1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Do We Spend Too Much Time Talking About Recruiting?: November 19th, 11:00am

Episode Date: November 19, 2025

Do We Spend Too Much Time Talking About Recruiting?Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It's time to go one-on-one with D.P. Coming at you live from the heart of Lincoln America, a 93-7-a-ticket and the ticketfm.com. Here is your host, Derek Pearson, brought to by Canopy Street Market. It is Wednesday. 11.04. 44 degrees. Boutty. It's a great breeze, Bach.

Bob, give us your weather update. What do you think today's going to end up as, sir? Cold. Cold. I was hiding under the blankets this morning. It's hard to get out when it gets this cold. I'm telling you, the Bach Weather Report is going to be a thing. Like, it's going to be a thing.

We're going to make this happen. 402, 4-6-4-5-6-8-5. The Sart at Hamond, and Texan, you want to be a part of what we're doing, and you do, you do. Reach out, hit us with the what's-up, and we'll include you in the show, give us your thoughts.

Greatly appreciate it. Really good to see Raff in the building, and he'll hold it down. They'll be here this weekend for free game, too. So that's kind of cool to have Raff and AD and Nick back in the building together. You can follow on all the live video streams, Facebook, YouTube, X, Allo, Channel,

961. You can download the ticket app and you should so you can take us wherever you go, right? Don't have to worry about signals and that sort of thing. Technology has set us all up and you're able to do what you can do. Greatly appreciate that. Bach, before we get too far into conversation, kind sir, pay the bills, pay the bills. Yeah, the show is sponsored by Hamilton Telecommunications, bringing you the latest quality technology and communication services since 1901 whether it's residential or business hamilton has the answers visit hamilton tell dot com for more info today thank you kind sir greatly appreciate that um lots in play sir and we have to take a moment and send prayers anthony lionheart smith in surgery uh this morning

so that's why there's no lionheart live today he thinks because he's lionheart in proper spirits in place to come in next week we will see we will see but that is a holiday weekend so I'm not sure that that should be his focus I think him and the Smith family ladies may may want more of his attention and energy as well shout out to Marcy has three things by marcy she dropped off a goody some goodies sandwiches etc but she also dropped off some soup for a cold bach day right so she uh there's some gumbo there's some chicken and dumplings um she put in uh like a uh a a lentil and then i believe there's something else there's a fourth one um but we'll check it on the break and report back but the folks want to and she also made

of course the sweets and she dropped off cookies uh marcy's fresh made this morning cookies uh you can find her sweet things by marcy and on all of the outlets. So support her local business, an incredible woman. She's got the magic touch. Whether it's sandwiches, soups, cookies, cakes, she's got.

And for your holiday cake and desserts, do you so favor. Let Marcy make it for you. Let Marcy make it for you. If you've got desserts, you need to put on the table. You want to be the star of your family get together. Have Marcy whip something up for you. Put it on the table.

I was pondering where to go today in the conversations, and there are several things that came to mind. One, we talk a lot about the young people in the recruiting game and how it affects athletic departments and sports communities. I've often said that I think we become too committed and too willing to be committed to spending emotional energy on recruits for a variety of reasons. One, some 99% of recruits will never find their way to Lake to Nebraska.

Even the people who are interested probably won't find their way to Nebraska. There's just not room. And in this day and age, we know that. As a matter of fact, we know with high school athletics that there's far less of high school athletes being recruited than ever before because of the transfer port. There are coaches and programs that will spend the bulk of their focus on more mature, more advanced, more developed,

fully developed athletes for the programs because they have the responsibility of winning now. and sometimes a high school senior may not be able to help you get your program better quickly. But we spend a lot of time talking about recruits. And Bach, where do you stand on the amount of time, emotional time, and psychological time you spend on recruiting? How, and your sports vacuum?

what percentage of it to you is spent on recruiting? Not near as much as it used to be. I put it that way. I really kind of liked it. I liked it back in the day. It almost felt like, you know, you're a little,

you're like really into it, right? Like you could go to a group of Oscar fans and, you know, maybe I'm talking about like mid-2000s or something. And, you know, four out of the 10 might talk recruiting. So you kind of get into your own little world there. So it's already a bit,

niche but not you know it definitely blew up um especially Nebraska fans remember Bill Callahan's first recruiting class really kind of kind of blew it up here locally um but over the years and especially with the transfer portal um it has it becomes less important right and so it is it's still kind of fun to talk you to talk about young people and looking forward to certain guys that hit the field but certainly even in recruiting classes and in recruiting discussions it usually is generally you know three or four top guys in the class and then again over the years of covering that there is it there is a feeling sometimes of man we wasted a lot of time talking about a few of these guys that never do

anything on the field they never even get here let low do anything on the field like and this is where this is where it's always interesting because i i think sometimes fan bases get caught in their own vacuum and don't realize how somebody who's not from here will look at here, that you would think that if you're a top flight running back in America, are you picking Nebraska? Now, there was a time when that answer was yes, right? There's a time when that answer was yes. That time is not now.

