D-tackle Kristian Williams leaves 2019 recruiting class

BleedGopher

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per Greder:

Defensive tackle Kristian Williams announced Monday he has left the Gophers’ 2019 recruiting class.

“After talking it over with both my family and coaches, we believe it’s best at this time to de-commit from the University of Minnesota,” Williams wrote in a message on Twitter.

Williams, a a 6-foot-3, 297-pound prospect from Memphis, Tenn., gave an oral commitment to Minnesota ahead of the early signing period on Dec. 19, but decided to wait when the rest of the class made it official with national letters of intent.

“I appreciate everything the Gopher staff, fan base and players have done for me, and this decision doesn’t determine the love and appreciation that I have for that university.”

https://www.twincities.com/2019/02/...istian-williams-leaves-2019-recruiting-class/

Go Gophers!!
 

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per Greder:

Defensive tackle Kristian Williams announced Monday he has left the Gophers’ 2019 recruiting class.

“After talking it over with both my family and coaches, we believe it’s best at this time to de-commit from the University of Minnesota,” Williams wrote in a message on Twitter.

Williams, a a 6-foot-3, 297-pound prospect from Memphis, Tenn., gave an oral commitment to Minnesota ahead of the early signing period on Dec. 19, but decided to wait when the rest of the class made it official with national letters of intent.

“I appreciate everything the Gopher staff, fan base and players have done for me, and this decision doesn’t determine the love and appreciation that I have for that university.”

https://www.twincities.com/2019/02/...istian-williams-leaves-2019-recruiting-class/

Go Gophers!!

Looks like maybe he's going to Oregon?

https://247sports.com/Player/Kristian-Williams-46040808/

Interesting that all the schools are listed as "cool". Wonder if there are some academic issues or something else? Hope things work out for him regardless (unless he plays the Gophers! :) ).
 



Not too shocking, glad he didn't drag it out all the way till signing day I guess.
 

Warmer to a couple schools as opposed to us. Something is obviously up in the air. Time to move on I guess.
 

Well, he still loves and appreciates us. Very touching.
 




Like sands through the hour glass...., so ends this saga.

Better now, than realizing you do not want to be here after a semester or two.
 

He’s not that good anymore since he drop from 4⭐️ To 3⭐️.
 

I hate to sound cynical, but I see this as a growing trend. I don't have any numbers to back this up - just a feeling or impression that this is happening far more often than it used to.

Of course, there is far more attention paid to recruiting now, so these de-commits and flipping gets a lot more attention. But, I just don't remember this happening a lot in "the good old days."

My guess is that it's a by-product of the move to an earlier signing day. kids feel pressure to make decisions sooner, and I think it's human nature to second-guess yourself or have doubts - especially if you think you might have made a premature decision. In a perfect world, kids would not make commitments until they were 100% sure about their decision. but, when you're dealing with 17-yr old kids, that's not going to happen.

so, it's unfortunate, but I don't think it's any reflection on the Gophers program or coaches. No recruit is a sure thing until they send in a signed LOI. until that moment, there is always a chance of something happening.
 

I know some of you think that recruiting rankings from 20-45 don't matter but I hate to see us lose our only four-ish star commit.
I admit, I savored last season. We got the AXE back. That was huge bragging rights for a Gopher living in Wisconsin cause of my job but I have higher aspirations for this team.
We should be able to land at least one or two 4* players with our improvement and new facilities, shouldn't we. Beating Wisconsin shouldn't be all we settle for.
 



I know some of you think that recruiting rankings from 20-45 don't matter but I hate to see us lose our only four-ish star commit.
I admit, I savored last season. We got the AXE back. That was huge bragging rights for a Gopher living in Wisconsin cause of my job but I have higher aspirations for this team.
We should be able to land at least one or two 4* players with our improvement and new facilities, shouldn't we. Beating Wisconsin shouldn't be all we settle for.

Pretty sure Rashad Cheney, Tyler Nubin and Jacob Clark are "four-ish" stars.
 


I hate to sound cynical, but I see this as a growing trend. I don't have any numbers to back this up - just a feeling or impression that this is happening far more often than it used to.

Of course, there is far more attention paid to recruiting now, so these de-commits and flipping gets a lot more attention. But, I just don't remember this happening a lot in "the good old days."

My guess is that it's a by-product of the move to an earlier signing day. kids feel pressure to make decisions sooner, and I think it's human nature to second-guess yourself or have doubts - especially if you think you might have made a premature decision. In a perfect world, kids would not make commitments until they were 100% sure about their decision. but, when you're dealing with 17-yr old kids, that's not going to happen.

so, it's unfortunate, but I don't think it's any reflection on the Gophers program or coaches. No recruit is a sure thing until they send in a signed LOI. until that moment, there is always a chance of something happening.

Regarding the bolded part: that's my perception as well.

I wonder if the "constant communication" of social media has anything to do with it. Kids now have instant access to all manner of information, and it is constantly updated. It's much easier to track multiple schools' rosters, current recruiting classes, etc.

