Crash - Today 12:35 PM Edit Report The Minnesota football roster has 128 names. 59 of these athletes come from MN or neighboring states. 22 of the 45 MN high school athletes originally signed on as scholarship athletes. Seventy-five of the 100 athletes on the ND roster come from MN or one of the bordering states. In the last 5 years, only 28 of 125 scholarships have been granted to athletes from MN or a bordering state, while we have issued 46 of our scholarships to athletes from TX, CA or FL.
I think we have been brainwashed into believing MN and its bordering states do not produce Division I talent. Yes, we need some out of state talent especially in the defensive backfield and wide receiver positions. But we need to become a MN football team, where the "heart and soul" come from MN. Some don't believe we can do this. Well, we've tried your method for the past 20-40 years, and it is not working. How about trying the MN-Midwest method for 5-10 years?
Agree completely. I've argued this before, MN and the surrounding area has plenty of talent, it just goes completely under the radar. There could be any number of reasons for this; probably the biggest reason is just plain lack of media attention. Do you think there are a lot of recruiting uppety-ups who are attending outdoor MN high school football games in October and November? On just the weather factor alone, no. And this goes, too, for our neighboring states.
Jimmy Kleinsasser, from North Dakota. Nice, if not spectacular, PRO career. Eric Decker, lowly recruit from outstate MN. Stud. Van de Steeg - anyone wish we still had him?
This is the deal - MN football does not compare well with that of Texas. But that doesn't mean that talent isn't there. It may need a bit more coaching, but look what good coaching can do for underrated talent. Craig Bohl is a good football coach.
Should I mention that NDSU basketball always gives the Gophers a good game, too? Same deal, mostly MN or area kids, going up against these full-ride kids from other states. Who were the Gophers' two best basketball players last year? Easy answer: Blake Hoffarber and Trevor Mbakwe, both from MN.
If the talent we get from out of the state in football and basketball is just going to be marginal, wouldn't it make a whole lot of sense to pay more attention to getting that same level of marginal talent from inside our own state or from neighboring states? The recruiting budget would decrease, at least. And perhaps more fans would care about our team, win or lose.
Case in point, does anyone here really believe that the MN Gopher womens team would have ever gained the popularity that it did if Lindsay Whalen had been from, say, Alabama, instead of MN? Let's remember that Whalen came from a small, outstate high school and, as far as I know, was no bigtime recruit.
Using statistics based population size alone, there are many, many athletes from MN who deserve D-1 scholarships as much as the next kid, and won't get an offer.
/Endrant.
