??s for Recruiting Aficionados

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DL65

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Interested in your thoughts, thus far, about this year's recruiting class. If you're a number of stars person . . . shut down Minnesota's borders . . . filling Minnesota's position needs . . . high school versus juco players . . . where we stand in comparison to our rivals and B1G Conference recruiting class ratings . . . or a speed/athlete person, please weigh in with your assessment of the Gophers 2012 class of recruits.

Coach Kill said last Sunday on the Sports Huddle that they plan to sign 26 scholarship recruits and nine or ten preferred walk-ons. So there's a lot of recruiting left before signing day; however, only 2 or 3 scholarships to fill, unless, of course, there is additional shifting in the commitment list due to recruits looking elsewhere or offers being pulled.

In any case, are your recruiting expectations being fulfilled? Happy? Disappointed? Wait-and-see attitude? Ambivalent?

Go Gophers!!
 

Have we not been discussing this all week on other threads?
 

Happy with instate recruiting, Happy with the JUCO recruiting, wait and see with the rest. A large number of the recruits are program type guys. The offensive and defensive sytems have just being implemented this year so we haven't really seen the program.
 

Too soon to tell...we know that we did all right with the Jucos...looks like we got everything except a DT. IF Gillum and Freuchte are studs...this could be a game changer for the offense...and even if the 3 DBs are just decent...that gives us depth where we have none...so got to like what Kill and Co did here.

The rest of the class is in flux...Kill keeps saying that the recruiting boards are wrong on half the commits and we keep seeing kids lose offers for various reasons so I am inclined to think that Kill isn't BSing us. With that in mind...Kill is still chasing a bunch of second division (3 star) kids that would be huge gets for our team but maybe were secondary offers for the helmet schools and is chasing top kids that are at schools with coaching changes...wouldn't be surprised to see a couple of late commits from kids that area at the top of our list (3-4 star) and a couple more solid athletes at positions of need like DT and DE.
 

Judging by what has been happening in recent weeks I don't think we'll know until signing day what this class will be. I suspect there will be a number of surprises in the coming weeks. I like the JUCO class.
 


I like the class, and I like the athleticism they are bringing in. We need two good receivers, Harbison (or good replacement e.g. Miller) and another (Gregory, Joyner, etc. would be great). If we get two good receivers and one more good DT, and keep the rest of the guys we have, I will be happy with this group. I would be really happy with either of the Alabama kids, Lawrence looks like a real athlete who could play multiple positions.
Plsek and Keith could really be TCU kind of sleepers.
We got the O-linemen in state that I wanted, and I like both Nelson and Leidner a lot as athletes and QBs.
The JUCOs look fine other than no DT, so all in all I like the group, but I think there will be changes, hopefully for the better. I really do not want to lose either of the NC kids, either Davis or Harbison.
The amount of talent from NC to Texas is just amazing.
My only big disappointment is McDonald because he could walk in and play next fall, but it is his choice and the staff will find players.
 

Merry Christmas to you too Parski. sheeesh.
 

I like the balance in recruiting. Hope these kids are not academically challenged.
 

I don't follow as closely as many, but the thing that has stuck out to me is that Kill has been aggressive and impressive in his approach and I believe the results will come. He did a nice job in-state, has really worked a few parts of the country (especially the Deep South) that we haven't worked since Murray Warmath, and appears to be well connected with JUCO ball.

What impresses me most is that he has a system that is not going to either aimlessly chase star-ratings or "catch as catch can." It also looks like he has impressed the academic types enough to allow himself to take a couple of kids who may be on the cusp academically.
 



This class of recruits, along with the retuning players will win 3 or 4 ooc games and 2 or 3 Big Ten games. So, I would say that they are pretty average and it is all going to depend on coaching, coaching and MORE coaching...with some game planning AND hopefully, the ball will bounce right. IF there are injuries to key upper class veterans, some of these youngsters may have to play before they are ready. That would not be good for the Big Ten record, for the young recruits or for Golden Gopher Football in the 2012 season. That is just a given and a fact of life...

