As I was checking out the Nebraska message board yesterday after their meltdown against against Michigan, I noticed in one thread that was discussing a coaching change there-they mentioned the Solich style of recruiting.  They were accusing Pelini of using the same type of recruiting.  From what I could glean from the discussions thjey were saying that Pelini does not do much in-season recruiting and particularly he doesn't use many official visits during the season.  I don't know if these numbers are right , but some posters said he has only used 25 of the limit of 55 official visits so far this season.  Nebraska does have very few verbals right now and they are not known for having top 25 classes very often.    Ohio does not have very many verbals right now either and it seems we always get a lot of late verbals as opposed to many programs-even in the MAC. 

Some posters were saying that this no in-season recruiting-official visits was the Solich-stlye as well.  They , of course, were saying is is not the best way to recruit and is why they do not get better classes.  They were also tearing up Pelini for expecting walk-ons to meet many of their needs.  Nebraska has always had a huge and successful walk-on program so I don't get what having the Nebraska players walking on instead of giving out a bunch to local talent, and I'm not sure Solich has stressed that as well.  It does seem we have some success with walk-ons so I don't look at that as a negative.

Anyway,   does any of this make any sense to you?  It has been noted on here  that we have late fill-up classes so I was wondering if there is any substance to a so called "Solich style" in play.  They do mean that as a negative term for sure.

Well you're not always recruiting because there are dead periods, etc, Do you know how many officials we have


had this year? And how many are we allowed to get?

I don't recall Solich's classes at Nebraska filling late. They do fill late at Ohio, but not much different than any of the other MAC programs, with the exception of Temple, who always fills their class faster. Those attributing the later fills at Ohio to "Solich style" are simply misinformed, but that isn't anything new.

In terms of Nebraska recruiting, Nebraska has never had top-ranked recruiting classes.  Under Osborne, the classes were typically ranked about 15-20 late in his career, after being somewhat higher earlier. Solich didn't have Osborne's name recognition factor, so not surprisingly the classes were more like 25ish. Under Callahan, they had a Top 10 class one year, I think, but most classes were in the mid-twenties, I think.

I have no information on Pelini's recruiting habits. I do know that being the head Recruiter is something new for him, so it remains to be seen how good of a job he does. I know he's and excellent coach, and does a lot with the material he has to work with. If the malcontents on the Nebraska forums have already forgotten the fiasco that they got by bringing in a more recruiting-minded coach, why doesn't that surprise me? Haha...

One specific problem that Pelini has recruiting is a new problem. Under Osborne, the local talent would often walk on. Now there are schools like Ohio, Kansas, Kansas State, Colorado State, Wyoming, Iowa, and North Dakota State that are actively recruiting the state, and if Nebraska says "why don't you walk on" the answer may be "well, I have this offer from Ohio, I think I'll take that instead". Add in that in-state tuition has risen very, very dramatically in the last 30 years, and it isn't surprising that less people are walking on, and more people are taking other offers.

One other thing may be hurting their recruiting, and that is a perception of fairness. There is, rightly or wrongly a perception out there that if your last name is "Cotton", you can expect an offer, but if it isn't, you may not get one. Nebraska has in recent years given scholarships to more than one Cotton, and also to a guy from Akron that I believe is a Pelini nephew. I'm not saying that these guys are bad players, just that I hear rumors that some don't think they were necessarily the best players in the state that year.

But the results haven't been evenly impressive. The first few years the recruiting was focused primarily on identifying players that were good, but which other teams had missed. Some very good players were found, and those early classes were solid, at least. As the years have progressed, though, there has been a shift. The Ohio program is gaining a reputation as one of the premier programs in the MAC, and also as the one program in the MAC where a player can expect the same coaches 4-5 years later as he starts out with. At other schools the coaches generally either move, or get fired, and the average coaching stay seems to be about 3 years.

Also, the staff is gaining a well-justified reputation for player development. An extremely high percentage of players for the MAC ends up with a free agent contract in the NFL, and now in recent years we are also seeing players drafted. As a result, the quality of the players is rising significantly, and we are seeing less need to find players like Brazill and Carrie that were missed by other schools. I hope they keep finding those players, too, of course.

As the quality of the incoming players rises, we can expect to see the teams continuing to improve. The 2011 Bobcats may be the best team yet, but 4-5 years from now they could be even better. It is a long, slow, steady climb, but progress continues. Ohio has worked out well for Solich, just as he has worked out well for them. The fans are outstanding, and they have had the patience to allow things to develop, unlike some other schools where instant results are the only thing that is acceptable.