Welcome to Husker Heartbeat - a sampling of links and quick wit to start your morning! Keep checking each morning, Monday-Friday, for new links! We look for the offbeat as well as the straightforward - so don’t just think of us as a typical link farm!

A quick abbreviation key FYI: OWH=Omaha World-Herald, LJS=Lincoln Journal-Star, CN=Corn Nation, BRN=Big Red Network, HI=Huskers Illustrated, BRR=Big Red Report. If we need to add more - we will. Others, like ESPN, are self-explanatory.

Cool? Cool!

*Connie Yori and the Northern Iowa head coach have a long connection and friendship. Guess that means the Panthers will lie down spread eagle on the court in Minny and give the Husker a walkover game.

*Because you’re just dying to know which JUCO player Doc Sadler might recruit next, Brian Rosenthal of the LJS hoofed it down to Hutchinson, Kan., for the national tournament.

*Turner Gill doesn’t want his assistants to cuss on the practice field. Although this appears to be an infringement of some great divine right for coaches, trust me: They’ll live. For that money especially.

*BRN takes a gander at Idaho.

*A Washington defensive end gets booked on an investigation of assault. I don’t even know what that means.

*The Big East bemoans its potential demise. What? Huh?

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Bake these six takes at 350 degrees and enjoy!

*As we coast through the final 10 days of recruiting season, we’ll look closer at Bo Pelini’s production and methodology, although the latter can be difficult to discern with Bo, who isn’t prone to explicating to how he narrows down his prospect list, where he looks for them, and which high school coaches and contacts he leans upon to set NU on the right path. What Bo looks for, publicly, isn’t any different from most college coaches: Character, speed, aggression, athleticism. Which college coach looks for slow, lazy troublemakers, right?

In his third class, you see promise in Pelini’s recruiting - and maybe two concerns.

The promise is in building an elite defense with sterling, big-bodied prospects like defensive linemen Chase Rome, Jay Guy, Walker Ashburn, Tobi Okuyemi and Donovan Vestal, defensive backs Ciante Evans and Harvey Jackson and potentially safety Corey Cooper and defensive end Owa Odighizuwa. Of the commits, NU took Rome and Guy away from other teams and identified the rest early in the cycle, landing players with generally impressive offer lists. The Huskers have stayed in the hunt with Cooper (Chicago-area) and Odighizuwa (Portland) despite the distance. If both pledge Big Red, don’t let any recruiting service fool you: This is one of ten best defensive recruiting classes in America.

The offensive class, as it now stands, isn’t anywhere near that.

But that’s not the concern I want to discuss. Rather, it’s this: NU has only three commitments from high school players in border states surrounding Nebraska. Rome is from Columbia, Mo. Wide receiver Kenny Bell is from Boulder. Offensive tackle Mike Moudy is from Castle Rock, Co. Throw in the three in-state recruits - Tyler Evans, Andrew Rodriguez and Jake Cotton - and you’re talking just six high school players within roughly 600 miles of Lincoln.

As of this writing, Missouri has produced 16 players who committed to BCS-auto conference schools for 2010. Colorado had ten players. Kansas has at least eight. Iowa has its share.

Gleaning the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is good. So is hitting the rest of Texas and California and strengthening old ties at Cardinal Mooney in Youngstown. The Pelinis have made connections at some of the best high school programs in Louisiana, California and Texas, and it will pay dividends down the road.

But, in three classes, Pelini’s signed as many players from Mooney - two - as he has from the entire state of Missouri. He’s signed just three from Colorado. If you exclude the junior college players from Kansas, Bo’s signed just one player - Kyler Reed - from the Sunflower State. And Reed was a Kevin Cosgrove verbal commit in the first place.

Over the long haul, NU has to own the border states better than that. Contrary to some of the myths about Tom Osborne only making his mark in Nebraska, Osborne frequently pillaged Kansas City, St. Louis, Wichita and Denver for some of his best players. Check it out for yourself.

Nebraska ought to see itself like the Boston Red Sox treat the rest of New England. NU’s winning tradition, its budget, its facilities and its notoriety dwarfs the rest of the Big 12 North. Yes, still. Bo’s influence can’t stop at the state line in Falls City. As uncomfortable as it initially may be, reaching out to the extended Husker nation - through the media, by pounding the halls of border state high schools - is crucial to getting the Huskers “back” in recruiting, as well as on the field.

*The border state player Nebraska most could have used? Liberty (Mo.) wide receiver Marcus Lucas. That 6-foot-5 frame sure would have been nice for three or four years. Shawnee, Kan., athlete Justin McCay would have been high on my list, too, but apparently Nebraska wasn’t terribly interested in him.

