Avante Dickerson: #2 Top Committed Prospect Who Didn't Sign Early

Avante put up a Twitter highlight reel with our beautiful block M at the end right after he delayed signing. Since then we have added a lot of nice transfer pieces, but none in the secondary. That leads me to believe he has not given any indication to our staff that he is wavering and is likely to sign anywhere else. He certainly has options, but I think he ultimately stays with us which would obviously be great for us but I think also great for him! Our secondary has produced a lot of NFL talent in recent years and I think one overlooked benefit of Fleck and Simon doing such a good job developing receivers is that it also allows our corners/safeties to practice against receivers doing the little things that separate NFL receivers Everest in practice and thus also develop even quicker.
 

Avante put up a Twitter highlight reel with our beautiful block M at the end right after he delayed signing. Since then we have added a lot of nice transfer pieces, but none in the secondary. That leads me to believe he has not given any indication to our staff that he is wavering and is likely to sign anywhere else. He certainly has options, but I think he ultimately stays with us which would obviously be great for us but I think also great for him! Our secondary has produced a lot of NFL talent in recent years and I think one overlooked benefit of Fleck and Simon doing such a good job developing receivers is that it also allows our corners/safeties to practice against receivers doing the little things that separate NFL receivers Everest in practice and thus also develop even quicker.
I have no idea how likely this is but I like it.
 

Who does Avante Dickerson remind you of? Eric Murray or AWjr?

I would say to him to stay with his Gopher commitment. The Gophers have been quietly sending DBs to the pros.

 

You would think he would have a decision by Fe. 3
 









Do we add a CB transfer now?
 











Recruiting class now 35th in the country, 8th in the Big Ten. Almost the same as last year.

Nebraska - #20 National - #5 BIG - 20 recruits - four 4* - sixteen 3* - avg rank 87.64
Minnesota - #35 National - #8 BIG - 18 recruits - four 4* - fourteen 3* avg rank 87.09

People would be jumping for joy at the #20 class in the country but look at #35 as a disappointment. Look at the breakdown on those two classes, are we really going to pretend there is some massive difference there? If I stripped away the team names and rankings, would anyone expect those two classes to be 15 spots apart?

Losing Dickerson sucks but it doesn't drastically shift the value of this class and it doesn't make in inferior to the vast majority of the classes in the Big Ten. There are still 2 elite classes in the conference (Ohio State, Michigan) and then there is not a ton of separation between the rest of the conference.

The talent we are brining in is very comparable on paper to the talent our rivals in the West are bringing in. What happens when those players arrive on campus is what really matters.
 

That's the Gophers sports regime in a nutshell. So close, but almost always - never.
No need for the doom and gloom. I would be willing to bet we have someone on the roster that will be better than him anyways. You act like we lost out on the next Prime Time.
 


What I am wondering as others do is all the talk about PJ Fleck being vetted by Tennessee is weaponized by Scott Frost that PJ is a short timer. That he will go for greener pasture once before his college eligibility is done.
 

What I am wondering as others do is all the talk about PJ Fleck being vetted by Tennessee is weaponized by Scott Frost that PJ is a short timer. That he will go for greener pasture once before his college eligibility is done.

Coaches will do whatever they can to get an advantage but I highly doubt that was any sort of factor here.
 

The timing of his decision to decomitt and Fleck being pursued by Tennessee is interesting. Side not, i saw Rod Chance (at Oregon) is the lead recruiter for Avante.
 

No need for the doom and gloom. I would be willing to bet we have someone on the roster that will be better than him anyways. You act like we lost out on the next Prime Time.

Between the two major men's sports the Gophers get teased a lot with high level recruits. I still think the Gophers are turning a corner, but each time it seems that way a couple recruits decommit or an injury/scandal happens.
 

Outside of the obvious of him not coming here. It sucks, by his 'committing' early we stopped recruiting other CB's. Part as we didn't think we needed any more and part as not to "disrespect' him (and Ortiz).
 

Perfect example of why I don't trust the words of 18-year-olds when they talk about their level of "commitment" before signing on the dotted line.

Their word means nothing.
 

Perfect example of why I don't trust the words of 18-year-olds when they talk about their level of "commitment" before signing on the dotted line.

Their word means nothing.
90% of the kids who verballed ended up signing already. We don’t need to over dramatize and make blanket statements. It’s okay for these kids to do what they think is best for them. I think we’ve all had a few decisions along the way where we changed our mind or realized after the fact that we made a poor choice. Our class is really good. Our team should be successful in the coming year. I wish Dickerson the best unless he plays against the Gophers. If he wants to transfer here to play under Fleck in a few years I’ll welcome him then.
 

Perfect example of why I don't trust the words of 18-year-olds when they talk about their level of "commitment" before signing on the dotted line.

Their word means nothing.
Eh, most kids sign.

The rest, they're 18 and making a huge decision. I don't blame them for thinking they're committed and then changing their mind.
 

90% of the kids who verballed ended up signing already. We don’t need to over dramatize and make blanket statements. It’s okay for these kids to do what they think is best for them. I think we’ve all had a few decisions along the way where we changed our mind or realized after the fact that we made a poor choice. Our class is really good. Our team should be successful in the coming year. I wish Dickerson the best unless he plays against the Gophers. If he wants to transfer here to play under Fleck in a few years I’ll welcome him then.

None of what you just said negates my point.

These are kids. The only thing you can count on them to say is what they think they should at the moment. Some are truly committed, others are not.

The point still stands. If you want to believe every kid who makes a verbal, that's your decision.

Me? I'll wait until they actually sign and not hang on their quotes or tweets about how committed they are until their signature is on the dotted line.
 




Top Bottom