Callahan making major waves as a recruiter...
JournalStar
7/27
Callahan making recruiting waves
BY STEVEN M. SIPPLE / Lincoln Journal Star
Nebraska football head coach Bill Callahan (Journal Star file photo)
Nebraska created a buzz in college football circles last year with its ultra-aggressive recruiting approach. The Huskers again are raising eyebrows in the early stages of forming their 2006 class — not so much because of the players they have landed thus far, but because of the boldness their coaches are showing in extending scholarship offers to top prospects, particularly in the talent-rich states of California, Florida and Texas.
"I'm just amazed by all of Nebraska's offers in the ‘big-talent' states," said Chris Fetters, a recruiting analyst for Scout.com. "You're looking at a whole lot of offers in each of those states. Nebraska's really gone out of its way to impose its will in recruiting battles in what are regarded as the hotbeds of talent.
"They're not messing around. They're trying to get guys early and often."
Nebraska appears to be combing California especially hard. According to Scout.com and Rivals.com, at least 15 players will make on-campus recruiting visits during the weekends of the Huskers' first two games this season. Of those 16, nine are from California, including outside linebacker Allen Bradford of Colton and wide receiver David Ausberry of Lemoore.
Bradford is rated as the state's top player by Rivals.com, Ausberry No. 3.
"To pull even one of those two guys from the state would be an amazing feat for Nebraska," said Rivals.com analyst Jeremy Crabtree.
The emphasis on recruiting in California isn't new for Nebraska. In the Huskers' class of 2005 — which ranked among the top five classes nationally by most analysts — a total of eight players were from California, including touted running back Marlon Lucky of North Hollywood. Florida and Nebraska tied for second with three players apiece in NU's 2005 class.
By comparison, Nebraska's 150-player roster in 2003 — the season before Bill Callahan took over as head coach — listed four Californians.
Nebraska's recent focus on California makes sense for a variety of reasons, beginning with Callahan's reputation in the state as former head coach of the Oakland Raiders. What's more, at least three NU assistant coaches — John Blake, Bill Busch and Dennis Wagner — have strong recruiting ties in the region.
Indeed, Busch, a former Utah assistant, played the lead role in the recruitment of former Ute quarterback Alex Smith of La Mesa, Calif., the top pick in this year's NFL Draft. Wagner came to Nebraska last season from Fresno State, where he spent the previous seven years.
Crabtree said it's probably wise for teams from outside California to attempt to make a recruiting push in the Golden State.
"You know Southern Cal is going to get its share of guys," Crabtree said. "Other than USC, though, there's not a lot of national powers out there other than Cal."
The 5-foot-11, 220-pound Bradford, the nation's top-ranked outside linebacker by both Scout.com and Rivals.com, had received 23 scholarship offers as of Tuesday, including ones from Nebraska, Georgia, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Southern Cal, California and UCLA. He has only one official visit scheduled — to Nebraska on the weekend of Sept. 3, when the Huskers open the season against Maine.
"It's a program I really want to see," Bradford said. "I've heard it's crazy there on game days."
Bradford said Southern Cal and UCLA "already have told me they'd get me tickets for every home game." Indeed, there will be a strong pull among friends and family to keep Bradford close to home, he said.
However, "Wherever I can play the earliest in my career, that's where I'll go, even if that means going away from home," Bradford said.
As was the case last year, Nebraska again is featuring its game-day atmosphere as a key part of its overall sales pitch. Also, the Huskers are banking on the recruiting philosophy that extending a plethora of early scholarship offers will lead to success when it comes time for the Feb. 1 start of national letter-of-intent signing period.
Texas also uses the quick-start approach, as the Longhorns already have garnered 22 verbal commitments (Nebraska has five). Other prominent schools, such as Oklahoma, Miami and Florida State, typically make their strongest recruiting pushes late in the recruiting process, Crabtree said.
Nebraska's early aggression evidently has made an impression on Ausberry, a 6-foot-4, 213-pound athlete rated third nationally at wide receiver by Rivals.com and No. 10 by Scout.com. He's set to visit Lincoln the weekend of Sept. 9, when the Huskers face Wake Forest. It's his only scheduled visit.
"Nebraska's a long ways away from here," said Ausberry's mother, Dorothea Gaffney. "But if Nebraska fits his needs, I say, ‘Hey, go for it.' It's not my call; it's David's."
Nebraska will face a variety of hurdles during the next few years as it tries to match or surpass the talent in its 2005 class. For one thing, said recruiting analyst Tom Lemming, the more talent NU acquires, the less it can use a "you-can-play-immediately" sales pitch.
Crabtree added that the Huskers, to continue to lure top players, might need to show progress on the field after last season's 5-6 finish.
At the moment, however, Nebraska is making a heck of an impression on the recruiting trail — again.
"The success they had last year looks like it could be replicated," Crabtree said.
