Re-visiting Callahan's 2005 Class

[Husker Psycho]

As I said on the Newby thread...

What Callahan's 2005 recruiting class shows clearly, is that those who have been crying forever that it's somehow more difficult to recruit to Nebraska, are just plain WRONG.

Those complaining and crying that it's soooo hard to recruit at Nebraska are just making lame excuses for their own poor performance and trying desperately to escape responsibility for their own poor recruiting.

It takes coaches-recruiting coordinators with talent at recruiting... in order to have great athletes come to Nebraska... the exact same thing it takes at every other college. It's just that simple.

No more excuses.

And one of the guys responsible for those recruits is no longer coaching because of scandals with an agent. He was also being investigated for possible recruiting violations at 2 different schools.
I do agree that we can get top talent to commit but it wont be at the rate of other schools that are in the middle of recruiting hotbeds. I think the 2017 class has the potential to be a once in a decade type of class for us. Lots and lots of potential.

I've always said that one of the greatest threats or maybe the greatest threat to our program is the mindset... that starts at the very top and has filtered down to some fans... is the mindset that ASSUMES FAILURE.

It's not a mindset about what I stated, it's just pure fact. Teams that are in the middle of or in close proximity to recruiting hotbeds will almost always have better recruiting classes year in and year out over a team that is distant from one.

No it's not a fact... it's an excuse.

You honestly don't pay attention to recruiting. The top states for recruiting are California, Florida, Texas, Ohio, and Georgia. The Northeast and East Coast produce lots of talents also. Take a look at these classes and tell me that proximity doesn't play a roll.
https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2010/all/all

https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2011/all/all

https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2012/all/all

https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2013/all/all

https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2014/all/all

https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2015/all/all

Alabama's current recruiting class highest rated recruits 4**** and 5***** players:

1-NY... 1-MISS... 1-MD... 1-NC... 2-TX... 1-CA... 1-VA... 2-AL

That means that 80% of Alabama's top recruits are from somewhere other than Alabama and in fact they are from all over the country. Their top recruit is from California.

Great coaching and great recruiting is the key... not where the team is located. If you have great coaches the players will come... from all over the country.

No more excuses.

They have been the best team and recruiting power for the last 5-8 years. Not a good comparison at all. It's much easier to recruit to nice weather and with higher population densities nearby. We have Kansas City and that's about it, maybe Denver.

Another person who has bought into the lame excuses.

Callahan proved in 2005, and Alabama's class this year proves that what you say is just not true. Great players want to play for great coaches. They will travel or move to wherever that great coach is at. Alabama's best player this year is from California. That alone proves your comment about better weather or higher population to be patently false and it's always been false.

It is no more difficult to recruit to Nebraska than any other school.

The whole "Nebraska is hard to recruit to" excuse thing is just that... an excuse used by those who want to escape responsibility for their own recruiting failures.

Learn to think for yourself.

And another thing. You say Alabama is the best team and best recruiting power. Why cant we be the best team? Instead you make the worst mistake... you assume failure and make excuses for it. Not me.

 

[GBRedneck]

Psycho, you realize that Alabama has a lot nicer weather (and a lot nicer "scenery") than Nebraska, right?

 

[NUance]

As I said on the Newby thread...

What Callahan's 2005 recruiting class shows clearly, is that those who have been crying forever that it's somehow more difficult to recruit to Nebraska, are just plain WRONG.

Those complaining and crying that it's soooo hard to recruit at Nebraska are just making lame excuses for their own poor performance and trying desperately to escape responsibility for their own poor recruiting.

It takes coaches-recruiting coordinators with talent at recruiting... in order to have great athletes come to Nebraska... the exact same thing it takes at every other college. It's just that simple.

No more excuses.

And one of the guys responsible for those recruits is no longer coaching because of scandals with an agent. He was also being investigated for possible recruiting violations at 2 different schools.
I do agree that we can get top talent to commit but it wont be at the rate of other schools that are in the middle of recruiting hotbeds. I think the 2017 class has the potential to be a once in a decade type of class for us. Lots and lots of potential.

I've always said that one of the greatest threats or maybe the greatest threat to our program is the mindset... that starts at the very top and has filtered down to some fans... is the mindset that ASSUMES FAILURE.

It's not a mindset about what I stated, it's just pure fact. Teams that are in the middle of or in close proximity to recruiting hotbeds will almost always have better recruiting classes year in and year out over a team that is distant from one.

