Beau Allen's top 4: Minnesota, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, and Stanford

[BleedGopher]

per this update from IrishEyes.com:

Defensive tackle prospect Beau Allen hasn’t committed a lot of time to recruiting over the past month, but that will change on September 1, when college coaches can once again contact recruits.


Notre Dame will be one of the schools reaching out to Beau Allen this week. The Irish would like to add a couple defensive tackle prospects to this recruiting class, and Allen has the Irish in the mix.

“I recently narrowed down my list and Notre Dame is on that list,” Allen replied when asked about his recruitment. “I plan on taking an official visit to Notre Dame, but I’m not exactly sure when. I’ve still got get that worked out, but I’m pretty excited about Notre Dame and I’m pretty excited to watch them this year.

“They were my latest offer, and even though I haven’t had the time I want to get to know the coaching staff. I do feel like I really get along with them. I like the history of the program. I like the location, the facilities and the kind of exposure that you get there. It’s also a prestigious academic school, which I like.

“I’ve been mostly talking to coach Ianello, but I haven’t actually talked to him in a while,” Allen said. “I’ve been pretty busy and haven’t been able to give them a call and they can’t call me until September 1. I’ve been keeping in contact with them through email.

“I haven’t talked to them about their depth or anything like that, but they said they’d like to sign two or three defensive tackles. I think they’re pretty thin at that spot so I think there’s a lot of opportunity to play there.”

Other than the Irish, Allen is still considering Minnesota, Wisconsin, Stanford, UCLA, Northwestern, Michigan State and Nebraska.

“My top four schools are Minnesota, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, and Stanford. I’m going to take four official visits to those schools. I’m really trying to fill that fifth spot and see where I’m going to take my fifth visit.”

http://minnesota.scout.com/a.z?s=176&p=2&c=893667

Go Gophers!!

 

[eker0016]

I wish recruits would get it out of their heads that Notre Dame is a "prestigious academic school." It's no slouch, but Stanford>Wisconsin>Minnesota>Notre Dame is the way I'd rank these schools academically.

Also, the location? It could hardly be worse! Has he been to South Bend yet?

I completely agree with the history of the program, the facilities and the exposure (more than anything) you get there.

 

[GopherGod]

I wish recruits would get it out of their heads that Notre Dame is a "prestigious academic school." It's no slouch, but Stanford>Wisconsin>Minnesota>Notre Dame is the way I'd rank these schools academically.

Also, the location? It could hardly be worse! Has he been to South Bend yet?

I completely agree with the history of the program, the facilities and the exposure (more than anything) you get there.

As much as I hate Notre Dame it is a pretty well regarded academic institution with a strong alumni network that takes care of their own. However, if he is worried about academics first it would be a no brainer for Stanford or Northwestern imo.

 

[Gopherprof]

This is really old news.

 

[paulser21]

What is it going to take to lock down this guy? He is a well respected athlete (not a #1 like Seantrel) and is exactly what Minnesota needs. A huge DT that we are craving. I haven't heard anybody say a bad thing about him. Go out and get this guy. Put the full court press on him, tell him how much we need him, and get this guy to commit to Minnesota.

 

[Replacement Gopher]

What is even older news is you doing one of two things: 1) saying 'this is old news' about any recruiting question/comment other than your own or 2) directing recruiting questions/comments to your thread.

Come on, you're better than that. I'll assume you were just off when you said, "I don't mean to pimp my own thread but ....", and when you took time out of your day to insightfully comment that "this is old news".

I expect better from a U of MN professor.

 

[year of the gopher]

I wish recruits would get it out of their heads that Notre Dame is a "prestigious academic school." It's no slouch, but Stanford>Wisconsin>Minnesota>Notre Dame is the way I'd rank these schools academically.

Also, the location? It could hardly be worse! Has he been to South Bend yet?

I completely agree with the history of the program, the facilities and the exposure (more than anything) you get there.

They're all good schools academically. I agree that Stanford is probably the best. I'm not ever really sure about Notre Dame. I sometimes think people automatically assume private schools are better than publics when it's often not the case.

Wisconsin is over-rated based on reputation largely due to how willing UW grads and Wisconsinites are oh-so willing to tell everyone how great they are. The U has not been as good at bragging itself up and often does not get credit for the strides it has made in undergrad education esp., in the last 10-15 years. I strongly disagree with the "Wisconsin>Minnesota" portion of your post.

 

[GoAUpher]

What is it going to take to lock down this guy? He is a well respected athlete (not a #1 like Seantrel) and is exactly what Minnesota needs. A huge DT that we are craving. I haven't heard anybody say a bad thing about him. Go out and get this guy. Put the full court press on him, tell him how much we need him, and get this guy to commit to Minnesota.

