The recruits that got away...

[Gladeskat]

But, that negativity and don't even bother trying attitude that is implied in your comment here if it's a reflection of what our recruiters think would be deadly and would explain a whole lot of our recruiting under the Walker era. Recruiting which some will go beyond themselves to argue was better than it really was, but still largely delivered 6-7 wins and no championship rings.

You mean that Walker recruiting that produced far more NFL players per class than Fitz has until lately? Has Fitz recruited a single NFL offensive lineman or RB yet? Walker produced 4 each respectively. Astute observers place much of the blame for Walker's 6-7 win seasons on scheduling and coaching, not talent. Dimbulbs think the 10 FCS teams and weak MAC teams we've played instead of solid FBS schools has had no effect on Fitz's W/L percentage.

 

[corbi296]

It sounds to me that they weren't even in the game for JJ. We didn't even offer, even though "we would have had a very good chance to land him". I'd call that "One we should have offered" rather than "One that got away". You don't catch fish if you have your bait out of the water.

That's why I started my original post by saying Watt was the recruit we let get away.

 

[NJCat]

That's why I started my original post by saying Watt was the recruit we let get away.

We and about 115 other Division I programs..........

 

[corbi296]

We and about 115 other Division I programs..........

The only difference is that we knew about him and he wanted to go to NU. Makes it a little more difficult to swallow.

 

[EvanstonCat]

You mean that Walker recruiting that produced far more NFL players per class than Fitz has until lately? Has Fitz recruited a single NFL offensive lineman or RB yet? Walker produced 4 each respectively. Astute observers place much of the blame for Walker's 6-7 win seasons on scheduling and coaching, not talent. Dimbulbs think the 10 FCS teams and weak MAC teams we've played instead of solid FBS schools has had no effect on Fitz's W/L percentage.

And Buttbrains think that a few NFL players and a lack B1G quality depth are able to obtain an objective anything remotely close to a Conference Championship. Hell, even Venturi had NFL players including one that was our highest draft pick ever.

 

[Gladeskat]

And Buttbrains think that a few NFL players and a lack B1G quality depth are able to obtain an objective anything remotely close to a Conference Championship. Hell, even Venturi had NFL players including one that was our highest draft pick ever.

But Walker would have 11-12 future NFL players on a team. Twelve NFL caliber players is a lot more than "a few". Walker's 2003 team had: Castillo, Cofield, Ulrich, Ndukwe, Essex, Strief, Baz, Wright, Herron, Roach, McGarigle, Cole. The 2004 team was the same minus Wright. Fitz hasn't come close to that level of talent yet but he's getting there. The biggest difference between the Walker and Fitz eras has been Hankwitz and the work he's done with our defense. Every buttbrain knows that...or should know that.

 

[pawildcat]

But Walker would have 11-12 future NFL players on a team. Twelve NFL caliber players is a lot more than "a few". Walker's 2003 team had: Castillo, Cofield, Ulrich, Ndukwe, Essex, Strief, Baz, Wright, Herron, Roach, McGarigle, Cole. The 2004 team was the same minus Wright. Fitz hasn't come close to that level of talent yet but he's getting there. The biggest difference between the Walker and Fitz eras has been Hankwitz and the work he's done with our defense. Every buttbrain knows that...or should know that.

Agree that he produced some good players, Glades, but his defenses were almost always lousy. It might have been partially due to the coordinator, but that's on the head coach if he doesn't get another guy in there. It was amazing NU could give up as many points as it did with players such as Castillo, Cofield, Roach and McGarigle in there. I think the essence of the Walker era was captured in a 51-48 win over Wisconsin that I witnessed in 2005 when we attained a 51-34 lead with less than five minutes left off perhaps the best half of offensive football I've ever seen at NU and then damn near blew it. I recall someone (might even have been MRCat 95) saying, "Doesn't anyone here play defense?" after the game.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

Agree that he produced some good players, Glades, but his defenses were almost always lousy. It might have been partially due to the coordinator, but that's on the head coach if he doesn't get another guy in there. It was amazing NU could give up as many points as it did with players such as Castillo, Cofield, Roach and McGarigle in there. I think the essence of the Walker era was captured in a 51-48 win over Wisconsin that I witnessed in 2005 when we attained a 51-34 lead with less than five minutes left off perhaps the best half of offensive football I've ever seen at NU and then damn near blew it. I recall someone (might even have been MRCat 95) saying, "Doesn't anyone here play defense?" after the game.

