Coaches don’t care about recruit rankings

Nebraska football coach Bo Pelini could care less where his team stands in the recruiting rankings.

To him, his commits are all Cornhuskers and that's the only star on his scale.

"There's a lot of character in the group," Pelini said. "They know they're not promised anything. They know what they're getting themselves into and the type of competition environment that we bring."

Nebraska came away with 21 scholarship commits and nearly 20 walk-on commits Wednesday, and Pelini said he couldn't be more excited for the class. The 2009 class is highlighted by quarterback Cody Green, who is already enrolled in courses this spring. Commit Antonio Bell is the only other commit already on campus for NU.

Green came in with a four-star label from Rivals.com because he was ranked the No. 6 quarterback in the country. Commits Jason Ankrah, Rex Burkhead, Dijon Washington and Chris Williams come in as the only other four-star commits in the 2009 class.

NU linebackers coach Mike Ekeler has been credited with signing two of the four-star prospects along with several other future Huskers. But frankly, he is fed up with the "star/ranking jargon."

"I think it's a joke," Ekeler said. "I think Rivals(.com) is a joke. I didn't recruit anybody. We as a staff, as a university, as a program—that's what recruits these kids. As far as that stuff goes, I think it's a bunch of crap."

When Ekeler or Pelini recruit, they both say they look at the player, not the ranking. According to them, that's what this incoming recruiting class emulates. There are no five-star players, yet the Huskers rank 28th in the nation with their recruiting class.

What's even more special for Pelini is the fact that this was the first year he was able to recruit as a Husker from start to finish. As most remember, Pelini fell into the mix late in 2007 after the firing of former NU coach Bill Callahan.

At the time, NU lost recruits as any school would. Pelini was left scrambling trying to keep recruits excited about NU, while also figuring out how to arrange his new home.

After signing day a year ago, Pelini stressed that his hardest hurdle was building relationships with the current recruits. He put a lot of emphasis on his staff communicating quickly and effectively.

This year went smoother for the second-year coach.

"You have to do your homework," Pelini said. "That's part of the benefit of being together for a year and putting our first recruiting class together. We followed it from start to finish. After we evaluate it and make some corrections we'll be better at recruiting next year."

Ekeler said the full-year schedule enabled the coaching staff to gain more knowledge about where NU's pipeline truly is. The first full year helped all involved.

"Last year, we were scrambling," Ekeler said. "This year we had a whole year to do spring recruiting and build some relationships. It will only build in the future because you know where to go back."

As for how this class will turn out down the road, neither Pelini nor Ekeler had an answer. They both said it all depends on what happens in the weight room, how they build muscle, how much speed is lost or gained and so on.

Ekeler joked that he won't have a clue about that until five years from now. Pelini shared the same sentiment.

With signing day done and another year beginning, Ekeler said he's excited about getting the recruiting level at NU back to where it was during the Tom Osborne era.

The second-year linebackers coach feels this can be done, but as for now, it's to be continued.

"You want to get it where it snowballs, like when coach Osborne had it cranked up here," Ekeler said. "Everybody wanted to come to the University of Nebraska. That's what we're trying to do. It's always a continuous thing. We just have to keep building and keep improving like coach had it."

spencerschubert@dailynebraskan.com