By Will Cummings, myHitNews.com, on January 25th, 2012
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No Letdown Here: Husker Football Program Continues to Collect the Best Talent in the State – Without Having to Pay a Dime for It!
Starting offensive linemen Spencer Long (left) and center Mike Caputo walked on from Nebraska high schools to play for the Huskers. Long graduated from Elkhorn HS in 2009 and Caputo from Millard North HS in 2007.
The allure of donning the white helmet embossed with that big red N and playing in front of eighty thousand plus screaming fans remains an intoxicating elixir. Even during the current hard economic times student athletes and their parent/guardians are willing to push aside – free – scholarship monies for the opportunity to – pay – for their education at Nebraska – just so long as they are able to wear that helmet.
Evidence of the power of “The Husker Pull” is the haul of outstanding Nebraska high school football players that Bo Pelini and his staff have managed to convince to walk-on at NU.
This may be Bo’s best Nebraska high school walk-on class yet with at least one of his catch, Dylan Utter, having in hand a D-1A offer from Army. In addition, several others in this class are holding D-1AA offers.
In my opinion the Nebraska high school walk-ons from the class of 2012 show more potential for successful development than any of Pelini’s previous walk-on classes. Impressive, considering that his previous walk-on classes feature players like Elkhorn’s Spencer Long (OL) and Trevor Roach (LB) who have already earned significant playing time.
Nebraska HS Class of 2012
Preferred Husker Walk-ons
Ryker Fyfe, QB, 6-4, 195, Grand Island
Dylan Utter, OL, 6-3, 300, Papillion-La Vista
Sam Foltz, DB/P, 6-2, 190, Grand Island
Graham Nabity, RB, 6-1, 200, Elkhorn
Mitch McCann, LB/FB, 6-2, 225, Omaha Burke
Jordan Nelson, RB, 5-7, 175, Omaha Burke
Carson Collins, RB, 5-10, 220, Omaha Burke Brandon Reilly, WR, 6-2, 180, Lincoln Southwest
Ross Dzuris, TE, 6-4, 220, Plattsmouth
Cole Chvatal, WR, 6-0, 180, Wahoo Bishop Neuman
Garret Johns, OL, 6-2, 270, Auroa
Jared Blum, TE/DE, 6-5, 235, Gretna
Spencer Lindsay, K, 5-10-195, Kearney
Taylor Hoffman, LB/FB, 6-1, 200, Oakland Craig The above list comprises known walk-ons. It is still not finalized nor is it an official listing from the NU.
By Will Cummings, myHitNews.com, on January 17th, 2012
Take the Poll: “Will Bo Pelini Ever Win a Big Ten Title at Nebraska?” Located at top of sidebar to the right of this post.
Nebraska Cornhusker head football coach Bo Pelini.
Now that the college football season is over and Bo Pelini has completed his fourth year as Cornhuskers head coach, It’s a fitting time to ask the question “will Bo Pelini ever win a Big Ten championship at Nebraska?”
The 2011/2012 season started full of high expectations for Nebraska with many of the pundits picking them to win the Big Ten title in their inaugural season. However, in their first Big Ten contest at Wisconsin things quickly went south, a 17-48 beatdown. A timely injury to Ohio State QB Braxton Miller and gutsy come-from-behind performance by Taylor Martinez allowed the Huskers to escape another tick in the loss column. Later on, Northwestern soundly defeated Nebraska in Lincoln and the Michigan Wolverines drilled them 46-17 at the Big House.
The Huskers finished the 2011/2012 campaign with a 9-4 record, which included the program’s second consecutive blowout bowl loss: This time a 13-30 drubbing at the Capital One Bowl to Steve Spurrier’s South Carolina Gamecocks.
Mind you, in only his second year as the Huskers head coach, Frank Solich led Nebraka to its last conference title by winning the 1999 Big 12 Championship Game. During his next season, in 2000, Solich guided the Huskers to the 2001 BCS championship game, but he was fired in 2003 even after posting a 9-3 regular season mark.
In stark contrast Pelini has yet to win a conference championship or to even guide the program to an appearance in a BCS bowl game.
The Huskers coaching staff has been in a state of constant flux for the past two seasons: gone are offensive coordinator Shawn Watson and defensive coordinator Carl Pelini, along with stalwart position coaches Marvin Sanders and Mike Ekeler.
In replacing his coordinators, Pelini has chosen to look inwards to his current staff rather than locking in more experienced and/or proven coaching talent.
Newly appointed offensive coordinator Tim Beck struggled this past season trying to figure things out. More than likely the yet to be tested defensive coordinator John Papuchis will encounter a similar fate. Further complicating matters for Papuchis is that he will head a defense that loses All-Americans Alfonzo Dennard (DB) and Lavonte David (LB) and all-conference DT Jared Crick, painting a bleak picture for any aspirations of a Big Ten championship next season.
The Top Dogs in the Big Ten Look More Imposing, now, Than Ever
Brady Hoke has brought the Michigan football program back, Bret Bielema’s Wisconsin teams have proven to be consistently strong, Mark Dantonio’s Michigan Spartans are for real and the Ohio State Buckeyes are now led by Urban Meyer.
Looking at the aforementioned conference big dogs versus the current state of affairs at Nebraska, the Huskers place in Big Ten hierarchy could easily be found mired somewhere among the middle of the rest of the pack for the foreseeable future.
I was wrong about the Huskers winning the Big Ten in 2011, maybe I’m wrong now. Nonetheless, in my opinion, the window of opportunity for Bo Pelini to win a conference title was his last two years in the Big 12 and his first year in the Big Ten. It may be awhile before another window opens.
By Will Cummings, myHitNews.com, on January 14th, 2012
Three more Nebraskans receive “official“ D-1 offers. I quote the word “official” because months ago Papillion-La Vista’s Dylan Utter emailed MHN to inform that Army had made him an offer this past summer. However, as time went on, I became suspicious since
By Will Cummings, myHitNews.com, on December 11th, 2011
In response to my ‘Goodbye World’ post on November 27, 2011
During the past four years, I’ve immensely enjoyed covering Nebraska’s top high school athletes through the myHitNews.com blog. However, due to current obligations as well as the development
See who are the nation's high schools all-time fastest sprinters and runners, the longest jumpers, the highest leapers and farthest throwers in history.
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