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Adam Cushing to take HC job at EIU

Yeah I didn't mean that in any sudden sort of fashion; they'll have space for promotions here over time.

I just envision those guys heading programs of their own in 8-10 years or at least at the OC/DC level.


But who knows where this sport is going, these days we're seeing guys earning $1 million+ as OC/DC, so there might be less in terms of guys feeling they have to take the jump to HC when they get to the 7 figure bracket.


At least that may explain partially why there's so many retreads this year among new HCs.
In that long a period, there is likely an OC and DC position open here
 
why would anyone go from a power 5 to a low conference and the worst program of that conference? I guess you were joking?

there are more staff members than just position coaches

i bet he takes a member of the strength staff and potentially some behind the scenes guys/quality control/or someone looking to be a coordinator
 
https://newschannel20.com/sports/local/eiu-hires-adam-cushing-as-new-head-football-coach
I didn’t realize he was also from Chicago Mt. Carmel high school.

Yes; his brother was a highly recruited TE who ended up in Champaign and had a decent run with the Steelers. That was a tough one to swallow as we recruited Matt very hard. There was a Mt. Carmel to Illinois pipeline that was tough to break. We ended up taking their QB (Mike McGrew) and converted him to FB. There’s no way Fitz would lose a kid like that today. We’ve come a long way baby.
 
Ingalls sounds great. However, it's so clear that this was planned departure. Kurt Anderson is conveniently available after a year in a QA role? Should have trusted Fitz the whole time. He gets to be loyal, yet he gets it done. Mea Culpa.

You are spot on. Makes me wonder how long Fitz planned this. HC openings don’t come around every day.
 
You are spot on. Makes me wonder how long Fitz planned this. HC openings don’t come around every day.
I'm sure Fitz and Cushing discussed opportunities for Cushing to move up outside of NU the past 2-3 years, and Cushing's probably been interviewing for these types of gigs.

While continuity and stability are key at any program, it's pretty clear that you also do need shake ups from time to time as we've experienced this past year or so. It helps to integrate fresh perspectives and keep assistants hungry/aggressive when there's something of a pipeline of upward and even outward movement.

This is the epitome of a win-win for all sides.
 
Per Football Scoop it looks like Mark Philmore will be joining the staff at EIU.
Mark is an excellent hire by Cushing, and another of my Rock coaching suggestions from a few months ago.

Well done, Cush.
 
Everyone except Mike Webb and GCG understand this basic improvement. We lost nothing with this opening, we gained. Period. End of story. Mikewebb and GCG want to continue Fitz' narrative and be the Fitz social media positivists by planting a narrative that concludes that Cushing was a sought after coach from MAJOR programs then that begs the question, i.e., why didn't NU move to keep Cushing? I mean, NU could definitely match or exceed EMU Bobcats or whoever they are. Like I said, I appreciate Cushing's recruiting coordinator work a few years ago, especially in the State of Ohio, but our OL recruiting was awful with the exception of this year which has seen a small uptick but that's because of Anderson.

Once again, Wickerpark, you are spot on and most reasonable fans don't buy Webb's narrative that Cushing was a hotly sought after coach.

EMU and Cushing +1
Webb -1
Cushing was generally considered to be a pretty good recruiter. If his replacement is as good in that area, I will agree that it offers a lot of upgrade potential. Without that, it might not be as great a difference as many envision
 
Cushing was generally considered to be a pretty good recruiter. If his replacement is as good in that area, I will agree that it offers a lot of upgrade potential. Without that, it might not be as great a difference as many envision
He especially got us good talent from Ohio. That said, our recruiting really hasn't been anything 'wow' with him. Last year we didn't even break the Top 60 Team Classes according to rivals. And over the last 10 years we generally float around the 55-65 team rankings. Again, nothing 'wow'. I wasn't expecting 'wow' but with our new facilities, and when our coach says that we have the best facilities in college AND maybe the NFL, shouldn't we raise our recruiting expectations a bit??? I mean our most sought after recruits often and consistently only have offers from, at best, mid level or lower Power 5 schools like Purdue, Indy, Duke, Iowa State, etc. Now, before the head hunters come on here and say I'm evil for expecting more competitive recruiting battles, I'm only sharing my expectations. If I'm expecting too much for us to start being in the same conversation with recruits that get several offers from teams towards the top of their Power 5 conferences then disagree, but don't call me evil or a NU hater if I hope for the recruitment of recruits who have high school indicators that make professional recruiters flock after them and give them offers from solid Power 5 programs.

