Nebraska Football: Deion Sanders approach to recruiting should make Huskers fans thankful for Matt Rhule
If you’re a Nebraska football fan, all you want for Christmas is for the Huskers to return to greatness. Or at least return to a state where they are going bowling every year.
If you’re a Colorado Buffaloes fan, you probably want the same thing. You might also want a coach who displays better-recruiting chops than what Deion Sanders has shown off so far.
As he’s affectionately known by those who like him, Coach Prime has drawn a lot of buzz since landing in Boulder. Of course, Matt Rhule has generated quite a bit of buzz since arriving in Lincoln as well. He’s also generated what several recruiting sites see as nearly a Top 25 class despite having to rebuild and taking the Nebraska football recruiting class from the mid-40s near the Top 20.
It was made quite clear that the reason Rhule and his staff had recruiting success this winter is that they worked quite hard and traveled all over the country to reel in prospects from parts of the country largely ignored by their predecessors. Meanwhile, it appears that Deion Sanders is looking for players simply by advertising for them on Twitter.
"“I need a couple of Defensive Tackles that’s Hungry and hadn’t eaten in a minute. #CoachPrime@CUBuffsFootball I Ain’t Hard 2 Find. Even on Christmas”"
This particular tweet comes after Sanders’ first recruiting class was ranked in the 50s by most recruiting sites. That’s even though he managed to haul in some big-time talent in transfers from his former team in Jackson State.
To Coach Prime’s credit, the tweet got attention. There were even some players that actually sent their stats and profiles hoping they might garner an offer. There were also plenty of people who found the whole thing rather humorous.
https://twitter.com/AaronHayenga/status/1606420801040809987
Bruh aren’t you supposed to be the recruiter??? 😂
— 🌽BigRedKorner🌽 (@KadeLight57) December 23, 2022
Coach I am 5’8”, 175 lbs and dominate the line of scrimmage in my family’s Turkey Bowl. No recorded highlights but I had 7.5 sacks in the 1st half this year. I’m 28 and have all my eligibility remaining since I never went to college
— Back In My Day (@avg_washup) December 23, 2022
https://twitter.com/Marc_Cumbie/status/1606405256031739915
It is of course possible that Sanders’ approach had the desired effect. People are certainly talking about the less-than-standard approach to recruiting.
Personally, I’ll still take someone like Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule, who worked his tail off and didn’t try to make it about himself.