Gophers 2010 recruiting class

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dpodoll68

dpodoll68

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I was doing some research on this class, and it's pretty startling how empty it is, especially considering that these young men signed their LOIs less than 2 years ago.

Out of the 26 signees listed on Rivals:

Left team
1. Matt Eggen
2. Tiree Eure (JuCo)
3. Marquise Hill
4. J.D. Pride
5. Johnathan Ragoo
6. Willie Tatum
7. Josh Tauaefa

Never made it to campus (eligibility issues)
1. Herschel Thornton
2. Dwight Tillman

Graduated (JuCo)
1. Christyn Lewis

That leaves 16 out of 26 who are still on the roster less than two years later. Of those 16:

Have played sparingly or not at all (no known injury issues)
1. Tyrone Bouie
2. Sean Ferguson
3. Logan Hutton
4. Dwayne Mitchell
5. Tom Parish
6. Cameron Wilson

That leaves 10 who have or are projected to be significant contributors in some way: L. Edwards, Epping, Gjere, Kirkwood, Legania (injury), Lenkiewicz, Manuel, Perry, Vereen, and Wright.

Granted, many of the 6 mentioned above could work their way into the rotation at some point (all have 3 years of eligibility remaining), but I would not take it as a good sign if you couldn't see the field on a 3-9 team that was playing a ton of young guys, including many walk-ons at key positions at key times. The fact that we currently have 10 scholarship contributors+ in a class of 26 players is why you are seeing a concerted effort by the coaching staff to recruit Sophomore-eligible JuCos this year, and why you will almost certainly see another 3-4 (at minimum) Junior-eligible JuCos signed next year. It would be severely detrimental to the development of the program if we only graduated a class of 8-12 players in 2015.
 



Nice research dpo! This is the part that some people still fail to get about Brewster's recruiting. It doesn't matter what you're class is ranked in February if multiple guys never make it on campus and half the class is gone within 1-2 years.
 

In defense of Ferguson, Brew had him at DT, he was always projected as a OL in high school. Coach Kill has him back were he belongs, but there's no way make up for lost time, next year he'll add some depth on the OL, but he'll be where he should have been as a RFr.
 



There has been a problem with losing players around here for a long time dating back even into the Mason years. Hopefully Kill we be able to curb that trend to a certain degree. There are always going to be casualties in any recruiting class but you hope they are minimal.
 

Good work and quite interesting. Weren't Cameron Wilson and Logan Hutton kind of throw in players at the end of the class? I wonder if they are expected casualties.
 

Logan Hutton is a legacy, brother of former Gopher letterman Lee Hutton III ('99) who is now a fairly well-known attorney in Minneapolis. They extended him an offer on or around signing day, seemingly as a good-will gesture. As for Cameron Wilson...well, I don't know what the deal is, but he was definitely a throw-in, as he didn't commit until June, four months after signing day.
 



The 09 class is not much better as according to my count, just 12 of 20 are still on the roster. Gone are Allen, Lewis, Rengel, Searcy, Lipscomb and JUCO's Wills & Hayo and Michel who is still listed but ?? due to his history of concussions.

Stability in player retention and the coaching staff has been hurting the program and I hope it sharply improves under Coach Kill.

It will be interesting to see if any current contributors prior to the 2012 Spring session and the first game.
 

Very good post. I had that same thought the other day, but never got around to checking. Kill and staff brought in 24 recruits last year, have 23 commits already for 2012 in a class I assume of 28. Remember, they have been here just over one year. So much has been done to balance the squad. The good news is the final group of 10 in the class of 2010 looks solid and I know I'm pleased with what I've seen and heard of their abbreviated recruiting efforts in the class of 2011. Patience!
 

If I remember right, the rumors were that James Louis was going to switch his commitment from OSU to Minnesota. He was a high school teammate of Kirkwood. When he decided to stay with OSU, we offered Hutton instead on signing day...
 

It is absolutely critical to keep a large per centage of each class. Attrition hopefully never claims more than five from any class of 25 due to injuries or whatever. Of the remaining 20 you need twenty to be able to play significant roles within two or three years. It's those other ten that you need to stick around and get the job done in the classroom, in the weightroom, and on the practice field. These are the guys that, being fourth or fifth year juniors or seniors, can give the team the starters and backups they need to be good down the road. That's what has ailed this team and why we're always so thin at many positions each year and ending up playing freshmen. It's not rocket science. You can't recruit all super stars. You're going to get players each year that need time to develop, especially at a school like Minnesota. Some won't pan out, but many will become very adequate if not good players. I think this is where Kill's forte is. If he succeeds here it will be because of those 'grunts' that hang around, work hard, and contribute later in their careers.
 



Great post dpodoll68 and follow-up posts by others---this is why I'm a dues paying member of GopherHole. I may not post alot, but I do like the insightful information I receive daily!
 

I could easily be wrong, but I don't think Marquise Hill made it onto campus either. Same point holds true, but I think he's in the Tillman/Thornton category.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
The 09 class is not much better as according to my count, just 12 of 20 are still on the roster. Gone are Allen, Lewis, Rengel, Searcy, Lipscomb and JUCO's Wills & Hayo and Michel who is still listed but ?? due to his history of concussions.

Stability in player retention and the coaching staff has been hurting the program and I hope it sharply improves under Coach Kill.

It will be interesting to see if any current contributors prior to the 2012 Spring session and the first game.
Click to expand...

I looked at the 2009 class also and am alarmed. Of the 12 remaining, only a few made any notable contribution this past season (Hagemann, E.Olson, Gregory-McGee, Campion, Oreske, Garin). Include JUCO Wills, you got 7 of 20 contributors from a class, with no identifiable standout player 3yrs in. You might be able to say Hagemann or E.Olson has potential to be a notable guy, but who else?

If you figure a 2-deep roster is needed on any given week plus kicker/punter, you need 46 players. We have the upcoming junior class providing 6 guys, or 13% of the needed roster. One would hope that the players 3yrs in are at least 25%-30% the active roster (12-14 contributors). We have half that targeted amount and have to compensate by playing more first & second year players (i.e. undersized & inexperienced).

This is part of seeing the facts about the talent level present in the program. It also brings context to Kill's comments about the need to balance out the classes.
 

Great post - thanks for the research! Hopefully in a few years we can revisit this thread and chuckle about how we've only lost a couple guys since this time, and how we can't believe how bad it was before Kill...
 

And people wonder why Coach Kill was deflating expectations.
 

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