When's the next Bo Pelini teleconference?
The first one was interesting, if not informative. It was noteworthy for what the Nebraska head football coach didn't say. On a day the news was supposed to be about who is coming to Nebraska, the speculation about who might be leaving heated up. And seemed to indicate that the news cycles out of Lincoln are only beginning.
Of course, the topic of the day was recruiting. The national recruiting people like Nebraska's class. So does Pelini. It fits a lot of needs and, as rankings go, seems to bode well for the Big Red as it morphs into Big Ten Red.
The background music to signing day was the irrepressible rumors about imminent changes to Pelini's coaching staff. Was this the reason for the teleconference over press conference, to control the environment? Pelini said he would field questions about recruiting only. No other topics.
Several hundred miles away in Bloomington, Ind., new Indiana coach Kevin Wilson was playing by his own rules.
At his recruiting-day press conference, Wilson talked football. He said IU assistant coach Corey Raymond was going to Nebraska to coach the secondary.
Hmm. Doesn't NU already have a secondary coach in Marvin Sanders?
Good question.
“I have not hired any coaches up to this point,'' Pelini said. “No one's been hired yet.''
Does this mean that there will be some staff changes?
“I haven't had any staff changes up to this point,'' Pelini said.
Pelini kept wanting to talk recruiting, but Wilson had provided the opening. So Dirk Chatelain and Mitch Sherman of The World-Herald took turns trying to get Pelini to shed some light on the subject, but he did not. Bo said nobody had been hired or fired, though he hedged it by adding “to this point'' and “yet.''
Finally, Pelini said, “I'll address the issue when the time is right.''
If Sanders is gone, it's an interesting move. NU's defensive staff has been terrific and has good chemistry. Sanders played defensive back at NU, and secondary is his area of expertise. He's a good recruiter. He's had ties with Chicago Bears head coach Lovie Smith and was offered a job with the St. Louis Rams years ago.
Apparently, Sanders is either on the move or is going to coach linebackers. Bet on the former. Also, sources say there could be staff changes on offense announced soon.
Why now? It's not unusual. In fact, staff changes often are announced after signing day for the obvious reason of not wanting to lose recruits. That goes for the coaches Pelini might want to hire. They can't leave their jobs until after signing day for the same reason. Is it fair to the kids who were recruited by assistants who leave? No. But it's a fact of college football life, one that Pelini did address Wednesday.
“In the end, I'm still the head coach,'' Pelini said. “There's always going to be changes. That's part of the deal. I know there's a trust there that they (recruits) trust me and they trust the University of Nebraska.''
All signs, and the nondenial denials, point toward at least one staff change, if not more.
In other news, Pelini just had his best recruiting class!
Rivals and ESPN.com already had put Nebraska in their top 20 rankings when the day began with big news from the desert: Defensive tackle Todd Peat Jr. of Tempe, Ariz., picked Nebraska over Arizona State. Peat told the Arizona news media that one reason he chose the Big Red was because he happened to see a Nebraska license plate on Tuesday night and said it was a sign. How about those Nebraska snowbirds?
We'll assume that it was one of the old Nebraska license plates. Had Peat seen one of the new black and gold plates, he might be in maroon and gold today.
It was an old-fashioned Nebraska football recruiting class in many ways. Some stars, but a lot of solid, good football players and, mostly, a lot of needs filled. But the recruiting folks paid attention. ESPN.com ranked NU 14th nationally, thanks to three ESPNU top 150 players. Rivals put the Big Red at No. 15 with 11 four-star athletes.
The interesting thing is how this translates into the future. We won't know for a while. But most rankings listed Nebraska second in the Big Ten, behind Ohio State, and well in front of Michigan, Michigan State, Iowa, Penn State and Wisconsin. If you've seen the Badgers, you know they can play. But this puts a different spin on the “Can Nebraska compete in the Big Ten'' question.
Too bad Nebraska's not playing Indiana next fall. I bet Pelini would like to personally thank Wilson, his old friend from their days on Bob Stoops' Oklahoma staff, for upstaging his best recruiting day.
Recruiting season has turned into Speculation Season. Keep the phone handy.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com
twitter.com/tomshatelOWH
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• Video: Highlights of Nebraska's 2011 recruiting class:
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• Audio: Bo Pelini's signing day teleconference:
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• Video: Mitch Sherman and Rich Kaipust analyze the 2011 class following Bo Pelini's teleconference:
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