It's that simple? Good to know.

 

[paulser21]

It's that simple? Good to know.

Kind of like that movie "Blue Chips" with Shaq and Nick Nolte. Just buy his family a tractor or get his parents a job somewhere.

My earlier comment was made when I got back from the bars. Actually, I'm still celebrating. Twins win, Vikings win, and I'm preparing for a Gopher win... Life is good right now.

 

[go4fan]

I think Allen needs to be at the top of our list for ALL recruits. I'm not saying we should stop recruiting Seantrel but lets be honest, do we have a shot at him?? WE NEED DT'S!!! We have depth at O-line. Not Seantrel like depth but there is talent there. We need Allen more than Seantrel. Lets go Beau get on board!!!

 

[Iceland12]

They're all good schools academically. I agree that Stanford is probably the best. I'm not ever really sure about Notre Dame. I sometimes think people automatically assume private schools are better than publics when it's often not the case.

.

Notre Dame has a highly regarded undergarduate program. It's Graduate programs are not very highly rated though I think that Studwell wrote a few years ago that Notre Dame was trying to upgrade those programs.

 

[Gopherprof]

Yes, graduate work at Notre Dame is respected in a few areas, but not overall. The inverse is true of Minnesota, where the undergraduates are above-average, but the PhD programs are generally top 25.

Wisconsin is also higher ranked than Minnesota across the board. 'Better' is a subjective term, but Wisconsin didn't get a great academic reputation because of alum "talking it up."

Try to keep some perspective folks.

 

[re3886]

are we back to this apple-oranges thing again?

Yes, graduate work at Notre Dame is respected in a few areas, but not overall. The inverse is true of Minnesota, where the undergraduates are above-average, but the PhD programs are generally top 25.

Wisconsin is also higher ranked than Minnesota across the board. 'Better' is a subjective term, but Wisconsin didn't get a great academic reputation because of alum "talking it up."

Try to keep some perspective folks.

You need some perspective, or at least discover how these things work. Wisconsin's colleges are set up like a pyramid. The idea is the good and decent high school kids go to Stout, Stevens Point, etc. The better students are directed towards Madison. Minnesota was established with the idea that their job was to educate the state's children, not funnel them to UMD, Crookston, where ever. The other campuses in the "U" system have areas of expertise different them the "Main U". Living here we lose perspective, When comparing these schools see how hard it is for a kid from N.J. to get into these schools. It is about the same, with different programs at the different schools, being easier or harder.

 

[Jwill535]

What people tend to not take into account is that if you are a major athlete at any of the BCS schools, and you dont go onto to being a pro, you are going to get a good job regardless. Alums take care of alums, especially former athletes and especially those that played in the high profile sports. Lets say you got you are a high profile athlete and got your degree in finance. More then likely you are going to get a pretty good job through the network of alums whether you went to UW/UM or Cinncinatti/USF etc. The only difference being that the UW/UM/NU degrees may get you into doors that those other schools may not but that is pretty rare. Again to sum up, if you are a high profile athlete, as long as you get a degree(sometimes that isnt necessary) you are going to get a good job.

An example of this would be former Minnesota lineman Troy Turek(1996). After he flamed out at UM and UW he was given a very nice sales position at the local Budweiser distributor(only one owned by Budweiser). Now you may think it isnt that great of a job, but for a 22yr old to making upper 50's or more is pretty good without a degree.

 

[year of the gopher]

Yes, graduate work at Notre Dame is respected in a few areas, but not overall. The inverse is true of Minnesota, where the undergraduates are above-average, but the PhD programs are generally top 25.

Wisconsin is also higher ranked than Minnesota across the board. 'Better' is a subjective term, but Wisconsin didn't get a great academic reputation because of alum "talking it up."

Try to keep some perspective folks.

Higher ranked across the board? For one thing that's not true. Law school is but one example that comes to mind just off the top of my head, U of M is much higher ranked than UW.

Secondly, "reputation" is a big piece of many college rankings. Reputation is a perceived trait of an institution, not a hard, objectively measurable one...and I think reputation is gained at UW partially by a lot of people from administrators to alums talking it up more than it is worth.

I grew up in Wisconsin, I am related to many UW alumni and know many more than that. To a great extent, I've been able to document that things that they claim about UW are patently false, but it doesn't stop them from claiming them to be true to me or others. Like with Rush Limbaugh and other spinsters on either side of the political aisle, when you repeat something often enough about any topic, people start to believe it.

