What grade would you give the Gophers Class of 2018 Recruiting Class?

What grade would you give the Gophers Class of 2018 Recruiting Class?

  • A

    Votes: 104 59.1%

  • B

    Votes: 65 36.9%

  • C

    Votes: 6 3.4%

  • D

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • F

    Votes: 1 0.6%
  • Total voters
    176
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rugger14 said:
Ok. Some don't put any stock in recruiting rankings and would rather wait to see how it pans out. Others see it as a game within the game and love to follow it. Nobody is wrong here.
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There is wrongness, though.

It's wrong to pretend that the ratings & rankings have any meaning beyond entertainment. Some here try to pretend that "winning" college fantasy football is as legitimate as winning actual games.
 

MnplsGopher said:
There is wrongness, though.

It's wrong to pretend that the ratings & rankings have any meaning beyond entertainment. Some here try to pretend that "winning" college fantasy football is as legitimate as winning actual games.
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I haven't seen much on here to show me that anyone thinks it is as legitimate as winning football games. Recruiting is the life-blood of a program. Better players means a higher likelihood of having a better team. I get it, coaches can still screw this up and lose with more talent and the recruiting rankings aren't perfect. How is it WRONG to be excited about a highly rated recruiting class? It is not wrong. It is part of college football. It is not wrong for you to be skeptical about recruiting rankings either. Drive on with your bad self.

Have a Merry Christmas! Are we allowed to be excited about presents even though they are wrapped and we aren't sure what is inside? Or is that wrong too?

Sent from my LG-H820 using Tapatalk
 

rugger14 said:
I haven't seen much on here to show me that anyone thinks it is as legitimate as winning football games. Recruiting is the life-blood of a program. Better players means a higher likelihood of having a better team. I get it, coaches can still screw this up and lose with more talent and the recruiting rankings aren't perfect. How is it WRONG to be excited about a highly rated recruiting class? It is not wrong. It is part of college football. It is not wrong for you to be skeptical about recruiting rankings either.
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They sure act like it.

I never said recruiting isn't important. It is extremely important.

Of course fans can be excited over a "good" recruiting class, however one chooses to perceive the level of "goodness". I have never stated anything to the contrary.


I have only said that using recruit ratings & rankings from 247 (et al) as a basis for the perception of quality is fake and invalid. And it is. On the other hand, using a tool like 247 to see what other offers a recruit had is completely and totally valid.
 


Ultimately it's going to come down to the coaches and how they are able to scheme and develop their talent. Two classes stick out to me, our 2008 class Iam sure at the time everyone loved and there was a lot of optimism. Fast forward a few years, it was pretty much a bust. 2012, I think we ranked near the bottom of the big ten, and a lot of our top rated talent didn't pan out. But if you look at the names in that class you'll see a few guys who play or played on Sundays and a quite few who had good careers. One class went through constant change, be it a new offense or defense to ultimately a new staff all together, the latter had a system, and a staff that stayed mostly intact. Players and programs need consistency, you build **** when you're plan is established and you're starting over.
 


bemidjigopher said:
Ultimately it's going to come down to the coaches and how they are able to scheme and develop their talent. Two classes stick out to me, our 2008 class Iam sure at the time everyone loved and there was a lot of optimism. Fast forward a few years, it was pretty much a bust. 2012, I think we ranked near the bottom of the big ten, and a lot of our top rated talent didn't pan out. But if you look at the names in that class you'll see a few guys who play or played on Sundays and a quite few who had good careers. One class went through constant change, be it a new offense or defense to ultimately a new staff all together, the latter had a system, and a staff that stayed mostly intact. Players and programs need consistency, you build **** when you're plan is established and you're starting over.
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I don't think the 08 class was a bust. Yeah a couple of the 4 star kids didn't pan out but the defensive JUCO guys were a serious injection of talent. Of course when you go JUCO you sacrifice the future a little bit for the present.

Big play Traye Simmons
Simoni Lawrence
Tramaine Brock

The Skyline kids turned out to be a good bunch:

Cooper
Stoudermire
Reeves
McKnight

Edwards, Gray, Kirksey, etc...

I was excited about Whaley but that didn't work out so well.


I think the 2009 class was more of a bust (granted it was a small class) but I think most of us were excited about Lipscomb, Hamilton, etc... Hageman and Carter were good gets as were several others but overall the class didn't pan out as expected. Someone refresh my memory, but didn't we go toe to toe with the big boys and lose some battles late that year?

2012 was a very under-rated class when you look back at it. Not sure why we can't get a highly touted WR to live up to the billing.

Sent from my LG-H820 using Tapatalk
 

rugger14 said:
I don't think the 08 class was a bust. Yeah a couple of the 4 star kids didn't pan out but the defensive JUCO guys were a serious injection of talent. Of course when you go JUCO you sacrifice the future a little bit for the present.

