Saw Edwards running track last night

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Ole

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Seemed like a very lighthearted and social kid, ran well, mostly in 100 200 relays.
I would say he's a bit lighter right now than most were hoping for, he's taller than I expected too, probably around 215 I would guess. Nice looking stride, powerful frame for sure.
 


TCF=UnitedWeStand said:
but was he fast?
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Yeah, he's fast, I'll get results later this week, but he was on the winning 4x200 relay. He's not freakishly fast, but has good speed. Track fast doesn't always convert to football fast anyway so I
wouldn't worry. He certainly looks powerful enough to carry pads with little effect on his speed.

I almost hate to post this but maybe I should, Zach Vraa(NDSU commit) has been incredibly impressive this spring on the track and in the hurdles, Taylor Grant(NDSU?) was fairly nondescript in the throws, Djon Starr from Blaine is an impressive and explosive thrower, but probably doesn't have the height to be a legit Big Ten DE prospect(SDSU commit)
 

I almost hate to post this but maybe I should, Zach Vraa(NDSU commit) has been incredibly impressive this spring on the track and in the hurdles...
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I'm sure the two guys who care will be glad to hear it.
 



gopherguy05 said:
Is it wrong to want our good friend dImanager to come back to make fun of him some more????
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Basically the reason I was second guessing posting on the subject.
Hey good for the kid, he's been really great for his team this year, he's obviously a good athlete, but he's not a future gopher and that's that.

Track and field is a great venue to display athletic talent, many of the highly touted local kids run track or compete in the field. Trey Davis was the most explosive athlete I've seen throw in MN, Orton, Wynn, Shady, Ryan Grant, Micheal Floyd, Casey Dehn, Nick Rengel, and many others have all been track and field men at some point in their HS careers.
 

Ole said:
Basically the reason I was second guessing posting on the subject.
Hey good for the kid, he's been really great for his team this year, he's obviously a good athlete, but he's not a future gopher and that's that.

Track and field is a great venue to display athletic talent, many of the highly touted local kids run track or compete in the field. Trey Davis was the most explosive athlete I've seen throw in MN, Orton, Wynn, Shady, Ryan Grant, Micheal Floyd, Casey Dehn, Nick Rengel, and many others have all been track and field men at some point in their HS careers.
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I think for a lot of positions, the athleticism translates. However some like receiver I think don't as much. The burst and the leaping ability, sure, but track success doesn't mean anything if you don't have the mental ability to focus on holding the ball while getting destroyed over the middle.

The throwers should hopefully have brute strength and footwork which should help them, the running backs and the secondary personnel, true speed is something nice to see....hopefully it continues to show on the field, but sometimes it doesn't...
 

Ole said:
Basically the reason I was second guessing posting on the subject.
Hey good for the kid, he's been really great for his team this year, he's obviously a good athlete, but he's not a future gopher and that's that.

Track and field is a great venue to display athletic talent, many of the highly touted local kids run track or compete in the field. Trey Davis was the most explosive athlete I've seen throw in MN, Orton, Wynn, Shady, Ryan Grant, Micheal Floyd, Casey Dehn, Nick Rengel, and many others have all been track and field men at some point in their HS careers.
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Bryant Allen and Kyle Henderson were state track champs. Allen a state record holder in the Hurdles and Henderson was part of a state Champ 4x200 relay team, a 200 meter state finalist and Classic lake 100 meter champion. He beat my nephew in that race.
 

Sean Lumpkin said:
Bryant Allen and Kyle Henderson were state track champs. Allen a state record holder in the Hurdles and Henderson was part of a state Champ 4x200 relay team, a 200 meter state finalist and Classic lake 100 meter champion. He beat my nephew in that race.
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I'm intrigued with Henderson, he may end up being a Marcus Sherels type down the road.
I was aware of Bryant Allen's track background, I'm sure there are many current outstate players who have competed also.
One of the most impressive meets I've ever been to was a combined college/high school meet in San Antonio, the raw speed and trash talking of the texas high school kids was amazing. Included in the 4x400 race was Permian(of Friday Night Lights fame) who I believe beat their rivals in a blistering time, as the kid finished the race he coasted in with his head turned and talked trash for the final 3-5 strides and continued until the race officials(who were unimpressed/concerned) escorted the teams to the medal stand. It's a different world down there, do that in MN and you are DQ'd faster than a starting gunshot.
 



Ole said:
Yeah, he's fast, I'll get results later this week, but he was on the winning 4x200 relay. He's not freakishly fast, but has good speed. Track fast doesn't always convert to football fast anyway so I
wouldn't worry. He certainly looks powerful enough to carry pads with little effect on his speed.

