The two top reasons that top recruits pick the program they commit to is first, the ability of the chosen program to get them to the pros, and second, a promise to start from the get go. NU may or may not get a boost for '23 recruiting based on reason #2.
Stop blaming the players… it’s the coaches
- Thread starter CatManTrue
- Start date
Normally it is a situation that many are not good enough to get playing time. No one is saying that guys don't get injured but we have been hit especially hard this year of guys that were going to play. We have also been going after higher level recruits and there are far fewerthat can qualify to get into NU. We have tried to get more but then eneded up on short end of recruiting stick. Just harder for us to fill slots with quality guys that most programs
And think of it. OL tend to RS so even at 4 that is almost 25% of all your scholarships for one position. It is a balancing act. Whilew we could bring in guys, it takes quality guys to get to next level
That Skoronski kid is going to keep getting publicity as well, even if our team results are middling-to-bad. He’s quite good.
They're seeking to play for Cushing, his position coach for most of his career?
I haven’t tracked the other LTs in the conference. Is he on pace for all conference honors again?
Anderson was the OL coach with him at the draft, and also the one who coached him while he played LT for us.
Although his play as a true freshman was one of the highlights of Cushing’s tenure as our OL coach, no doubt about it.
Anderson was free to attend and represented the NU program. Not sure about Cushing as HC of an FCS program. I believe Cushing was his coach the first two years at NU. Do you think an OT can learn to master the LT position in one year? Or did he have any technical base under him when Anderson took over the OL?
I have eyeballs too and here is what I see. Joe Spivak getting depleted on every down he plays. I see Joe Bergin being too small to be a B1G LB much less in the MAC. I see preferred walk-ons and 4 stars on the sidelines during a season that is clearly lost. Blame goes to the people (coaches) who bring these kids here. Frankly, either you can't identify talent or you have no clue how to develop it.
Loyalty is a two-way street and its nice to honor seniors but they have to earn playing time each week. Change is needed and any other stubborn as a donkey coach (Fitz) would know that. Start prepping for 2022.
Loyalty is a two-way street and its nice to honor seniors but they have to earn playing time each week. Change is needed and any other stubborn as a donkey coach (Fitz) would know that. Start prepping for 2022.
this would be a more credible post if you didn't single out our leading tackler (with the correct name) when there are other targets for criticism on the D that are as big as the great outdoors. Chris Bergin is ok, not great. He shouldn't be in a position to have to be the go-to guy because the rest of the D is so bad. We have about 3 guys on D that would start at other B1G schools.
Nevertheless, I share your frustration. Going from "First to Worst" is simply unacceptable.
Spivak has been playing much less after the bye in favor of more reps for Jason Gold, presumably due in part to Gold becoming 100% healthy in addition to Spivak’s poor play.
Bergin has easily been our most productive LB this year despite his size and inconsistent tackling. I shudder to think where the defense would be without him, though that says as much about the rest of the LB room than it does about Bergin himself.
Also, simply bailing on a season halfway through is an excellent way to lose a locker room entirely.
This post is a major fail. Bergin is leading the NCAA in tackles per game. Yeah, let's replace him with a kid who got a 4 star rating from some dumb internet service, they must know more than the coaches. And Fitz has no track record of recruiting and developing good players... really?
@Ryanfield124 grade: F
Oh sure - lots of confidence in the coaches ability to identify or judge talent... Those same guys that identified the talent to bring in and resulted in most the Board agreeing that we have the among the worst talent in the B1G. Yup, those coaches are good at their jobs. I'll be surprised if they aren't all poached by better, higher paying programs this offseason as a result.
oh - /s/
I guess all those B1G West championships and bowl victories over teams from the SEC and other P5 conferences were won by... chopped liver? Luck? Amazing coaching? Boo hoo, we have the worst talent in the B1G.
Remind me which coordinators led those teams. How many current coaches were part of those teams.
I have found PF arrogant for a long time, but he had a great D coordinator and I thought McCall was pretty good too - until he simply got too old. Coupled with a couple terrible assistant caoches that PF stuck him with (Cushing and Springer) and it didn't surprise me when his ability to run an acceptable O broke down. I never blamed McCall for that - I thought PF screwed him.
As for now, Bak is not a savior - one decent season, one terrible season seems net to the minus. JON.... And then the assistants that identified all this great talent that folks around here admit is among the lowest in the B1G....and they haven't exactly developed to maximize whatever potential they have either.
I mean… they did something right in building the rosters that got to Indy in 2018 and 2020, right?
The issue is consistency in recruiting, particularly at a couple key positions at QB and OL. It was pretty plainly obvious that the offense had some flaws even as far back as 2018 in terms of both scheme and personnel, but Hank’s defense covered up all sorts of ills. McCall whiffed on QBs for the last 4-5 years of his NU stint and Cushing reverted to basically taking a whole bunch of soft suburbanites. Ramsey and Bajakian were able to cover off just enough of the underlying issues to allow the defense to carry the team in 2020, now the issues are manifesting themselves in a big way without a top-notch defense to provide cover.
"Joe" Bergin might be too small, but he can't play in the Big Ten?
Whatever, dude.
Oh, and welcome to the NU Board.
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I have been less than impressed with Bajakian thus far. Granted it's a small sample size and he doesn't have "his guys" up to speed yet, and he did run into some bad luck with injuries to key players like Porter, Kirtz, etc. so I guess he deserves another season or two. But underwhelming so far. Also as QB coach, it's really disturbing to see the poor play of his QB's - Hunter Johnson started the season on fire in the loss to MSU, but by game 3 vs. Duke he was a complete mess. Hilinski also showed promise early on, but by his 3rd game as starter he was a mess. Footwork, reads, etc. all got worse. Some of the blame goes to the QB, but the coach also has to help fix some of the fundamental mistakes.
"Soft suburbanites"! LOL!
I'm enjoying watching our "soft suburbanites" tear up the NFL this year. I suppose if JJTBC hadn't grown up on the soft-suburban streets of Carol Stream, he'd have scored last Sunday on that 75-yard run opened up by another NU soft-suburbanite who trucked his NFL opponent all the way back to the bus, a la Michael Oher in The Blind Side.
I'm enjoying watching our "soft suburbanites" tear up the NFL this year. I suppose if JJTBC hadn't grown up on the soft-suburban streets of Carol Stream, he'd have scored last Sunday on that 75-yard run opened up by another NU soft-suburbanite who trucked his NFL opponent all the way back to the bus, a la Michael Oher in The Blind Side.
I’m all for taking soft suburbanites whose fathers were physical specimens and spent eight years in the NBA.
I think we can detect softness better through scouting rather than looking at family income levels.
Anyway, watching Slater dominate the NFL so far has been fun.
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Joe Bergin must be terrible, only had 19 tackles against Minny.
Wouldn't say the latter is necessarily the case, at least with FB factories.
Plenty of 4/5* recruits/players willing to wait their turn at Bama, dOSU, etc.
I fixed it just for you. They don’t call me StreamCat for nothing. Grrrrrrrrrr!
Apparently, GBN has become a beast!
I get his point but like other stereotypes, it's largely nonsense as well. The cushy suburbs produces its share of great football players as well as Ampipe, PA.
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Didn’t Fitz come from the suburbs? He was a pretty hard nosed player.
It is always 100% coaching.
Either they cant coach, cant recruit, or cant develop.
Never mind our walkon program has slacked as well.