Big play Traye Simmons
Simoni Lawrence
Tramaine Brock

The Skyline kids turned out to be a good bunch:

Cooper
Stoudermire
Reeves
McKnight

Edwards, Gray, Kirksey, etc...

I was excited about Whaley but that didn't work out so well.


I think the 2009 class was more of a bust (granted it was a small class) but I think most of us were excited about Lipscomb, Hamilton, etc... Hageman and Carter were good gets as were several others but overall the class didn't pan out as expected. Someone refresh my memory, but didn't we go toe to toe with the big boys and lose some battles late that year?

2012 was a very under-rated class when you look back at it. Not sure why we can't get a highly touted WR to live up to the billing.

Sent from my LG-H820 using Tapatalk
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Whoa, bringing back some memories, my friend!
 

MnplsGopher said:
They sure act like it.

I never said recruiting isn't important. It is extremely important.

Of course fans can be excited over a "good" recruiting class, however one chooses to perceive the level of "goodness". I have never stated anything to the contrary.


I have only said that using recruit ratings & rankings from 247 (et al) as a basis for the perception of quality is fake and invalid. And it is. On the other hand, using a tool like 247 to see what other offers a recruit had is completely and totally valid.
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How exactly are one group of talent evaluators valid and the other group completely fake and invalid?
 

This class is absolutely an A. It's the best class we've ever had in the last 20+ years, how could it not be?

The 2008 class was ranked #26 by 247: https://247sports.com/college/minnesota/Season/2008-Football/Commits

The asterisk is that Vincent Hill, Rex Sharpe, Tim Dandridge and Sam Maresh never made it to fall camp. If you take away these 4 players, our ranking would have been significantly lower.

I'll re-evaluate the 2018 class if multiple guys don't show up in June...
 



John Galt said:
This class is absolutely an A. It's the best class we've ever had in the last 20+ years, how could it not be?

The 2008 class was ranked #26 by 247: https://247sports.com/college/minnesota/Season/2008-Football/Commits

The asterisk is that Vincent Hill, Rex Sharpe, Tim Dandridge and Sam Maresh never made it to fall camp. If you take away these 4 players, our ranking would have been significantly lower.

I'll re-evaluate the 2018 class if multiple guys don't show up in June...
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I am curious if history is very different if MarQueis Gray arrives on campus in a timely fashion? Does he become a standout QB? Is life different for the whole program including the coach? We'll never know the answer but it was in MarQueis to be a star QB. Just a lotta messed up stuff threw everything way off course. I still like the Iowa game!!
 

John Galt said:
This class is absolutely an A. It's the best class we've ever had in the last 20+ years, how could it not be?

The 2008 class was ranked #26 by 247: https://247sports.com/college/minnesota/Season/2008-Football/Commits

The asterisk is that Vincent Hill, Rex Sharpe, Tim Dandridge and Sam Maresh never made it to fall camp. If you take away these 4 players, our ranking would have been significantly lower.

I'll re-evaluate the 2018 class if multiple guys don't show up in June...
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Rex Sharpe and Tim Dandrige made it to fall camp.

Dandridge was kicked off the team after his SO season. Grades issue.
Sharpe, I believe he just didn't pan out, but I don't think he had issues qualifying.
 

60's Guy said:
I am curious if history is very different if MarQueis Gray arrives on campus in a timely fashion? Does he become a standout QB? Is life different for the whole program including the coach? We'll never know the answer but it was in MarQueis to be a star QB. Just a lotta messed up stuff threw everything way off course. I still like the Iowa game!!
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MarQueis will forever be one of my favorite Gophers. Gave us everything he had, changed positions and didn't whine or complain. Great representative of the University and making a pretty solid NFL career for himself.
 




Bob_Loblaw said:
Rex Sharpe and Tim Dandrige made it to fall camp.

Dandridge was kicked off the team after his SO season. Grades issue.
Sharpe, I believe he just didn't pan out, but I don't think he had issues qualifying.
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+1
 

btowngopher said:
How exactly are one group of talent evaluators valid and the other group completely fake and invalid?
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The only group of talent evaluators that are valid, and matter, are the coaches. We observe those evaluations, in the correct binary format, as offers.

Attempting to extrapolate from that correct binary yes/no into a multi-class 1/2/3/4/5, or even worse, a decimal number, is where the invalid, fake, made up, college fantasy football aspect gets injected into the recruiting process.
 

rugger14 said:
Not sure why we can't get a highly touted WR to live up to the billing.
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This doesn't answer your question specifically about WR, but more in general: Gopher fans are always going to have to deal with the healthy skepticism that is baked into the follow question.

Why would a highly talented, highly rated, high school player from the south choose to come to frozen Minnesota over offers from southern P5 teams?


There are certainly valid answers to that question. Externalities that can never be completely dismissed. Timings and situations, etc.