Not saying that Rivals gets it right, but they do have recruiting analyst that get paid to evaluate talent and thereby give us a window projection. I think our recruiting can be a lot better actually along the OL front and I think Kurt Anderson has already affected that.

So, yea, I wish Cushing the best, but I think with our new facilities ($300 million?) investment that us fans should expect a better recruiting return on that investment, if we allow ourselves to approach the recruiting questions with our untrained eye.
 
He especially got us good talent from Ohio. That said, our recruiting really hasn't been anything 'wow' with him. Last year we didn't even break the Top 60 Team Classes according to rivals. And over the last 10 years we generally float around the 55-65 team rankings. Again, nothing 'wow'. I wasn't expecting 'wow' but with our new facilities, and when our coach says that we have the best facilities in college AND maybe the NFL, shouldn't we raise our recruiting expectations a bit??? I mean our most sought after recruits often and consistently only have offers from, at best, mid level or lower Power 5 schools like Purdue, Indy, Duke, Iowa State, etc. Now, before the head hunters come on here and say I'm evil for expecting more competitive recruiting battles, I'm only sharing my expectations. If I'm expecting too much for us to start being in the same conversation with recruits that get several offers from teams towards the top of their Power 5 conferences then disagree, but don't call me evil or a NU hater if I hope for the recruitment of recruits who have high school indicators that make professional recruiters flock after them and give them offers from solid Power 5 programs.

Not saying that Rivals gets it right, but they do have recruiting analyst that get paid to evaluate talent and thereby give us a window projection. I think our recruiting can be a lot better actually along the OL front and I think Kurt Anderson has already affected that.

So, yea, I wish Cushing the best, but I think with our new facilities ($300 million?) investment that us fans should expect a better recruiting return on that investment, if we allow ourselves to approach the recruiting questions with our untrained eye.

The ignorance is strong with this one.
 
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He especially got us good talent from Ohio. That said, our recruiting really hasn't been anything 'wow' with him. Last year we didn't even break the Top 60 Team Classes according to rivals. And over the last 10 years we generally float around the 55-65 team rankings. Again, nothing 'wow'. I wasn't expecting 'wow' but with our new facilities, and when our coach says that we have the best facilities in college AND maybe the NFL, shouldn't we raise our recruiting expectations a bit??? I mean our most sought after recruits often and consistently only have offers from, at best, mid level or lower Power 5 schools like Purdue, Indy, Duke, Iowa State, etc. Now, before the head hunters come on here and say I'm evil for expecting more competitive recruiting battles, I'm only sharing my expectations. If I'm expecting too much for us to start being in the same conversation with recruits that get several offers from teams towards the top of their Power 5 conferences then disagree, but don't call me evil or a NU hater if I hope for the recruitment of recruits who have high school indicators that make professional recruiters flock after them and give them offers from solid Power 5 programs.

Not saying that Rivals gets it right, but they do have recruiting analyst that get paid to evaluate talent and thereby give us a window projection. I think our recruiting can be a lot better actually along the OL front and I think Kurt Anderson has already affected that.

So, yea, I wish Cushing the best, but I think with our new facilities ($300 million?) investment that us fans should expect a better recruiting return on that investment, if we allow ourselves to approach the recruiting questions with our untrained eye.
No one said his replacement could not be better, just that he was generally regarded to be pretty good. Over the last 5 years, we have increased our quality depth considerably. That is likely where it first shows up. As far as top 4 star recruits, that seems to depend a lot on the number locally and IL has not had a lot of top talent lately. As far as a top guy who likely would not be here if not for the new facilities, look at Hunter Johnson. And we are starting to beat out programs like Mich and PSU and even ND for some guys. I think the real effect of the new facilities will start being felt over the next couple years as recruits that are now Sophs will have been seeing the new facilities completed during their entire recruiting process. Up till now the effect has been more of a marginal improvement but going forward...
 
No one said his replacement could not be better, just that he was generally regarded to be pretty good. Over the last 5 years, we have increased our quality depth considerably. That is likely where it first shows up. As far as top 4 star recruits, that seems to depend a lot on the number locally and IL has not had a lot of top talent lately. As far as a top guy who likely would not be here if not for the new facilities, look at Hunter Johnson. And we are starting to beat out programs like Mich and PSU and even ND for some guys. I think the real effect of the new facilities will start being felt over the next couple years as recruits that are now Sophs will have been seeing the new facilities completed during their entire recruiting process. Up till now the effect has been more of a marginal improvement but going forward...
I agree that the improvement, gong forward will be more than marginal. Why wouldn't it be regardless of who the recruiting coordinator is, since our facilities are the best in college and maybe best in the pros according to Fitz? And advisors like Kurt Anderson have already been a positive in this area.

