WildcatReport - Three-star OL Gabe VanSickle decommits from Northwestern
Gabe VanSickle is the first decommitment for newly signed Northwestern head coach David Braun.
northwestern.rivals.com
BREAKING: 3-star OL Gabe VanSickle decommits from NU
- Thread starter lou v
- Start date
northwestern.rivals.com
From all MAC offer competition to poached by OSU. I guess Fitz, Bajakian and Anderson may have recruited well in finding a diamond in the rough. The next couple years are looking rough on the depth chart unless we get certain guys to stay through their eligibility and do as well in the portal as we did this year with Bryant, Henning, Johnson et al.
Let’s just say the Buckeye faithful are not doing cartwheels over the prospect of Goodbye Gabe joining their class.
Big deal. The portal is where we’ll have to succeed to compete in the B1G for the next nomad seasons.
I hope you are wrong but if you are right, then I predict tough times ahead. No way NU can compete relying heavily on the transfer portal given our arrangement with admissions. The portal is where we can patch up weak spots here and there but this program will live and die with High School recruiting. So in that sense, this news is a big deal albeit not surprising.
I would think a high percentage of portal guys couldn’t get through admissions.
Braun also said he wants NU to be the ultimate developmental team. Doesn’t sound like a guy that will rely on the transfer portal.
HS Recruiting and the transfer portal are to college football as the draft and free agency are to the NFL. You don't see many NFL teams achieve high level, sustained success relying on free agency. Drafting and developing your own players in the NFL and recruiting/developing HS recruits in college is what you do when you want to build a successful program for the long term.
I am struggling to reconcile these developmental program comments with Braun’s HS recruiting class size position. We won’t have enough scholarship players with a decent influx from the portal this year.
Look at where all our other decommitments and/or 2023 transferees ended up. We were recruiting real live talent, then obviously the Fitz situation took away a lot of that momentum.
I think Braun’s comments about only having two or three open scholarships means that he expects many of the seniors with remaining eligibility to return.
NU’s inflexibility on transfer admissions is a self inflicted wound that someone in the power hierarchy needs to rectify. It is ridiculous that admissions considers someone’s HS transcript when they have a 2-3 year history at an accredited University. How many kids weren’t a **** up for one year of their academic career? For Many of these kids a football scholarship or even a college education at real college didn’t even become a possibility until their third year of HS. Judge them by what they are doing with their life now not when they were 14 years old. Admissions is perched in an ivory tower with a moat full of alligators protecting them from the all the so called meatheads that would dare suggest to give a kid with an unique special talent a chance.
There’s no chance that all of the guys who “walked” on Senior Day actually leave. Hearing that the high number was a combination of guys (i) participating because they weren’t sure about Braun’s long-term status before mid-week and (II) wanting to do “Senior Day” at Ryan Field rather than elsewhere.
We will see who comes and goes over the coming weeks, but it isn’t going to be 30+ departures.
There are no hard-and-fast rules with NU admissions, just guidelines. If a kid had a 2.7 high school GPA with a questionable test score, but then a 4.0 GPA in a quality major in college, then I’m sure they could/would be considered. That situation is extremely rare.
I thought I was Debbie downer about the team prospects but even I can’t deny unexpected success. If we get another miracle, perhaps some better assistant coaches will appear this off-season and we can become that development program that Braun described.
Actually, kinda glad corbi has this opinion cuz we know his success rate : P
What are you talking about? Where did I even hint at that? Stop actively trying to spark disagreements.
You said we WERE recruiting at a high level and referenced the momentum to be gone. Braun presumably carried on recruiting after PF dismissal. How else does one interpret your statement reflecting the recruiting efforts led by Braun over the last four months?
Or are you simply trying to stir more poor PF crap?
So… “no, I’m going to try to start shit because that’s the only thing I enjoy about these boards.” Got it, my fault for engaging in the first place.
Not knowing who the next coach would be for the last 4 months kind of put a crimp into how they could recruit, don't ya think?
Now I would assume Braun can get back to recruiting the types of players Fitz was before he was whacked and have more success since he is now the guy going forward and recruits know that.
[OK, fine. Against my best judgement, I’ll give you one chance to actually engage on a substantive level.]
Despite clearly bad on-field results, Fitz was actually recruiting pretty well. The 2023 class was more “solid” than “excellent,” driven primarily by our continued inability to land a top-tier QB prospect. That said, it was a pretty typical NU class -- a couple “headliners” (Kilbane, Holt, Senda), a couple decommitments that stung (Porter to Oregon, Robinsion to PSU), and a whole lot of solid, developmental prospects.
