OLB Christian Jones

To which school will Jones commit?

  • Total voters
    36
 When I talked to him at the game he said he was enjoying his visit and was excited to watch the game. Said his next OV is USC and he knows there facilities are nothing like ours but likes their Tradition just like ours.

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He has visited Nebraska a lot. There are a ton of friends and former teammates on the roster and we are recruiting him the hardest. That said, if I were on the staff I am making the latter part of his next visit about committing. Not in an overly aggressive way, but in a matter of fact fashion. He is really dragging his feet, and at this point his indecisiveness hurts us in recruiting other LB's in his place. I say this because there is a nugget somewhere that he wants to take OV's in the fall too. Just my two cents with it all. Piss or get off the pot at this point. 

 
Vince R. said:
He has visited Nebraska a lot. There are a ton of friends and former teammates on the roster and we are recruiting him the hardest. That said, if I were on the staff I am making the latter part of his next visit about committing. Not in an overly aggressive way, but in a matter of fact fashion. He is really dragging his feet, and at this point his indecisiveness hurts us in recruiting other LB's in his place. I say this because there is a nugget somewhere that he wants to take OV's in the fall too. Just my two cents with it all. Piss or get off the pot at this point. 
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Eh, he's a kid. We will take him regardless if he wants to wait until his graduation day or the first day of class in 2025. Would it be nice to get him on board and solidify the class? Sure, but patience can pay off (see Raiola, Dylan). Pressure works on some recruits, while others work their way into a decision. Just need to show patience and take care of what we (the staff) can control. 

 
Wistrom Disciple said:
Eh, he's a kid. We will take him regardless if he wants to wait until his graduation day or the first day of class in 2025. Would it be nice to get him on board and solidify the class? Sure, but patience can pay off (see Raiola, Dylan). Pressure works on some recruits, while others work their way into a decision. Just need to show patience and take care of what we (the staff) can control. 
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I agree with ya. I wouldn't stop recruiting him but I would also start focusing my attention on getting a guy to replace him. The longer he drags it out, the more I have to assume he's going elsewhere and I still need that spot filled. I said all of that because I think Nebraska has been very patient with him and understanding of his desire to see other schools. However, Nebraska can't show much more than he has already seen at this point. The staff has a job to do. 

 
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Vince R. said:
I agree with ya. I wouldn't stop recruiting him but I would also start focusing my attention on getting a guy to replace him. The longer he drags it out, the more I have to assume he's going elsewhere and I still need that spot filled. I said all of that because I think Nebraska has been very patient with him and understanding of his desire to see other schools. However, Nebraska can't show much more than he has already seen at this point. The staff has a job to do. 
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Fair point, but I don't necessarily believe that focusing on Christian is somehow taking away an opportunity to sign somebody equal. With how the transfer portal works anymore, filling scholarships is really not that difficult. I simply think extending the same patience we showed to Raiola may help us in the end here. Might not, but I'm not sure pressing a kid into a decision is necessarily the best formula either. I'd much rather have him reach the conclusion on his own than somehow force his hand at this point.

 
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Wistrom Disciple said:
Fair point, but I don't necessarily believe that focusing on Christian is somehow taking away an opportunity to sign somebody equal. With how the transfer portal works anymore, filling scholarships is really not that difficult. I simply think extending the same patience we showed to Raiola may help us in the end here. Might not, but I'm not sure pressing a kid into a decision is necessarily the best formula either. I'd much rather have him reach the conclusion on his own that somehow force his hand at this point.
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There is only a finite amount of time and spots. It isn't that they would stop or lessen their efforts towards him. They just have to reset the scenario and see where they truly stand with him. If he says, " I want to go into the season", then you have to tell him, "we will have to recruit other guys in your position and take them if they want in. Doesn't mean we won't still take you, but you will have competition at your spot within your own class".

In Raiola's case, they did move on from him and focused solely on Danny. Raiola came back to them out of the blue. 

 
Vince R. said:
There is only a finite amount of time and spots. It isn't that they would stop or lessen their efforts towards him. They just have to reset the scenario and see where they truly stand with him. If he says, " I want to go into the season", then you have to tell him, "we will have to recruit other guys in your position and take them if they want in. Doesn't mean we won't still take you, but you will have competition at your spot within your own class".

In Raiola's case, they did move on from him and focused solely on Danny. Raiola came back to them out of the blue. 
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To the bolded, I think that's pretty much the case with everyone.  

There are marginal guys who can lose their spot in the class.  It happened to Caleb Pyfrom last year.

But guys at this level have always been "take them and figure out the numbers later."  And that's even more true now that scholarship limits don't mean anything close to what they used to.

 
Vince R. said:
There is only a finite amount of time and spots. It isn't that they would stop or lessen their efforts towards him. They just have to reset the scenario and see where they truly stand with him. If he says, " I want to go into the season", then you have to tell him, "we will have to recruit other guys in your position and take them if they want in. Doesn't mean we won't still take you, but you will have competition at your spot within your own class".

In Raiola's case, they did move on from him and focused solely on Danny. Raiola came back to them out of the blue. 
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Agreed with @Mavric's post. 

Rhule's approach has been to only sign guys who truly want to be here. Some kids reach that decision quickly, others drag it out until they feel fully comfortable. It's not like the staff is ignoring all other recruits at the position like the Mike Riley era appeared to do. Rhule's staff has plenty of options and seem to be doing just fine by letting the recruits reach their own decisions. Getting aggressive works for some, but I like Rhule's patient approach so far.

 
Wistrom Disciple said:
Agreed with @Mavric's post. 

Rhule's approach has been to only sign guys who truly want to be here. Some kids reach that decision quickly, others drag it out until they feel fully comfortable. It's not like the staff is ignoring all other recruits at the position like the Mike Riley era appeared to do. Rhule's staff has plenty of options and seem to be doing just fine by letting the recruits reach their own decisions. Getting aggressive works for some, but I like Rhule's patient approach so far.
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I expect us to take multiple LBs no matter what.  I don't think they need to pressure him into committing.  If he wants in later, they will find room.  That's much easier now than it used to be.

 
My point is that he has seen Nebraska almost as much as all the commits combined (I'm exaggerating but you get the point). He has visited Nebraska significantly more than the other schools. If he isn't ready to commit to Nebraska after all the OV's to Lincoln and elsewhere, and still wants to drag it out to fall, Nebraska has to go get someone to take his spot. If he commits on signing day, great. I just think that if he isn't sold at this point, Nebraska has to go get their second option. 

Will they take more LB's anyway? Yes but right now it's looking like mostly OLB's which CJ is not projected to be at this level. I think MLB has to be a major focus for this class, and good ones are harder to find. 

 
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