How does the '14 class rank in Gopher recent history?

Miles Tarver

Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2011
Messages
524
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Assuming Kill and Co hold on to land Jones how does this class rank in Gopher history?

I'm not saying it's the best or worst class ever as I basically just started following the recruiting trail this year.

It appears we have really landed some solid players with Holland, Jones, Elmore, Mayes etc...

How would you rank this Gopher class compared to the classes we have had in say, the last 20 years?
 

Assuming Kill and Co hold on to land Jones how does this class rank in Gopher history?

I'm not saying it's the best or worst class ever as I basically just started following the recruiting trail this year.

It appears we have really landed some solid players with Holland, Jones, Elmore, Mayes etc...

How would you rank this Gopher class compared to the classes we have had in say, the last 20 years?

This question would be easier to answer once the class is done being filled...but way easier 5 years from now after these guys are done.
 

Assuming Kill and Co hold on to land Jones how does this class rank in Gopher history?

I'm not saying it's the best or worst class ever as I basically just started following the recruiting trail this year.

It appears we have really landed some solid players with Holland, Jones, Elmore, Mayes etc...

How would you rank this Gopher class compared to the classes we have had in say, the last 20 years?

we still need to wait on 1. Ragnow and 2. Craig James, Lenius and Gentry.
 


Per @Gophers247 Twitter Account

Composite class scores last 4 yrs. '14 - 0.8307, '13 - 0.8246, '12 - 0.8005, '11 - 0.7984
 


We can only judge this class with the other classes on signing day. It's not fair to assume all of these kids work out while knowing that guys like McDonald, Harbison and Vincent Smith didn't work out.

So, I'd say it's probably our best class since '08. These guys will only be a class until August after redshirting and they obviously have the potential to be great. However, this class is our best in terms of competing offers and the well-roundedness of the class. It's littered with guys with multiple BCS offers. So it's good to be a Gopher right now.
 

Looks like a very bright class as many have very sound GPA and ACT scores as posted. Looks like these kids will be students first and players second. Plus, I think this is now a very good class compared to the past 10-15 years. I wish them all well and success in academics and on the playing field.
 

The biggest difference between this class and previous classes is that this recruiting class isn't over yet.
 

We can only judge this class with the other classes on signing day. It's not fair to assume all of these kids work out while knowing that guys like McDonald, Harbison and Vincent Smith didn't work out.

So, I'd say it's probably our best class since '08. These guys will only be a class until August after redshirting and they obviously have the potential to be great. However, this class is our best in terms of competing offers and the well-roundedness of the class. It's littered with guys with multiple BCS offers. So it's good to be a Gopher right now.
you shouldn't judge classes after seeing how the players turned out if you ask me
 



A small but solid class which will hopefully get better in the next week. I believe the coaching staff is good at bringing in smart kids who fit their system. This bodes well for the future!

Go Gophers!
 

We can only judge this class with the other classes on signing day. It's not fair to assume all of these kids work out while knowing that guys like McDonald, Harbison and Vincent Smith didn't work out.

So, I'd say it's probably our best class since '08. These guys will only be a class until August after redshirting and they obviously have the potential to be great. However, this class is our best in terms of competing offers and the well-roundedness of the class. It's littered with guys with multiple BCS offers. So it's good to be a Gopher right now.

Agree. On paper, it is looking like a very good small class if the remaining targets & those who committed sign. We can't predict how these kids will perform down the road or if they'll stick with the program. Who would've thought Nelson will transfer? Losing McDonald & Harbison were big disappoints, but we move on.
 

Rankings are really silly…take for example the 2012 class. According to Rivals, our top 4 recruits were McDonald, Nelson, Harbison and Hayes and our bottom 4 recruits were Lauer (yes ranked last in the class…our freshman all-american), Timms, Murray (how great is Murray?) and Leidner (our starting QB, and our only QB named ESPN Offensive PTW). Now I ask you did Rivals do a good job of predicting who was going to be best for our team?
 

You can make a hasty generalization and ignore the law of small numbers. Or you can look at the big picture and believe in basic math. Up to you. Only one of the two is correct, though.
 



Class of 2012 Recruits

Rankings are really silly…take for example the 2012 class. According to Rivals, our top 4 recruits were McDonald, Nelson, Harbison and Hayes and our bottom 4 recruits were Lauer (yes ranked last in the class…our freshman all-american), Timms, Murray (how great is Murray?) and Leidner (our starting QB, and our only QB named ESPN Offensive PTW). Now I ask you did Rivals do a good job of predicting who was going to be best for our team?

Would agree that 2012 is one of those classes that the lower ranked recruits have stood out. For sure....Lauer and Murray are at the top of the class. Maxx is another player that only had one offer...now granted he committed early. Damarius Travis was lightly recruited and had a solid season. Ekpe and Keith were both 2 star players that have contributed to the defensive line. Rallis is another one that played in 10 games this season.
 

okay, so the Rivals 2011 class top 4 were: Tommy Olson, Quinn Bauducco, Josh Campion and Quentin Gardener and the bottom 4 were: Cedric Thompson (bottom of the 2011 class!), Dexter Foreman, Derrick Wells and John Rabe. The bottom once again is better than the top…according to how things worked out…again rankings are silly. I would prefer to judge classes on whether or not Kill got the players he sought out, no matter what their rankings.
 

