the last decade after the Bill Callahan 2005 bunch — had a different feel by Signing Day.

Best players from class: Ameer Abdullah and Daimion Stafford

Top position group from class: Running back (Abdullah and Aaron Green)
Bottom position group from class: Tight end (Sutton, Pirman)
Junior college recruits: 2 (Stafford and Joseph Carter)
High school recruits by state: Texas 5 (Green, Jackson, Price, Santos, Turner); Nebraska 4 (Davie, Reeves, Sterup, Sutton,); Ohio 2 (Pirman, Williams); Florida 2 (Bondi, Moore); Alabama 1 (Abdullah); Arizona 1 (Peat); Kansas 1 (Starling); Illinois 1 (Klachko); Massachusetts 1 (Allen)
Players who never arrived: 1 (Starling)
Players who transferred before eligibility was expired: 5 (Green, Pirman, Klachko, Moore, Peat)
Players who started more than 10 games thus far: 6 (Abdullah, Bondi*, Davie, Sterup, Santos, Stafford)
Guys who played as true freshmen: 6 (Abdullah, Bondi, Green, Jackson**, Moore, Turner)

http://www.omaha.com/huskers/blogs/another-deep-review-of-the-nebraska-recruiting-class/article_157d5dcc-fda5-11e4-98d0-b74e37fc6fc5.html

 

[Mavric]

I thought the article was harder on the class than it deserves - at least yet. A bunch of those guys are still on the team.

It seems safe to say that Abdullah will be the only star of of the class but it produced a decent number of solid starters. It's crazy to look at how many guys have battled injuries from that class. I'm sure people will have their speculations but that has to be at least some plain old bad luck. Jackson, Reeves, Santos, Sterup, Turner and Williams are all guys that should be in the rotation this year but have been slowed by injuries. That's limited the class' overall effectiveness but they can finish out on a high note.

Bondi has been a decent player and Davie really came on last year. Stafford was a solid player while he was here Price is another one who'll likely be in the rotation this year With AA and those four plus the six above, that's 11 out of 20. 50% is pretty standard so, while it was lacking in top end talent, it probably won't fare as badly in producing contributors. Also, Green and Moore turned into pretty solid players, although obviously didn't help Nebraska.

We definitely haven't gotten a lot other than AA so far but I'll wait until they've all played their last game to judge for sure.

 

[Eric the Red]

If Turner could put it together and snag 50 catches for 800 yards or so it bolsters this class.

Those lineman dropping and transferring hurt this class mightily.

 

[Enhance]

If Turner could put it together and snag 50 catches for 800 yards or so it bolsters this class.

Those lineman dropping and transferring hurt this class mightily.

Always a bane of Bo Pelini's tenure. We failed to get some good talent on campus, lost some to transfers, lost some to injuries and others disappeared down the depth chart.

I always thought it was a fluke for the first few years, but, it became a trend.

 

[The Dude]

Pretty good-looking o-line class on signing day. Didn't take long for that to unravel.