How would you grade the Gophers 2017 football recruiting class?

How would you grade the Gophers 2017 football recruiting class?

  • Elite

    Votes: 18 13.5%

  • A

    Votes: 6 4.5%

  • B

    Votes: 59 44.4%

  • C

    Votes: 43 32.3%

  • D

    Votes: 7 5.3%

  • F

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    133
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How would you grade the Gophers 2017 football recruiting class?
 

They all want to be here... that makes them elite.
 


Depends on what standard you are grading them on. If you are grading the job Fleck did in such a short amount of time it is probably a B. If you are grading it on how it stacks up on paper against the rest of the conference it is probably a C. If you are grading it on how good the players ACTUALLY are then there is no point voting because none of us really knows and won't for multiple years.
 

Considering where we were since Claeys was fired you have to be pleased but I'm not quite as excited as i thought I'd be two weeks ago.

Creamer, Layne Jackson all flipping
Smith Marsette flipping/decommitting
Not getting Armstrong
Not even getting visits out of Warren, Holsten, Bolds
Tyrone Chambers and Abojei not making it

I thought at least 6-7 of those 10 guys would be gophers and its disappointing to me that they are not. Oh well, your gonna sign some of your targets and you gonna miss out on some. Nobody gets every single guy they want.
 


die hard gopher said:
Considering where we were since Claeys was fired you have to be pleased but I'm not quite as excited as i thought I'd be two weeks ago.

Creamer, Layne Jackson all flipping
Smith Marsette flipping/decommitting
Not getting Armstrong
Not even getting visits out of Warren, Holsten, Bolds
Tyrone Chambers not making it

I thought at least 5-6 of those guys would be gophers and its disappointing to me that they are not. Oh well, your gonna sign some of your targets and you gonna miss out on some. Nobody gets every single guy they want.
Click to expand...

I feel about this same way. I think Fleck and Co did as much as we could realistically hope for. I think most of us were hoping for some unrealistic fireworks. I went with a B also but am extremely optimistic going forward. It seems like the staff is teaching into new areas and quickly building relationships with high school coaches. We got the holes filled with this class if the worst case scenario plays out with the EOAA mess. Although I'm pretty optimistic the last 5 of them will be available this year.
 

die hard gopher said:
Considering where we were since Claeys was fired you have to be pleased but I'm not quite as excited as i thought I'd be two weeks ago.

Creamer, Layne Jackson all flipping
Smith Marsette flipping/decommitting
Not getting Armstrong
Not even getting visits out of Warren, Holsten, Bolds
Tyrone Chambers not making it

I thought at least 5-6 of those guys would be gophers and its disappointing to me that they are not. Oh well, your gonna sign some of your targets and you gonna miss out on some. Nobody gets every single guy they want.
Click to expand...

This, Abojei appears to be gone also. Too many losses, I'll give a C.
 


This class ended up almost exactly where I thought it would. I'm sure there are some gems and a couple who will start this year as freshmen. Excited to see them develop over the next few years.
 



I gave a C. PJ didn't have much time but end of day it's still 12th in Big Ten
 

DLib said:
I gave a C. PJ didn't have much time but end of day it's still 12th in Big Ten
Click to expand...

That's kinda my approach.

He gets minor bonus points for short term work.... but really it's next NSD and the next NSD that will tell us something.
 

B. Good class with people wanting to be here. PJ clearly didn't have much time to put this together. I agree, a year from now we'll see how he does. Part of it will be how we do this fall.
 

C+

We lose some good players who decommitted.

Lost two guys through academics.

Weren't able to get Armstrong, Munson, and others.

Only 3-1/2 weeks to secure this class. This is a filler class with solid players, no 4 stars.
 



If we are grading on a curve, then B for admirably filling the class with average players. If we are grading on the goal of winning a Big Ten Title, then D. As this class won't get us closer than the last couple of classes. Hoping he can show his metal with a top 25 class next year and beyond.
 

I'm giving P.J the benefit of the doubt for this class. He did find good players to fill positions of need in only a month. 2018 will be the first true test of recruiting and seeing who they offered already I like what I see. Of course only time will tell.

B

Class of '17
 

B+... He actually recruited a freshmen DT. A novel concept when you play Iowa and Wisconsin once a year
 

As stated yesterday in my thread, the 2016 class was ranked higher at 46 under Claeys. Appears this class could end up near 60 with the fallouts, but what is funny is all the hype that this board and Scout kept putting out there every time we got a new commitment. I felt like it was spun that we were getting a 4 star recruit, but now reality has set in and its no better then in past years under Kill and Claeys. In fact it may be worse based on what 24/7 says when comparing years. These are not plug and play athletes, they will need time to develop and PJ admits he has never been and X/O guy. Also, if they have a subpar year next year, his national attention will start to decline and will be compared to the prior coaching regime like it or not and recruiting will not pick up.