If you look at the 2013 Rivals class…the top 4 are Carter, Edwards, Laster and Campbell and the bottom 4 are Myrick, McGee, Wipson and Wilson. Two of the bottom guys played with one starting…one of the top guys played. So that's the last 3 years…where in each year the bottom 4 have done more for us that the top 4 for whatever reason.
 

If you go by rankings, Scout now has us at #58 Holland and Weyler each received 3 stars. Scout ranks Ragnow with 4 stars, Lewis and Gentry with 3 stars. If they become Gophers we should get a good bump. We actually might finish
higher in ranking on Scout this year versus Rivals.Which would be a rarity. In the B1G probably 9th or 10th out of 14
teams.
 

again rankings are silly

Again, looking at very small sample sizes and committing several logical fallacies (hasty generalization, fallacy of composition, and so on) is silly.
 

2011 Rivals top 4: Lamonte Edwards, Jimmy Gjere, Tom Parish, Marquise Hill…man Rivals knows how to pick 'em
 

2011 Rivals top 4: Lamonte Edwards, Jimmy Gjere, Tom Parish, Marquise Hill…man Rivals knows how to pick 'em

2011 Rivals team recruiting rankings - 2013 finish

1. Alabama - #7 AP, 11-2
2. FSU - National Champions, 14-0
3. Texas - 8-5
4. USC - 10-4
5. Georgia - 8-5
6. LSU - #14 AP, 10-3
7. Auburn - #2 AP, 12-2
8. Clemson - #8 AP, 11-2
9. Oregon - #9 AP, 11-2
10. Notre Dame - #20 AP, 9-4


Every top 10 recruiting team in 2011 finished with at least 8 wins in 2013, and 7 of the 10 finished in the AP Top 20, and 5 of the 10 finished in the AP Top 10, and both of the national championship game participants were in the top 7...man Rivals knows how to pick 'em
 

2011 Rivals top 4: Lamonte Edwards, Jimmy Gjere, Tom Parish, Marquise Hill…man Rivals knows how to pick 'em

Every year we get posters like you that want to say the recruiting rankings mean nothing, mainly because they typically don't skew well for our favorite team. I don't think there is anyone in here that believes you can only recruit based on rankings but as dpodoll68 pointed out the teams that consistently finish with the highest rated classes also seem to consistently finish with really good records and national rankings. There are always exceptions, but those that pretend like the rankings have zero value are kidding themselves.
 

Every year we get posters like you that want to say the recruiting rankings mean nothing, mainly because they typically don't skew well for our favorite team. I don't think there is anyone in here that believes you can only recruit based on rankings but as dpodoll68 pointed out the teams that consistently finish with the highest rated classes also seem to consistently finish with really good records and national rankings. There are always exceptions, but those that pretend like the rankings have zero value are kidding themselves.

and its also not rivals fault that Mcdonald, Nelson and Harbeson transferred or that Lamonte edwards got kicked off or that Jonah Pirsig has been injured for a good portion of his time here
 

and its also not rivals fault that Mcdonald, Nelson and Harbeson transferred or that Lamonte edwards got kicked off or that Jonah Pirsig has been injured for a good portion of his time here

Now now, there's no need for that kind of sensible talk on this board


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

There was an article posted here from SBNation using a formula that basically listed the most overachieving and underachieving programs based on a 5 year running recruiting class ranking vs sagarin or something like that.

It was updated through last year and Kill got an overachieving F+( +/- predicted win total) for 2012 if I recall.

I'd be curious how high our F+ got this year. Bill Snyder had the highest one year "overachiever ranking" with his 2012 season. I bet Kill had a top 10 ranking this year.

Nevertheless it did add math into the debate and basically prove that in the grand scheme of things rankings appear to usually predict success. Though it clearly showed there are coaches and programs who seem year in and out coach/develop their way to success despite poor/lower recruiting.
 

And then there's this from last Sundays Sports Huddle:

Coach Jerry Kill’s responses and comments to Sid Hartman and Dave Mona’s queries on today’s Sports Huddle:

1) Sid opened the segment by asking how recruiting is going: Laughing, Kill said, “I’m sitting here in the middle of conversation with a recruit (and parents) . . . It’s going well.”

2) Sid followed asking about recruiting rankings (according to Sid, many have Minnesota last in Big 10 recruiting): Kill quickly responded, “I don’t know anything about that . . . we’ve got guys in the Senior Bowl (referenced NIU’s QB Jordan Lynch – who wasn’t on the recruiting lists) . . . recruiting is not over.” He said he doesn’t put much stock in the recruiting services.

3) Mona followed Kill’s comments up by referencing Eric Murray and Derrick Wells as players that weren’t recruited or ranked high with stars who have had a positive impact on the playing field: Again, Kill said, “I don’t know what It means (stars); not football people doing that.”

He then mentioned Art Briles who is successful at Baylor. Kill said Briles was criticized for hiring his high school coaching staff when he became a Division I coach, “Does it the way they want to.”