Top receivers? We can color me if I'm, color me different if I'm wrong. I would say Irving Friar is the North Star for receivers in Nebraska. Is that fair? Yeah. Has there been any recruit at the wide receiver position

who set Nebraska Husker Nation on fire to the level that if Irving Friar today committed to Nebraska, right? So an Irving Friar type player would commit to Nebraska. Is there anything close to that? Has there been any receiver that you can think of that was close to that? Receiver's a specific position to Nebraska that does not do that. Of course, over the years with the option offense, but no.

Right. Right. So, offensive lineman who was the last Nebraska offensive lineman recruit who actually came here who caused a level of excitement that tipped that kind of moved the needle for Husker fandom I mean there's guys in every class right I mean Nebraska does recruit even with running backs and offensive linemen you generally get four stars in Nebraska to your kind of point is more of of at the top of their class right four star type of guys

they're generally mostly most of the class is three stars and then you get anywhere between depending on the year when you only take nine guys but in in classic recruiting you know four or five four stars a year so there is excitement there but you know i i do want to take back my receiver talk kishon johnson junior definitely got people talking but again a prime example of a guy that never played for Nebraska. So, you know, I think there's yearly. There's some excitement, depending on who the four stars are that come in. But as far as somebody really moving the needle, I mean, I think that's why Dylan

Riala was so big, right? Because that was a class headliner that was going to get national attention. Generally, Nebraska fights to get a guy or two and struggles, usually, to get a top 100 player. So here are the numbers that stand out, that every year per sport, well, let's football for football, they're roughly 35 stars, 32, five stars, right? That means that some great grand wizard had looked at a 17-year-old and determined that he will be a first-round draft pick in the NFL when he finally matures and decides to go pro.

Now, there are actual numbers that, Hey, Bach, they tell you, probably not. Probably not. And they're roughly, so for four stars, you're talking about people who will be, they project a second through fourth round draft.

Three stars would be, you know, fifth through seven, eighth round, right? And then two stars and below projects, development may start in college. Five stars should start as a freshman in college, or at least be considered, right? Four stars can compete, should get on the depth chart. Three stars, development, right, often two years away. Is that, does that kind of how we look at the star system and what we get from it? Well, I think general, I mean, three stars is kind of a, you don't see a whole lot of two stars,

at least at the Nebraska level. If Nebraska offers a two star and it commits, they usually turn into three stars. So it just depends on how you look at it. I mean, I've followed it long enough to realize you're probably going to have the 50% hit rate or somewhere close to in general. So I don't necessarily put those individual expectations on three stars. but four stars and five stars absolutely i mean that's where five stars should start should at least at least compete for a starting job yeah as a freshman play not red shirt right it was the

okay so that's what i'm trying to wrap my brain around right that if there's a five star you would expect that as a freshman they play they may not start and they may we don't even get to the point whether they could be a star just can they play at the breast right can they play next year at Nebraska which means they have to be better than the senior that or the junior that's returning fair yeah okay four stars where what do you when you when you when you think four star are you projecting them into the into the into the starting lineup are you projecting them into the onto the depth chart what are you thinking well again I think you usually are expecting three to four freshmen to come in and play, right? And so I don't know about starting

at that point. But again, being a key contributor, I think is the hope. And not every guy, right? I think there's an understanding two positions. Offensive line, defensive line, you know, might not be able to impact quite so quickly as a true freshman. But yeah, I mean, for the most part, those are the guys. Again, at Nebraska, those are the class headliners. So you hope, you know, over the last 10 years as your season comes up short of what you wanted it to be, that these are the pieces that can come in and help fix it. Again, changing a little bit with the transfer portal. Now, that's definitely the weight of the hope for what can be next year.