So if the U is really committed to building a program and walking the walk, Coyle and his team of merry goons should take note and hope that next years class is better and wins start to follow.Otherwise by year three, PJ should be on the hot seat along with Coyle. These are minimum expectations based on the way the entire process has been sold to the public. You cant have standards for one coach and not have the same standards for the new one by year three.
 

Dontbeadumbamerican said:
As stated yesterday in my thread, the 2016 class was ranked higher at 46 under Claeys. Appears this class could end up near 60 with the fallouts, but what is funny is all the hype that this board and Scout kept putting out there every time we got a new commitment. I felt like it was spun that we were getting a 4 star recruit, but now reality has set in and its no better then in past years under Kill and Claeys. In fact it may be worse based on what 24/7 says when comparing years. These are not plug and play athletes, they will need time to develop and PJ admits he has never been and X/O guy. Also, if they have a subpar year next year, his national attention will start to decline and will be compared to the prior coaching regime like it or not and recruiting will not pick up.

So if the U is really committed to building a program and walking the walk, Coyle and his team of merry goons should take note and hope that next years class is better and wins start to follow.Otherwise by year three, PJ should be on the hot seat along with Coyle. These are minimum expectations based on the way the entire process has been sold to the public. You cant have standards for one coach and not have the same standards for the new one by year three.
Click to expand...

Would claeys class of broken the top 75?
 

I gave this class a B because he recruited talent at the positions I was worried the most about outside of DB - QB, WR, and DT.

Overall recruiting rankings DO matter over time, and this one still falls near the bottom of the B1G and slightly behind last year mainly due to not having a recruit the caliber of Coughlin.

However, if the Gophers want to compete at the highest level in the B1G, they are going to have to start beating out other P5 programs for recruits. This is where I'm most encouraged by what Fleck has done in such a short amount of time.

In 26 days since being introduced as head coach, Fleck landed 20 recruits not previously committed here and 16 of them had other P5 offers = 80%

In the 13 months that Claeys was head coach (November 2015 - December 2016), he was responsible for 12 commits last year and 14 verbal commits at the time he was fired (excluding Abojei - JUCO). Only 13 of those 26 had other P5 offers = 50%.
 


If this is a grade strictly for this recruiting class at this snap shot in time than it is a D. I do not think this is any way a reflection on PJ. I am basing this on the FACT that we are 6 out of 7 in our division. We want more like division titles and maybe even a conference title we need to be recruiting at least better compared to our rivals in the division.
 

Dontbeadumbamerican said:
As stated yesterday in my thread, the 2016 class was ranked higher at 46 under Claeys. Appears this class could end up near 60 with the fallouts, but what is funny is all the hype that this board and Scout kept putting out there every time we got a new commitment. I felt like it was spun that we were getting a 4 star recruit, but now reality has set in and its no better then in past years under Kill and Claeys. In fact it may be worse based on what 24/7 says when comparing years. These are not plug and play athletes, they will need time to develop and PJ admits he has never been and X/O guy. Also, if they have a subpar year next year, his national attention will start to decline and will be compared to the prior coaching regime like it or not and recruiting will not pick up.

So if the U is really committed to building a program and walking the walk, Coyle and his team of merry goons should take note and hope that next years class is better and wins start to follow.Otherwise by year three, PJ should be on the hot seat along with Coyle. These are minimum expectations based on the way the entire process has been sold to the public. You cant have standards for one coach and not have the same standards for the new one by year three.
Click to expand...

Ironically....you are what your name warns against
 

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Rivals 54 78 61 54 53 51 54
247 55 59 66 57 63 46 57
Scout 67 66 74 49 56 41 37

This class is better than any of Coach Kill's, and very close to Claeys last year. Very solid work by Fleck in less than a month. I give it a B.

In his one recruiting class, Claeys took a class ranked in the mid 20's over the summer and ended up 46th. There is no reason to assume his 74th ranked class in early January would have moved up to 57th.
 

Halsey Hall said:
Ironically....you are what your name warns against
Click to expand...

I disagree, its a post in regards having certain standards and if those standards are not met there should be consequences. In other words link it to an investment in an asset, its setting a bar for a certain return on the capital you are putting in the program. If you can not meet the return you shouldnt be a long term coach. That is basically what Coyle and Kaler did here, fired a coach, brought in a new coach and invested in him. At some point you need to see a return on your capital for the risk you are taking otherwise the investment is not sustainable. If you cant see a return in three years why did we invest?

Ironically, its people like you who are so emotionally biased that they struggle to make rational decisions and get sucked into the hype.
 

Odd how I used type of investment analogy responding to your comment as Kaler just did to the state senate. Maybe you should just listen to me instead of having biased views. The difference between Kaler and my comment is that I took it a step further and demand a return on the investment.
 