*All that said - NU has a chance to make the “leap” in its 2011 class. Oklahoma is signing its monster class of 30 recruits this year, Missouri is plum stocked with offensive and defensive skill players, Colorado will have a lame duck coach in Dan Hawkins, Iowa State is hellbent on collecting crumbs in Texas and Florida, and Kansas State is typically off making its own plans in JUCO land. That leaves Bo and Turner Gill in the Big 12 North working the border state chess board.

*Now that Millard South quarterback Bronson Marsh has committed to UNO instead of waiting for a possible offer from Nebraska, it’s official: The best player on the best high school team in the state wasn’t coveted enough by NU for a scholarship offer.

Now - maybe that says something about the talent in the Omaha and the state. Maybe it says something about the Huskers. But it says something, doesn’t it?

Again - hard to sustain a walk-on program in these financial times. Hard to ask kids to foot the bill when the bill just keeps getting bigger and bigger. The kid better have a bunch of smaller academic scholarships lined up, or have parents who planned decades in advance for the moment their son or daughter chose to pay - and when you can’t hold down a second job because of the time commitment, trust me, you’re paying - for the opportunity to play intercollegiate athletics.

*Carpe diem, Husker women. The chance to define the Nebraska’s women’s basketball program as a perennial contender won’t come around again. Right team, right time, right star player in Kelsey Griffin, whom I suspect becomes a college color analyst - or a coach - after her inevitable professional career is over.

NU is 17-0 and, while it could happen, the Huskers certainly don’t have to lose in the regular season. The slate is tough - especially a road game at foil Oklahoma, and home games vs. Texas A&M and Oklahoma State - but nothing Nebraska hasn’t already seen. The question may become: Would it benefit Yori’s bunch to lose before the NCAA Tournament, so long as a No. 1 seed is secured?

“We know we’re not going to win every game,” Yori said off-handedly last week, before NU’s 71-56 win over Kansas State.

That statement, I suspect, is out of respect for a grueling Big 12 conference. But opponents aren’t singing the same tune. Nebraska is a smart, hustling, aggressive team with top-shelf talent. A coach’s dream. A fan’s dream, too.

*Honest observers of Nebraska’s basketball team had the Huskers at 1-3 through four Big 12 games. So an 0-4 start, while disappointing, isn’t wildly off-target. A loss at Colorado Wednesday makes life for Doc Sadler a bit harder in February and March. And NU’s 1-3 in Boulder since 2006.

Does Doc have time for life lessons like the one he gave Christian Standhardinger at Missouri? The one he gave Quincy Hankins-Cole for the first three league games?

He does if he has confidence that NU can turn the corner over the last two months, and get hot when the schedule gets a bit easier. Yori survived such a season last year, after all, in preparation for a glorious 2010. Danny Nee once survived a similar campaign in 1989, only to win 26 in 1990-91 when his best guys got healthy, and Eric Piatkowski started to play.

These Huskers - or Doc - shouldn’t harbor illusions about a NCAA Tournament run this year. It’s about getting better, building a resume, and creating chemistry. The pieces are there. If it takes two months to make them fit, so be it.

But Doc has to put those pieces on the floor from here on out.

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“I thought Coach Osborne was very genuine. I knew he really cared about me as a person, even more than he did as a football player. Yes, he recognized me initially because of my football talents and all that, but I knew he cared about me deeply as a person. That means a lot to me.”

-- Turner Gill. Former Head Coach at Buffalo, and now the newest of the Big Twelve Head Coaches. Gill took the position of Head Coach at Kansas on Monday.

From “Beyond the Final Score” by Tom Osborne, 2009 published by Regal

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Looks like Turner Gill-to-Kansas is a done deal.

Classy hire for Jayhawks' athletic director Lew Perkins. One he won't regret, unlike coaxing Jim Harbaugh to Lawrence, which would have been a ill-fitting match for an egomaniac looking to climb the status ladder. Gill won't cost as much, either. Plus, he has a built-in knowledge of the Big 12, and recruiting in Texas.

Let's look at three repercussions of Gill's hiring. For the Big 12 North – and Nebraska.

*Recruiting. Gill should retain most – and potentially all – of Kansas' 15 verbal commitments. His offense - which blends power and spread principles together for a brew that's not entirely different from Mark Mangino's scheme – can retain the offensive commits, and Gill will be able to convince the defensive guys to stick, too. The key is QB recruit Jacoby Walker, who recently reopened his recruiting, and will be visiting Arkansas.

Could Nebraska be interested in Walker? It may not matter. Watch for Gill to lock this kid back up.

Don't be surprised if Gill brings along at least one Buffalo commit – running back James Potts – along with him. Potts – who had offers from Michigan State, Louisville and Rutgers - was a nice coup for Gill.