A couple examples from the last two weeks:

"Wisconsin doesn't have lower admission standards for athletes than the rest of the student body." My response...see any Ron Dayne interview from the late '90s.

"You can't get into Wisconsin with anything less than a 26 ACT score. They won't even consider you." http://www.admissions.wisc.edu/freshman.php indicates while the typical freshman has a score of 26 or higher, there is no cut score.

Am I saying UW is a bad school? No, absolutely not, it's a great school. But so is the U of M and if you really are a "gopher prof" you should be embarrassed to be saying that UW is somehow better across the board.

 

[GopherHomer]

Well, he's obviously not an actual professor. I think we can be sure of that. I'm not even sure if he's a Gopher to tell you the truth...

 

[grunkiejr]

As much as I hate Notre Dame it is a pretty well regarded academic institution with a strong alumni network that takes care of their own. However, if he is worried about academics first it would be a no brainer for Stanford or Northwestern imo.

I agree with you about Notre Dame alums looking out for their own but that isn't a good reason for a football player to go there. From talking to players and coaches, D-I football players have a network all their own that negates the advantage of the Notre Dame alumni network.

 

[Gopherprof]

Higher ranked across the board? For one thing that's not true. Law school is but one example that comes to mind just off the top of my head, U of M is much higher ranked than UW.

When I said across the board I meant in terms of the overall undergraduate and graduate schools. Obviously some programs are going to vary. Hell, The University of Akron has the best school in the country for polymer science and engineering, a good school overall that does not make.

Secondly, "reputation" is a big piece of many college rankings. Reputation is a perceived trait of an institution, not a hard, objectively measurable one...and I think reputation is gained at UW partially by a lot of people from administrators to alums talking it up more than it is worth.

You're wrong in almost everything you just said, but you 'believe' it, so ok.

I grew up in Wisconsin, I am related to many UW alumni and know many more than that.

Relevant?

To a great extent, I've been able to document that things that they claim about UW are patently false, but it doesn't stop them from claiming them to be true to me or others. Like with Rush Limbaugh and other spinsters on either side of the political aisle, when you repeat something often enough about any topic, people start to believe it.

People that rank colleges, believe it or not, aren't you. They aren't basing it on what their friends and relatives say. They are, in fact, basing it on empirical data like research grants, placement rates, access to information, and a bunch of other material. They aren't dittoheads that listen to Rush Limbaugh, they are usually highly-educated individuals who take what they do seriously, which is why your comments are so ridiculous. It's an extreme denigration of the people that do fine work at all institutions to assume that they are judged purely on false claims made by alums at dinner parties.

Am I saying UW is a bad school? No, absolutely not, it's a great school. But so is the U of M and if you really are a "gopher prof" you should be embarrassed to be saying that UW is somehow better across the board.

The great thing about academia is that you are allowed to be honest without fear of reprisal. If I allowed my enjoyment of college athletics to get in the way of my evaluation of academic criteria I would be the worst professor in the world. Remember the Clem Haskins scandal? These things happen for a reason.

Minnesota happens to be a fantastic school, Wisconsin is simply higher ranked in most categories. I assure you, this will not affect athletic performances in any major way, and I'm sure your family won't think any less of you.

 

[Gopherprof]

Well, he's obviously not an actual professor. I think we can be sure of that. I'm not even sure if he's a Gopher to tell you the truth...

Just out of intellectual curiosity Mr. Homer, what part of my statement of fact makes you sure I'm not a professor? Do you think that we all have foam fingers and do keg stands during office hours? Believe it or not, being a fan of the team is not a requirement for the job. I just happen to like sports and learnin'.

 

[Gopherprof]

You need some perspective, or at least discover how these things work. Wisconsin's colleges are set up like a pyramid. The idea is the good and decent high school kids go to Stout, Stevens Point, etc. The better students are directed towards Madison. Minnesota was established with the idea that their job was to educate the state's children, not funnel them to UMD, Crookston, where ever. The other campuses in the "U" system have areas of expertise different them the "Main U". Living here we lose perspective, When comparing these schools see how hard it is for a kid from N.J. to get into these schools. It is about the same, with different programs at the different schools, being easier or harder.

The objectives of the school are irrelevant when judging them. You could make the case that this is unfair, I actually totally agree. That doesn't make it any less true however. Yale is very selective, with almost no premonitions about educating the state of Connecticut. That doesn't lower the school's quality of education however. At least not by most criteria.

I love the outpouring of support for Minnesota education though. Maybe write Governor Pawlenty with similar complaints about budget cuts eh?