My comments were on past classes. No doubt, this year, we started to enter the same recruiting field as the Top 25 teams. It has showed up already with a few verbals for this season. And I think that will increase and get on the same level as Barnett back in '98 or so when we had a top 15 class.
 
The ignorance is strong with this one.

What did he write that is untrue? The fact of the matter is that our recruiting has been mediocre, and hasn't been good enough for us to win B1G titles much less get into the CFP picture. And no, I don't expect us to be Bama, but Stanford and the peak Barnett years is not too much to ask, especially now we have the best facilities in all the land.
 
What did he write that is untrue? The fact of the matter is that our recruiting has been mediocre, and hasn't been good enough for us to win B1G titles much less get into the CFP picture. And no, I don't expect us to be Bama, but Stanford and the peak Barnett years is not too much to ask, especially now we have the best facilities in all the land.

If our recruiting was mediocre we wouldn’t be winning as many B1G games as we are.

And he’s wrong in saying that our top commits don’t have more “name” offers. Flat ass wrong.

Edit: And Cushing’s last year as recruiting coordinator was 2011, so the entire premise is wrong.
 
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If our recruiting was mediocre we wouldn’t be winning as many B1G games as we are.

And he’s wrong in saying that our top commits don’t have more “name” offers. Flat ass wrong.

Edit: And Cushing’s last year as recruiting coordinator was 2011, so the entire premise is wrong.

Definitions I suppose. You apparently believe our performance is good enough. I don't, and what is holding us back (as seen in the B1G title game) is our talent. We need to recruit (and develop, at least on the OL) better. We will never get past dOSU or UM with the mediocre recruiting we have had to date. To do it, we will need more players that could actually play for them.

Our commits have a few marquee offers, but we don't have as many name offers as we should aspire. How many had Ohio State, (commitable) Michigan, OU, Clemson, or Alabama offers? Or even Stanford? Not enough and not nearly as much as Barnett's peak years. So, yes, mediocre. Whatever you want to call it, our recruiting since Barnett left has been good enough to win us exactly zero B1G titles (2000 being won with a team of largely Barnett recruited talent). If it's not the recruiting (regardless of whatever excuses you might make for it), what do you attribute the reason for us being mired in a dearth of conference championships, CFP appearances, and NFL draft picks?

Hunter Johnson is a step forward, and I hope Kirtz and Genson Hooper are the breakthrough type of talent we need for him to throw to (though neither are considered top 150 at least by Rivals).
 
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Definitions I suppose. You apparently believe our performance is good enough. I don't, and what is holding us back (as seen in the B1G title game) is our talent. We need to recruit (and develop, at least on the OL) better. We will never get past dOSU or UM with the mediocre recruiting we have had to date. To do it, we will need more players that could actually play for them.

Our commits have a few marquee offers, but we don't have as many name offers as we should aspire. How many had Ohio State, (commitable) Michigan, OU, Clemson, or Alabama offers? Or even Stanford? Not enough and not nearly as much as Barnett's peak years. So, yes, mediocre. Whatever you want to call it, our recruiting since Barnett left has been good enough to win us exactly zero B1G titles (2000 being won with a team of largely Barnett recruited talent). If it's not the recruiting (regardless of whatever excuses you might make for it), what do you attribute the reason for us being mired in a dearth of conference championships, CFP appearances, and NFL draft picks?

Hunter Johnson is a step forward, and I hope Kirtz and Genson Hooper are the breakthrough type of talent we need for him to throw to (though neither are considered top 150 at least by Rivals).

I measure recruiting by wins, not the number of stars on a website or magazine. We are winning more games more regularly, which means we are recruiting at a consistently higher level.
 
If our recruiting was mediocre we wouldn’t be winning as many B1G games as we are.

And he’s wrong in saying that our top commits don’t have more “name” offers. Flat ass wrong.

Edit: And Cushing’s last year as recruiting coordinator was 2011, so the entire premise is wrong.

If you define "mediocre" as "average in the Big Ten," then aren't we average in recruiting? It's hard to believe we have more talent on paper than OSU, Michigan, MSU, Iowa, Penn State. Are we more talented on paper than Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Maryland, and Purdue? It seems we're better than Indiana, Illinois, and Rutgers for sure, but that's it.

