2010 Recruiting

[RunGopherRun]

Obviously, Kill's offer list would have looked different than Brewster's in 2010. Unfortunately for the Gophers, we missed out on a stud right in our backyard because Brewster had tunnel vision to Florida/Texas. Zach Zenner from Eagan has been going absolutely nuts for South Dakota State. He's big, fast, strong, a hard worker; all things that would have stood out for Kill and his staff at a camp. I know SDSU is FCS, but he did go for 180+ against Kansas, then 270+ against Louisiana something or other, and now today 197 against UC Davis. He is leading all of Division I football in rushing.

Being from Eagan, it would've been fun to watch Zenner in the Maroon and Gold. I guess my point is that I feel like guys like this won't slip through the cracks like they did in the Brewster years. There might not be as many freak athletes in MN as down south (believe me, Zenner is a freak), but they do exist and I feel like Kill will do a better job finding them. Assuming the players can get the job done at a Big Ten level, the more local boys on the team, the better for the entire rebuilding process.

 

[GophersInIowa]

Obviously, Kill's offer list would have looked different than Brewster's in 2010. Unfortunately for the Gophers, we missed out on a stud right in our backyard because Brewster had tunnel vision to Florida/Texas. Zach Zenner from Eagan has been going absolutely nuts for South Dakota State. He's big, fast, strong, a hard worker; all things that would have stood out for Kill and his staff at a camp. I know SDSU is FCS, but he did go for 180+ against Kansas, then 270+ against Louisiana something or other, and now today 197 against UC Davis. He is leading all of Division I football in rushing.

Being from Eagan, it would've been fun to watch Zenner in the Maroon and Gold. I guess my point is that I feel like guys like this won't slip through the cracks like they did in the Brewster years. There might not be as many freak athletes in MN as down south (believe me, Zenner is a freak), but they do exist and I feel like Kill will do a better job finding them. Assuming the players can get the job done at a Big Ten level, the more local boys on the team, the better for the entire rebuilding process.

That's completely false.

I can't even find a bio for Zenner on rivals. It doesn't look like he was recruited by many schools.

 

[RunGopherRun]

He was underutilized in high school, a hybrid RB/WR. Had a good Jr. year, and then as a Sr. he had to play QB because the Eagan QB broke his collarbone. But he rushed for a ton of yards as a Sr. out of the QB position. Anyone who saw this kid play as a Sr. knows how good he is, but he wasn't on the radar because he wasn't a true RB in high school. That was kind of the point of my post. I feel like Kill would have found an athlete like Zenner and offered him.

 

[Gopherprof]

He was underutilized in high school, a hybrid RB/WR. Had a good Jr. year, and then as a Sr. he had to play QB because the Eagan QB broke his collarbone. But he rushed for a ton of yards as a Sr. out of the QB position. Anyone who saw this kid play as a Sr. knows how good he is, but he wasn't on the radar because he wasn't a true RB in high school. That was kind of the point of my post. I feel like Kill would have found an athlete like Zenner and offered him.

Yeah....probably not. The truth is that some kids blossom in college and a lot don't. By the sounds of things, he was a kid who earned an FCS scholarship offer in high school and little more. Great for him for doing something with it, but you can't offer every Minnesota kid you think could develop into something. You act like it's just Brewster who is obsessed with Florida and Texas high school football.

Kill has only offered four in-state kids so far this year. Last year was an exception because of what a great crop of talent it was.

 

[RunGopherRun]

I understand what you're saying, and I totally agree with you about offering a ton of Minnesota kids. I'm sure I'm a little biased by being from Eagan, but I also feel like I'm a very fair judge of talent, usually erring on the conservative side with my assessments. There aren't many players that I see that I think could play Big 10 football. It's not like I haven't seen really good, freak athletes in my time (former Gopher trackster). This kid is a freak, and was a freak in high school. Like I said from the beginning, I think Kill and Co. would have found him and offered. It looks like most disagree, and that's fine, but for those who saw him play in high school, I think they would agree that it is no surprise that he is lighting it up at SDSU and that he could have played for the Gophers.

 

[paulser21]

I'm not from the metro and all of my recruiting info comes from gopherhole, scout, and rivals. But I never heard of this kid. Congratulations to him on his success at South Dakota State.

