Lurking mostly, but hearing all this talk in Omaha including shameless talk show hosts who want to pressure a young man into changing his decsion.. I just had to do it. It make me sick to think of how narrow minded the Husker world is sometimes.
A personal letter to Noah Fant in TMinus54321....
Dear Noah,
I heard your commitment on the radio and you seem like a very intelligent, thoughful young man with a good family. Really, this talk of you possibly wavering for Nebraska (or another school) is probably much ado about nothing. I heard lots of this stuff on the radio... how Nebraska is starting to use their TEs more, that you'd be a great fit, that Cethan Carter is ready for a breakout in Mike Riley's offesnse, etc. It comes down to this really... is your goal to play TE in the NFL or is your goal to be a local hero (temporarily)?
History tells the story...
Mike Riley coached a total of 14 years at Oregon St before 2015. In all that time, the school produced 1 TE who played in the NFL, Tim Euhus who Riley did not recruit to the school and coached for just one year... similar story to Cethan Carter, but more on him later.
Kirk Ferentz had coached a whopping 16 years at Iowa before 2015... really similar span, right? Except for the fact that Iowa has had 9 TES who have played in the NFL from the Ferentz era. That is right, nearly every significant contributor at TE at Iowa goes to the NFL. So here is the scorecard:
Riley OSTU 1 TE, 4 Yrs, 34 games and 14 catches in NFL, the 1 was drafted!, and 0 TEs still active.
Ferentz Iowa 9 TEs, 44 yrs, 493 games and 1,059 catches in NFL, with 6 drafted, at least 4 still active.
Oh, but that thing about Cethan Carter being used so much and recent trends and all that... True, he had 26 touches this year and has a fair chance with a good senior year to be the 2nd draftee from Riley (who he didn't recruit) in his most recent 16 years of coaching college football.
But, did you notice that Henry Krieger-Coble had 35 catches this year and is a projected 5-6th round draft choice in the draft. How about the fact that George Kittle's had an additional 20 receptions and is trending toward an NFL run in 2017 as well. Oh, and the sad part is Jake Duzey who was to be Iowa's #1 TE coming into this year after 36 catches in 2014, and who was a nearly a sure NFL prospect had 2 unfortunate knee injuries this year that sadly may end his football career. All this, and NO ONE even mentioned that Iowa is using their TEs more all of a sudden... because they ARE NOT.
The facts are there, but you probably knew them already and that is why you were smart enough, and gutsy enough to begin with to commit to the Hawks. Do you want to be an NFL TE... or do you want to be the talk of the town for a few months?
Personally, I want to see you at Iowa building into the NFL player you have the potential to become.
Yours truly,
TM54321