If anything, we're middle of the pack in recruiting but we have above average coaching for the most part and excellent player retention, which is always an important factor in college.
 
I measure recruiting by wins, not the number of stars on a website or magazine. We are winning more games more regularly, which means we are recruiting at a consistently higher level.

Huh, and I thought coaching and development were important. But not according to you, suddenly.

Maybe you have permitted your animus toward certain posters cloud your words. Certainly it's foolish to say what you just said, especially when it's at odds with things you've said in the past, like that culture matters, coaching matters, development matters.

I don't believe we are recruiting better than we did in the late 1990s or better than we recruited coming off the Alamo Bowl season.

I question whether our recruiting is "at a consistently higher level" or whether we changed our recruiting priorities back when we struggled terribly in the secondary and that's made all the difference in the world. It seemed like we started really focusing on the secondary, recruiting more "athletes" and guys who could have been RBs under a different HC. In fact, the recruiting emphasis has been toward the defensive side of the ball in general and it's been a big reason for our recent success. It also explains why some years we have had some trouble with offensive playmaking and with the OL generally.
 
If you define "mediocre" as "average in the Big Ten," then aren't we average in recruiting? It's hard to believe we have more talent on paper than OSU, Michigan, MSU, Iowa, Penn State. Are we more talented on paper than Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Maryland, and Purdue? It seems we're better than Indiana, Illinois, and Rutgers for sure, but that's it.

If anything, we're middle of the pack in recruiting but we have above average coaching for the most part and excellent player retention, which is always an important factor in college.

Just win, baby.
 
Huh, and I thought coaching and development were important. But not according to you, suddenly.

Maybe you have permitted your animus toward certain posters cloud your words. Certainly it's foolish to say what you just said, especially when it's at odds with things you've said in the past, like that culture matters, coaching matters, development matters.

I don't believe we are recruiting better than we did in the late 1990s or better than we recruited coming off the Alamo Bowl season.

I question whether our recruiting is "at a consistently higher level" or whether we changed our recruiting priorities back when we struggled terribly in the secondary and that's made all the difference in the world. It seemed like we started really focusing on the secondary, recruiting more "athletes" and guys who could have been RBs under a different HC. In fact, the recruiting emphasis has been toward the defensive side of the ball in general and it's been a big reason for our recent success. It also explains why some years we have had some trouble with offensive playmaking and with the OL generally.

It all matters.

And recruiting isn’t a zero-sum game like “oh, well we need better DBs so that means we will have worse OL.” Get as many good players as you can. Just so happens we’ve gotten more good players on defense than offense lately.
 
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What did he write that is untrue? The fact of the matter is that our recruiting has been mediocre, and hasn't been good enough for us to win B1G titles much less get into the CFP picture. And no, I don't expect us to be Bama, but Stanford and the peak Barnett years is not too much to ask, especially now we have the best facilities in all the land.
You and Turk have to stop twisting the “ best facilities in the land” comment. This was directed to the practice facilities. Welsh Ryan is part of the facilities and remains abysmal. Come back to the States and check it out again. It hasn’t got that much better because of a new video board and food vendor. I believe top end recruits prefer nice things like a full NICE Stadium of rabid fans and game day experience is not what those other schools you reference have.

I agree with the overall premise that our recruiting needs to get better and should get better. I actually think this is one of the few things that almost everyone agrees with. What I don’t agree with is that it hasn’t got better. There was a time early in the Fitz years, where there was legitimate concerns that we weren’t getting P5 players to round out our class. NU now has very few recruits that don’t ever contribute to some degree. To me, we have done great developing mostly single and doubles hitters and now need to get the big Thumper’s with our prospects. The sprinkling of 4 stars should not be as rare as it has been and I don’t expect it to be.
 
You and Turk have to stop twisting the “ best facilities in the land” comment. This was directed to the practice facilities. Welsh Ryan is part of the facilities and remains abysmal. Come back to the States and check it out again. It hasn’t got that much better because of a new video board and food vendor. I believe top end recruits prefer nice things like a full NICE Stadium of rabid fans and game day experience is not what those other schools you reference have.

I agree with the overall premise that our recruiting needs to get better and should get better. I actually think this is one of the few things that almost everyone agrees with. What I don’t agree with is that it hasn’t got better. There was a time early in the Fitz years, where there was legitimate concerns that we weren’t getting P5 players to round out our class. NU now has very few recruits that don’t ever contribute to some degree. To me, we have done great developing mostly single and doubles hitters and now need to get the big Thumper’s with our prospects. The sprinkling of 4 stars should not be as rare as it has been and I don’t expect it to be.