I almost hate to post this but maybe I should, Zach Vraa(NDSU commit) has been incredibly impressive this spring on the track and in the hurdles.
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I am actually concerned a bit about Lamonte's top end speed. He was in our true team section and he got 6th in the 100m dash with a time of 11.63. That time doesn't even hit the honor roll for listing top times in the state. And when I say top times I don't mean top 10, I mean top 40+. Now if this was the state of Texas and he wasn't on the honor roll, I wouldn't worry because I'm sure it would take sub 11 seconds to make it. But MN is not known as a sprinting haven and he isn't even one of the top 60 fastest kids in MN in the 100m. Now I'm not saying he won't be a good running back, but he's going to have a tough time getting to the corner without the top end speed. He won't have a choice but to be a bruising type runner, which fortunately, is what the Gophers want and need.

On Zach Vraa, (I'll probably get ripped for this) but I'm a believer that he could have been a very good Big 10 receiver. The way he attacked the ball at its peak cannot be taught. People say he's not fast enough, but he has run 11.29 in the 100m, along with the state's leading times of 14.65 in the 110mHH and 38.52 in the 300m hurdles (Bryant Allen's time was 38.23). With above average speed and really good leaping ability, size and hands, I guess I don't know why the Gophers didn't take a chance on him. If he were from CDH, would they have???
 

Sorry to get off topic but is 14.65 really the top speed in MN for 110Hurdles? I watched a kid from Madison Memorial yesterday at our sectionals run a 14.22 and have seen him at other meets run faster.
 

Yes, that's the top seed in the state. I know, nothing mind blowing, but very good nonetheless. Wisconsin has some nice hurdlers this year, though. They usually are around that same time for top seed.
 

I think you said 11.63 in the 100? For sure that's not too fast for a future d1 running back. I've been kind of injured the whole year and only ran 2 100s and my best time was 12.5 and I'm confident now that I'm healthy that I could run 12.2. And I'm an 8th grader. I've never known a d1 running back before, but I'm pretty sure that 11.6 in the 100 is VERY slow for a d1 running back.
 



Steve Prefontane

Would have been a sweet possession WR.
 

I'm not as concerned with the 100 speed, it's the first 10-20 30 yd. speed. where was he at 20 yds. the burst is impt.
 

RunGopherRun said:
On Zach Vraa, (I'll probably get ripped for this) but I'm a believer that he could have been a very good Big 10 receiver. The way he attacked the ball at its peak cannot be taught. People say he's not fast enough, but he has run 11.29 in the 100m, along with the state's leading times of 14.65 in the 110mHH and 38.52 in the 300m hurdles (Bryant Allen's time was 38.23). With above average speed and really good leaping ability, size and hands, I guess I don't know why the Gophers didn't take a chance on him. If he were from CDH, would they have???
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He could be good. He could be a waste of a scholarship. He has never played in an offense where he has had to run more than 3 routes (slant, hitch, deep). He is fully grown and has little room to develop further. He has the potential to be a contributor at some point in a hypothetical gopher career, but his upside would be a number 3 Big Ten receiver IMO. If he is from CDH they give him a scholarship a al Nance, in hopes of bringing in Seantrell. Vraa has no one to blame for his lack of major offers but his coaching staff. Rosemount has been a good program for 5-6 years now, yet they have not produced an FBS player. They run the scheme that is the antithesis of what a WR prospect needs. There is not enough film on Vraa to know if he can run good routes or know good route combos. He never had to face any difficult coverages, was basically 1 on 1 with Minnesota high school corners all year because of the fact they ran the option. He can outjump every corner in the Lake Conference last year, but how many lake conference corners got scholarship offers? (in the neighborhood of zero)

I wouldn't have faulted Brewster for giving him an offer and he may end up being a pretty good WR for NDSU, but I also do not think it is a mistake to not give him an offer (though I have people I know that strongly disagree with me).
 


littlebigboy said:
I'm not as concerned with the 100 speed, it's the first 10-20 30 yd. speed. where was he at 20 yds. the burst is impt.
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The 10 yard time is the best indicator of explosion. It takes quick twitch muscles. I keep asking if the U has 10 yard times posted in the Weight and Conditioning Room. Certainly nowhere on line.

Another thing, track speed is one thing, football quickness and speed is another.
 

Vraa was impressive indeed, NDSU is happy to have him.

You gotta love Wayzata's Grant Olson's Twitter shot at Brewster though!!


Shout out to zach vraa state champion in the 110 meter hurdles!!, still not fast enough for you brewster?

G34OLSON
6:37 PM Jun 13th via txt
 


lakesbison said:
Vraa was impressive indeed, NDSU is happy to have him.

You gotta love Wayzata's Grant Olson's Twitter shot at Brewster though!!


Shout out to zach vraa state champion in the 110 meter hurdles!!, still not fast enough for you brewster?

G34OLSON
6:37 PM Jun 13th via txt
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I am excited for Vraa. Too bad he did not get any Big Ten offers, it would have been fun to see what he can do. I don't fault Brewster for not offering him, but I also do not blame Brewster. The thing most responsible for Vraa not getting scholarship offers is Rosemount's offensive scheme.

