http://www.huskiewire.com/articles/2014/.../index.xml

Greg Barksdale, LB: Three-star prospect saw the field as a true freshman at NIU. Spent one season in DeKalb before transferring to FCS Tennessee State, where he had 48 tackles this past season.

Interesting, when you look at that class as seniors next year (w/o Jimmy) it won't look as strong. Decent, but not amazing.

Man, I was so excited about those LBs in that class, sigh...

(02-06-2014 10:21 PM)NIUslumo Wrote:  Man, I was so excited about those LBs in that class, sigh...

Yep, I remember I was too. I think people were saying Bass would be the odd man out and probably move to safety.

But when you look at it, we got 2 really good players out of that LB group, Bass and Stingily, it's not THAT terrible.

Durante - offer from Illinios. That explains everything.

It was a pretty darn good class, IMO.

Ward was obviously the best player by a wide margin. But guys like Windsor and other were no slouches.

Joe Windsor was all conference as a junior
Akeem has been extremely valuable
While Stingily didn't work at LB, he's not a slouch at RB
Durante has made some big plays and has been all-conference
Bass has been 1st team all-conference and 2nd team all-conference
Santa has been an every down player
Hopkins was the feature back in 2011 and all-conference
Loos has been all-conference twice
Da'Ron Brown really stepped up this year
Sims made some big kicks early in his career
Stone was a good player for 2 years
Eakes has been a really good player

I look at that class and think that's how you put a really good team together. A couple MAC standouts and a bunch of really solid players. A lot of them have been core players on the recent run of success.

(02-07-2014 10:01 AM)HuskieJWN Wrote:  It was a pretty darn good class, IMO.

Ward was obviously the best player by a wide margin. But guys like Windsor and other were no slouches.

Joe Windsor was all conference as a junior
Akeem has been extremely valuable
While Stingily didn't work at LB, he's not a slouch at RB
Durante has made some big plays and has been all-conference
Bass has been 1st team all-conference and 2nd team all-conference
Santa has been an every down player
Hopkins was the feature back in 2011 and all-conference
Loos has been all-conference twice
Da'Ron Brown really stepped up this year
Sims made some big kicks early in his career
Stone was a good player for 2 years
Eakes has been a really good player

I look at that class and think that's how you put a really good team together. A couple MAC standouts and a bunch of really solid players. A lot of them have been core players on the recent run of success.

If you can get 2 or 3 difference makers on each side of the ball and the rest just good football players, I think thats toe formula for sustained success

Wait a second.... you're telling me Barksdale transferred?

If I had to pick between Kill's 2 best classes, I'd take '09. Granted '10 was good, but '09 had Lynch, Martel, and a bunch of other quality players that contributed a lot.

(02-07-2014 11:36 AM)BarsemaBone2 Wrote:  If I had to pick between Kill's 2 best classes, I'd take '09. Granted '10 was good, but '09 had Lynch, Martel, and a bunch of other quality players that contributed a lot.

They didn't redshirt at lot of guys from the 2009 class.
Redshirts were:
Lynch, obviously a smart move
Ware, he needed to progress
Volk, O-Line almost always redshirts
Krempel, same as Volk
Anderson, never panned out
Wells, was smart to redshirt
Evans, got the injury bug but played well when he played
Johnson, Kirkland, and the others that redshirted left the program.

Immediate contributors were Martel, Ashford, Baxter, Jefferson, Wilber, Clark, Butler, etc. That was a good class, and their immediate play definitely helped them down the road.

(02-07-2014 11:30 AM)DiehardHuskie Wrote:  Wait a second.... you're telling me Barksdale transferred?

Unfortunately, yes, that it the case. But...you WILL get over it! It may take 2 or 3 years, but the day will come when dear Greg will a distant memory. In the meantime, I suggest prayer and psychiatric counseling to help you get over the pain.