 

[Gopherprof]

What people tend to not take into account is that if you are a major athlete at any of the BCS schools, and you dont go onto to being a pro, you are going to get a good job regardless. Alums take care of alums, especially former athletes and especially those that played in the high profile sports. Lets say you got you are a high profile athlete and got your degree in finance. More then likely you are going to get a pretty good job through the network of alums whether you went to UW/UM or Cinncinatti/USF etc. The only difference being that the UW/UM/NU degrees may get you into doors that those other schools may not but that is pretty rare. Again to sum up, if you are a high profile athlete, as long as you get a degree(sometimes that isnt necessary) you are going to get a good job.

An example of this would be former Minnesota lineman Troy Turek(1996). After he flamed out at UM and UW he was given a very nice sales position at the local Budweiser distributor(only one owned by Budweiser). Now you may think it isnt that great of a job, but for a 22yr old to making upper 50's or more is pretty good without a degree.

To bring it back to topic (sort of), you're absolutely correct. While rankings matter if you want an MBA, a PhD, or another advanced degree, this is not the career part of most college students.

I totally commend Beau for taking academics seriously. College first, sports second. That said, as most people have said, you really can't go wrong with any of the schools on his list. The side argument was really just a technical point and not at all indicative of what I think Beau, or any student-athlete, should do.

 

[ConferenceChamp]

...

A couple examples from the last two weeks:

"Wisconsin doesn't have lower admission standards for athletes than the rest of the student body." My response...see any Ron Dayne interview from the late '90s.

"You can't get into Wisconsin with anything less than a 26 ACT score. They won't even consider you." http://www.admissions.wisc.edu/freshman.php indicates while the typical freshman has a score of 26 or higher, there is no cut score.

Am I saying UW is a bad school? No, absolutely not, it's a great school...

year of the gopher,

Thought I would copy and paste a fairly recent email message (below) from a Wisconsin Badger coach to a high school recruit. I will edit slightly only to 'protect the innocent."

The purpose for my post is to provide evidence that Wisconsin does, in fact, soften its admissions requirements for those who are in the category of student-athlete. Apparently, the University of Wisconsin can and does "code" certain applications for admission into their university, not that this is different than what most other universities with big-time athletic programs do.

The bottom line is if a prospective student-athlete can pass thru the NCAA clearinghouse, then he most likely will have no problem getting admitted to Wisconsin.

Don't let those cheeseheads tell you anything different!!


...Your son ___ did a great job and we would like very much to get this process going. In short, we need to secure two __ for our future... In reviewing his grades I believe he could get in on his own but we could code his application and will if necessary. Let me know where your son is in this process. Thanks

 

[year of the gopher]

year of the gopher,

Thought I would copy and paste a fairly recent email message (below) from a Wisconsin Badger coach to a high school recruit. I will edit slightly only to 'protect the innocent."

The purpose for my post is to provide evidence that Wisconsin does, in fact, soften its admissions requirements for those who are in the category of student-athlete. Apparently, the University of Wisconsin can and does "code" certain applications for admission into their university, not that this is different than what most other universities with big-time athletic programs do.

The bottom line is if a prospective student-athlete can pass thru the NCAA clearinghouse, then he most likely will have no problem getting admitted to Wisconsin.

Don't let those cheeseheads tell you anything different!!


...Your son ___ did a great job and we would like very much to get this process going. In short, we need to secure two __ for our future... In reviewing his grades I believe he could get in on his own but we could code his application and will if necessary. Let me know where your son is in this process. Thanks

That was exactly my point and thanks for backing it up. People at UW will swear up and down that it's hard for top athletes to get into school there due to some magically higher standard they hold their athletes to. It's just not true.

 

[Jwill535]

It isnt GPA as much as it is core requirements at UW. UW requires more core classes then most States require for high schoolers. This is the main reason why it is difficult to get out of state JUCOs into UW since they may have graduated but dont have the required amount of core classes to be admitted. Another prime example of that is Darious Thomas, he was a 3.6gpa, NHS student but was denied admission to UW because he was lacking some classes.

 

[IDFM]

Higher ranked across the board? For one thing that's not true. Law school is but one example that comes to mind just off the top of my head, U of M is much higher ranked than UW.

Secondly, "reputation" is a big piece of many college rankings. Reputation is a perceived trait of an institution, not a hard, objectively measurable one...and I think reputation is gained at UW partially by a lot of people from administrators to alums talking it up more than it is worth.

I grew up in Wisconsin, I am related to many UW alumni and know many more than that. To a great extent, I've been able to document that things that they claim about UW are patently false, but it doesn't stop them from claiming them to be true to me or others. Like with Rush Limbaugh and other spinsters on either side of the political aisle, when you repeat something often enough about any topic, people start to believe it.