No it's not a fact... it's an excuse.

You honestly don't pay attention to recruiting. The top states for recruiting are California, Florida, Texas, Ohio, and Georgia. The Northeast and East Coast produce lots of talents also. Take a look at these classes and tell me that proximity doesn't play a roll.
https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2010/all/all

https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2011/all/all

https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2012/all/all

https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2013/all/all

https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2014/all/all

https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2015/all/all

Alabama's current recruiting class highest rated recruits 4**** and 5***** players:

1-NY... 1-MISS... 1-MD... 1-NC... 2-TX... 1-CA... 1-VA... 2-AL

That means that 80% of Alabama's top recruits are from somewhere other than Alabama and in fact they are from all over the country. Their top recruit is from California.

Great coaching and great recruiting is the key... not where the team is located. If you have great coaches the players will come... from all over the country.

No more excuses.

They have been the best team and recruiting power for the last 5-8 years. Not a good comparison at all. It's much easier to recruit to nice weather and with higher population densities nearby. We have Kansas City and that's about it, maybe Denver.

Another person who has bought into the lame excuses.

Callahan proved in 2005, and Alabama's class this year proves that what you say is just not true. Great players want to play for great coaches. They will travel or move to wherever that great coach is at. Alabama's best player this year is from California. That alone proves your comment about better weather or higher population to be patently false and it's always been false.

It is no more difficult to recruit to Nebraska than any other school.

The whole "Nebraska is hard to recruit to" excuse thing is just that... an excuse used by those who want to escape responsibility for their own recruiting failures.

Learn to think for yourself.

And another thing. You say Alabama is the best team and best recruiting power. Why cant we be the best team? Instead you make the worst mistake... you assume failure and make excuses for it. Not me.

/jk (This is sort of a double entendre.

)

 

[Waterloohusker26]

As I said on the Newby thread...

What Callahan's 2005 recruiting class shows clearly, is that those who have been crying forever that it's somehow more difficult to recruit to Nebraska, are just plain WRONG.

Those complaining and crying that it's soooo hard to recruit at Nebraska are just making lame excuses for their own poor performance and trying desperately to escape responsibility for their own poor recruiting.

It takes coaches-recruiting coordinators with talent at recruiting... in order to have great athletes come to Nebraska... the exact same thing it takes at every other college. It's just that simple.

No more excuses.

And one of the guys responsible for those recruits is no longer coaching because of scandals with an agent. He was also being investigated for possible recruiting violations at 2 different schools.
I do agree that we can get top talent to commit but it wont be at the rate of other schools that are in the middle of recruiting hotbeds. I think the 2017 class has the potential to be a once in a decade type of class for us. Lots and lots of potential.

I've always said that one of the greatest threats or maybe the greatest threat to our program is the mindset... that starts at the very top and has filtered down to some fans... is the mindset that ASSUMES FAILURE.

It's not a mindset about what I stated, it's just pure fact. Teams that are in the middle of or in close proximity to recruiting hotbeds will almost always have better recruiting classes year in and year out over a team that is distant from one.

No it's not a fact... it's an excuse.

You honestly don't pay attention to recruiting. The top states for recruiting are California, Florida, Texas, Ohio, and Georgia. The Northeast and East Coast produce lots of talents also. Take a look at these classes and tell me that proximity doesn't play a roll.
https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2010/all/all

https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2011/all/all

https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2012/all/all

https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2013/all/all

https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2014/all/all

https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2015/all/all

Alabama's current recruiting class highest rated recruits 4**** and 5***** players:

1-NY... 1-MISS... 1-MD... 1-NC... 2-TX... 1-CA... 1-VA... 2-AL

That means that 80% of Alabama's top recruits are from somewhere other than Alabama and in fact they are from all over the country. Their top recruit is from California.

Great coaching and great recruiting is the key... not where the team is located. If you have great coaches the players will come... from all over the country.

No more excuses.

They have been the best team and recruiting power for the last 5-8 years. Not a good comparison at all. It's much easier to recruit to nice weather and with higher population densities nearby. We have Kansas City and that's about it, maybe Denver.

Another person who has bought into the lame excuses.

Callahan proved in 2005, and Alabama's class this year proves that what you say is just not true. Great players want to play for great coaches. They will travel or move to wherever that great coach is at. Alabama's best player this year is from California. That alone proves your comment about better weather or higher population to be patently false and it's always been false.