But the general, simple answer to that question is: he wouldn't. And so, for those players who DO choose Minnesota ... you have to examine the situation, examine the externalities, etc. ... but you can never fully get rid of that healthy skepticism that those southern P5 programs just didn't want that player, or they didn't get the guy they wanted first and came after that player too late (and even then, they usually get him).
 

MnplsGopher said:
This doesn't answer your question specifically about WR, but more in general: Gopher fans are always going to have to deal with the healthy skepticism that is baked into the follow question.

Why would a highly talented, highly rated, high school player from the south choose to come to frozen Minnesota over offers from southern P5 teams?


There are certainly valid answers to that question. Externalities that can never be completely dismissed. Timings and situations, etc.

But the general, simple answer to that question is: he wouldn't. And so, for those players who DO choose Minnesota ... you have to examine the situation, examine the externalities, etc. ... but you can never fully get rid of that healthy skepticism that those southern P5 programs just didn't want that player, or they didn't get the guy they wanted first and came after that player too late (and even then, they usually get him).
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With someone like Bateman, do you not believe that he received those SEC offers? Dunlap?
 

I hesitate to grade recruiting classes (and won't here), but it's a pretty impressive group of guys. I wish Shannon hadn't flipped to Iowa, but that's my only huge disappointment. Great to see some O-line prospects. I think Dunlap, Faalele, and Beier can all be big-time players and Dickson can plug in right away.
 

Unless somebody really does not like the cold, Minnesota is one of the best schools in the country to go to. Great education, high level coaches, plenty of things to do and places to go in the Twin Cities, great facilities, premier conference and with a lopsided talent pool the west provides an easier path to playing for the B1G ‘ship. I know many Minnesotans like to self deprecate, but our town and our team have a lot going for us.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
With someone like Bateman, do you not believe that he received those SEC offers? Dunlap?
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Nothing in my post at all would indicate that. Of course they both had SEC offers.

Bateman -- the SEC schools came late to the party (way late), and good on him for not decommitting and sticking with the Gophers. The healthy skeptisicm: why didn't Georgia target Bateman from the get go? The reason is, they had other guys they thought were better, and when they didn't get everyone they wanted, they came late to the party.

Dunlap -- committed to Florida, and then the staff fell apart. He had an offer to Florida State too, but that staff is also undergoing change. Took a visit to Arkansas, but that staff also undergoing changes. Had an offer to Miami, as well as other big programs, but didn't visit them according to 247. I can not say for certain why he did not schedule visits to places like Miami, Oklahoma, Okla State, Southern Cal, etc.
 

PoockItInfor6 said:
Unless somebody really does not like the cold, Minnesota is one of the best schools in the country to go to. Great education, high level coaches, plenty of things to do and places to go in the Twin Cities, great facilities, premier conference and with a lopsided talent pool the west provides an easier path to playing for the B1G ‘ship. I know many Minnesotans like to self deprecate, but our town and our team have a lot going for us.
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There really aren’t many if any schools that can say all of those things...
 

PoockItInfor6 said:
Unless somebody really does not like the cold, Minnesota is one of the best schools in the country to go to. Great education, high level coaches, plenty of things to do and places to go in the Twin Cities, great facilities, premier conference and with a lopsided talent pool the west provides an easier path to playing for the B1G ‘ship. I know many Minnesotans like to self deprecate, but our town and our team have a lot going for us.
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This is certainly true.

But Dunlap had an offer to Michigan, which is hands down a better academic school -- if that is what he cared about.


The other possibility, which I didn't talk about in the post before, is that Fleck promised him an opportunity to start as a true freshman and to be at a minimum 3+ year starter, assuming he doesn't leave early for the NFL. That could've done it for him. I'm making that up, of course, just throwing it against the wall.
 

Definately an 'A' this year- but next year the criteria changes a little.
 

MnplsGopher said:
Nothing in my post at all would indicate that. Of course they both had SEC offers
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'There is simply no way that a player who grew up in a SEC state is going to turn down an offer from the state's SEC school(s), in order to come to Minnesota, with where our program is at currently. Maybe an Ohio St, Penn St, or Wisconsin."

That's what you wrote before. Now that he signed here you want to change your narrative.

You have typed a lot of words here in your short career, you should rethink that strategy.
 

PoockItInfor6 said:
Unless somebody really does not like the cold, Minnesota is one of the best schools in the country to go to. Great education, high level coaches, plenty of things to do and places to go in the Twin Cities, great facilities, premier conference and with a lopsided talent pool the west provides an easier path to playing for the B1G ‘ship. I know many Minnesotans like to self deprecate, but our town and our team have a lot going for us.
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Yeah, if you’ve ever lived down south....it is not bad...but there are definitely some cultural things you’d be more likely to see in the south than the north that might entice a southerner to come north.
 

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