Official 2022 Gophers Football Recruiting Thread: Links, Tweets, Videos, Rumors

Check out ESPN updates today. Ike White a 4-star and still doesn't have a rivals rating. Anyone have any data on how many prospects have ratings vs last year at this time? Curious if there are statistically demonstrable covid delays.
 
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Still 12th of 14 based on AVG in the B1G, and only one player inside the top 500 at this point.
Are we going to pretend there is some significant difference between a .8655 and a .8555 class average? Because there isn't one. As as for the concept of a top 500.....

Is there really any possible way to accurately rate 1000s or players from all over the country into any sort of meaningful list from 1-500? Outside of the best of the best you are just throwing darts at a board and it all comes down to some evaluators opinion of some highlights for a lot of these kids.
 

Are we going to pretend there is some significant difference between a .8655 and a .8555 class average? Because there isn't one. As as for the concept of a top 500.....

Is there really any possible way to accurately rate 1000s or players from all over the country into any sort of meaningful list from 1-500? Outside of the best of the best you are just throwing darts at a board and it all comes down to some evaluators opinion of some highlights for a lot of these kids.
I'm not pretending anything, are you?
 

We do have 10 of the top 1,000 by composite ratings as of today. Seems like the recruiting industry is catching up to PJ and company already!
 





I'm not pretending anything, are you?

Just trying to figure out if you actually believe the recruiting rankings should be taken as gospel or if you are just in the mood to try and pick fights with people.
 





So did Bell end up coming for an official today?

Would be great if he did.
 

You absolutely can take both sides of that opinion. The vast majority of our recruits have legitimate power 5 interest from other schools. These days it is very rare to see us as the lone power 5 offer for one of our recruits, whereas in the past that was much more common.

In those rare cases where Fleck offers and gets a commitment from a kid with little to no power 5 interest then you have to assume the staff saw something they really liked in the player. Look at the two that fit this bill in this class: Nelson is a small town Minnesota kid who would have to work pretty hard to get a lot of National attention. He didn't go hunting for that attention because he caught the eye of the only school he was really interested in.

Alvarez is the really interesting one. Why did they offer a kid with seemingly no other D1 or power 5 options? They had to have seen something that told them this kid has something special otherwise the decision to use a scholarship on him makes no sense. This would traditionally be the kind of kid that ends up as a PWO. None of us know exactly what led to the decision to offer but they clearly saw something. At a time when scholarships are most likely going to be limited they wouldn't just throw one away.

But hey, maybe you would prefer to go back to the Mason or Kill days of recruiting when we were stuck at the bottom of the conference filling the classes with guys that bound for the MAC if we didn't offer.
You keep comparing this staff to Kill’s. NO ONE CARES! Fleck is the better recruiter and coach. There might be one or two guys on this entire board that would disagree with that take.

What’s relevant right now isn’t how Fleck’s classes compare to Kill’s. It’s how they compare to the rest of the B1G and our main rivals- Wisky and Iowa. You keep insinuating that people are star chasers, but here you are telling us it’s a similar class to the others. There are really only three things you can be: (1) a star chaser; (2) an offer chaser; (3) or a trust the coaches guy. People become trust the coaches guys when 1 and 2 aren’t working for them. Sometimes it’s warranted, sometimes it’s not.
 

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe that PJ and his staff has either had all the players in for a workout or saw them in person at a camp. So some people are thinking that even after watching the players live, they are going to rely on internet rankings to determine if this year's class is going to be considered a success or not? I might be naive, but I highly doubt that after watching Player A do a workout, they would offer them a scholarship, and not believe the player can come in and develop to help this team win more ballgames in the next 4-5 years.

If we are in December and just grabbing guys to fill out some scholarships at the last minute, I can understand the concern. Why anyone would think that they are grasping for straws in June is beyond me. Are we grabbing kids from Bama, Ohio St, or Clemson, absolutely not. But if that's what you consider a success or not, I feel for you!
Identify kids who fit the program early, go after them hard and hopefully they commit early. And not only does it help kids in that class become closer and hopefully have less decomittments (there always will be a few regardless) but the staff now has more time and can put more effort into possibly a couple big fish, and even if it doesn't workout, it won't be as much of a concern than it would be if they just went after all the big fish and when they don't get any, they would be truly screwed.

