For those of you unfamiliar with the Build-O-Team, it is an exercise where someone tries to build a two-deep depth chart from last year's recruiting class and the upcoming recruiting class. While a full team may not be constructed from one class, it has been argued that a coach should be able to build a team from two consecutive classes.

The exercise is intended to show what areas are doing well recruiting-wise and what areas could use a little more attention. It is not a depth chart for next year. It is only an exercise to show what recruiting needs may yet exist. No value judgments are made to determine where athletes fit on the depth chart, instead listing them only by incoming class. If an athlete is listed at multiple positions I will move them to the position of most need. That is not an indication of where the coaches intend for them to play. (See Edit note at bottom )

QUARTERBACK (NEED: 2, HAVE: 1, NET: -1)
Johnny Stanton, 6’2”, 220

RUNNING BACK ((NEED: 2, HAVE: 2, NET: 0)
Terrell Newby, 5’10”, 180

Adam Taylor, 6’2”, 200

WIDE RECEIVER (NEED: 4, HAVE: 2, NET: -2)
Kevin Gladney, 6’2”, 175

Tre’vell Dixon, 6’1”, 195

TIGHT END (NEED: 2, HAVE:2, NET: 0)
Cethan Carter, 6’4”, 230

Greg Hart, 6’5”, 225

OFFENSIVE LINE (NEED: 10, HAVE:5, NET: -5)
Dwayne Johnson, 6’6”, 275

Chongo Kondolo, 6’4”, 290

Matt Finnin, 6’8”, 330

David Knevel, 6’8”, 290

Zach Hannon, 6’5”, 295

DEFENSIVE TACKLE (NEED: 4, HAVE: 2, NET: -2)
Maliek Collins, 6’2”, 285

Kevin Maurice, 6’3”, 270

DEFENSIVE END (NEED: 4, HAVE: 4 NET: 0)
Ernest Suttles, 6’5”, 240

Randy Gregory, 6’6”, 230

Dimarya Mixon, 6’3”, 265

A.J. Natter, 6’5”, 240

LINEBACKER (NEED: 6, HAVE:3, NET: -3)
Marcus Newby, 6’1”, 207

Courtney Love, 6’1”, 225

Josh Banderas, 6’2”, 220

DEFENSIVE BACK (NEED: 8, HAVE: 4 NET:-4)
Drake Martinez, 6’2”, 200

Boaz Joseph, 6’1”, 190

DJ Singleton, 6’1”, 195

Nathan Gerry, 6’2”, 206
 

SPECIAL TEAMS  (NEED: 1, HAVE:1 NET: 0)
Gabriel Miller, 6’0”, 235

 

Notes:

• Not sure how many scholarships they will offer in 2014 but to fill the gaps they need at least 17. 
• Biggest needs appear to be OL, DB and LB.  The DB need appears to be more CB than Safety.  LB may be overstated because of the large class in 2012 

brianpnoonan wrote: to me... OL, DT, and CB are where we need to be.  yeah i'd love another qb but we're pretty well off with armstrong and stanton.  we need OL depth especially with all the jucos we're taking this year.  grab 2 stud DT's, 4-6 linemen, 3-4 cbs (who can also possibly play safety ala charles jackson) and 6-8 other players that NEED to be high quality if you take them. 2 wr's are probably necessary as well.

brianpnoonan wrote: to me... OL, DT, and CB are where we need to be.  yeah i'd love another qb but we're pretty well off with armstrong and stanton.  we need OL depth especially with all the jucos we're taking this year.  grab 2 stud DT's, 4-6 linemen, 3-4 cbs (who can also possibly play safety ala charles jackson) and 6-8 other players that NEED to be high quality if you take them. 2 wr's are probably necessary as well.

huskerhillbilly wrote: How do we factor JUCO's on the Build-O-Team?

Herg312 wrote: According to Damon Bennington, Nebraska is going back to the Peso...DB and fleet LB's along with stud DT's a must...

Herg312 wrote: According to Damon Bennington, Nebraska is going back to the Peso...DB and fleet LB's along with stud DT's a must...

brianpnoonan wrote:

Herg312 wrote: According to Damon Bennington, Nebraska is going back to the Peso...DB and fleet LB's along with stud DT's a must...

i think with the addition of players like suttles and gregory that we're likely to see some 3-4 looks long-term as well -- especially if big V is as good as they are saying.  finding 3-4 DE's on this team is a lot easier than finding depth at DT.  

Then again, i've thought that for a couple years now.  bo's stubborn.  but he also started using eric martin that way toward the end of last year and had some success so... i think it's fairly likely that you'll see more going forward if he's got the personnel (and gregory fits that bill to a T in my opinion).  LB to me has a TON more depth than DL... and you want the best players on the field.  If our DL can hold the point of attack then you can attack with the LB's...

catch is, they couldn't hold the point of attack last year with 4 guys.... meh, hope springs eternal i suppose.

point being : speed, speed, speed.  that's how you fix our defense and i think pretty much everyone knows it.  I just hope bo knows it too.

Herg312 wrote: According to Damon Bennington, Nebraska is going back to the Peso...DB and fleet LB's along with stud DT's a must...

Jimbosc wrote:

Herg312 wrote: According to Damon Bennington, Nebraska is going back to the Peso...DB and fleet LB's along with stud DT's a must...

For spread teams that is fine (and everyone we face will play some spread).

The fact is B1G plays more power football than "average" in college football.   Michigan is going to a pro style attack, Wisky is run first....we have to be able to handle the power sets which to me implies being able to put 3 LBs on the field that can produce.

tOSU is the only team that will emulate what NU runs on offense (spread option) with elite athletes.  Peso is better suited to stop that.

I like Pelini's chances to figure out teams that don't have mobile QBs if we can improve our front 7.

NUinNC wrote:

huskerhillbilly wrote: How do we factor JUCO's on the Build-O-Team?

That is the weakness of the Build-O-Team.

If you want to factor in 2 year JUCOs then you need the list to be either 3 or 4 years.  But if you do that it starts to look very complicated.  I am sure the coaches look at it that way, but for us novices on a website, the two year look is clean, simple, and easy to understand.

If you want to build a four year version, please be my guest.  I will even send you the word document I keep as a starting point.

huskerhillbilly wrote:

NUinNC wrote:

huskerhillbilly wrote: How do we factor JUCO's on the Build-O-Team?

That is the weakness of the Build-O-Team.

If you want to factor in 2 year JUCOs then you need the list to be either 3 or 4 years.  But if you do that it starts to look very complicated.  I am sure the coaches look at it that way, but for us novices on a website, the two year look is clean, simple, and easy to understand.

If you want to build a four year version, please be my guest.  I will even send you the word document I keep as a starting point.

I think that the Build-O-Team is fine the way it is.  I guess I should ask the question about the JUCO's recruited.  I don't know how many years each of these guys have of eligibility.  If they will be eligible for just two years on the field, then do they count on the Build-O-Team?  I agree, though.  The two year view is a good snapshot.  Thanks.

NUinNC wrote:

It was originally created by a long time legendary poster on this board.  But "He who must not be named" is busy with way more important matters and can not be bothered with trivial things such as this.

huskerhillbilly wrote:

NUinNC wrote:

It was originally created by a long time legendary poster on this board.  But "He who must not be named" is busy with way more important matters and can not be bothered with trivial things such as this.

It's called -- slacking off.  No excuses.

Be careful what you say.  "He Who Must Not Be Named" still has powerful friend on this board.  He has a razor shart set of fingers and can slice you to pieces in the blink of an eye.