Red Report: Beware of stars
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By the Lincoln Journal Star
Speaking at the Big Red Breakfast on Friday, Nebraska interim athletic director Tom Osborne voiced concerns with the recruiting hype that now surrounds college football.
“I would say this. Take this four- and five-star stuff with a little grain of salt,” Osborne said. “These fellas that are recruiting analysts make a living by four- and five-star stuff. But, really, you have to look at film, talk to coaches, get in camp. You’d be surprised how many guys are 4.4 (seconds in the 40-yard dash) on paper, and then when you put a stopwatch on them, they are 4.9.”
Osborne said he thinks the NU coaches are doing a good job recruiting, but just wishes people didn’t pay so much attention to the star rankings Web sites give to prep players.
“It’s become somewhat of a business all on its own, and I don’t think it’s been the best for college football.”
Coming back: A fan asked Osborne if he thought anyone who left from the athletic department staff during Steve Pederson’s time as athletic director might return.
“I think so. I think there’s a chance at least one of them may come back, but I don’t know for sure,” Osborne said.
Quick hits:
* Osborne said Husker coach Bill Callahan expressed concern to him about how difficult it might be to hang on to some recruits in this unstable time.
The former Nebraska coach said he’d check the rules, and if possible, he’d be willing to talk to any recruits if it might help.
After he retired from coaching in 1997, Osborne said he helped recruit for Frank Solich for six to eight weeks.
* Osborne was asked if he thought Callahan’s practices were physical enough. “I’ve only watched parts of two practices,” he said. “I think they’re trying to do that a bit more. I will tell you, we missed the boat for a period of time on that.”
He said he once took a suggestion from Florida State coach Bobby Bowden to have his team rest two weeks after the regular season. That strategy didn’t work so hot for Nebraska.
“We lost our timing on the option,” Osborne said, rolling into a joke. “I lost seven straight bowls and I’d always say at least two or three of them were because we listened to Bobby.”
* Osborne talked about how he was cautious to take the job as Nebraska head coach when Bob Devaney offered it to him.
“I’m not real smart, but I’m smart enough to have read history books and realize that people who followed someone that has been successful generally didn’t last too long.”
* Analyzing the Big 12, Osborne said: “I don’t know if the balance of the power is in the South right now.”
He cited the success of Kansas. He said Texas Tech seems to be a team nobody really wants to go against.
“Oklahoma is probably the class of the league,” he said. “But even they are somewhat vulnerable on given days.”
* Osborne spoke of Husker history, and how the program has come back from down moments before.
He brought up the 1967-68 teams that struggled, and how there was a petition circulating to fire Devaney just before he won two national titles.
He talked about how the program came back from a terrible ending to the 1990 season — in which the Huskers gave up 45 points in each of the final two games — to build a team with a championship mentality.
“Adversity is not your enemy,” Osborne said. “Adversity is also your friend.”
— Brian Christopherson
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