Scott Frost and Mike Riley both took the reigns of Nebraska Football with roughly two months until National Signing Day. Which recruited better regarding the circumstances?
The college football season lasts about four months, but recruiting is a twelve month process. That’s why when Mike Riley and Scott Frost took over the Nebraska Football program, they had a ton of work to do if they wanted to catch up with the rest of the nation in recruiting.
They were both named head coach after the last regular season game, giving them two months until national signing day to get recruits on board. Which coach did better given the circumstances?
Mike Riley has always been known for his recruiting ability. It’s something that comes along with being “the nicest man in college football” and having West coast ties. He was hired at Nebraska just days after his predecessor, Bo Pelini, was fired in late November of 2014.
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Bo Pelini’s seven recruiting classes averaged ranks of 27.9 nationally and 4.7 in the Big Ten per 247Sports. Mike Riley’s two month 2015 recruiting class finished 30th in the nation and 4th in the Big Ten. Rankings-wise it was about what Nebraska Football fans were used to at the time. The class included key players such as Stanley Morgan and Devine Ozigbo. Overall, Mike Riley’s first class edged out realistic expectations for a two month recruiting class.
Mike Riley’s tenure lasted three short and rather forgettable years. However, although he couldn’t put a product on the field that Husker Nation could rave about, he did make moves in recruiting. His three classes were nationally ranked, 30, 26, and 23 respectively. He had the numbers trending in the right direction. In Mike Riley’s case, this shows how recruiting talented players isn’t everything.
Cue Scott Frost. He was announced the Head Coach of Nebraska Football about a week after the 2017 regular season. By that time the Nebraska Football 2018 recruiting class was in shambles. Big time recruits were jumping ship left and right. The class was sitting at number 94 nationally. Nothing looked good. Realistic expectations were for Scott Frost to build a class that would rank middle of the pack in the Big Ten and top 35 nationally.
To make matters more difficult, Scott Frost continued to coach UCF through bowl season, chipping away at valuable recruiting time. This made a tight, two month window even tighter.
As it turned out, these circumstances didn’t slow Scott Frost and his staff seemingly at all. His two month recruiting class finished 22 nationally and 4 in the Big Ten. These numbers blew away all reasonable expectations. I can’t say which recruits will go on to be key players, but Frost did land top targets such as Adrian Martinez, Maurice Washington, and Tate Wildeman.
Scott Frost has started Nebraska Football on the right foot in recruiting, and will surely make bigger strides when given a full year. The next test will be whether or not the new staff can put more on the field than just talented players.
So who wins the two month recruiting class smack down? Mike Riley’s work on the 2015 class was admirable, but the conditions simply weren’t as adverse as Frost’s. Frost was dealing with a team coming off a 4-8 record while Riley dealt with 9-4.
Frost was working two head coaching jobs at the same time. He just had a baby. The class was sitting at number 94 nationally when he took over. All that in addition to the fact that his two month class ranked objectively better than Mike Riley’s gives Scott Frost’s Nebraska football team the win.