Relax, be happy for the kids who want to be here and who the staff want to be here. After all, the kids are 17 years old and there is no exact science to how good any of them might be.
 



I think that this take is a bit easy. In this years high school recruiting class we will see many less players given a scholarship which should allow lesser schools (like ourselves) to be recruiting more highly rated players. Bud Elliot of 247 was interviewing an FCS school and was told that they expect to get some P5 quality players due to the lack of scholarships surrounding the "super" senior scholarship crunch. If we are recruiting players rated inline with Fleck's other classes we are in fact doing a worse job.
This is an outstanding point and a reason this class is disappointing so far. Most teams, including us, are going to have much smaller classes than normal this year due to no one losing eligibility last season. So if the helmet schools and teams that have been recruiting better than us are only getting 14-15 recruits as opposed to the normal 25, there will be a lot of high end recruits having to commit to schools they normally wouldn’t have to consider. Every team should be able to be more selective this class and you would expect the avg recruit rating to spike considerably.
 

Are we going to pretend there is some significant difference between a .8655 and a .8555 class average? Because there isn't one. As as for the concept of a top 500.....

Is there really any possible way to accurately rate 1000s or players from all over the country into any sort of meaningful list from 1-500? Outside of the best of the best you are just throwing darts at a board and it all comes down to some evaluators opinion of some highlights for a lot of these kids.
So now it’s come to this - the rankings are skewed.
 

I enjoy the back and forth on these threads. The use of stars and rankings to grade players has proven to be somewhat predictive, not perfect but a guide. In that respect I'd have to side with those who think this is less than a stellar class. BUT there is something else to consider:

From 1991 to 2016 the Gopher's big ten record was 69 wins and 140 losses, a "winning" percentage of 33%. Good if compared to the Timberwolves but not much else.

Mr. Fleck's teams have a combined big ten record of 15 wins and 19 losses, a "winning" percentage of 44%. Although under 500 it is a dramatic improvement. So, who should I trust?

Go Gophers and yes, I trust Fleck not the pundits.
Yes, and in Jerry's last three years his Big Ten record was 10 and 9. 1 over .500
And Tracy Claeys only full season as head coach, he was 5 and 4 in the Big Ten. 1 over .500
PJ has lost ground at 44% in the program he inherited.
Let's not forget he did not recruit the principle performers from his 11 and 2 season.
So, on paper PJ has recruited some guys Bateman, Mo, Daniel, St. Juiste etc and he has had one great season but it's critical PJ wins 8 or more this coming season because we are likely to have no depth next season at many positions.
PJ could be good but I don't think we know if he's good yet.
 

Yes, and in Jerry's last three years his Big Ten record was 10 and 9. 1 over .500
And Tracy Claeys only full season as head coach, he was 5 and 4 in the Big Ten. 1 over .500
PJ has lost ground at 44% in the program he inherited.
Let's not forget he did not recruit the principle performers from his 11 and 2 season.
So, on paper PJ has recruited some guys Bateman, Mo, Daniel, St. Juiste etc and he has had one great season but it's critical PJ wins 8 or more this coming season because we are likely to have no depth next season at many positions.
PJ could be good but I don't think we know if he's good yet.
Wait, why are we likely not going to have any depth? And how does winning 8 games fix that?
 

Wait, why are we likely not going to have any depth? And how does winning 8 games fix that?
We aren't going to have any depth because we have 40 seniors. PJ doesn't play backups unless we have injuries or covid.
Winning 8 or more means we can survive winning 5 or 6 next year.
As PJ has told us, "We will be good this year."
 

We aren't going to have any depth because we have 40 seniors. PJ doesn't play backups unless we have injuries or covid.
Winning 8 or more means we can survive winning 5 or 6 next year.
As PJ has told us, "We will be good this year."
We have forty seniors? I don’t think that is correct. And it’s not like all the players that get play time right now are seniors. I don’t see the massive depth issues all over the roster that you seem to be seeing.
 

