2009 Recruiting Class

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John Galt

John Galt

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Just came across this on Rivals, the MN Gophers class of 2009. We signed 20 players, and it was rated as the 7th best class in the B1G, ahead of Wisky, NW, Indiana, Iowa, and Purdue.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/minnesota/football/recruiting/commitments/2009

So what did we get out of this class who were seniors and redshirt juniors this past year? To start with, 9 of the 20 weren't on the team this year. A total of 4 guys contributed: Mike Carter, Hageman, Campion, and Eddie Olson. This speaks volumes about the struggles we have had and the lack of depth.

Let's hope Kill's players can stay in school for 4-5 years, gradually improve, and that we end up getting 10-12 solid players out of each recruiting class by the time they are juniors/seniors.
 


Wow! That tells a big part of the story. I know it's different player by player, but would the biggest factor for losing that many of the kids prior to their senior year be the coaching change that occurred? Or academic issues?
 

That's crazy. It'd be interesting to see what sort of attrition other schools have experienced in that time.
 

It is amazing how highly touted Matt Garin was out of high school and the offer list he had. That said, why has the program gotten nothing from him and is there any hope for him to pull his head out in his senior season?
 


You want ugly classes - check out Mason's last 3 recruiting classes. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Those 3 classes made the '07 team the worst I've ever witnessed as a Gopher fan and if Mason wasn't fired after the '06 TT game, he certainly would have been fired during or just after the '07 team. Firing Mason wasn't the problem. Hiring Brewster was.
 

These are huge holes to fill when you bring in classes with a lot of players who are not going to stay around. Really has hurt us for depth. Pretty surprising to actually go back and look at it.
 


2008, 2009, and 2010 Recruits Remaining on the Roster

There has been some very good analysis and discussion on how many recruits in these three classes have been lost. The loss of this many recruits has made it very difficult for coach Kill and his staff to implement fully the type of offensive and defensive schemes that they are used to running.

As a result coach Kill has often commented during the past season how young and inexperienced this team was. But several people, certainly not the majority, said that they were tired of Kill using this as excuse. The reality is though that it will take time and patience to correct this problem. The good news is that Kill is doing just that. We are a very young team and we don't have that much depth but it comforting to see how coach Kill is addressing this problem with the 2012 and 2013 recruiting classes. The 2014 class Kill will be his third class that he and his staff will have recruited in total. That should make the 2014 season a very interesting one.
 



GophersInIowa said:
Four of them were Juco's. Probably better to say 11 of 22 are no longer with the team. Either way, you're right that it is pretty crazy. I wonder how many leaving had to do with the coaching change.
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I was going to say..can't necessarily count the JuCo's when it comes to attrition of the class years down the road.
 

Killjoy said:
There has been some very good analysis and discussion on how many recruits in these three classes have been lost. The loss of this many recruits has made it very difficult for coach Kill and his staff to implement fully the type of offensive and defensive schemes that they are used to running.

As a result coach Kill has often commented during the past season how young and inexperienced this team was. But several people, certainly not the majority, said that they were tired of Kill using this as excuse. The reality is though that it will take time and patience to correct this problem. The good news is that Kill is doing just that. We are a very young team and we don't have that much depth but it comforting to see how coach Kill is addressing this problem with the 2012 and 2013 recruiting classes. The 2014 class Kill will be his third class that he and his staff will have recruited in total. That should make the 2014 season a very interesting one.
Click to expand...

That's the way I see it also. I really like what he has done recruitingwise.
 

When you look at what happened in those classes, I hope Kill is getting us to be set up well with the recruiting classes that he is bringing in. I think it is lost on a lot of people on just how many holes we have with the loss of all those recruits in those classes. The harm that has done, regardless of how good or bad the players may have ended up being is pretty large.

I know people are sick of hearing the 'we are young' mantra, but the proof is in the pudding. Losses in those recruiting classes, whether it is due to coaching changes, transfers, or academic reasons have just been too large to overcome quickly. Like I said, hopefully Coach Kill will continue provide some much needed stability that hasn't been there in the past. I am very confident we are headed in the right direction.
 

+1, Bigelow. Y'know I served on the USS Bigelow a generation ago...
 




wouldn't the 09 class be 6th in the big ten if it's ahead of wisc. Iowa NW Purdue and IU, there were only 11 teams in the league that year.
 

The link you provide lists 20 players

2 used up their eligibility as JUCO's: Wills (2 year starter) and Carpenter (bust)
1 left school due to co1cussion issues: Michel
2 never made it UMN and shouldn't count as they didn't qualify: Searcy and Lipscomb
1 graduated early due to injry issues: Watkins

That's 6 of 14 right there that were not an issue of retaining players

Singleton, Rengel, Allen, and Lewis are the four guys on this list who left Minnesota on their own accord. That's actually a very small number of kids leaving for reasons other than injury/graduation.
 

EG#9 said:
The link you provide lists 20 players

2 used up their eligibility as JUCO's: Wills (2 year starter) and Carpenter (bust)
1 left school due to co1cussion issues: Michel
2 never made it UMN and shouldn't count as they didn't qualify: Searcy and Lipscomb
1 graduated early due to injry issues: Watkins

That's 6 of 14 right there that were not an issue of retaining players

Singleton, Rengel, Allen, and Lewis are the four guys on this list who left Minnesota on their own accord. That's actually a very small number of kids leaving for reasons other than injury/graduation.
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There are a number of reasons players left. Some reasons can be blamed on the last staff (players not qualifying, not good enough) and others are random like injuries. At the end of the day though, the attrition from those classes, for one reason or another, has been incredibly high and is the reason we've struggled over the past several years. Carter and Hageman are prime examples of the importance of being in a college program for 4 years. Both were highly recruited players who did next to nothing on the field their first 3 years, but it all came together for both of them in year 4 (and hopefully even more so for Hageman in year 5).
 

bemidjigopher said:
wouldn't the 09 class be 6th in the big ten if it's ahead of wisc. Iowa NW Purdue and IU, there were only 11 teams in the league that year.
Click to expand...

Yes, Rivals shows us as 7th but also includes Nebraska, who obviously wasn't part of the Big Ten yet.
 

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