It is no more difficult to recruit to Nebraska than any other school.

The whole "Nebraska is hard to recruit to" excuse thing is just that... an excuse used by those who want to escape responsibility for their own recruiting failures.

Learn to think for yourself.

And another thing. You say Alabama is the best team and best recruiting power. Why cant we be the best team? Instead you make the worst mistake... you assume failure and make excuses for it. Not me.

Alabama had 7 kids from their home state last year? Not sure what your point is?

 

[junior4949]

As I said on the Newby thread...

What Callahan's 2005 recruiting class shows clearly, is that those who have been crying forever that it's somehow more difficult to recruit to Nebraska, are just plain WRONG.

Those complaining and crying that it's soooo hard to recruit at Nebraska are just making lame excuses for their own poor performance and trying desperately to escape responsibility for their own poor recruiting.

It takes coaches-recruiting coordinators with talent at recruiting... in order to have great athletes come to Nebraska... the exact same thing it takes at every other college. It's just that simple.

No more excuses.

And one of the guys responsible for those recruits is no longer coaching because of scandals with an agent. He was also being investigated for possible recruiting violations at 2 different schools.
I do agree that we can get top talent to commit but it wont be at the rate of other schools that are in the middle of recruiting hotbeds. I think the 2017 class has the potential to be a once in a decade type of class for us. Lots and lots of potential.

I've always said that one of the greatest threats or maybe the greatest threat to our program is the mindset... that starts at the very top and has filtered down to some fans... is the mindset that ASSUMES FAILURE.

It's not a mindset about what I stated, it's just pure fact. Teams that are in the middle of or in close proximity to recruiting hotbeds will almost always have better recruiting classes year in and year out over a team that is distant from one.

No it's not a fact... it's an excuse.

You honestly don't pay attention to recruiting. The top states for recruiting are California, Florida, Texas, Ohio, and Georgia. The Northeast and East Coast produce lots of talents also. Take a look at these classes and tell me that proximity doesn't play a roll.
https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2010/all/all

https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2011/all/all

https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2012/all/all

https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2013/all/all

https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2014/all/all

https://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/teamrank/2015/all/all

Alabama's current recruiting class highest rated recruits 4**** and 5***** players:

1-NY... 1-MISS... 1-MD... 1-NC... 2-TX... 1-CA... 1-VA... 2-AL

That means that 80% of Alabama's top recruits are from somewhere other than Alabama and in fact they are from all over the country. Their top recruit is from California.

Great coaching and great recruiting is the key... not where the team is located. If you have great coaches the players will come... from all over the country.

No more excuses.

They have been the best team and recruiting power for the last 5-8 years. Not a good comparison at all. It's much easier to recruit to nice weather and with higher population densities nearby. We have Kansas City and that's about it, maybe Denver.

Another person who has bought into the lame excuses.

Callahan proved in 2005, and Alabama's class this year proves that what you say is just not true. Great players want to play for great coaches. They will travel or move to wherever that great coach is at. Alabama's best player this year is from California. That alone proves your comment about better weather or higher population to be patently false and it's always been false.

It is no more difficult to recruit to Nebraska than any other school.

The whole "Nebraska is hard to recruit to" excuse thing is just that... an excuse used by those who want to escape responsibility for their own recruiting failures.

Learn to think for yourself.

And another thing. You say Alabama is the best team and best recruiting power. Why cant we be the best team? Instead you make the worst mistake... you assume failure and make excuses for it. Not me.

Even when we were the best, we weren't the best in recruiting. We played for a NC 93, 94, and 95 winning two of them. How many top 5 recruiting classes did we have in them years? Heck, how many of those recruiting classes that made up those NC teams were top 5? None!

Is it possible for us to have a top 5 recruiting class? Absolutely. Is it possible for us to reel off top 5 recruiting classes 75% of the time? Absolutely not!

 

[Saunders]

Psycho, you realize that Alabama has a lot nicer weather (and a lot nicer "scenery") than Nebraska, right?

No. But it is close to Georgia and Florida which are recruiting hotbeds.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Psycho, you realize that Alabama has a lot nicer weather (and a lot nicer "scenery") than Nebraska, right?

No. But it is close to Georgia and Florida which are recruiting hotbeds.