Too bad for Vraa that he is stuck going to the America's version of Siberia (North Dakota).
 

Rosemountian said:
Vraa has no one to blame for his lack of major offers but his coaching staff. Rosemount has been a good program for 5-6 years now, yet they have not produced an FBS player. They run the scheme that is the antithesis of what a WR prospect needs. There is not enough film on Vraa to know if he can run good routes or know good route combos. QUOTE]

Usually I'm right with you, Rosemountain, but not here. The lack of complexity of RHS' offense likely had very little effect on his recruitment. If schools were on the fence about his ability to be a major-conference D-I receiver from a system perspective, those schools would have worked him out accordingly during a one-day camp prior to his senior season.

It's my experience that schools can teach WR's system, but not athleticism/speed/fast twitch. From the discussion here, sounds like this is a kid who likely would have spent 3-4 years watching at a Big Ten school before being Ben Kuznia circa 2009 for a season. Hope he gets his shot at NDSU.
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Some of the reasons he was not offered:
1) Lack of quickness (not speed), Rosemount ran an offense which set up very poorly for Yards after the catch...so he had none the whole year. The offense makes him look slow on film.
2) Lack of performance in a system which has route combos...Yes, Vraa can win jumpballs over Lake Conference D backs, but when all your run is hitch slant and go, it doesn't show if you can run effective routes in a 7 step drop system. Every pass from Rosemount is 3-step, Play action (so he is running a fly). I know for fact that Rosemount does not even have a 7 step passing game in the playbook (they do have a little bit of 5 step). They never saw him getting to open spots on the field, so once again, he looks slow on film.


He has a much better chance to be successful at an NDSU, where he actually may find himself as the superior athlete at times. In the Big Ten, he is not going to be able to out athlete the man defending him the majority of the time. The offense that Rosemount ran did not show any examples of him doing things that could help with that (Finding open spots on the field, double moves, running good routes that he would run in a 7 step passing game). While I guess I could be wrong that the offense Rosemount ran hurt him, it definitely did not help him...and when you are a borderline guy (he is borderline FCS/FBS) you need all the help you can get to get your offer.
 

You clearly have a personal knowledge base about the Rosemount system, and I certainly can't speak to that. It's still probably fair to say the offense in place at any school is mostly irrelevant in recruiting. I think that's especially the case here where the kid was playing in Minnesota's back yard. Loads of D-I recruits come from schools that don't cater to their strengths as a football player. As I've said, if the 'U' was on the fence about offering him, they would've worked him out with the agility and speed drills they find most usufel as metrics for recruits.
 

I think that Minnesota was banking on getting him as a walk on when it appeared that he was getting no other Big Ten offers. He did not want to walk on and committed to NDSU. I know his family was pretty bitter about not getting a gopher offer. So I doubt he would have switched even if he had gotten a late offer.
 

To the Bison guy that insists on posting on a Gopher board: This kid had no offers from ANYONE in the Big Ten, it's not just Brewster who thought he was too slow or simply not good enough...it was EVERYONE. That is why he's at NDSU. I hope he does well, I root for all Minnesota kids (as long as they don't go to Iowa or Wisconsin), but he shouldn't be a topic on this board.
 

I disagree. he should be a topic on this board. This is a Minnesota Gopher football board.

The Minnesota Mr. Football finalists are relevant conversation in a state in which there is only 1 FCS program. Regardless of what school they came from.

The problem with the discussion is when there is no discussion and the only statements are: The U was dumb for not offering him....or....he got no FCS offers, he simply was not good enough.
You can say that, but stop spamming it. The problem with discussion of the topic is when people who add nothing to the discussion try to contribute to the discussion.
 

And here I thought I was going to get an update on how Edwards looked...
 

10 reasons why Zach Vraa is not a gopher:

1. All onion diet exasperated an already serious body odor problem.
2. Constantly distracted by puny team manager asking him to be his friend.
3. Devoted too much time to being Mr. Football rather than being good at football.
4. Dog ate his fast twitch muscles.
5. Cosmic Rays.
6. Not friends with Seantrel Henderson
7. Uncertainty among coaches as to how to pronounce his last name.
8. Grant Olson's obnoxious tweets.
9. Anti U.N. tirade during Mr. Football acceptance speech.
10. Not offered scholarship.
 

gophmeister said:
10 reasons why Zach Vraa is not a gopher:

1. All onion diet exasperated an already serious body odor problem.
2. Constantly distracted by puny team manager asking him to be his friend.
3. Devoted too much time to being Mr. Football rather than being good at football.
4. Dog ate his fast twitch muscles.
5. Cosmic Rays.
6. Not friends with Seantrel Henderson
7. Uncertainty among coaches as to how to pronounce his last name.
8. Grant Olson's obnoxious tweets.
9. Anti U.N. tirade during Mr. Football acceptance speech.
10. Not offered scholarship.
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Shouldn't this be a poll?
 

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