He closed the question, saying, “A lot (stars) don’t make it.”

I myself tend to think there's some truth to both sides of the issue.
 

And then there's this from last Sundays Sports Huddle:

Coach Jerry Kill’s responses and comments to Sid Hartman and Dave Mona’s queries on today’s Sports Huddle:

1) Sid opened the segment by asking how recruiting is going: Laughing, Kill said, “I’m sitting here in the middle of conversation with a recruit (and parents) . . . It’s going well.”

2) Sid followed asking about recruiting rankings (according to Sid, many have Minnesota last in Big 10 recruiting): Kill quickly responded, “I don’t know anything about that . . . we’ve got guys in the Senior Bowl (referenced NIU’s QB Jordan Lynch – who wasn’t on the recruiting lists) . . . recruiting is not over.” He said he doesn’t put much stock in the recruiting services.

3) Mona followed Kill’s comments up by referencing Eric Murray and Derrick Wells as players that weren’t recruited or ranked high with stars who have had a positive impact on the playing field: Again, Kill said, “I don’t know what It means (stars); not football people doing that.”

He then mentioned Art Briles who is successful at Baylor. Kill said Briles was criticized for hiring his high school coaching staff when he became a Division I coach, “Does it the way they want to.”

He closed the question, saying, “A lot (stars) don’t make it.”

I myself tend to think there's some truth to both sides of the issue.

Yes, there is more to it than stars. A 5* immobile pocket passer would not succeed in this offense unless significant changes were made. A 2* mobile QB may very well out perform him. That being said, the chances of a 5* QB that fits the system becoming all conference are much higher than the chances of a 2*. It doesn't mean the 5* is a guarantee. No one is a guarantee. But it is much more likely.
 

Something tells me that, if I could jump in a time machine and go forward about 50 years, this exact same argument will still be going on on Gopherhole.com - in whatever form it is delivered in 50 years.

Somebody will be on here claiming that star ratings are overvalued, and the Gophers low-rated recruiting class will out-perform the schools with the more highly-rated classes. and dpodoll's grandson will be on here pointing out statistics to prove them wrong.
 

And then there's this from last Sundays Sports Huddle:

Coach Jerry Kill’s responses and comments to Sid Hartman and Dave Mona’s queries on today’s Sports Huddle:

1) Sid opened the segment by asking how recruiting is going: Laughing, Kill said, “I’m sitting here in the middle of conversation with a recruit (and parents) . . . It’s going well.”

2) Sid followed asking about recruiting rankings (according to Sid, many have Minnesota last in Big 10 recruiting): Kill quickly responded, “I don’t know anything about that . . . we’ve got guys in the Senior Bowl (referenced NIU’s QB Jordan Lynch – who wasn’t on the recruiting lists) . . . recruiting is not over.” He said he doesn’t put much stock in the recruiting services.

3) Mona followed Kill’s comments up by referencing Eric Murray and Derrick Wells as players that weren’t recruited or ranked high with stars who have had a positive impact on the playing field: Again, Kill said, “I don’t know what It means (stars); not football people doing that.”

He then mentioned Art Briles who is successful at Baylor. Kill said Briles was criticized for hiring his high school coaching staff when he became a Division I coach, “Does it the way they want to.”

He closed the question, saying, “A lot (stars) don’t make it.”

I myself tend to think there's some truth to both sides of the issue.

Wow! What a novel concept, i.e. a balanced position on the topic. It is a good thing you ware not in politics because you would be thrown out of your party.;)
 

havent had time to read all the way through but here is my thoughts

I have taken the average scores of 4 recruiting sites and this class is slightly better than last years where Kill had a better year since i have been checking the sites out (2009)

and another thing Kill's classes have gotten better each year which could not be said of Brewster's. so in my opinon Kill is recruiting better each year. remember you need kids that are made of the same moxie that the coaches are. if not you get guys like AJ.

this University has a lot of positives about it and many kids like to have the education that goes along with the football experience.
 

2011 Rivals team recruiting rankings - 2013 finish

1. Alabama - #7 AP, 11-2
2. FSU - National Champions, 14-0
3. Texas - 8-5
4. USC - 10-4
5. Georgia - 8-5
6. LSU - #14 AP, 10-3
7. Auburn - #2 AP, 12-2
8. Clemson - #8 AP, 11-2
9. Oregon - #9 AP, 11-2
10. Notre Dame - #20 AP, 9-4


Every top 10 recruiting team in 2011 finished with at least 8 wins in 2013, and 7 of the 10 finished in the AP Top 20, and 5 of the 10 finished in the AP Top 10, and both of the national championship game participants were in the top 7...man Rivals knows how to pick 'em

There are some players that are so darn good one need not be an experienced football coach to see that these kids are going to be awesome….that's who the National Champs and the helmet schools get to rocket to the top of the rankings…it is those 3-star players that the ranking services either don't have the time or the expertise to rank correctly on a consistence basis that makes their services not all that useful. How do they rank a guy who played in a rural area against small schools? Not as highly as Kill does…and we end up with Cockran.
 




Top Bottom