I'm guessing that you misspoke as Welsh Ryan
is irrelevant, even if the facelift actually makes it very nice.

Dyche is no worse than Stanford's stadium. Excuses need to stop.

It's not about the depth anymore. It's about getting the athletes who can step up and stop Ohio State's. It's about getting bigger and improving development of our hosses to protect the QB. It's about getting playmaking WR's that are going to be playing on Sundays.
 
I'm guessing that you misspoke as Welsh Ryan
is irrelevant, even if the facelift actually makes it very nice.

Dyche is no worse than Stanford's stadium. Excuses need to stop.

It's not about the depth anymore. It's about getting the athletes who can step up and stop Ohio State's. It's about getting bigger and improving development of our hosses to protect the QB. It's about getting playmaking WR's that are going to be playing on Sundays.
Yes, misspoke with the WR error. However Stanford’s Stadium looks like the Taj Mahal next to Ryan Field. Call that an excuse, but it is true.

The rest of your statement is not an argument because almost everyone agrees.
 
I measure recruiting by wins, not the number of stars on a website or magazine. We are winning more games more regularly, which means we are recruiting at a consistently higher level.
When you look at it like that, you are correct. I mean, the scoreboard doesn't lie. But the stars and ratings by the professional gurus are something us fans have to consider. But, at the end of the day, you are mostly correct. This year's team is better than last year's team in my opinion, but we may tally 6 losses and end up 8-6 which is worse than 10-3. Our schedule was MUCH harder this year. Notre Dame, Michigan, OSU, Utah, Wisconsin. 9-5 is pretty damn good, if we end up with that, given our recruiting shortfalls.
 
How many big name offers did our starting running back have? He turned out pretty well. How big of a recruit was our shutdown corner? Honestly if you don't think NU recruiting has stepped up you're crazy.

I don't think it's top in the big ten but right now I'd argue it's above the middle. We lost Larkin and multiple corners during the season and still won the west. I that doesn't show recruiting well idk what does. We had "competitive depth".

Yes we all know OL needs to be stepped up, but look at every other position. Look at this next class. Using ratings is a horrid measurement for NU because of class sizes. All that's nice for saying we have a top whatever class is press. (Which has some value)

I'm not saying let's go get a bunch of two stars with this argument. I'm just saying it sure looks like especially recently we are getting who we want most of the time.
 
When you look at it like that, you are correct. I mean, the scoreboard doesn't lie. But the stars and ratings by the professional gurus are something us fans have to consider. But, at the end of the day, you are mostly correct. This year's team is better than last year's team in my opinion, but we may tally 6 losses and end up 8-6 which is worse than 10-3. Our schedule was MUCH harder this year. Notre Dame, Michigan, OSU, Utah, Wisconsin. 9-5 is pretty damn good, if we end up with that, given our recruiting shortfalls.

Why do you “have to” consider it?
 
Why do you “have to” consider it?
Because I'm not Fitz and I'm not in the houses of the recruits and I'm not a professional talent evaluator. So I consider it as a sorta cheat cheet ranking. Is it a science? Hel no but if we just refuse to go on the 247 or rivals databases, aren't we limiting information on our favorite hohbby? It's fun.

To be sure, Fitz won a division with lower ranked classes than others in our division, and you are correct, in simplest terms, that the scoreboard is the final evidence of recruiting. Stars don't hardly reflect anything other than size, frame, speed, quickness. And in college football we know that players with wok ethic often pass those who have athletic gift alone.

Last year we were ranked #60 and that was about normal for Fitz. This year, the gurus may bump us in the top 50. But honestly, we played one playoff team, and 2 other 'current' top 9 teams and in each of them we were one score away mid fourth quarter. So, that also tells us that we are really only 1 or 2 players away from winning those games. And that 1 or 2 players don't have to be studs, they can be players who just fit in the 2 deep. Our 2 deep eventually kills us against stud progams. If we had our first line starters in, we would have beaten ND, Michigan, and OSU. But we walked into Michigan without a 2 deep at RB and had to eventually toss freshmen in. With ND, the injuries in the second half killed us and we had to roll with Ruiz. Killed us even though Ruiz has really shown his worth after gaining some PT. Same with OSU, our 2 deep is the issue and depth. So, I think we are only1 or 2 players away. That's how close we are imo.
 
It all matters.

And recruiting isn’t a zero-sum game like “oh, well we need better DBs so that means we will have worse OL.” Get as many good players as you can. Just so happens we’ve gotten more good players on defense than offense lately.