Yeah, I don't see how anyone can think that NU and Alabama are in similar recruiting situations, just because Alabama gets most of their recruits outside the state of Alabama. The University of Alabama is within easy driving distance to most of the top talent within the country. Yes, it does a great job of bringing in national guys from other regions of the country, but the vast majority of Alabama's recruits are within a 3-4 hour drive of the school.

 

[Husker Psycho]

Psycho, you realize that Alabama has a lot nicer weather (and a lot nicer "scenery") than Nebraska, right?

Nebraska's weather is not any different than Ohio State... Michigan... Notre Dame...

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Psycho, you realize that Alabama has a lot nicer weather (and a lot nicer "scenery") than Nebraska, right?

Nebraska's weather is not any different than Ohio State... Michigan... Notre Dame...

But those three schools in smack in the middle of talent rich areas from Pennsylvania to Illinois.

 

[Husker Psycho]

Psycho, you realize that Alabama has a lot nicer weather (and a lot nicer "scenery") than Nebraska, right?

Nebraska's weather is not any different than Ohio State... Michigan... Notre Dame...

But those three schools in smack in the middle of talent rich areas from Pennsylvania to Illinois.

Yep... and Nebraska is in the exact same place we were located in 2005. (5th ranked recruiting class - 29 out of 32 recruits from outside the state).

 

[GBRedneck]

Psycho, you realize that Alabama has a lot nicer weather (and a lot nicer "scenery") than Nebraska, right?

Nebraska's weather is not any different than Ohio State... Michigan... Notre Dame...

But those three schools in smack in the middle of talent rich areas from Pennsylvania to Illinois.

Yep... and Nebraska is in the exact same place we were located in 2005. (5th ranked recruiting class - 29 out of 32 recruits from outside the state).

Thanks to John Blake, who somehow against all odds did not get us put on probation.

 

[Husker Psycho]

Psycho, you realize that Alabama has a lot nicer weather (and a lot nicer "scenery") than Nebraska, right?

Nebraska's weather is not any different than Ohio State... Michigan... Notre Dame...

But those three schools in smack in the middle of talent rich areas from Pennsylvania to Illinois.

Yep... and Nebraska is in the exact same place we were located in 2005. (5th ranked recruiting class - 29 out of 32 recruits from outside the state).

Thanks to John Blake, who somehow against all odds did not get us put on probation.

It's not about that. It's about people claiming that somehow players don't want to come to Nebraska because of the weather... location... no girls... or because we're not near a recruiting hotbed... all that stuff and that's why our recruiting has suffered. None of it's true and never was.

2005 showed that great players will come here. A whole bunch of great players made the decision to come here... which everyone is claiming is not possible.

Ndamucong Suh loved it here and still does. I believe he came from Oregon.

I really do hate to break every ones bubble... but the result SHOULD be that everyone should realize that we CAN HAVE GREAT RECRUITING.

I'm talking about something overwhelmingly positive. There's nothing to be afraid of in what I'm saying. It's a realization that we can actually have great recruiting.

But first we need to get out of the mindset that we cant do it.

 

[Huskers19911]

Having over half a recruiting class not contributing much is pretty common.

I find this interesting.

2005 Average star 3.15 (32 recruits)

2016 Average Star 3.2 (15 recruits) obviously not finished yet.

What this basically points out is that in college football, one recruiting class doesn't push you over the edge to greatness. It takes several years of that type of class to do that.

But, you have to start somewhere. Let's keep this class rolling and carry that momentum into next year.

Prospects for the current class are looking pretty bleak. We likely need at least 8 more bodies to fill the class, and we are in (really in, not just an offer with low interest) on very few high ranked players. We are currently ranked #31 on 247.

Not sure where you are getting that.
Here are the players I think we are still in on pretty well.

Farniok 4*[/size]

Reese 3* (admittedly, I am concerned about his recent trip to Texas)

Fitzpatrick 4*

L. Jackson 4*

Watts 3*

Poljan 3*

I. Simmons 4*

M. Simmons 3*

Those 8 have an average star ranking of 3.5. If we could get these, that would put our average star ranking at 3.3. That's a better pace than our last staff was in their second season. And, we are in on a lot of really good talent right now for the 2017 class.

If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas!

So you are wrong and you reply with a stupid comment. Shocking

Dude, you listed the highest rated recruits that show any interest in Nebraska whatsoever and then said "If we sign them ALL . . .".
If my aunt had balls, she'd be my uncle.

