Top 50 Players in the Big Ten (Mortelll #50, Boddy-Calhoun #27)

per the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Mortell #50:

• How he got here: A native of Green Bay, Wis., Mortell played at Notre Dame Academy and signed with Minnesota as a preferred walkon in the Class of 2011 before redshirting his first season in Minneapolis. He was part of the first class coach Jerry Kill signed soon after he was hired by the Gophers. Mortell was ranked as the No. 8 punting prospect in the nation by Kohl's Professional Kicking and Punting Camps and was a first-team All-State choice in Wisconsin.

• What's ahead: Mortell wasn't one of the 10 semifinalists for the Ray Guy Award as the nation's best punter, while Ohio State' Cameron Johnston was. So Mortell will have continued competition in the battle to be the Big Ten's best punter, and Johnston, with his ability to drop punts inside the 20, makes a compelling case.

Boddy-Calhoun #27:

• How he got here: A high school quarterback in Delaware at Delcastle Tech, Boddy-Calhoun was lightly recruited and wound up at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas for a year. There, the Gophers, with coach Jerry Kill and his staff having some experience recruiting junior college players from that conference, found him after one season. One of Boddy-Calhoun's Coffeyville coaches told gopherhole.com that if he had returned for a second season at Coffeyville, "he probably would have gone to the SEC."

• What's ahead: Boddy-Calhoun and Murray may be the best corner tandem in the Big Ten, and the Gophers could start four seniors in the secondary and line up one of the better defensive backfields in the nation. Minnesota will try to build on consecutive 8-5 seasons behind that defense. (Boddy-Calhoun helped save one of those wins with a strip against Nebraska that prevented a go-ahead touchdown in the final two minutes.)

http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2015/06/the_top_50_big_ten_football_pl_15.html

Go Gophers!!

Only two players on this list and one is a punter. For a team that is projected to contend for the west division, that's plain crazy.

Wouldn't put much stock in these ratings. Jake Rudock at 28 is a joke. Was going to be 2nd team at Iowa before he transferred. ML7 is better than him.

Go gophers

No. 25, Eric Murray, Minnesota cornerback

• How he got here: A two-star recruit from Wisconsin, Murray was ranked as the No. 7 prospect in his state in the Class of 2012 by 247sports.com. Primarily a receiver in high school, Murray earned an offer with a strong showing while a raw corner at a Minnesota camp. He had all the tools and thought he was an under-the-radar recruit out of Milwaukee.

"If Eric Murray committed to Minnesota, and then got offered by Georgia, he would have gotten another star or two," Minnesota defensive back coach Jay Sawvel told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "And it wouldn't have been because he changed as a player. It would have been because somebody else said he was pretty good, too. That's why you make your own evaluation."

• What's ahead: Sawvel told ESPN.com that if Murray has three or four interceptions this season, "he'll probably be a first-round pick, provided he does the other stuff the way that he does. We have talked about it, and I look at it this way, he just needs to get better at finishing some things."

The Gophers should have four seniors in the secondary as the strength of the team. When the season is over, and as the players move on as pros, Murray should prove to be the best of them.

http://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2015/07/the_top_50_big_ten_football_pl_17.html

Go Gophers!!