So, I'd say that this years recruits are about average for Gopher recruits and MUCH is going to depend upon the older kids staying healthy so that these young, raw, inexperienced recruits can have a chance to learn the ropes and grow up a little bit.

I'd say that NO ONE on this board has a clue how this year's recruiting class is going to turn out and you are totally kidding yourself if you think you do...It's pretty much the way it always is concerning the high school fantasy recruiting story here on a Golden Gopher Football Discussion Board. A lot of hot air and a lot of people over-inflating the potential impact of these young fantasy high school football recruits and the entire process. Message boards over-hype fantasy high school football recruiting and the individuals who hype the most and think they know the most about the "can't miss potential..." of these young kids will once again be telling us what great things these youngster are going to do in the Big Ten Conference. In 3 or 4 years we will have a better idea...right now, it is absurd to even hazard a guess about how these recruits will do on the football field, in the class-room and on the college campus.

They need to show up, be coached, have fantastic work-ethics and then we can all just sit back and wait to watch to see if and when they make the playing field on Game Day Saturdays in October or November to see IF they will have much impact on Golden Gopher Football.

I wish them ALL well and hope that some of them will go on to greatness playing for Coach Kill and the Gophers! BUT, fantasy high school recruiting hype doesn't mean diddly as far as I can see. Show me with Big Ten Football WINS...not just gossip about fantasy high school football recruits. When we start seeing MORE Big Ten Football Wins we will KNOW that the coaches are coaching better and that the coaches are recruiting players that they can coach...Talk is too cheap to have credibility when it comes to high school fantasy football recruiting gossip and chatter...

; 0 )
 

No sh*t, Einstein. This whole discussion is speculation. No one thinks it's a scientific discussion about the facts of a signing class we haven't signed yet. It's like guys talking about Scarlet Johansson. The fact they really don't know her doesn't mean they shouldn't talk about her.
 

ncgo4 said:
No sh*t, Einstein. This whole discussion is speculation. No one thinks it's a scientific discussion about the facts of a signing class we haven't signed yet. It's like guys talking about Scarlet Johansson. The fact they really don't know her doesn't mean they shouldn't talk about her.
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Pretty much totally agreed. No one is making Walrus read anything on here; tuning out is always an option for those who think there is a problem with these discussions. He might as well tune out and check back in after the first game next fall if people's opinions are of no interst to him.
In the words of Denny Green. "the great thing about America is that every one can have their own opinion, and the other great thing about America is that you don't have to listen to them."
A really brilliant piece of philosophy available to all of us.
 




corcoran1 said:
Pretty much totally agreed. No one is making Walrus read anything on here; tuning out is always an option for those who think there is a problem with these discussions. He might as well tune out and check back in after the first game next fall if people's opinions are of no interst to him.
In the words of Denny Green. "the great thing about America is that every one can have their own opinion, and the other great thing about America is that you don't have to listen to them."
A really brilliant piece of philosophy available to all of us.
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So WHY should you be so bothered by an opinion about the recruiting class and the relevence of people's opinion about such gossip and speculation?

The problem is that some people start believing some of these recruits are far superior to players we actually have returning and they then start trashing the kids who are coming back and have experience and they start calling youngsters who haven't even played a down of Big Ten Football something "special..." This has ESPECIALLY been true about the qb position. Some of the recruitnicks are such mean-spirited people that they start mountng campaigns against the returning players. We have certainly seen that happen around here all too often over the years...

I am of the opinion that any raw rookie fantasy high school recruit has got a LOT to learn and kissing some untested possible recruits behind and starting to trash a returning player really shows a lot of low-classed internet behavior.

