Funny to read all this.. I knew this was going to happen, and said as much when MR was hired... Riley should have turned over the roster quickly, brought in a few jucos, transfers what have you, to implement his system right away.
What he did, was try to placate the fanbase, attempt to run the ball that first year, and started recruiting for the long term two year reboot we find ourselves at today. I don't think you can fault Riley for running his system though, because the decision to change the identity of the offense, was made by Eichorst when he hired Riley. They knew then, that the players were recruited to a different philosophy. Yes Eichorst (and this board) in the fall of 2014 felt we had enough talent to win right away. There was a lot of consensus on that, if Riley used the players strengths.
Although he did try, the results weren't that great in 2015. They tried to improve last year, but on the passing front using prior gen players, and for awhile, it worked ok, until people got injured. I still feel they didn't give the running game enough attention last year, and once guys were injured, we could not go back to running the ball again, because it was dependent on the pass.
So what happens late last year? Eichorst blames the talent level, which was a surprise because the real linchpin was injuries and no depth because about half the team was redshirting for the 2017 reboot. Furthermore, the defense is now changed by hiring Diaco, which I hope comes together quickly and doesn't push defensive success further down the recruiting cycle.
At any rate, the length of time before Nebraska is really able and ready to compete with Jr & Sr level, experienced depth developed for Riley's system is still a ways off. We should be thankful for him getting Tanner Lee in, this is one transfer that could make a difference. (pls don't start the heisman talk) but two years in, this is still a major point of frustration because it's like starting over again. It is almost perceived as if there was no real plan to begin with. The defensive changes made already, it's a bit like moving goal posts, and doesn't correlate to the slow steady approach Riley has obviously taken.
We do see other coaches come in and have success pretty quickly, although I am not sure how many of those examples have had identity changes as well. Maybe someone can look into that, but my frustration is that the AD was responsible for the identity change, directly or indirectly knew it was the slow implementation type, then gave conflicting information over the years as he moved the goal posts to cover the fan angst.
If you're going to take a slow methodical approach to doing something, those plans have to be revisited to remind everyone of the plan, not revised every couple of years, because then you really aren't operating on a long term plan at all.
In many ways, I wish they would just start playing Gebbia now.
) isn't roster turnover, it's honoring the scholarships. Remember, "Neraska has a very good reputation" and "parents of recruits listen to others"...