Dontbeadumbamerican said:
As stated yesterday in my thread, the 2016 class was ranked higher at 46 under Claeys. Appears this class could end up near 60 with the fallouts, but what is funny is all the hype that this board and Scout kept putting out there every time we got a new commitment. I felt like it was spun that we were getting a 4 star recruit, but now reality has set in and its no better then in past years under Kill and Claeys. In fact it may be worse based on what 24/7 says when comparing years. These are not plug and play athletes, they will need time to develop and PJ admits he has never been and X/O guy. Also, if they have a subpar year next year, his national attention will start to decline and will be compared to the prior coaching regime like it or not and recruiting will not pick up.

So if the U is really committed to building a program and walking the walk, Coyle and his team of merry goons should take note and hope that next years class is better and wins start to follow.Otherwise by year three, PJ should be on the hot seat along with Coyle. These are minimum expectations based on the way the entire process has been sold to the public. You cant have standards for one coach and not have the same standards for the new one by year three.
Click to expand...


Same as how Pitino's recruiting classes got worse each season corresponding with his worse season performances???



OH WAIT, Pitino's recruiting classes got BETTER, despite his corresponding teams performing worse!!!


And now in year 4, we see a ton of improvement from last year, and the team is dominated by younger players, so next year could be a banner season, if this year's team doesn't pull out a surprise finish.


Point is, Pitino got better and better recruits coming here despite the performances of his teams. Why? Maybe because he is a young coach with lots of promise and potential and the ability to sell his vision for the program???

Thing is, Fleck is also a young coach with lots of promise and potential, even more than Pitino had, as he's already succeeded at producing a 13-0 regular season, and my take is that he's a better salesman than Pitino. So I don't think next year's performance will have anything, ANYTHING to do with how well he recruits the 2018 class.

My guess is PJ is going to have a lot of these kids making early commitments, before the season even starts next fall.


And I'm not one of those who thinks he's inherited a program with lots of empty cupboards, so I'm confident he'll produce a bowl bound team, which will be plenty for him to pull in a top notch recruiting class, and maybe even a 10 win season?
 

Game-changing. PJ came in and did everything he said he was going to do and a little bit more. I'm so impressed that I am already starting to wonder if we can hold him past the 2018 season.
 

Dontbeadumbamerican said:
As stated yesterday in my thread, the 2016 class was ranked higher at 46 under Claeys. Appears this class could end up near 60 with the fallouts, but what is funny is all the hype that this board and Scout kept putting out there every time we got a new commitment. I felt like it was spun that we were getting a 4 star recruit, but now reality has set in and its no better then in past years under Kill and Claeys. In fact it may be worse based on what 24/7 says when comparing years. These are not plug and play athletes, they will need time to develop and PJ admits he has never been and X/O guy. Also, if they have a subpar year next year, his national attention will start to decline and will be compared to the prior coaching regime like it or not and recruiting will not pick up.

So if the U is really committed to building a program and walking the walk, Coyle and his team of merry goons should take note and hope that next years class is better and wins start to follow.Otherwise by year three, PJ should be on the hot seat along with Coyle. These are minimum expectations based on the way the entire process has been sold to the public. You cant have standards for one coach and not have the same standards for the new one by year three.
Click to expand...

Is Durkin losing the attention of the recruits that he is bringing in? Maryland has not been very good, but he is still bringing in great classes. If Fleck is able to sell the recruits on Minneapolis we will be in good shape. We are putting up a lot better results than a lot of other B1G teams, but i just don't think we've had that person who can sell Minnesota.
 

die hard gopher said:
Considering where we were since Claeys was fired you have to be pleased but I'm not quite as excited as i thought I'd be two weeks ago.

Creamer, Layne Jackson all flipping
Smith Marsette flipping/decommitting
Not getting Armstrong
Not even getting visits out of Warren, Holsten, Bolds
Tyrone Chambers and Abojei not making it

I thought at least 6-7 of those 10 guys would be gophers and its disappointing to me that they are not. Oh well, your gonna sign some of your targets and you gonna miss out on some. Nobody gets every single guy they want.
Click to expand...

Ditto with you and smash em.
 

Dontbeadumbamerican said:
As stated yesterday in my thread, the 2016 class was ranked higher at 46 under Claeys. Appears this class could end up near 60 with the fallouts, but what is funny is all the hype that this board and Scout kept putting out there every time we got a new commitment. I felt like it was spun that we were getting a 4 star recruit, but now reality has set in and its no better then in past years under Kill and Claeys. In fact it may be worse based on what 24/7 says when comparing years. These are not plug and play athletes, they will need time to develop and PJ admits he has never been and X/O guy. Also, if they have a subpar year next year, his national attention will start to decline and will be compared to the prior coaching regime like it or not and recruiting will not pick up.

So if the U is really committed to building a program and walking the walk, Coyle and his team of merry goons should take note and hope that next years class is better and wins start to follow.Otherwise by year three, PJ should be on the hot seat along with Coyle. These are minimum expectations based on the way the entire process has been sold to the public. You cant have standards for one coach and not have the same standards for the new one by year three.
Click to expand...

Well, this is the dumbest thing I read all day today.
 

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