A couple examples from the last two weeks:

"Wisconsin doesn't have lower admission standards for athletes than the rest of the student body." My response...see any Ron Dayne interview from the late '90s.

"You can't get into Wisconsin with anything less than a 26 ACT score. They won't even consider you." http://www.admissions.wisc.edu/freshman.php indicates while the typical freshman has a score of 26 or higher, there is no cut score.

Am I saying UW is a bad school? No, absolutely not, it's a great school. But so is the U of M and if you really are a "gopher prof" you should be embarrassed to be saying that UW is somehow better across the board.

I used to work in government in Wisconsin and UW-Madison accepts students heavily on class rank, so if you go to a strong suburban school you have a much harder time in getting into UW-Madison than a student who went to a small rural school. Pissed off parents who constantly contact myself and others about how their son or daughter did not get into Madison because of this admissions process. I have heard of students with 21's getting into Madison where students with high 20's will get wait listed or not accepted to Madison. Their admission process has always been a sore subject with the state government in Wisconsin for some time but it will probably never change.

 

[IDFM]

That was exactly my point and thanks for backing it up. People at UW will swear up and down that it's hard for top athletes to get into school there due to some magically higher standard they hold their athletes to. It's just not true.

There are plenty of athletes who would not have gotten accepted into Wisconsin without athletics. The three prime examples are Ron Dayne, Marcus Landry and Michael Bennett. Bennett was a Prop 48 candidate when he showed up in Madison.

 

[MadtownGopher]

Hopefully Beau Allen sees that new billboard in South Bend, and it turns him off to playing for Charlie "Ate the Chocolate Factory" Weis.

 

[GopherGod]

I agree with you about Notre Dame alums looking out for their own but that isn't a good reason for a football player to go there. From talking to players and coaches, D-I football players have a network all their own that negates the advantage of the Notre Dame alumni network.

I really hope he doesn't go there but that doesn't change the fact that they have a national reputation and unless you want to stay in a particular region of the country such as the upper midwest it is always nice to go to a school with a national reputation as well as a huge alumni network all over the country. For example if an athlete wanted to work on Wall Street or Silicon Valley, I would venture to say that it is likely that there are a greater number of alumni of Northwestern, Stanford, and Notre Dame working there than a Wisconsin or Minnesota because these schools tend to recruit students on a more national level than a state university does, with the exception of a Michigan, Cal, or Virginia. By being a D-1 athlete at one of these schools it just expands a student athletes network even greater. Minnesota and Wisconsin are both good schools but they just don't have the Wall Street type institutions recruiting these schools like these nationally recognized programs due unfortunately, unless that has changed dramatically since I was in school at the U 10 years ago.

 

[Gopherprof]

There are plenty of athletes who would not have gotten accepted into Wisconsin without athletics. The three prime examples are Ron Dayne, Marcus Landry and Michael Bennett. Bennett was a Prop 48 candidate when he showed up in Madison.

I only have experience teaching at two colleges, but I think you could say that about most D1 colleges in the country, especially those with usually high academic standards.

Student athletes are a bird onto themselves, particularly in sports like football and men's basketball. As much as the guidelines are in place for them not to be, it's simply a reality of both demands on their time and previous academic and socio-economic backgrounds.

 

[grunkiejr]

I really hope he doesn't go there but that doesn't change the fact that they have a national reputation and unless you want to stay in a particular region of the country such as the upper midwest it is always nice to go to a school with a national reputation as well as a huge alumni network all over the country. For example if an athlete wanted to work on Wall Street or Silicon Valley, I would venture to say that it is likely that there are a greater number of alumni of Northwestern, Stanford, and Notre Dame working there than a Wisconsin or Minnesota because these schools tend to recruit students on a more national level than a state university does, with the exception of a Michigan, Cal, or Virginia. By being a D-1 athlete at one of these schools it just expands a student athletes network even greater. Minnesota and Wisconsin are both good schools but they just don't have the Wall Street type institutions recruiting these schools like these nationally recognized programs due unfortunately, unless that has changed dramatically since I was in school at the U 10 years ago.

I would classify the Minnesota Wall Street network as very tightly bound. I know a good percentage of the undergrads that have gone on to Wall Street jobs in the last 10-15 years and I mentored and helped place a couple of them directly. Obviously, it doesn't compare to the network of other schools but it isn't all that bad either.

But what I was saying in my post is that D-I athletes have their own network. They get jobs that aren't available to non-student athletes through leads from boosters or people looking for their background. I have worked with olympic athletes, Stanley Cup winners, NCAA champions, etc and companies eat that stuff up because of the dedication it takes to achieve those accolades.