Still trying to find any kind of optimism after the last recent stretch, the best I can do is a bit of a dive into recruiting “lifecycles” and how this team might improve more next year than some might think.
I’ve often thought that there’s a ”lag effect” in recruiting, both in terms of seeing an uptick in recruiting following on-field results and in terms of that recruiting uptick impacting on-field results. This is especially true at a place like NU that typically takes more developmental prospects rather than guys who are ready from day one.
I firmly believe that this year’s team is suffering immensely from the last few recruiting cycles under McCall and Cushing. As a reminder, McCall was let go after the 2019 season and Cushing went to EIU after the 2018 season. Recall as well that our offense wasn’t exactly dynamic in 2018 despite 9 wins and a trip to Indy in 2018, then the wheels absolutely came off in 2019.
The classes of 2017, 2018, and 2019 should be the “core” of this year’s team, the upperclassmen who fill out the bulk of the roster with high-achieving underclassmen pushing their way into playing time by virtue of their ability to contribute. To put it mildly, these classes have been pretty poor due to a combination of injury, departures, and straight “misses,” especially on offense.
Focusing only on the offensive recruits, this is the class-by-class breakdown:
Class of 2017:
Jace James — medical retirement
Berkley Holman — buried on the depth chart
Trey Pugh — injured and inconsistent
Kyric McGowan — grad transferred
Andre Marty — injured and inconsistent
Sam Gerak -- solid if unspectacular starter
Rashawn Slater — early departure
Ethan Wiederkehr — inconsistent starter
Charlie Kuhbander — inconsistent starter
Class of 2018:
Jacob Jefferson — injured and inconsistent
Charlie Mangieri — unspectacular starter
Brian Kaiser — medical retirement
Isaiah Bowser — grad transferred
Drake Anderson — transferred
Jason Whittaker — buried on the depth chart, early graduation
Payne He’Bert — injured
Charlie Schmidt –- inconsistent starter
Wyatt Blake — buried on the depth chart
Sam Stovall – medical retirement
Class of 2019:
Bryce Kirtz — injured after showing some promise early
Wayne Dennis — buried on the depth chart
Genson Hooper Price — buried on the depth chart
Thomas Gordon — buried on the depth chart
Evan Hull — solid starter
Conrad Rowley — buried on the depth chart
Dom D’Antonio — buried on the depth chart
Connor Foster — chronically injured
Zach Franks — hurt after competing for a starting position in spring/fall
Malik Washington — solid if unspectacular starter
That… is not good, and what I believe Fitz is getting at when he says this is a “young“ team; more shorthand for “playing a lot of inexperienced guys” than “chronologically young.” Some of that has been covered off by transfers like Robinson and Clair, but by and large we do not have a ton of experience at critical positions.
Put it all together and I have hope that some of our issues on offense can be solved organically, largely by the latest crop of OL getting one year bigger, stronger, and more experienced; Skoronski has been his usual self this year, Priebe showed some promise (hopefully his knee injury isn’t a long-term thing), and guys like Wrather, Tiernan, Thompson, and McGuire have more of the size you look for in developmental OL prospects. Herzog has the size and explosiveness to contribute as an interior OL after getting a little bigger. If I’m being perfectly honest, any contributions we get from Carsello would be gravy.
Regardless, I sincerely hope that Fitz and Anderson hit the transfer portal hard this off-season. At the very least you have to back-fill guys who are leaving eligibility on the table (Blake) and/or could easily be medical DQ’s or four-year players (Foster, He’Bert) with guys who can contribute early in their NU careers. I’d be aiming for at least three and maybe four grad transfer OL to re-stock the veteran end of the depth chart with guys who can actually get out there and play effectively. I’m hoping that this is part of the reason we aren’t seeing more 2022 OL offers despite having only two commits and missing on a bunch of guys, but who knows.
I’ve often thought that there’s a ”lag effect” in recruiting, both in terms of seeing an uptick in recruiting following on-field results and in terms of that recruiting uptick impacting on-field results. This is especially true at a place like NU that typically takes more developmental prospects rather than guys who are ready from day one.
I firmly believe that this year’s team is suffering immensely from the last few recruiting cycles under McCall and Cushing. As a reminder, McCall was let go after the 2019 season and Cushing went to EIU after the 2018 season. Recall as well that our offense wasn’t exactly dynamic in 2018 despite 9 wins and a trip to Indy in 2018, then the wheels absolutely came off in 2019.
The classes of 2017, 2018, and 2019 should be the “core” of this year’s team, the upperclassmen who fill out the bulk of the roster with high-achieving underclassmen pushing their way into playing time by virtue of their ability to contribute. To put it mildly, these classes have been pretty poor due to a combination of injury, departures, and straight “misses,” especially on offense.
Focusing only on the offensive recruits, this is the class-by-class breakdown:
Class of 2017:
Jace James — medical retirement
Berkley Holman — buried on the depth chart
Trey Pugh — injured and inconsistent
Kyric McGowan — grad transferred
Andre Marty — injured and inconsistent
Sam Gerak -- solid if unspectacular starter
Rashawn Slater — early departure
Ethan Wiederkehr — inconsistent starter
Charlie Kuhbander — inconsistent starter
Class of 2018:
Jacob Jefferson — injured and inconsistent
Charlie Mangieri — unspectacular starter
Brian Kaiser — medical retirement
Isaiah Bowser — grad transferred
Drake Anderson — transferred
Jason Whittaker — buried on the depth chart, early graduation
Payne He’Bert — injured
Charlie Schmidt –- inconsistent starter
Wyatt Blake — buried on the depth chart
Sam Stovall – medical retirement
Class of 2019:
Bryce Kirtz — injured after showing some promise early
Wayne Dennis — buried on the depth chart
Genson Hooper Price — buried on the depth chart
Thomas Gordon — buried on the depth chart
Evan Hull — solid starter
Conrad Rowley — buried on the depth chart
Dom D’Antonio — buried on the depth chart
Connor Foster — chronically injured
Zach Franks — hurt after competing for a starting position in spring/fall
Malik Washington — solid if unspectacular starter
That… is not good, and what I believe Fitz is getting at when he says this is a “young“ team; more shorthand for “playing a lot of inexperienced guys” than “chronologically young.” Some of that has been covered off by transfers like Robinson and Clair, but by and large we do not have a ton of experience at critical positions.
Put it all together and I have hope that some of our issues on offense can be solved organically, largely by the latest crop of OL getting one year bigger, stronger, and more experienced; Skoronski has been his usual self this year, Priebe showed some promise (hopefully his knee injury isn’t a long-term thing), and guys like Wrather, Tiernan, Thompson, and McGuire have more of the size you look for in developmental OL prospects. Herzog has the size and explosiveness to contribute as an interior OL after getting a little bigger. If I’m being perfectly honest, any contributions we get from Carsello would be gravy.
Regardless, I sincerely hope that Fitz and Anderson hit the transfer portal hard this off-season. At the very least you have to back-fill guys who are leaving eligibility on the table (Blake) and/or could easily be medical DQ’s or four-year players (Foster, He’Bert) with guys who can contribute early in their NU careers. I’d be aiming for at least three and maybe four grad transfer OL to re-stock the veteran end of the depth chart with guys who can actually get out there and play effectively. I’m hoping that this is part of the reason we aren’t seeing more 2022 OL offers despite having only two commits and missing on a bunch of guys, but who knows.
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