Yes, and in Jerry's last three years his Big Ten record was 10 and 9. 1 over .500
And Tracy Claeys only full season as head coach, he was 5 and 4 in the Big Ten. 1 over .500
PJ has lost ground at 44% in the program he inherited.
Let's not forget he did not recruit the principle performers from his 11 and 2 season.
So, on paper PJ has recruited some guys Bateman, Mo, Daniel, St. Juiste etc and he has had one great season but it's critical PJ wins 8 or more this coming season because we are likely to have no depth next season at many positions.
PJ could be good but I don't think we know if he's good yet.
Just curious why we'd give Jerry a pass on year 1 and 2 (4-12 B1G record) but don't give that to PJ. He's 10-6 in the B1G if you give the same two-year pass.

The roster PJ inherited was one of the worst gopher rosters I've ever seen.

The 11-2 not being PJs guys is weird to me. There's this really important thing in football called the quarterback. That year, ours threw 3200 yards, 30 TDs and 7 picks. If Tanner only played that season and quit, the 30 TDs would be 9th in school history......for a career, not single-season. Mitch Leidner threw 36 TDs and 32 picks in four years and was hands-down the best from the kill/claeys era.
 

Not sure what has you so wound up but you are wrong on your assessment of this class. it won't be a bottom of the barrel group and it won't be far off from what we have been bringing in under Fleck. Not top of the conference but also right in line with the talent being brought in by the majority of the conference. As opposed to how it used to be where our talent rankings were significantly below the other schools in the Big Ten.

If you are just obsessing over the rankings you should probably at least hold off until the three unranked guys get their composite scores which should fall somewhere in the mid 80s. Those 3 along with Smith will all give us a nice bump in the team rankings.

Maybe that will allow you to take a deep breath and step back from the ledge a little bit.

If you are expecting us to be recruiting along the same lines as Alabama and Ohio State than you may as well just get used to disappointment because with our local talent pool that isn't likely to happen anytime soon.
The Gopher know the type of players they want, and recruit to their system. They develop Five Stars like AW Jr, not get commitments from them. Hopefully, we like to see that cahnge. It will be great if you can get a recruit that the Bamas and tOSUs get regularly. Realistically, these players normally don't go to schools like MN with the very high ratings that they have talent-wise. Once in a great while, we can celebrate when the Gophers actually have a huge recruiting win over these schools..
 

Just curious why we'd give Jerry a pass on year 1 and 2 (4-12 B1G record) but don't give that to PJ. He's 10-6 in the B1G if you give the same two-year pass.

The roster PJ inherited was one of the worst gopher rosters I've ever seen.

The 11-2 not being PJs guys is weird to me. There's this really important thing in football called the quarterback. That year, ours threw 3200 yards, 30 TDs and 7 picks. If Tanner only played that season and quit, the 30 TDs would be 9th in school history......for a career, not single-season. Mitch Leidner threw 36 TDs and 32 picks in four years and was hands-down the best from the kill/claeys era.
You make some good points but "worst Gopher roster ever"? How many of those inherited guys have been at least invited to an NFL camp...10-15 with some still to come? That would suggest there was some talent.

Tanner had a great year...not so much last year. It's one season for PJ and Tanner.
The one season was fantastic.
Jerry Kill's QB's did not perform very well...no argument but the offense overall was suspect, not just the QB.

Why the pass? Because Jerry inherited a losing program and PJ inherited a program that went to 5 straight bowl games coming off a 9 win season. PJ is now sitting on 2 times.
 

We have forty seniors? I don’t think that is correct. And it’s not like all the players that get play time right now are seniors. I don’t see the massive depth issues all over the roster that you seem to be seeing.
Okay, 31 seniors including a few that will possibly be back but other guys will transfer, quit, declare for the NFL. If you don't think we are going to lose a LOT of valuable guys who play the majority of the snaps...then we disagree.
 

Yes, and in Jerry's last three years his Big Ten record was 10 and 9. 1 over .500
And Tracy Claeys only full season as head coach, he was 5 and 4 in the Big Ten. 1 over .500
PJ has lost ground at 44% in the program he inherited.
Let's not forget he did not recruit the principle performers from his 11 and 2 season.
So, on paper PJ has recruited some guys Bateman, Mo, Daniel, St. Juiste etc and he has had one great season but it's critical PJ wins 8 or more this coming season because we are likely to have no depth next season at many positions.
PJ could be good but I don't think we know if he's good yet.
What? PJ is good. 11-2 showed us that. But is he really good? Can he win 10-11 games again? We’ll see.
 