There will always be a kid that slips through the cracks. Either a late bloomer or a someone from a school that never gets recruited due to its small size. Jake Disterhaupt from Moose Lake - willow River could be one of those guys. I've only seen video on him but he looks good. Prob wont even get a look though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQd9OKP_Oes

 

[JackJD]

If you're interested, below is a link to a blog which has video of Zenner's 99-yard TD run against Kansas. The 31 second clip shows the run and then replays it from a different angle. Zenner showed real promise last year but this year he seems to have found another gear. The Kansas defensive back trying to chase him down is supposed to be one of the fastest guys on their team and he couldn't catch the kid from Eagen. [Incidently, the SDSU QB handing the ball to Zenner is our backup, Eric Kline, out of Blaine, MN. He's a very athletic guy. Our starting QB, the MVFC freshman of the year last year, messed up his thumb on this throwing hand just before the first game so Kline started at Kansas.]

KU will have some struggles this year. Watch the replay of Zenner's run and you'll see the right side of SDSU's offensive line push the Kansas line so far out of place they had to take a cab back to the stadium.

If you read the entire blog entry, you'll see some great analysis of what went wrong from the Jayhawk's point of view with Coach Charlie Weis pointing out the problems to the writer, using stills from the video clip.

http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/breakdown/2012/sep/4/kus-taylor-cox-burns-south-dakota-state-/

 

[John Galt]

If you're interested, below is a link to a blog which has video of Zenner's 99-yard TD run against Kansas. The 31 second clip shows the run and then replays it from a different angle. Zenner showed real promise last year but this year he seems to have found another gear. The Kansas defensive back trying to chase him down is supposed to be one of the fastest guys on their team and he couldn't catch the kid from Eagen. [Incidently, the SDSU QB handing the ball to Zenner is our backup, Eric Kline, out of Blaine, MN. He's a very athletic guy. Our starting QB, the MVFC freshman of the year last year, messed up his thumb on this throwing hand just before the first game so Kline started at Kansas.]

KU will have some struggles this year. Watch the replay of Zenner's run and you'll see the right side of SDSU's offensive line push the Kansas line so far out of place they had to take a cab back to the stadium.

If you read the entire blog entry, you'll see some great analysis of what went wrong from the Jayhawk's point of view with Coach Charlie Weis pointing out the problems to the writer, using stills from the video clip.

http://www2.kusports.com/weblogs/breakdown/2012/sep/4/kus-taylor-cox-burns-south-dakota-state-/

And Kansas still won 31-17.....

 

[MNVCGUY]

RunGopherRun - do you know if he was offered a preferred walk-on spot with the Gophers? I never heard of the kid but I guarantee the coaches saw plenty of film on him playing for Eagan so he wasn't a small town kid that slipped through the cracks because no one really saw him play. I highly doubt the coaches missed on him due to tunnel vision and I also doubt that Kill's staff would have spotted him and Brewster's wouldn't. You have hard core followers of recruiting on this board and most of them are saying they never heard of the kid.

 

[JackJD]

And Kansas still won 31-17.....

I see you can read. I wasn't making any particular point other than to add to the discussion about Zenner and provide a link that may be of some interest to those in the Cities who remember him from high school.

 

[GoldenGopher2015]

This is so pointless. I don't get why there are so many posts about how Minnesota missed such a great recruit that is playing really well at SDSU or NDSU. I trust coaching staffs at recruiting more than most people on this forum. All these posts do is

 

[RunGopherRun]

RunGopherRun - do you know if he was offered a preferred walk-on spot with the Gophers? I never heard of the kid but I guarantee the coaches saw plenty of film on him playing for Eagan so he wasn't a small town kid that slipped through the cracks because no one really saw him play. I highly doubt the coaches missed on him due to tunnel vision and I also doubt that Kill's staff would have spotted him and Brewster's wouldn't. You have hard core followers of recruiting on this board and most of them are saying they never heard of the kid.

I'm not certain if he was offered a preferred walk on or not. I know he unofficially visited for a late season game, but he had pretty much already decided on SDSU.

For all of those out there ragging on my post...

My point is that I feel like Kill is a better judge of talent than Brewster was. I also feel like he will be more active trying to uproot some of the talented kids from instate that end up panning out at other schools and get them in the Maroon and Gold, whether through offering, gray-shirting, or walking on. I don't know what the exact numbers are from this year, but it feels like there are a lot more kids accepting walk-on offers from Kill than there were during Brewster's years. I get the feeling that kids want to play for Coach Kill, and believe that they'll be given a fair opportunity to earn a scholarship if it has been earned.

