Shawn Eichorst Speaks of Talent...and His New Visibility

Criticized by many (reporters and former coaches alike) for hiding out in his office, Nebraska athletic director Shawn Eichorst has made it a point to make himself more visible.  Case in point: yesterday, Eichorst met briefly with Steven M. Sipple of the Lincoln Journal-Star and Tom Shatel of the Omaha World-Herald. Sipple even asked him about his new visibility around the program:

"I don't know if there was a change in approach. I love the game of football, as you know. We've gone into depth on that. When you transition into incredible positions like at Nebraska, there's a lot of looking, listening and learning to do. I would attribute it more to having a lot of things to do, a lot of people to get to know, more than anything. I now think I know the place a little better than when I first came in, know the people better. That allows me a little more flexibility to get around and to be available."

Well, that's pretty much political BS right there. If you have a lot of people that you need to get to know and a climate that you need to understand better, the last thing you do is lock yourself up in your office. Instead, you go out and make yourself visible. You meet with the people you are supposed to lead and understand them and the environment that you find yourself in.

Shawn Eichorst didn't do that during his first two years.  (And got called out for it.)  He's doing it now, and that's a good thing. But don't lie about it: admit that you are evolving and becoming a better leader.  Eichorst did change his approach, and for the better.

One of Eichorst's key points in both of his discussions was to note that Nebraska needs to improve on it's talent. Many will interpret that as recruiting, and that is definitely part of it.  But read Eichorst's quote from Shatel's column:

“I look at the All-Big Ten teams, particularly the coaches team,” Eichorst said. “The first three teams, we had two players. I think Michigan had 17, Ohio State 14, Iowa had nine, Wisconsin had eight, Penn State had seven. We have work to do.”

Michigan and Ohio State are recruiting juggernauts and in New Years' Six bowls.  That's to be expected.  Penn State is suddenly released from their Sandusky sanctions, so they've been able to open the floodgates on recruiting.

But then there's Iowa.

If you believe that it's all recruiting, then Iowa is that uncomfortable outlier.  Here's Rivals team rankings for Iowa and Nebraska's last five classes:

Iowa:  44, 51, 56, 59, 42
Nebraska:  26, 17, 32, 28, 26

Iowa being third in all-Big Ten honorees is not about recruiting, but coaching and development.  And Nebraska falling to only two honorees is mostly about coaching and development.  It's no surprise to me that Mike Riley has already dismissed two members of his initial staff at Nebraska, because development with this staff is a major concern to me.

You hear a lot of comments and excuses being laid out to account for Nebraska's performance on the field the last two seasons, and one of them is the lack of offensive line talent. I submit that Nebraska has much more talent on the line than we've seen...or rather, we've been allowed to see.  Case in point?  Givens Price.  He was a starter in 2014, but was demoted in 2015.  After essentially being demoted off the two-deep, Price didn't give up, but gave defense a chance.  He didn't play there either, but he kept grinding it out.

And guess what? The Arizona Cardinals saw something Mike Cavanaugh didn't (or couldn't).  They gave hi a chance on the practice squad, and now he's on an NFL active roster.

Not good enough for Nebraska?  That's a huge fumble by Nebraska's coaching staff to let an NFL offensive lineman slip through right through their hands.

They told my dawg he can't but we believed in the most high and now he on the active roster @gprice78 #LowMaintenance

— Joe Keels (@jkeels_19) December 13, 2016

How many more Givens Price's are there on Nebraska's roster?  Especially on the offensive line.  I can only wonder.