Recruiting new for Pelini

LINCOLN (AP) -- As a recruiter, new Nebraska coach Bo Pelini doesn’t have a good or bad reputation.

He really has no reputation, recruiting analysts say.

As defensive coordinator at Oklahoma and LSU, his charge was figuring out how to use players rather than how to acquire them.

Pelini’s first task at Nebraska will be to keep in the fold players who have verbally committed to the Cornhuskers and then add to the class.

Pelini said Sunday he’s eager to get started recruiting. Analysts say it’s one of the biggest adjustments he’ll have to make as a first-time head coach.

“It’s just a question of want,” said Jamie Newberg, an analyst for Scout.com, who specializes in the Southeast. “Does he want to be that active, be front and center, meet everybody and have that recruit-recruit-recruit type of personality? It’s a huge commitment every day. That’s what it’s going to take.”

Pelini said his recruiting role at LSU was as a closer. He made home visits to prospects, outlined their potential roles at LSU and secured pledges.

“He was not the type of coach who would build a relationship with players over weeks and months,” Newberg said Monday.

Jeremy Crabtree, national recruiting editor for Rivals.com, said Pelini is well-respected by high school coaches. The fact he hasn’t gone on the road to do a lot of recruiting in recent years doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be good at it.

“He’s just been in a position the last few years where he didn’t have to be a monster recruiter,” Crabtree said.

It is not uncommon for offensive and defensive coordinators to play peripheral roles in recruiting.

The key to Pelini’s recruiting success will be the position coaches he hires. Pelini said he planned to quickly assemble his staff.

“There’s a lot that has to be done as far as recruiting goes,” he said Sunday. “It’s going to be a process of everyone getting their collective efforts together and making sure we head this thing in the right direction.”

The role of head coaches in recruiting has changed over the years, Newberg said.

Coaches such as Nebraska’s Tom Osborne and Florida State’s Bobby Bowden were great closers. But closing the deal is a small fraction of the job now, Newberg said, because the process moves much faster.

“Now the head coaches have to be on the road during the May evaluation period with their assistants,” Newberg said. “You’ve got to be seen, you’ve got to be heard, you’ve got to be everywhere. More teams are offering (scholarships) early, doing earlier evaluations, and kids are committing earlier.”

Former coach Bill Callahan came to Nebraska with the reputation as an outstanding recruiter from his days at Wisconsin and Illinois. Callahan relished the chase for players and would go after the top prospects across the nation.

“That was Coach Callahan’s strong suit,” Newberg said. “They put a lot of effort into recruiting. But that’s what it takes no matter where you are.”

Pelini said he would re-establish Nebraska’s in-state recruiting efforts and ramp up the walk-on program. Those are good ideas, Crabtree said.

“Callahan was all over the map,” Crabtree said. “We’re going to see a more concentrated effort with Nebraska, the Midwest, Texas. And they’ll spot recruit some areas. I like that formula. It’s a good way to have success early on.”

Newberg said Pelini has learned from some of the best recruiters in the nation, having worked with Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops and LSU’s Les Miles.

Pelini also has a great resource in Osborne, the interim athletic director and a highly respected recruiter during a 25-year Nebraska coaching career in which he averaged 10 wins a season and won three national championships.

Just as important as recruiting players, Crabtree said, will be recruiting assistant coaches.

“Whoever he surrounds himself with will go a long way to how he gets judged as a recruiter,” Crabtree said.