I only brought up Zenner because, while talking with some colleagues, he came up and we talked about how awesome it would be if he were a Gopher, and how I feel that if Kill were the coach when he was a Senior, he would be a Gopher. He was a Mr. Football finalist, 8.9 yds/carry in the (old) Lake Conference while playing QB most of the year. He seems like the kind of kid that Kill would have found. He has done pretty well with under the radar recruits. I'm no expert on recruiting. But I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on judging athletes. I feel like based on size (200+ in high school) and speed (electronic timed 4.51 40...yeah, yeah I know...but to put in perspective, a kid that ran 11.14 in the 100m ran a 4.63), he would have been a Gopher.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Pointless to speculate what Kill would have done with this kid but I feel confident saying he would not have been offered a scholarship.

It has been discussed before but the key difference in recruiting between Kill and Brew is that Kill has well defined offensive and defensive systems so he can target guys that fit a certain mold or type to fit in their system. Brew never settled on a system so he tried to recruit the best talent on paper regardless of if they fit with the program.

Brew was a believer in the need for quality walk-ons and I know he handed out a number of scholarships to walk on players during his time here so I doubt there is much difference between the staffs there.

 

[60's Guy]

Obviously, Kill's offer list would have looked different than Brewster's in 2010. Unfortunately for the Gophers, we missed out on a stud right in our backyard because Brewster had tunnel vision to Florida/Texas. Zach Zenner from Eagan has been going absolutely nuts for South Dakota State. He's big, fast, strong, a hard worker; all things that would have stood out for Kill and his staff at a camp. I know SDSU is FCS, but he did go for 180+ against Kansas, then 270+ against Louisiana something or other, and now today 197 against UC Davis. He is leading all of Division I football in rushing.

Being from Eagan, it would've been fun to watch Zenner in the Maroon and Gold. I guess my point is that I feel like guys like this won't slip through the cracks like they did in the Brewster years. There might not be as many freak athletes in MN as down south (believe me, Zenner is a freak), but they do exist and I feel like Kill will do a better job finding them. Assuming the players can get the job done at a Big Ten level, the more local boys on the team, the better for the entire rebuilding process.

Hey Run guy....I enjoyed reading your posts in this thread. I share your optimism about coach Kill. Thx

 

[calminnfan]

Pointless to speculate what Kill would have done with this kid but I feel confident saying he would not have been offered a scholarship.

It has been discussed before but the key difference in recruiting between Kill and Brew is that Kill has well defined offensive and defensive systems so he can target guys that fit a certain mold or type to fit in their system. Brew never settled on a system so he tried to recruit the best talent on paper regardless of if they fit with the program.

Brew was a believer in the need for quality walk-ons and I know he handed out a number of scholarships to walk on players during his time here so I doubt there is much difference between the staffs there.

Agree...I think Brewster could identify talent, just was not sure what to do with it...

 

[dpodoll68]

He didn't run a 4.51 electronic.

 

[RunGopherRun]

He didn't run a 4.51 electronic.

Actually he did. 3 point stance, on the carpet indoors at the high school. February of 2010. I know because I was the one timing him. Most of our fast kids run somewhere in the 4.7's to 4.8's. Like I said before, an 11.14 100m kid, which is pretty fast, ran 4.63 that same day. I've only had one other kid break 4.60 besides Zenner in 10 years. I tried my hardest to get him to run track, but he was a baseball guy.

 

[paulser21]

This is actually one of the better threads in a while. I hope it is not ruined by a 40 time argument. Everyone knows the errors involved in timing and it sounds like run gopher has a good grasp on the kid. Let's just leave it at that.

Kill will find em more often then not. Especially in his own backyard.

 

[CWCWCW]

Eagan had a good team then. Came up just short against CDH. Some would argue that Zenner was 3rd best on that team. Parsons, the quarterback got all the publicity. He is a great athelete, but was often hurt. Hentges is a tall, lanky receiver with speed and good hands. Of those three, I would have loved to see Hentges go to the Gophers. I'm not saying he had Big 10 scholarship talent, but he would have been a great get as a walk on.
Good for Zenner. His younger brother who is currently a sophomore will be a kid to keep an eye on too.

 

[dpodoll68]

Everyone knows the errors involved in timing, so that's why it's silly to bring up that he ran a 4.51 electronic, because he didn't.