I didn't list any recruits, that was BRB. He listed them because we actually do have a real shot at getting them. We are either the team to beat or are top 2-3 for them.

Farniok - in the leadReese - We are one of 4 teams listed with equal interest. And our OV was first, with the three others coming more recently.

Fitzpatrick - We are one of 8 teams listed with equal interest. And he's taking an OV to Louisville Jan 29.

Jackson - We are one of 12 teams listed with medium interest.

Watts - One of 5 schools listed with high interest

Poljan - One of about 30 schools listed with medium interest, but only 7 have offered.

I. Simmons - One of 5 schools listed with high interest.

M. Simmons - One of 6 schools listed with high interest.

So what do you think the odds are of Riley signing all of them?

I will absolutely say we will not get all of these but, I think we have a good shot at getting many of them. I never said we would. I said if we "could" get them. Big difference. You, on the other hand, stated that we are in on very few highly rated players. I listed the ones we have a chance at getting. It's clear why you didn't like my list since it didn't follow your agenda.

Are 3*s considered highly ranked players now?
They are highly ranked by any means, but they also help a program. You'll find some three stars under rated,who can play. Other three stars make for good practices because they have more talent than walk-ons, generally. Hot beds of recruiting, have players given higher ratings than they should receive sometimes. A team is built on more than4/5 star recruits, believe it or not. Walk on tradition under Osborne?

 

[NebraskaShellback]

https://www.facebook...466986526819315
by Dennis P. Crawford

After the termination of Solich, at least 3 coaches rejected offers from Pederson. In the end, Pederson settled on Bill Callahan - shortly after he was fired by the Raiders. Well informed sources tell me that Pederson's interview with Callahan consisted of the athletic director begging Callahan to take the job.

Callahan turned out to be a good recruiter but a very poor coach. Nebraska had two losing seasons in the four years Callahan was at the helm. The 2004 season was the first year Nebraska failed to go to a bowl game since 1969.

Disaster struck for Nebraska when they were blown out at home by USC early in the 2007 season. Callahan chewed out his staff and his team after the loss. As a result, the team became demoralized and gave up. Callahan's stock with the players was already low before then because he was cool and aloof towards the players after they signed a letter of intent.

He is a lawyer in Nebraska running for congress giving his opinion. Good read

 

[Enhance]

Psycho, you realize that Alabama has a lot nicer weather (and a lot nicer "scenery") than Nebraska, right?

Nebraska's weather is not any different than Ohio State... Michigan... Notre Dame...

But those three schools in smack in the middle of talent rich areas from Pennsylvania to Illinois.

Yep... and Nebraska is in the exact same place we were located in 2005. (5th ranked recruiting class - 29 out of 32 recruits from outside the state).

Thanks to John Blake, who somehow against all odds did not get us put on probation.

It's not about that. It's about people claiming that somehow players don't want to come to Nebraska because of the weather... location... no girls... or because we're not near a recruiting hotbed... all that stuff and that's why our recruiting has suffered. None of it's true and never was.

2005 showed that great players will come here. A whole bunch of great players made the decision to come here... which everyone is claiming is not possible.

Ndamucong Suh loved it here and still does. I believe he came from Oregon.

I really do hate to break every ones bubble... but the result SHOULD be that everyone should realize that we CAN HAVE GREAT RECRUITING.

I'm talking about something overwhelmingly positive. There's nothing to be afraid of in what I'm saying. It's a realization that we can actually have great recruiting.

But first we need to get out of the mindset that we cant do it.

I think Nebraska can get great talent and overcome it's geographical challenges; however, I don't think this negates the fact that Nebraska does not have the geographic advantages of other states. They have to travel further and search deeper. Several recruiting analysts that cover this state have said, on record, how hard it is for recruits to visit Nebraska during the season because of how far they have to travel. That hurts the recruitment process. Players have also not come to Nebraska, among other reasons, because their parents wouldn't be able to travel to games as easy as another university.

You also have mentioned Nebraska's '05 recruiting class, which had an avg. ranking of a 7.33 (the best since 1996). The other Callahan years included an avg. ranking of 26.0, 23.6 and 16.29. Why is that?

Is location the biggest factor there? I don't know. Do people use location as a crutch? Perhaps. However, I don't think it's as insignificant a variable as you believe.