Oh please, I don't know who replaced Gocatsgo with this pale imitation, but I want the real Gocatsgo back. This pollyanna "of course we're always trying to get the best players" bull is unintentionally funny stuff.
 
We lost Larkin and multiple corners during the season and still won the west. I that doesn't show recruiting well idk what does. We had "competitive depth".

This is a good point. You did way better than Gocatsgo in defending NU recruiting in two sentences than he did with several posts.
 
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How many big name offers did our starting running back have? He turned out pretty well. How big of a recruit was our shutdown corner? Honestly if you don't think NU recruiting has stepped up you're crazy.

I don't think it's top in the big ten but right now I'd argue it's above the middle. We lost Larkin and multiple corners during the season and still won the west. I that doesn't show recruiting well idk what does. We had "competitive depth".

Yes we all know OL needs to be stepped up, but look at every other position. Look at this next class. Using ratings is a horrid measurement for NU because of class sizes. All that's nice for saying we have a top whatever class is press. (Which has some value)

I'm not saying let's go get a bunch of two stars with this argument. I'm just saying it sure looks like especially recently we are getting who we want most of the time.
Our depth is not comparable to OSU, ND, Michigan and that's how we lost. But it also seemed to show that we aren't that far behind. I mean, 1 or 2 players may be it. We came down to 1 score midway through the fourth on 3 of the currently highest rated top 8 teams. Injuries ultimately exposed our depth differences but 1 or 2 more players to beef up the depth chart and we could have won any of those games. I think we have to be the favorite going into next year for the west although the media will predict its typical 3rd or 4th place finish for us. And I think us and Nebraska eventually dominate the west and win some BIG Championships
 
Huh, and I thought coaching and development were important. But not according to you, suddenly.

Maybe you have permitted your animus toward certain posters cloud your words. Certainly it's foolish to say what you just said, especially when it's at odds with things you've said in the past, like that culture matters, coaching matters, development matters.

I don't believe we are recruiting better than we did in the late 1990s or better than we recruited coming off the Alamo Bowl season.

I question whether our recruiting is "at a consistently higher level" or whether we changed our recruiting priorities back when we struggled terribly in the secondary and that's made all the difference in the world. It seemed like we started really focusing on the secondary, recruiting more "athletes" and guys who could have been RBs under a different HC. In fact, the recruiting emphasis has been toward the defensive side of the ball in general and it's been a big reason for our recent success. It also explains why some years we have had some trouble with offensive playmaking and with the OL generally.
It is recruiting the right people for you to develop. Maybe he meant to say he measures success by wins and not recruiting stars
 
This is a good point. You did way better than Gocatsgo in defending NU recruiting in two sentences than he did with several posts.

What it all says is we are good enough to win the West (none of whom are great at recruiting) but we have a ways to go to beat the cream of the East and win the B1G.
 
Our depth is not comparable to OSU, ND, Michigan and that's how we lost. But it also seemed to show that we aren't that far behind. I mean, 1 or 2 players may be it. We came down to 1 score midway through the fourth on 3 of the currently highest rated top 8 teams. Injuries ultimately exposed our depth differences but 1 or 2 more players to beef up the depth chart and we could have won any of those games. I think we have to be the favorite going into next year for the west although the media will predict its typical 3rd or 4th place finish for us. And I think us and Nebraska eventually dominate the west and win some BIG Championships

True about the depth. But it’s not just the depth. It’s the star players, too. Their star players are Heisman candidates and First - Team All Americans and top-level NFL draft picks. And they have a handful of those every year. We get a few guys on the All-Big Ten squad.

We've upticked recruiting. There’s no doubt about that. Particularly in the depth department.

But it’s not enough to just do a little bit better. It needs to be a lot better to hang in the same recruiting realm as Michigan or PSU or Wisconsin or MSU. And I’m not sure we will ever be able to recruit like OSU. Or that we’d want to.

A good barometer for our recruiting being where it needs to be will be when a board like this no longer has our annual smattering of posts about alumni making a team as a free agent. Or getting playing time in the NFL. Or just getting a start. Or making an interception. Or scoring a TD. Or getting 5 tackles, or whatever....

Do you think they post like that on any of the top teams boards when an alum does something? NFL success by alumni is expected.

It’s not a cause for celebration at Michigan when a football alum gets elevated from the practice squad!

We will know our recruiting has truly upticked when the mere fact of an NU player seeing a little bit of success in the NFL is no longer something that anybody around here feels is worth posting because it’s simply routine.
 
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