Now then – it's common for new head coaches to at least pay one visit to various in-state prospects – who may be committed elsewhere – just to see who will listen. Based on his highly-publicized role in almost getting the Auburn job in 2008, Gill is better known than some Husker fans might suspect. And the state of Kansas has some big-name prospects – DeMarcus Robinson (Kansas State). Joseph Randle (Oklahoma State) and Justin McCay (Oklahoma) among them.

Are any of Nebraska's recruits in flux? Not to KU, they're not.

*Staff Changes. No offense to Gill's staff at Buffalo, but it's not a major-college staff. Look for at least some of it to stay in Buffalo; don't be stunned if offensive coordinator Danny Barrett takes over for Gill; he was a successful head coach in the Canadian Football League.

Who might Gill attract to his KU staff? One can't help but look at Nebraska's current offensive staff for possibilities.

It's well known that Gill and receivers coach Ron Brown are close friends. Trust us: Nobody wants to lose Brown. And Gill could probably use a guy like offensive line coach Barney Cotton. But Cotton – for several reasons – is a fine fit at Nebraska, especially with two sons – Ben and Jake – playing there.

A more obvious choice may be NU Director of Football Operations Jeff Jamrog. Jamrog, after all, worked with Gill briefly during the last days of the Frank Solich era, and may be itching to get back in the coaching game. Unless defensive coordinator Carl Pelini were to leave in the offseason for another job, there's no position on NU's staff forthcoming.

Another thought: NU football intern and former Husker linebacker Doug Colman. Head coach Bo Pelini really likes this five-year NFL vet, but there's no room on the staff without alterations. Colman has Jersey connections that could help KU's coast-to-coast recruiting. Football intern John Garrison – former center in the late Solich era – is another possibility.

*Inevitable comparisons. Pelini and Gill were the final two candidates for NU's head coaching job in 2007. Athletic director Tom Osborne writes in “Beyond The Final Score” the following: “Telling Turner that I was not going to hire him was one of the hardest things I have had to do.”

Considering the last month, when Pelini's defense nearly willed Nebraska to a miraculous Big 12 title, it seems clear, right now, that Osborne made the proper choice.

But now, with Gill just four hours to the south, the question is bound to come up again. Of course it is. Not many Husker fans were necessarily clamoring for Gill in 2007 – but that was before his “Speechless, Man” moment in the 2008 MAC Championship game. What he pulled off at dead-on-arrival Buffalo – a 20-30 record, a conference title – is more impressive than Husker fans can appreciate. Scoff all you want about the MAC. Just don't forget that guys like Nick Saban and Urban Meyer came from there. And before you laugh at comparing Gill and, say, Meyer, remember, again, that Gill spent a good chunk of his career as an assistant in one of the nation's best programs. He coached Tommie Frazier, Scott Frost and Eric Crouch. Bob Stoops sought him as an offensive coordinator. He did not spend the last 20 years running the jet dry at a car wash.

Gill, to some hard-core football types, is an acquired taste. He's not a screamer. He's not particularly expressive, for that matter. He doesn't curse or cajole or berate. He carries himself, in some ways, more like an NFL guy than a college guy. And he walks with a confidence that's hard for people who weren't one of the smoothest quarterbacks in college football history to understand.

His tenure at Kansas, at the very least, will give Husker fans a glimpse of what could have in 2007.

What will the Jayhawks look like? So much depends on the makeup of his staff.

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Excellent piece on Nebraska's former quarterback, now coach at Buffalo, and his response to not being hired at Auburn.

Well worth the watch...

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“I thought Coach Osborne was very genuine. I knew he really cared about me as a person, even more than he did as a football player. Yes, he recognized me initially because of my football talents and all that, but I knew he cared about me deeply as a person. That means a lot to me.” -- Turner Gill

From “Beyond the Final Score” by Tom Osborne, 2009 published by Regal

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"Becoming a Division I football player, becoming a starting quarterback, winning a national championship as a coach, three national titles, and being undefeated for two and a half years. Coach Osborne started and reached his goal—seeing a great coach doing things the right way and treating people the right way and showing people you can be a nice guy and still win” -- Turner Gill



In “Then Osborne Said to Rozier” by Steven Richardson, published by Triumph Books in 2008, former Cornhusker Quarterback and coach, Turner Gill lists above the rewards of being in Nebraska. Current Buffalo Head Coach Gill had his best year in 1983 when he passed for 1,516 yards and fourteen touchdowns.

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“He taught me so much about life and the spiritual part of myself. He was the main reason I chose the University of Nebraska in the first place, and he was the one who helped me grow into the person I am. I knew he would make me a better person, not necessarily a better quarterback or better football player. And I was right. We have so much tradition, loyalty, and integrity at Nebraska, and that’s what this football program has been about for all these years. I thank God for putting Nebraska there for me.” -- Turner Gill

This is Buffalo head coach Turner Gill’s remarks in What It Means To Be A Husker by Jeff Snook in his 2004 publication.