I might be off base on that; it's just a thought.
 

Regarding the bolded part: that's my perception as well.

I wonder if the "constant communication" of social media has anything to do with it. Kids now have instant access to all manner of information, and it is constantly updated. It's much easier to track multiple schools' rosters, current recruiting classes, etc.

I might be off base on that; it's just a thought.

We all had peer pressure influencing our decisions while growing up but these guys are getting enormous amounts of pressure from not only college coaches, parents, thousands of fans tweeting and commenting at them but peer pressure from their friends, their teammates, their high school coaches...

It takes a stronger personality to ignore all the noise and do what they really want to do or what’s best. Look at the pressure Bateman took. Add to that the alleged back door dealings between boosters and influencers in blue chip player’s lives and it’s a tough recruiting environment.

The trick for MN to reel in bigger numbers of highly rated guys (while staying inside the rules) is to become a “big-time” destination and that means winning and winning big. Make it so, PJ.
 

My gut said "he gone" when he didn't sign in December. I was scolded for this and told to be patient. I was hopeful, but looks like my gut was right.

Oh well, play with who you have!
 

My gut said "he gone" when he didn't sign in December. I was scolded for this and told to be patient. I was hopeful, but looks like my gut was right.

Oh well, play with who you have!

That’s because you acted like it was a lock not your gut feeling.
 

I know some of you think that recruiting rankings from 20-45 don't matter but I hate to see us lose our only four-ish star commit.
I admit, I savored last season. We got the AXE back. That was huge bragging rights for a Gopher living in Wisconsin cause of my job but I have higher aspirations for this team.
We should be able to land at least one or two 4* players with our improvement and new facilities, shouldn't we. Beating Wisconsin shouldn't be all we settle for.

Williams would have been a nice addition to the class but it is what it is when you are going up against places like Oregon or his hometown school of Tennessee.

On the whole this still looks like a very solid class and an improvement on paper over what we have done around here. Plus if you look at some of the kids showing interest for 2020 and beyond it looks like Fleck is getting in the door with a caliber of player we usually don't see around here. He still has to land them, but things are definitely trending up in recruiting even with Williams deciding to go elsewhere.
 

I am not sweating this. We have several other DTs coming in ranked similarly to Williams if not even higher.
 





Williams would have been a nice addition to the class but it is what it is when you are going up against places like Oregon or his hometown school of Tennessee.

On the whole this still looks like a very solid class and an improvement on paper over what we have done around here. Plus if you look at some of the kids showing interest for 2020 and beyond it looks like Fleck is getting in the door with a caliber of player we usually don't see around here. He still has to land them, but things are definitely trending up in recruiting even with Williams deciding to go elsewhere.

Barring a major change today, how is this class better than last year?

Ranked lower overall.

Ranked significantly lower in the Big10 west pecking order.

Not saying it’s not a good class, but by all of the subjective measures available this is a step backwards from last year for a guy that was supposed to get us into the upper echelons of recruiting.


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Barring a major change today, how is this class better than last year?

Ranked lower overall.

Ranked significantly lower in the Big10 west pecking order.

Not saying it’s not a good class, but by all of the subjective measures available this is a step backwards from last year for a guy that was supposed to get us into the upper echelons of recruiting.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You are correct.
What do you think are reasonable next steps?
 

Barring a major change today, how is this class better than last year?

Ranked lower overall.

Ranked significantly lower in the Big10 west pecking order.

Not saying it’s not a good class, but by all of the subjective measures available this is a step backwards from last year for a guy that was supposed to get us into the upper echelons of recruiting.


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Might not be a massive leap into the top tiers (something that has basically never been done at Minnesota in the recruiting rankings era) but this class ranks right in line with last years class and I certainly wouldn't view it as a step backward.

I could give a damn about the rankings, it is clear we are recruiting better players overall right now and the evidence in my mind of that is that we are getting guys that other Big Ten and power 5 schools are after. But if you want to get hung up on the numbers, the average player rating for these past two classes is significantly higher then what we were bringing in during the Kill/Claeys era.

We won't truly know how good these classes are for a few years but based on the number of freshman that have been playing and some of the improvements we are all seeing on the field it would certainly seem like things are moving in the right direction on the recruiting front.

I don't pay for any of the premium sites but just looking at the free info out there it also appears we are getting some notice from those upper echelon players that could really help propel the team to the next level.

Like all things with Fleck, we are not to the destination yet but there are definite reasons to believe that we are on the right track on multiple fronts.
 

Upper echelons of recruiting would be Michigan/Ohio State.

If Wisconsin can’t grt to that level after umpteen 10+ win seasons, then that is an entirely unrealistic goal for us.

At some point, the inertia of being a national, major helmet school just can’t be overcome by any program that’s not already there. Clemson might be an exception, but that’s debatable.

I think ceiling for us nationally is classes in the 20’s. And is that alone going to significantly move the needle in average wins? I remain unconvinced.
 





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