This post is by SarasotaHusker on RedSeaScrolls and is not my post... But i thought it would help alot of people on here appreciate what Callahan and Co. are bringing to the table



So much for NU tradition being shot to hell Reply
It was cool to read Roz' first update on Bryan Wilson, specifically the part where his mom told Roz that the Wilson family had been longtime Husker fans. Here's a kid from SoCal who's a big Husker fan...reminds me of when we signed Steve Taylor in the '80s and one of the reasons we got him was that he was an avowed Turner Gill fan.

Wilson's is not an isolated incident. Anyone who went to San Antonio and met the players' families knows what I'm talking about. Marlon Lucky's relatives weren't simply pumped that he was headed towards the next level - they were pumped that he was a HUSKER! I mean, they were OUTRAGEOUSLY pumped - one girl (either his sister or a cousin?) told me she was going to personally clean out the Nebraska bookstores with her purchases of Husker gear. Craig Roark's grandparents showed up for the game wearing NU hats - remember, his grandparents aren't from Grand Island or Ogallala, they're from OKLAHOMA! Rodney Picou's family sat in our row and they were going so nuts when we played 'Hail Varsity' that you would've thought this family from SoCal had instead grown up in Lincoln.

Today we got a sweet article in the OWH about Harrison Beck...after reading that, along with viewing the Lincoln TV station's feature in Clearwater about Harrison and his family - sheesh, if you didn't know better, you'd have assumed that he grew up in Nebraska, given his strong work ethic and his family's attitude - I LOVE the quote from his mom:

They loved the trip to Virginia until they saw the chandeliers and the fans who went to the games in suits and dresses.

"It was too wine and cheese," Evelyn says. "That's not us."

The Oklahoman had a keen article about Reggie Smith - who, by the way, WILL be a Husker - which described his low-key, anti self-hype, anti-hotdogging, team-first demeanor, the same type of attitude that became a Husker trademark during the Devaney and Osborne eras.

HI/Rivals provides us with comments and updates on our other commits, and one theme is common, THEY ALL ARE JACKED TO BE HUSKERS - as opposed to being jacked that they're going to the next level. I mention this because - let me put this as delicately as possible - in the past, some of our recruits sounded like the only reason they chose NU was because it was simply better than their other alternatives of Ball State, Syracuse, North Texas State, etc.

People bitch about a lack of in-state recruits and that tradition has been broken. I'm sorry, but the thing that used to be awesome about our in-state recruits was that they'd run through a freaking brick wall for a chance to be a Husker. Some of Frank's in-state guys didn't have that same Husker passion - they were simply on-board because it was a better venue than their alternative of Iowa State, Wyoming or, heck, UNO. So much for that tradition. We're getting HIGHLY TALENTED guys, whom, along with their families, possess TREMENDOUS INTEGRITY, and who TRULY WANT to be here, not because NU was the best offer presented to them.

Contrast this to, oh, say, K-State - one of their recruits was recently quoted trash-talking, claiming that he couldn't wait to play Oklahoma because he was going to knock Adrian Peterson's head off. This from a guy who's never stepped onto a college football field...well, that's classic K-State and we should expect that. However, it was beginning to become modus operandi for some Nebraska players too - mouth off and then not back it up on the field...witness Garrison's guarantee that we'd beat Iowa State 2 years ago, and LeKevin's comments about K-State last year. I get the sense from this new class of recruits that they're the kind of fellas who'd rather let their play on the field do the talking - again, a Nebraska tradition. This last week's Tunnel Talk commentary about Boateng heading for Gainesville perhaps being a blessing in disguise was right on the money, as was GAHusker's mention that our new coaching staff avoids players who seem flaky.

Of course, I would be remiss in stating that one "tradition" has been broken - that of players getting PT based on seniority or due to a sense of entitlement - witness Andy Birkel - but I digress.

Bottom line is this: it doesn't matter if you run the Power-I or the West Coast Offense, nor does it matter if our recruits are from Nebraska or out-of-state - Husker football tradition was built on recruiting humble-but-talented guys who had a lunch-pail work ethic and who were motivated by the fact that they were Nebraska Cornhuskers. It appears that we've got a class full of those kind of guys this year, and I am more ecstatic about that than the number of Rivals' stars next to their names.

-Gary

Good story in the World Herald about Tom Osborne's #1 recruiting class in 1985, which kind of flopped. 2 AA, 1 Big 8 championship. Lets hope history doesn't repeat itself.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=38&u_sid=1323890

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Originally posted by OU Sooners:
Good story in the World Herald about Tom Osborne's #1 recruiting class in 1985, which kind of flopped. 2 AA, 1 Big 8 championship. Lets hope history doesn't repeat itself.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=38&u_sid=1323890

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What you have to understand though is i'm not saying that 1 recruiting class makes a team, It can but not very long... A staff of great recruiters makes a good team... A staff of great recruiters/coaches makes a great team... You need great recruiting classes like this one year in and year out to have a dynasty such as OU has built...
I don't care if you have the best coaches in the world all on one team, if you don't have the good recruits, you're not going to do much

I am a Nebraska football letter winner. I am so sick of hearing everybody complain about Callahan and his staff. They didn't have alot to work with. I stood on the field for the Baylor game and was amazed at how small our receivers and defensive backs were. Not only were they small but they were really slow. I like Frank Solich alot as a person and an assistant coach, but a head coach he is not. He will do a good job at Ohio University, but he wasn't cutting it at Nebraska. He recruited alot of Nebraska kids, but lets face it Nebraska doesn't put out that many Division I kids. Frank should have never been put in the position he was. I have the utmost respect for Coach Osborne, but nobody has the guts to say he is part of the problem. If Bill Byrne would have had the guts to tell Coach Tom that Frank wasn't the guy, we never would have been in this position. How quickly people will forget when Coach Callahan has them playing for the Big 12 championship in a couple of years and competing for a BCS Bowl berth also. Once again I am a huge Tom Osborne and Frank Solich fan. I have nothing but respect for both of these men.

Maybe a few down years were a good thing, then maybe the fans will appreciate it even more when Callahan has us back on top.

Ex-Husker well said. People do not want to realize that fRank ran this program into tthe ground.