1) The Hokies seem to be struggling to find a RB like Khalil Herbert out of high school. Did Kansas just get lucky with him (and the Hokies with his transfer) and he ‘developed’? The running back by committee approach, to me, is an admission that we just don’t have the right guy… thoughts? – TomA

Chris Coleman: Herbert picked Kansas over FIU, Appalachian State, Fordham and Georgia State.  He was ranked the No. 179 player in the state of Florida, and he never rushed for 1,000 yards in high school.  If Kansas had a history of finding diamonds in the rough and developing them into good players, then I’d say it wasn’t luck.  But to be honest, there was probably plenty of luck involved. 

Recruiting past a certain level comes down to a lot of luck.  Some staffs are better at evaluating than others, but in essence everybody is throwing spaghetti against the wall just to see if it sticks.  Looking back at Herbert’s high school film, I think it’s good, but why did he only get 118 carries on the season?  That I don’t know.  Was he injured?  Was he splitting time with other good backs?  Just based on film alone, I’d say he was good enough to offer, but I’d certainly want to know why he didn’t have more carries.  Perhaps that’s why he slipped through the cracks.

You have to give Kansas credit.  But at the same time, maybe they just took a flier on a no-name running back from Florida whom they knew little about.  Either way, any time you sign somebody outside the top 2,000 who turns into an NFL player, yeah, there’s probably some luck involved.

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