You make some good points but "worst Gopher roster ever"? How many of those inherited guys have been at least invited to an NFL camp...10-15 with some still to come? That would suggest there was some talent.



Tanner had a great year...not so much last year. It's one season for PJ and Tanner.


The one season was fantastic.
Jerry Kill's QB's did not perform very well...no argument but the offense overall was suspect, not just the QB.

Why the pass? Because Jerry inherited a losing program and PJ inherited a program that went to 5 straight bowl games coming off a 9 win season. PJ is now sitting on 2 times.
I think the "we won last year" is a myopic standard. Like saying belicheck sucks now because he inherited a winner and missed the playoffs......with no context accounted for. Never mind that a four-year starting qb was being replaced by Rhoda and Croft and we'd been terrible on the recruiting front for the prior three years. I don't see it.

I'll say this -- the 2016 recruiting class was huge. But those guys weren't meaningful contributors to that 9-win team or ready to win in 2017.
 

So now it’s come to this - the rankings are skewed.
The rankings aren't skewed they just aren't perfect. I really don't understand why that is hard to understand.

2016 - Antoine Winfield was a .82 and Philip Howard was a .85. Howard was supposedly the 813th best player in the country. Winfield didn't even crack the top 1000.

2017 - Boye Mafe was a .82 and Handy-Holly was a .86 and supposedly just outside the top 500 in the country

You can go through every class in the country and find plenty of examples of cases where the recruiting sites were way off on a recruit. Why, because they are trying to rate thousands of players across the country based on limited information in a lot of cases. In other words they are just making an educated guess on how good they think a kid is going to be. They are right a lot and they are wrong a lot.

So yeah, I guess I fall into the crowd that trusts the coaches who take the time to get to know these recruits, who attend their games and explore their backgrounds more than I trust the recruiting sites.

Heck, I know I am rough on the previous staffs but I will give Kill and his group credit for being very good at finding those overlooked players that other schools were missing on. They just struggled to get the kids that other comparable schools wanted.

Recruiting rankings and recruiting sites are there to give the fans something to talk about and get excited about. But believing these sites can accurately grade every recruit or rank classes against each other is just foolish.

Are we bringing in players that can compete in the Big Ten and put us in the mix to win the West? 2019 would indicate that we are, 2020 was a strange year for everyone. Hopefully 2021 backs up what we saw in 2019. Way Fleck is talking about this squad I like our chances of seeing something special in the fall.
 

Okay, 31 seniors including a few that will possibly be back but other guys will transfer, quit, declare for the NFL. If you don't think we are going to lose a LOT of valuable guys who play the majority of the snaps...then we disagree.
We do lose some good players, that doesn’t mean we won’t have any depth. What position groups have zero depth after next year?
 

We do lose some good players, that doesn’t mean we won’t have any depth. What position groups have zero depth after next year?
Define depth? Obviously we we have numbers, we have 120 guys.
The OL is losing a lot.
The DL is losing a lot.
TE is losing mainstays.
Mo will be gone.
A lot of the better players on the team won’t be back. 3 LB’s
Maybe some guys emerge but our recruits have not exploded on the scene recently.
I just don’t think the depth will be very experienced or all conference caliber. I see many of the best guys movin’ on.
 

Define depth? Obviously we we have numbers, we have 120 guys.
The OL is losing a lot.
The DL is losing a lot.
TE is losing mainstays.
Mo will be gone.
A lot of the better players on the team won’t be back. 3 LB’s
Maybe some guys emerge but our recruits have not exploded on the scene recently.
I just don’t think the depth will be very experienced or all conference caliber. I see many of the best guys movin’ on.
Other than on the oline, the returning talent is generally supposed to better on paper than what they are replacing. It’s college football, you only get so many experienced known commodities. But the solid teams find a way to replace guys every year. I expect to see some drop off on the oline, at QB, and at RB, but that doesn’t mean it’s a sure thing. The other positions you mentioned, DL, LB, and TE are not major concerns to me.
 

Every team in 2022 is going to lose extra super-seniors from 2021 that they normally would not have had this fall.

Lots of loss to go around.
 




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