I'm of the opinion that some fatasy high school recruiting rankings are over-hyped and that NO possible recruit or potential player should be hailed as the "second coming" until that kid has gone out there and EARNED any kind of praise by doing something worthwhile against Big Ten Competition and has done something to help win MORE Big Ten Football Games for the Gophers.

And you people get upset about an opinion that presents a different point of view from your own? What kind of dudes and dudettes are you people? Well, these kinds of threads need some contrasting opinions...or do you think everyone has to "fall in line" and march to the beat that your little company line drummer dude or dudette tries to pound home...

; 0 )
 

I'm very pleased with recruiting thus far. I think he did a good job in Minnesota and the JUCO ranks. Bringing in all the DB's appears to have balanced a problem area. The cupboard was never bare, but unbalanced. I still believe we're going to see some pleasant surprises. The two areas I'm concerned with, DT and WR, are receiving alot of attention.
 

imthewalrus said:
Blah, blah, blah
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pAFxD.gif
 

I always enjoy reading Wren's thinly-veiled defenses of Adam Weber and/or Glen Mason (this time, the former). Gotta love it. At this point, you have to believe there is literally nothing he could say to get kicked off this board, so I guess we all have to learn to live with him. Awesome.
 

Are you saying dpodoll.....

dpodoll68 said:
I always enjoy reading Wren's thinly-veiled defenses of Adam Weber and/or Glen Mason (this time, the former). Gotta love it. At this point, you have to believe there is literally nothing he could say to get kicked off this board, so I guess we all have to learn to live with him. Awesome.
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.....that wren is the town drunk or idiot? I guess every town and blog has one.
 

dpodoll68 said:
I always enjoy reading Wren's thinly-veiled defenses of Adam Weber and/or Glen Mason (this time, the former). Gotta love it. At this point, you have to believe there is literally nothing he could say to get kicked off this board, so I guess we all have to learn to live with him. Awesome.
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I, too, love his responses. Why use 12 words when you can use 5 full paragraphs? Good for you for actually reading the full posts. I just check for the length, have a chuckle, and move on to someone coherent.
 

dpodoll68 said:
I always enjoy reading Wren's thinly-veiled defenses of Adam Weber and/or Glen Mason (this time, the former). Gotta love it. At this point, you have to believe there is literally nothing he could say to get kicked off this board, so I guess we all have to learn to live with him. Awesome.
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He should go out of his way to defend lakesbison, or kill puppies, the social equivelent...
 

highwayman said:
He should go out of his way to defend lakesbison, or kill puppies, the social equivelent...
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lakesbison will never kill puppies. He has more fun pissing people off, and some of you are gullible enough to let him. :banghead:
 

Unregistered User said:
pAFxD.gif
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Remember, friends, (...and I DO consider you to be a very good friend and fellow Golden Gopher Football Team fan, unregistered user. There is NO time like the present to make your contribution to GOPHERHOLE!) I think I will just take the liberty of referring to you as "unregistered" from this point forward in any of our conversations, my good friend unregistered user... ; 0 )

Every time I log on to this site, it is always so fun to check the contribution list to see if it has grown. There is NO better way for you to insure that this site will be the one place where you can state your heart-felt beliefs about Golden Gopher Football and Gopher sports. GOPHERHOLE is the BEST place to state your opinions, have friendly discussions, lively debates and to receive helpful and constructive feed-back!

People here are so open to discussion of differing points of view about various topics concerning University of Minnesota Golden Gopher Football. It's a real pleasure to know that all considerations about Gopher Football can be debated and discussed right here on this site!

So, make sure that you make a contribution to insure that the costs of this site can be shared by all who use this site. We should never just take for granted that someone else will help do his/her fair share!

Have a wonderful remainder of the Holiday my good friends and fellow Golden Gopher Football and other Gopher Sports Fans!

Have a wonderful day too, unregistered... Keep up the "in-depth" insight into the wonderful world of being a Golden Gopher Football Fan!

