Nebraska Cornhusker News and Notes: 2009 Football Recruiting Class Edition
Nebraska Cornhusker Football News and Notes: 2009 Recruiting Class Edition
Steve Sipple says it's a tie between Carl Pelini, John Papuchis, and Mike Ekeler
Pelini, a defensive coordinator/line coach, gets the edge in my opinion. He played a leading role in recruiting at least five of the players. Thatโs particularly impressive considering many head coaches limit coordinatorsโ recruiting duties, especially during the season.
Of course, it helps matters that Carl shares coordinator duties with his brother, head coach Bo Pelini.
Taylor Martinez, the quarterback at Corona (Calif.) Centennial High School, handed Temecula Chaparral its only two losses last fall in a 14-game season.
"Iโm telling you, that kid has something special," Chaparral head coach Tom Leach said. "Itโs a canโt-miss situation for Nebraska. You are very, very lucky that heโs coming out there."
Rex Burkhead, a running back, was arguably the top prep player in the football hotbed of Dallas-Fort Worth. The Dallas Morning News crowned him the regionโs offensive player of the year.
Tickets for the April 18 Spring Game went on sale yesterday, and as of 3:30 p.m., 44,000 tickets have already been accounted for.
"Antonio was so close the last time,"ย [Bo] Pelini said. "He kind of had a bad start when he started high school and he had to overcome it. He just missed it. He decided to take a couple of classes and take the tests again and he became eligible."
"Obviously, if we didnโt believe he could do it we couldnโt have stayed with him. Heโs a great kid. Heโs gone through a lot and Iโm happy for him. Heโs here and heโs doing well."
In addition, there were rumors Jason Pierre-Paul and Myles Wade would join the class, but they ended up committing to other schools.
Pelini would rather chew tinfoil than chew the fat about a bunch of high school kids (and a couple junior college transfers) who havenโt played a down at Nebraska.
โWe were a little thin going into last year,โ [Bo] Pelini said. โWhen we came in here, the numbers were down, especially at the cornerback position. Next year, weโre going to lose four safeties. Itโs an area we needed to address.โ
The rankings donโt really matter after today. Stars become meaningless on the field. What does matter is this: Did Pelini grab guys who fit his system? And does that system ultimately work?
We know Peliniโs brand of football jibes with Bill Callahanโs guys. He proved that with a 9-4 campaign in 2008. Now, can he cultivate talent of his own into the kind of football team that wins the Big 12 North, the Big 12 as a whole, and the national championship?
The Nebraska coach had done this one year ago, at his first signing day news conference. It was an eye-opener for everyone who expected the new coach to gush about each recruit individually as if he were the next Tim Tebow.
But some had written it off as Peliniโs first year and that he didn't really knowing how to play the "signing day game"
Would he do it again? Would he refuse to add to the most overrated day in sports?
Yes.
Perfect.
โIt got to the point around here where he would make so many big plays [that] it just got to be normal,โ says Abilene football coach Steve Warren . โEveryone knew Chris Williams was going to make a jaw-dropping hit at some point in the game. And if not one, then more than one.โ
.jpg?w=2560 "Donald Works Out For Rams ๐ซจ")