Somehow 2024 was actually off to a pretty strong start despite the second straight disaster on the field. Spots were filling up quickly after the June OV weekends, even if we didn’t really have a true “headliner” committed. We were even able to flip an interesting QB commitment from Syracuse on 6/26/23.
Then the whole hazing situation happened and Fitz was fired on 7/11/23. Understandably the entire recruiting class got thrown for a loop, with guys choosing to reconsider their options in the face of significant uncertainty.
But you don’t need to look further than where our outgoing transfers and decommitments ended up to see that we were getting “real” prospects despite lack of on-field success:
2023 LB Cryer — Florida State
2023 LB Glover — Ohio State
2023 OL Senda — Auburn
2024 DL Johnson — Wisconsin
2024 OL VanSickle — Ohio State (presumably)
2024 DB Benjamin — UCLA
2024 OL Tate — Coastal Carolina (not P5, but a legit program close to home)
2024 OL Stewart — Oregon State
2024 DB Hudkins — Purdue
2024 QB Zurbrugg — Oklahoma (!)
2024 WR Eskildsen — Iowa State
Argue all you want, but going 11/12 to P5 programs including some legitimate “blue bloods” shows that there was serious interest in the young talent either on or committed to our program.
Obviously Braun was in a near-impossible position recruiting to a program in turmoil with the interim tag and terrible recent on-field results… but then we started winning… and it started looking more like Braun would be named permanent head coach.
His first commitment while still interim was Carson Grove, a logical local take given the circumstances. Not a world beater, but hopefully can be a solid developmental player. Then, somewhat shockingly, Tito/Turelle Williams committed to NU over legitimate other P5 offers. Then Newbill commits; not a strong offer list, but an interesting developmental OT. Then Strong commits; again not a strong offer list, but an interesting developmental DE. Then Green and Eligon visit; not super strong offer lists, but a couple very interesting developmental WRs.
Now Braun has the permanent HC spot. The next two years will be somewhat awkward without a home stadium, but at least he can sell the new Ryan Field as part of his pitch.
So yeah, (I) Fitz actually was recruiting pretty well despite recent on-field results, reinforced by programs at which our young transfers/decommitments ended up and (II) Braun had pretty much no shot at high-level recruiting without the permanent job in near-impossible circumstances.
But you knew all that and decided to just try starting nonsensical bullshit arguments anyway because that’s what you do. So, absent an extremely unlikely reasonable response, I’ll just stop engaging with you in the future.
Rare substantive post from you with obligatory modern crap as bookends. Guess you can still write.
My memory may be soft, but I don’t recall PF ever really struggling on the recruiting side. In fact, I recall a day where recruiting was the justification for some terrible assistant coaches too. Of course, QB fell off in the last five plus years.
The beef about PF was keeping terrible coaches our inability to develop at certain position groups. And in game coaching was suspect. And losing the east games while winning the tough ones thereby screwing some chances for ‘95 like recognition.
The loss of senda was clearly PF. He committed to PF super early and had amazing potential - plus helped recruit. Much of The rest I chalked up to those without the character of us v the world mentality. They all knew Braun and their position coaches remained (a big factor said some here) so…
Which brings us to now. The unlikely wins mounted and the calls for Braun to stay he louder. But folks talked about the wagons all checking around him - so the later decommits are head scratching. And the recent commits I think were the product of years or at least months of relationship developing. So either Braun has taken the reigns, demonstrated competency worthy of the job including recruiting or he’s a poor hire.
But when you said we lost a lot in recruiting in the PF exit, then the assistant coaches aren’t worth their salt, the recent commits are poor quality and NU should have brought an outside coach that would bring in his own recruits and transfers…or it’s more belt aching over PF. And he became terrible over the last few years and only kept his job based on prior and currently irrelevant achievements.
Absent VanSickle’s recent decommitment once OSU offered, there weren’t really any “later decommitments:”
Julius Tate — 7/11 (same day Fitz was fired)
Payton Stewart — 7/11
Dillan Johnson — 7/12 (1 day after Fitz was fired)
Brett Eskildsen — 7/12
Jamir Benjamin — 7/31 (21 days after Fitz was fired)
Brendan Zurbrugg — 8/1 (22 days after Fitz was fired and 3 days after taking a visit to Oklahoma)
Ty Hudkins — 9/6 (3 days after Rutgers)
It’s not exactly news that guys picked NU in large part because of Fitz. Recruits making decisions based on the head coach is often the case for most any program, but especially NU where Fitz was about as engrained into the program and its history as any school.