...but that's not a recruiting issue, which is the topic at hand.

 

[pawildcat]

...but that's not a recruiting issue, which is the topic at hand.

It might be a recruiting issue if you have a couple of future NFL guys on the line and still are giving up 30-40 points a game. I suppose you can lay a ton of it on the defensive coordinator, but I don't think we had tremendous overall talent on defense in those days, especially in the secondary. There was a lot of grousing about Brown in past years, but he doesn't seem so bad lately since we've had a little talent at DB.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

It might be a recruiting issue if you have a couple of future NFL guys on the line and still are giving up 30-40 points a game. I suppose you can lay a ton of it on the defensive coordinator, but I don't think we had tremendous overall talent on defense in those days, especially in the secondary. There was a lot of grousing about Brown in past years, but he doesn't seem so bad lately since we've had a little talent at DB.

Wait what? It's a recruiting issue if you have good players and are still not playing well on defense? You see how that doesn't exactly follow logically, yeah?

 

[pawildcat]

Wait what? It's a recruiting issue if you have good players and are still not playing well on defense? You see how that doesn't exactly follow logically, yeah?

Or it could follow logically that you have 2-3 good players and the rest are not so good. Last time I looked, you have to play 11 guys on defense.

 

[EvanstonCat]

Wait what? It's a recruiting issue if you have good players and are still not playing well on defense? You see how that doesn't exactly follow logically, yeah?

It's a recruiting issue if you have 10 great guys but no quality depth and a weak link with the 11th guy. We didn't really have 10 great guys on a side. More like 4-5 NFL players and then a uge drop off to guys who wouldn't play for any other teams in the league. That is a recruiting issue. Walker showed he could take a team with Barnett recriuted depth to the B1G title, but his own talent we were a 6-7 win team. It wasn't the coaching as much as it was the talent.

 

[Gladeskat]

It's a recruiting issue if you have 10 great guys but no quality depth and a weak link with the 11th guy. We didn't really have 10 great guys on a side. More like 4-5 NFL players and then a uge drop off to guys who wouldn't play for any other teams in the league. That is a recruiting issue. Walker showed he could take a team with Barnett recriuted depth to the B1G title, but his own talent we were a 6-7 win team. It wasn't the coaching as much as it was the talent.

So you think Colby was a decent DC? Did you see how much we improved in Hankwitz's first year...Yowza!

 

[Katatonic]

Kafka was a project from the beginning and he wasn't about to beat out All Big 10 QB CJ Bacher who ended up #3 all time in passing yards and TDs. McCall did a good job developing Kafka in my opinion.

Are you sure it was McCall's doing (or mostly his)?

Seems like there has been a drop-off in QB development once Baz was no longer w/ the Bears and didn't hold his summer workouts.

Siemien was injured and inconsistent throughout his college career. Even reports out of the Broncos camp indicate that he goes through some rough stretches where his accuracy is off, which sounds very familiar to a lot of Cats fans.

Kubiak has praised Siemian's footwork and accuracy.

Think going against the #1 defense in the NFL has anything to do w/ that (mixed w/ the Broncos having a subpar O-line, esp. now with all the injuries)?

How did the Bears QBs look against the Denver D (which was resting a bunch of starters)?

Speaking of Luck, word is that he isn't having the greatest camp and the Colts D is nothing compared to the Broncos D.

And last season, Luck threw 12 INTs in 7 games and only 3 other QBs had a lower completion % (2 of whom were rookies).

This is for a player who is now in his 5th year.

Just shows how things like a having a porous O-line (which the Colts had last season) can wreak havoc on even a once in a generation type QB.

When Siemien was being recruited out of high school, not a lot of people, whether recruiting services that award stars or major college programs, "deemed" him to be a future NFL caliber QB.

Siemian, however, like Bacher, was known to be a pretty polished passer coming out of HS and a bit of a gunslinger - but with a better arm.

Broncos players last season compared Siemian's throws to a certain QB who plays for the hated rivals of the Bears.

 

[pawildcat]

So you think Colby was a decent DC? Did you see how much we improved in Hankwitz's first year...Yowza!

Hank certainly is a better DC than Colby, and he's looked even better the last few years as we've gotten some decent athletes in the secondary, which was an NU Achilles heel for years.

 

[Gladeskat]

 

[NJCat]

Nailed it.