December 31, 2004

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Maverick

Maverick

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The Gophers defeated Alabama 20-16 in the Music City Bowl.

Fast forward to 2008...

Alabama sits at the top, ranked number one in college football...

Today's Alabam team would have some 5th year seniors on it that would have been on the team at the Music City Bowl in 2004. It's unlikely that they would have seen aciton in that game unless they red-shirted their soph or junior year, but I was wondering if anybody knows if any of the current Alabama team actually would have seen the field against the Gophers in 2004.

Second question, where were Alabama's recruiting classes ranked for 2004-2008?

Thanks
 

Class Rankings

Maverick said:
The Gophers defeated Alabama 20-16 in the Music City Bowl.

Fast forward to 2008...

Alabama sits at the top, ranked number one in college football...

Today's Alabam team would have some 5th year seniors on it that would have been on the team at the Music City Bowl in 2004. It's unlikely that they would have seen aciton in that game unless they red-shirted their soph or junior year, but I was wondering if anybody knows if any of the current Alabama team actually would have seen the field against the Gophers in 2004.

Second question, where were Alabama's recruiting classes ranked for 2004-2008?

Thanks
Click to expand...

It is doubtful that any player saw action in the 2004 game and is still playing today. The only plausible way would be for someone to have a medical redshirt in one of the following 3 years. On most teams there are not very many true freshman that see action and not many players on any team in any given year have medical redshirts (it requires a season ending injury in the offseason or first 3 weeks of the season) so to expect both to happen to one player has a low probability.

Class Rankings (Rivals)
2004: 15
2005: 18
2006: 11
2007: 10
2008: 1
 

According to Rivals.com:

2004: 15th
2005: 18th
2006: 11th
2007: 10th
2008: 1st

So, in other words, they're stacked.
 

I allways find it funny when people say recruiting rankings don't matter. "The important thing is identifying talent". Well that is what the recruiting sites are attempting to do by giving out rankings and stars.
 

Thanks, that helps a lot How about the five years prior to 2004?

MinnMarchDTF said:
According to Rivals.com:

2004: 15th
2005: 18th
2006: 11th
2007: 10th
2008: 1st

So, in other words, they're stacked.
Click to expand...



1999-2003?
 


Rivals only goes from 2002

2002: 30th
2003: 49th

So obviously they picked it up after 2003.
 

Recruiting rankings don't mean as much if you're drilling down to one individual player, but in the big picture, like in Alabama's case their classes over 5 years, they're much more meaningful.

For Gopher fans, all we have to hope for is about 3-4 more classes in a row like the one we had last year! That is what it will take to make us a top 15 program.
 

That's exactly where I was heading

gopher7 said:
Recruiting rankings don't mean as much if you're drilling down to one individual player, but in the big picture, like in Alabama's case their classes over 5 years, they're much more meaningful.

For Gopher fans, all we have to hope for is about 3-4 more classes in a row like the one we had last year! That is what it will take to make us a top 15 program.
Click to expand...


If you look at a team like Alabama that went from a bowl loss to Minnesota to where it is today, recruiting stands out as having a major impact.

Alabama also hired a new coach in january of 2007, so like Brewster, his first class wasn't really his. He really has one class under his belt, so you can say that his predesessor left him a nice cupboard full of recruits....unlike Mason. This isn't about Mason though, its about what top recruiting classes over time will help a program accomplish.

Once those recruits are there, what the coaching staff can do with them is another thing. Compare Alabama's last five classes to Notre Dame's for instance. Saban has done a great job of getting top performance out of his players. Weiss on the other hand has not. I bet his classes rank right up there too....

Time will tell if Brewster can get championship performance out of his team, but at least if he continues to recruit the way he has so far, part of the equation is solved!
 

Our recent recruiting has shown great improvement over previous years, but I would not say that part of the equation is solved. We have yet to see a top 15 class, which is what we will need to do on a consistent basis if we want to consistently challenge for Big Ten Championships (and in so doing National Championships).
 



None of the current Alabama seniors played in that game. Alabama has 9 scholarship seniors, which is tied with Middle Tennessee State for the fewest in Division 1.

I agree with the previous poster who mentioned Saban getting better performance out of his players. Several key players this year are Saban recruits, but the offensive and defensive lines, which are the strength of the team, are almost all Mike Shula recruits.
 

for what its worth

Yes they are #1 which is really an objective thing. If they don't loose to Florida, they will get rocked big time by the #2 team. USC is by far the best team in America. Its too bad they pooched it and came up in the Rosebowl...again.
 

USC

gopherjay said:
Yes they are #1 which is really an objective thing. If they don't loose to Florida, they will get rocked big time by the #2 team. USC is by far the best team in America. Its too bad they pooched it and came up in the Rosebowl...again.
Click to expand...

Is it really too bad? Because it doesn't bother me at all.
 

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