So… yeah, pretty logical that a lot of guys would reconsider their commitment when Fitz was canned and the program was thrown into disarray (with lingering sexual misconduct accusations to boot).
Even your post is internally inconsistent. You note that you “don’t recall Fitz ever really struggling on the recruiting side” but also bemoan the fact that we lost a lot of commitments once Fitz left. Maybe that’s because, I don’t know, Fitz was a pretty good recruiter who was also the longtime face of the program and having almost literally anyone else in that spot was going to make recruiting more difficult no matter the circumstances and near-impossible in the circumstances Braun was thrown into?
Kudos for actually trying to back up your argument instead of simply mudslinging for once. It’s still pretty clear that you’re still just trying to cause issues, just said a bit nicer.
Last edited:
So to what extent are the assistant coaches important? I could swear there have been multiple posts that the recruits are most attached to the position coach or the recruiter. You seem to say it’s the HC.
I suspect we are heading to them all being critically important which makes me wonder how other successful programs make personnel changes without droves of departures. Also, how does the recruit leave if one coach is dismissed if they are also attached to the other coaches. Ultimately, the recruit is bailing on somebody of alleged importance.
Assistant coaches are clearly an important part of the process, but you’re a fool if you don’t understand that Fitz had an outsized impact on NU recruiting compared to pretty much any other head coach in the country.
And, while the assistant coaches were retained for the 2023 season, there were absolutely no assurances given as to (I) who would be the head coach in 2024 or (II) what that would mean for the rest of the staff. Given that the class of 2024 wouldn’t even be setting foot on campus until summer 2024 (and the 2023 transfers had been on campus for all of a few months) of course they rightly questioned who would eventually be both their head coach and position coach.
Shoot, they wouldn’t even be sure that their offer would still be good once signing day rolled around in December. You’d look for much more certainty yourself if put in that position.
You’re a lawyer, right (or perhaps a retired lawyer)? Imagine you’d accepted an offer to join a firm after graduation in 9 months, but the Managing Partner got fired mid-year due to sexual harassment allegations. He wasn’t immediately replaced, but instead the management committee named an Acting Managing Partner and told all the incoming junior lawyers that they weren’t promising to make good on their job offers. You sure as shit would say ”**** that” and start looking for a different gig.
You’re being nicer, but still not making any sense whatsoever.
Last edited:
Kudos to you GCG for even remotely understanding the point Bob is attempting to make. I didn’t go to NU, so I thought he was talking in circles.
You attempts you induce me to attack you make me giggle. Much like your claims that I make no sense. But hey, at least you are using more words and often with more than three letters.
The lawyer analogy is tough as an offer letter is binding with very precise out clauses for the firm. On the law student side, the legal communities are pretty tight especially within forms of certain sizes, quality, etc. Unless you reneg to accept a judicial clerking position or some similar non-firm and prestigious position, you risk being blacklisted among that group of firms. Lawyers are fickle.
But, if the communications have been ongoing for many months and assuming they have been primarily by the recruiting or position coach, one would think those works be the tighter relations.
And before the scandal, the team had sucked and off the coaches were all not concerned about job security than even more reason to clean the whole damn house and suck it for minute in the recruiting circles. Maybe the better athletes with professional aspirations would be smart enough to see that as an effort to improve development, production and exposure 🤷♂️
Definitely trying to encircle excuses commonly used inconsistently yet convenient on these boards. Good archive stuff.
I’ll bite Bob. This class on paper is the worst we have had in the last decade. The key phrase being “on paper”. We all know we have had 4 star recruits and high 3 star recruits that have done little to nothing. We also have had the Bastone’s and Spencer’s of the world that were not wanted by ANY P5 programs and they walked on and became good players.
I like the fact that these guys know what they are walking into and accepted the challenge. Pretty sure they are character guys. Will every one of them contribute, very doubtful. However some will be starters just like every class. Let’s support them and stop putting forth your referendum of everything wrong about NU is caused by the Devil (PF) and the Devil Incarnate (CCC).
Considering we were coming off a 1-11 season, that is an incredible list of schools that our former commits ended up at and compelling evidence of Fitz’s recruiting ability. It also shows how critical is that Braun retains as much of the current team as possible because we lost so many commits.
