Pelini: Recruiting is a 'two-way street'
By Brian Christopherson / Lincoln Journal Star
There’s this term used in recruiting circles. Soft commitment. It more or less means a player is committed to a certain school ... kind of, sort of, maybe, don’t bet your Toyota Corolla on it.
Someone asked Husker coach Bo Pelini after Saturday’s practice his thoughts on that term: soft commit.
“There’s not a lot of soft in my world,” Pelini said, laughing. “It’s like, ‘OK, I’m going to go on a date the night before I walk down the aisle.’ It doesn’t make a lot of sense. I don’t play that game at all.”
So it seems.
While it’s been described that quarterback Tyler Gabbert and wide receiver Curtis Carter recently “decommitted” from Nebraska, both cases seem to be examples of a mutual split between two parties.
Speaking candidly about his recruiting philosophy, Pelini made it clear that he isn’t interested in holding someone on a “commitment” list who still wants to check out other schools — something that seems to have been a factor in both the situations of Carter and Gabbert, who committed to Missouri within a week after parting ways with NU.
“If somebody’s committed to us and they take a visit, they’re not committed,” said Pelini, speaking in general terms. “It’s a two-way street.”
Pelini said it’s important to communicate well with players up-front. “If somebody tells me, ‘Well, I still want to take visits,’ I say, ‘Then don’t commit (yet). Let’s not go down this road.’ It’s as simple as that.”
Pelini said he perhaps has a different philosophy than many coaches.
“I don’t sit there and try to pressure a lot of guys and get them into my office and try to get them to commit,” he said. “They’re 17- or 18-year-old-kids. If you get them to do that, then all of sudden they’re like, ‘Oh, I did it because I felt like I was pressured into doing it.’ And that’s when you have problems.
“I don’t take that approach. I try to be on the same page. I try to communicate well and let them know that the ball is in their court. If you feel you’re ready, commit. If you don’t, don’t. It’s worked well for me in the past. It keeps everybody on the same page from start to finish. I’m not going to try and trick them into committing, because that’s when you end up having problems in the process.”
