By Ryan Donahue
Another national signing day has come and gone. A decade ago, the deadline for aspiring college athletes to ink their letter of intent was adequate material for the ESPN2 ticker. National Signing Day is now a postseason bonanza of anticipation and angst for college football fans.
Held almost a month after the national championship, and a good month before spring ball, it’s perfectly positioned to draw the attention of football-deprived fans while being elevated by opportunistic media outlets and fueled by me-first high school athletes seeking a premature spotlight.
For Nebraska, National Signing Day has seemed like a series of reruns lately. In the days leading up to the event, the same arguments and angles are rehashed: the program’s geographic disadvantage, the perceived inability of the staff to haul in elite recruits, and the lamenting of past recruits lost to other programs.
2012 was more of the same. The big story was Coach Pelini’s willingness to widen the Huskers’ recruiting net. Instead of getting recruits into Lincoln (only 39 of 56 allotted visits were used), Pelini and company went to them. The staff spent time in living rooms in Florida, California, New Jersey and everywhere in between.
The usual components of recent recruiting cycles were there: the big fish that Nebraska couldn’t afford to miss, a role played by Andrus Peat of Tempe, Arizona. There was the late bloomer who Nebraska might lose to a school with more luster, played by Jordan Westerkamp of Lombard, Illinois.
The exciting new coach who promised to make an early recruiting impact, played by Rick Kaczenski was present and accounted for. The names change, the roles don’t.
By most accounts, the Cornhuskers had a disappointing finish to the recruiting season. The big fish got away, as Peat stunned Big Red fans by choosing Stanford.
Then again, last year’s big fish, Bubba Starling didn’t play for Nebraska either (though he did look good in his Husker threads). Neither did defensive end Owa Odighizuma two years ago. The late bloomer, Westerkamp, stayed despite a late Notre Dame push, but so did Daimion Stafford last year after Southern California made its best offer.
Kaczenski didn’t make much impact, but what new position coach really does in their first or even their second recruiting cycle? just ask Ross Els and Corey Raymond. Yet despite past perspective, the 2012 class is seen as a disappointment.
To be disappointed typically means an expected result was not met. Yet every year it seems Nebraska recruiting delivers the same type of class: a few elite prospects, several solid playmakers, and a handful of diamonds in the rough that may take a few years (or all five) to fully develop.
This doesn’t stop many fans from thinking the Cornhuskers can manage to land nothing but blue chippers if they ever figure this recruiting thing out. Maybe one year is just enough time to forget the wounds of years past and to re-inflate expectations.
This year’s proof was Peat. His snub seemed to outrage much of Husker Nation on brand new levels even though the big fish has slipped away several years in a row.
It’s reasonable to think Nebraska will rarely be an elite program in recruiting. It certainly hasn’t come close since Pelini took over in 2008. There was a time, however, when Nebraska made a splash on the national stage. Under former coach Bill Callahan. A top five class was delivered in 2005. Big fish with names like Ndamukong Suh and Marlon Lucky were reeled in.
Callahan even mentioned the Huskers’ recruiting rankings under his watch as a defense of his job during the maligned 2007 season. This was new thinking for Husker football (scan the memory for citations on recruiting rankings from Frank Solich or Tom Osborne). The question is: did this thinking die away with the rest of the circus that was Callahan’s tenure at Nebraska?
Perhaps Callahan’s strong recruiting focus and ability to land top stars permanently raised Husker fans’ expectations for recruiting much like the three-title run of the 1990s permanently ratcheted up hopes for every Nebraska regular season.
A scan of the message boards these days reveals comments about Pelini running out of Callahan’s recruits, putting the former NU head coach in an almost unthinkable positive light.
Bo Pelini is not Bill Callahan, of course. For almost the entirety of Nebraska’s fan base, that’s a very good thing. Still, recruiting is the one aspect of Callahan’s reign dredged up and benchmarked against Pelini. This is hardly a fair comparison because Pelini will never be the flashy, big-time recruiter.
He has delivered some impressive catches, including future NFL roster members Alfonzo Dennard and Lavonte David, but he has also missed terribly on key recruits. Take a look at Nebraska’s current depth at tight end, cornerback and safety for proof.
You get the feeling Pelini knows his strategy needs adjustments. He’s searching for answers, even hinting that the national strategy might be tweaked next cycle in favor of a more regional focus.
Is it time for Nebraska to lower recruiting expectations? It depends on how important recruiting is viewed. During an interview with the Big Ten Network, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer was asked how important a strong showing on National Signing Day is to game day performance. His answer: “100 percent.”
To Coach Meyer, recruiting is everything and he’s not alone. Pelini would never subscribe to the same philosophy. For Bo and company, player development is far more important.
Pelini’s position is a refreshing foil to the Urban Meyers and Nick Sabans of the world. However, it’s a position that seems out of alignment with a good chunk of Husker fans, one that requires turning the channel during National Signing Day coverage.
Without a paradigm shift in the importance of recruiting, the fan base will continue to be disappointed with Pelini during the offseason, perhaps needlessly.
After all, Pelini will ultimately be measured by his success from September to January, not February. Is recruiting success linked to football success? Sure, but just how much, no one can say with 100 percent accuracy.
One thing is clear: Nebraska doesn’t need to be an elite recruiting program. It needs to find a way to return as an elite program on the football field.
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