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Heisman Pundit names him the 2nd-most underrated coachbehind Baylor's Art Briles.

The whole list, with their comments. You may want to visit their most overrated list, too...although it's not a very good list of coaches.

1. Art Briles, Baylor–One of the finest offensive minds in the game, he helped revive the Houston program and now appears to have Baylor on the quick turnaround as well.

2. Turner Gill, Buffalo–How many coaches from the overrated list could find a way to win at Buffalo? And why is this guy still in Buffalo?

3. Kyle Wittingham, Utah–He had a tough act to follow in Urban Meyer. But he just went 13-0, too. Either going 13-0 is easy to do at Utah, or the Utes have had some really good coaches lately.

4. Mike Riley, Oregon State–Has done something only one other current coach in the country has done: Beaten Pete Carroll twice (the other is Bill Snyder, who just returned to coaching).

5. Kevin Sumlin, Houston–When Briles left, the Cougars could’ve taken a dive. But Sumlin did an admirable job and led Houston to a bowl. Is anyone noticing?

6. Houston Nutt, Ole Miss–Seems to win wherever he goes, but is never fully appreciated. Sure, he’s using Ed Orgeron’s talent, but he knows what to do with it.

7. Bobby Johnson, Vandy–He got Vandy to a bowl. How many coaches on the overrated list could get Vandy to a bowl?

8. Dick Tomey, San Jose State–Was run out of Arizona for no real good reason then sat out a few years before doing a solid job for the Spartans. He’s still got it.

9. Jim Grobe, Wake Forest–Has won 28 games in three seasons at Wake, not that anyone seems to care.

10. Jim Harbaugh, Stanford–Has turned Stanford into a hard-nose, competitive team. Beat an extremely talented USC team with almost no talent. Now, he’s starting to bring in some talent. Look out.

See also: These Husker boots weren't made for walkin...

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Once a Husker, always a Husker. That's our motto.

So if Turner "Speechless, Man, Speechless" Gill is in the news, hey - we're here to deliver. The cool quarterback who smooth brilliance helped delivered Nebraska into its golden era for the next 15 seasons is in the midst of one heck of a turnaround in Buffalo. Now he's chatting with the Fort Worth newspaper, and we're here to bring it to you.

A key question in the Q&A:

Who were or are the biggest influences on your coaching career?

Turner's answer, if you know the guy a little bit, isn't surprising:

The Lord Jesus Christ and Tom Osborne.


The other questions:

Are you surprised that you’ve made Buffalo so competitive so fast?

No, not really, because we had a plan and a vision. The key to our success in Buffalo has been building relationships through our vision statement: To provide a positive and motivating environment, which encourages excellence, growth and balance in the lives of our staff and student-athletes.

What is your recipe for a successful football team?

My recipe includes B.E.L.I.E.V.E.: Believe in each other and the things not yet seen — Empower people by encouragement — Learn and press on toward the goal — Influence by being a positive role model — Expect great effort all of the time — Visualize success — Enjoy the college football experience.

Are there any lessons from your experience being recruited that you apply to recruiting players to Buffalo?

Be genuine.

What is one of your favorite memories of growing up in Fort Worth?

One was being integrated from Como Elementary to South Hi Mount Elementary during my fourth-grade year [1971-72].

You were drafted in baseball by the Chicago White Sox out of high school. How seriously did you consider the White Sox? And do you ever wonder where you would be today if you had taken the other path of the fork in the road?

The White Sox were $20,000 short of my signing their contract. I don’t wonder what might have been because I know that this was God’s plan for my life in order that I could honor Him.

What does the Fellowship of Christian Athletes mean to you?

The FCA is extremely valuable because it promotes a ministry that reaches out to [teenage] athletes by empowering and encouraging people to be an influence for Christ. In 2008, FCA impacted over 2 million lives for Jesus Christ, and the ministry is literally exploding across America. FCA is volunteer intensive, yet it requires the support of the business community, not only in Fort Worth, but in all other communities.

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"You are never 100 percent perfect in recruiting. You would miss on some scholarship players. By redshirting players, by their junior or senior years, particularly walk-ons would be ready to play and they would be just like (good) scholarship players. This would be particularly true of positions like tight ends, fullbacks, and the offensive line, where there were a lot of walk-ons. It helped Nebraska to never have a bad year." -Turner Gill

Turner Gill was Quarterback for Nebraska in the Osborne era and went on the coach at Nebraska and is Head Coach at Buffalo. He took the Buffalo team from losing years to the championship game.

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