; 0 )
 

So getting back to the initial question.... I think the recruting situation is still very fluid and we're going to end up surprised with a few developments. The JUCO commits addressed positions of need (3 DBs, 1WR, 1 RB) but it would have been nice to also added a DT. I honestly believe Gillum and 1-2 of the DB's will be starting at UNLV which would be a coup.

As for the high school recruits, it seems that the offensive recruits look very good and the defense is a huge unknown. To have 2QBs (Nelson, Leidner) and R Gregory in the mix this late is as good as anyone could expect. To land Pirsig and Hayes on the O-line w/ the chance of landing a 3rd national recruit (someone like O'Connor), I don't know if we've ever had better recruits on the line? Harbison is a very nice WR pick-up and Fruechte seems like he can play as well, but the key is holding onto Harbison and adding a 3rd receiver IMO, someone like Gregory who could eventually play WR would fit the bill. At TE, Williams seems like the type of kid who could play early but we missed out on Johnson. I would argue with anyone that on paper, it seems like the offensive recruits are among the best we've had in a long time, and if we would have gotten Johnson and McDonald, could have been the best ever.

As for defense, it's hard to say. I think this is the side of the ball where a lot of guys are more unknowns to us and might not have gotten the recruiting attention/offers that the offensive players did.
 

Wren may be long-winded, but I have to admit he does have a point. People think they know something about these recruits, but really, what do we know? We read articles on the internet - watch youtube videos - and form an opinion about whether a bunch of 18-year olds will be able to play Big 10 football.

The only Gopher recruit I've seen play was Jonah Pirsig, and that was against a 1-win team with a small line, so it's hard to evaluate how good he really can be, until we see him go up against kids with similar size and strength.

A coach I know at MSU-Mankato has seen Phillip Nelson a lot, and says he's the real deal - but even that coach has questions about Nelson as a D1 QB. (Thinks he'd be a star at D2.)

Nobody knew anything about Eslinger, Setterstrom or Decker, and they turned out to be excellent Big 10 players. Marion Barber was the last player to receive a scholarship in his recruiting year and he turned out to be much better than many more highly-regarded recruits.

Yes, the star system has some merit in determining the relative ability of a player - but there's no system that can look into a kid's heart - his character - his willingness to play through pain - his ability to take coaching and follow instructions.

Bottom line - recruiting is a leap of faith. We have to believe that Kill and his staff have a plan - that they know what type of kid fits that plan - and that they can convince the kids they need to come to the U. As to whether the new recruits can actually play - well, we won't know that for 2-3 years in some cases.

I admit I'm still feeling a little burned from the Brewster era of all hype and no substance. I want to see these recruits play for myself, and make up my own opinion.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Wren may be long-winded, but I have to admit he does have a point. People think they know something about these recruits, but really, what do we know? We read articles on the internet - watch youtube videos - and form an opinion about whether a bunch of 18-year olds will be able to play Big 10 football.
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I would agree with this statement in general, but that is not how my little pet wren views it.

The statements made before wren drove the train off the tracks were these:

"Happy with instate recruiting, Happy with the JUCO recruiting, wait and see with the rest."
"Too soon to tell..."
"...I don't think we'll know until signing day what this class will be."
"I like the class, and I like the athleticism they are bringing in."
"I like the balance in recruiting."
"...Kill has been aggressive and impressive in his approach and I believe the results will come."

I see that as guarded optimism, and the hope that continued hard work will result in even better recruiting classes in the future. It is at this point that my little pet wren chimes in with "I'd say that NO ONE on this board has a clue how this year's recruiting class is going to turn out and you are totally kidding yourself if you think you do..."

No one even approached that type of statement, but wren just can't get out of his own way, start his agenda, and endlessly prattle on about nothing.
 