But, yeah, traditionally, I think four stars particularly get, I don't want to say more pressure on them or more, but they are. I mean, they're the names that people will mention and think, hey, maybe this guy can come in and help, and especially if he's a position player, wide receiver running back, something like that, then you're expecting at least a little bit from. Do you plan, at least in your mind as a fan? Do you want to be more excited about the recruit at the position,

right? So the four-star or five-star recruit at a position, let's say left-pack. Let's just go there. Do you want to be as excited or more excited or less excited about the returning junior at that position or the new recruit. Unfortunately, I think, you know, and it's not fair because we see guys sometimes break out their senior year, sometimes break out their junior year.

I think there is a lot of, okay, we know what we have in this. Maybe this new guy, it's, you always like the new guy. That's why everybody likes the backup quarterback, right? The unknown, maybe they could be the next grade. And that just, we, I, the, the psychology behind it just fascinates me, because we can, we can see, we know what we have, right? And then we immediately project, well, is that good enough or can we be better? And I don't always know that we have the answer. As fans, I don't know that we have the answer.

I'm curious to know, like it's fascinating when we have the coaches in here, to ask them how, they set their depth charts and how they recruit? Because you would hope, who was the highest rated freshman that came into Nebraska basketball? Bryce McGowan. Okay, so who's the highest rated freshman on this year's roster? Oh, I'd have to think for a second. Right.

That was that. Nebraska basketball recruiting is not as heavily followed. But that was. that literally like that I in sitting in my office I was trying to wrap my brain around the recruiting at different sports and there's nothing like football recruiting basketball recruiting just doesn't get the sauce and maybe it's because it's here yeah um but even my time in Utah my time in Texas still because there's fewer and they really need to project into high-profile programs

in order for it to land and for it to measure. Duke, right? That if you're, right, Duke, Yukon, Kansas, maybe. Bob, give me the basketball list where the 10, you fully expect the 10 best high school seniors to commit to these programs. Arizona? Yeah, Arizona is.

the name i was thinking uh kentucky yeah is louisville on that list or they just outside of that list maybe just outside but still you're not surprised if you see a big time commit go there uh villanova five years ago but maybe not now right yeah uh who in the who in the who in the SEC is the is the it's not it used to be florida there was a time when it was florida uh there was a run where it was Georgia, it's still Kentucky, right? It's Kentucky and then in the old 10, Pact 12 days, it was UCLA. Then Oregon kind of snuck into the process,

but they're the same way in football, that they get the high profile recruits, but if you're not getting national titles, then why? Right? You're just doing it for exposure sake. Are those the 10? Are we miss? see who in the middle of the country it used to be indiana it's not anymore michigan had its run michigan state yeah michigan state to a degree kansas like you said earlier i do by the way i've got a friend that's a big duke fan he'll talk to me about duke recruiting all the time and it does

make me jealous because it's just a different world than Nebraska basketball recruit just look behind you austin orman will bring ear to ear at the i simple idea that he every year he gets to go christmas shopping in the in the best 20 best college high school basketball players in the country sometimes in the world right that you get to do that so I think for perspective sake you have to ask the question who like for baseball and softball we don't know do you do you happen to know who the top rank the most highly recruited freshman on the women's basketball team uh no unless it's like a brit prince or something like somebody that we have one in four years right right right markowski before that and baseball's really confusing because you almost don't want to

recruit the best guys because they'll go pro well they're good drafted right and then it's the thing but and there's some development to it and you have to really get the brice mcgowan the brice matthews of the world who is a super talent who may be undersized and needs to develop in his form or Max Anderson that will look elsewhere and then end up back here, right? The Cal Perry, who's local and develops from two star to three star to I don't think he ever reached four star, you know, but, you know, crafty left-hander finding his way through. So I think we spend a ton of time in the recruiting space because it pays some people's bills. But I think it would behoove Husker fans to fine line and streamline their focus.

Because I would imagine if we asked Thoreau Farley about his recruiting process, that Farley didn't check enough boxes to be a five-star. But we had not seen a linebacker play at this level like Farley then or since, right? that sometimes the boxes don't fit. Sometimes it's a circle. It's a round peg. Let it, let it, let it be unique. So with the news that happens,

let's think it too far into ourselves about people committing, decommitting, and otherwise you spend a lot of time and resources and trying to do that. Then the question becomes, Bach, and you ready for this? If you are head coach, Bob for Nebraska football or Nebraska, you can choose.

And do you want to win enough next year as a priority and focus that you will not recruit a high school senior and only recruit a transfer portal will develop sophomore or junior? I will ask you that and Bach will give us his answer. Will we come back?