John Galt said:
So getting back to the initial question.... I think the recruting situation is still very fluid and we're going to end up surprised with a few developments. The JUCO commits addressed positions of need (3 DBs, 1WR, 1 RB) but it would have been nice to also added a DT. I honestly believe Gillum and 1-2 of the DB's will be starting at UNLV which would be a coup.
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Gillum starting would be a very nice surprise however I think we are all banking on at least one of these Juco DB's being ready to play from day one and hopefully more then one to address a serious lack of depth/talent in our defensive secondary.

As it has been pointed out by others we really have no clue what to expect out of the class. We know Kill is not bringing in a lot of guys with high rankings on the recruiting sites or massive offer lists however that doesn't mean he is not bringing in quality football players.

By the time 2013 rolls around we should have a decent feel for the players Kill is bringing in and if they can cut it at this level but even then will be a little early because the majority of them will be true juniors or younger.

Prior to the 2014 season if we are all sitting here pointing out all the holes in the roster and complaining about a lack of depth/talent the we will know Kill wasn't able to get the job done on the recruiting front.

But that is a long time to wait in a society that is currently running cell phone ads that show people bragging about knowing something 20 seconds prior to someone else.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Wren may be long-winded, but I have to admit he does have a point. People think they know something about these recruits, but really, what do we know? We read articles on the internet - watch youtube videos - and form an opinion about whether a bunch of 18-year olds will be able to play Big 10 football.

The only Gopher recruit I've seen play was Jonah Pirsig, and that was against a 1-win team with a small line, so it's hard to evaluate how good he really can be, until we see him go up against kids with similar size and strength.

A coach I know at MSU-Mankato has seen Phillip Nelson a lot, and says he's the real deal - but even that coach has questions about Nelson as a D1 QB. (Thinks he'd be a star at D2.)

Nobody knew anything about Eslinger, Setterstrom or Decker, and they turned out to be excellent Big 10 players. Marion Barber was the last player to receive a scholarship in his recruiting year and he turned out to be much better than many more highly-regarded recruits.

Yes, the star system has some merit in determining the relative ability of a player - but there's no system that can look into a kid's heart - his character - his willingness to play through pain - his ability to take coaching and follow instructions.

Bottom line - recruiting is a leap of faith. We have to believe that Kill and his staff have a plan - that they know what type of kid fits that plan - and that they can convince the kids they need to come to the U. As to whether the new recruits can actually play - well, we won't know that for 2-3 years in some cases.

I admit I'm still feeling a little burned from the Brewster era of all hype and no substance. I want to see these recruits play for myself, and make up my own opinion.
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You don't have to read these posts and neither does "I am the walrus-aka wren", you don't have to agree with anyone here, and as for knowing what will happen, no one will for three years. the post was for people's opinions, not proven facts about this recruiting class.
 

It is called babble and....

Unregistered User said:
It is at this point that my little pet wren chimes in with "I'd say that NO ONE on this board has a clue how this year's recruiting class is going to turn out and you are totally kidding yourself if you think you do..."

No one even approached that type of statement, but wren just can't get out of his own way, start his agenda, and endlessly prattle on about nothing.
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….inconsistency. He tells us how we should treat Mason and Weber but then goes off on babbling tirades if others don’t agree with his agenda. He is a pure unadulterated wacko who doesn’t have a clue about his own behavior.
 

One thing I like about the recruiting is that it's easy to see the coaches direction. The defenive backfield has been a problem, they are addressing it, by not only getting JUCO recruits to address the need now, they're getting HS recruits to develop and keep it going. RB lots of small developmental backs on team but no experience and no big back. The recruiting results one JUCO signed for experience and a commit from a big back. In every area of need, you can see it being addressed, in recruiting. No one knows if the recruits we have, are the answer, but no one can fault the vision.
 

ncgo4 said:
No sh*t, Einstein. This whole discussion is speculation. No one thinks it's a scientific discussion about the facts of a signing class we haven't signed yet. It's like guys talking about Scarlet Johansson. The fact they really don't know her doesn't mean they shouldn't talk about her.
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Well said...
 

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