 

[RunGopherRun]

40 times definitely aren't perfect, but I think of more the comparison to others, as well as watching him run with my eyes, as an indicator that Zenner was very fast. Like I said above, the normal "fastest" guys usually run in the 4.7 to 4.8 range. This year, one kid broke 4.7, and it was Zenner's younger brother.

Younger brother isn't quite as big, but he is a pretty good athlete as well. Great kid too. Hard worker, fastest kid in the high school as a sophomore (damn baseball.)

 

[Jayeyem]

Everyone knows the errors involved in timing, so that's why it's silly to bring up that he ran a 4.51 electronic, because he didn't.

I guess a stopwatch is an "electronic" device.

So if anyone was wondering I ran a 4.81 "electronic" 40 back in 2003 as an unathletic tight end playing 9-man football in NW MN.

 

[Gopherprof]

My point is that I feel like Kill is a better judge of talent than Brewster was. I also feel like he will be more active trying to uproot some of the talented kids from instate that end up panning out at other schools and get them in the Maroon and Gold, whether through offering, gray-shirting, or walking on. I don't know what the exact numbers are from this year, but it feels like there are a lot more kids accepting walk-on offers from Kill than there were during Brewster's years. I get the feeling that kids want to play for Coach Kill, and believe that they'll be given a fair opportunity to earn a scholarship if it has been earned.

I think this is why you're getting a little flak. Your whole premise is based off of an unsupported assumption (or "feeling", if you will) that Kill is more focused on finding in-state gems while Brewster focused most of his attention on Florida and Texas. The problem with that assumption is that there is nothing to back it up.

If you think about all of the great in-state walkons on this team, think about when they entered the program, and who the coach was at that time.

 

[dpodoll68]

I have no doubt that he's very fast for a kid from Eagan, hell, even very fast for a kid from Minnesota, but I am just trying to point out how ridiculously fast a 4.51 electronic 40 is for any football player, let alone a HS kid from Minnesota. A 4.51 would've been the 10th fastest time among RBs at this year's combine.

 

[Fuzzy Rumpton]

This is a worthless thread.

 

[RunGopherRun]

I think this is why you're getting a little flak. Your whole premise is based off of an unsupported assumption (or "feeling", if you will) that Kill is more focused on finding in-state gems while Brewster focused most of his attention on Florida and Texas. The problem with that assumption is that there is nothing to back it up.

If you think about all of the great in-state walkons on this team, think about when they entered the program, and who the coach was at that time.

True. Brewster's walk-ons have turned out pretty well. I guess maybe the feeling about hidden gems doesn't just stem from only Minnesota. A fairer statement would be to his willingness to search for those under-recruited players that he think can play. He has signed some guys who were not very highly recruited that have already panned out to be pretty good players. I "feel" like Kill doesn't care about stars on rivals or scout like Brewster did. He likes to personally evaluate kids and decide from there. He has offered kids that aren't high on the national radar; 2 star kids with offers from only "Western Michigan." I think that the ridicule he got for doing this has since desisted because he has proven that he knows what he wants from a player, and he goes out and gets that player, and they perform. He is really good at finding under the radar players that become solid contributors. Look at how many of his guys played last year as true freshmen, guys he brought in at the last minute that had offers from nobody that ended up playing immediately.

 

[RunGopherRun]

I have no doubt that he's very fast for a kid from Eagan, hell, even very fast for a kid from Minnesota, but I am just trying to point out how ridiculously fast a 4.51 electronic 40 is for any football player, let alone a HS kid from Minnesota. A 4.51 would've been the 10th fastest time among RBs at this year's combine.

OK

 

[dpodoll68]

True. Brewster's walk-ons have turned out pretty well. I guess maybe the feeling about hidden gems doesn't just stem from only Minnesota. A fairer statement would be to his willingness to search for those under-recruited players that he think can play. He has signed some guys who were not very highly recruited that have already panned out to be pretty good players. I "feel" like Kill doesn't care about stars on rivals or scout like Brewster did. He likes to personally evaluate kids and decide from there. He has offered kids that aren't high on the national radar; 2 star kids with offers from only "Western Michigan." I think that the ridicule he got for doing this has since desisted because he has proven that he knows what he wants from a player, and he goes out and gets that player, and they perform. He is really good at finding under the radar players that become solid contributors. Look at how many of his guys played last year as true freshmen, guys he brought in at the last minute that had offers from nobody that ended up playing immediately.

In addition to what you're saying, he's shown a rare willingness to go out and look for walk-ons who aren't local. Even programs that rely heavily on their walk-on programs don't do this very much. Kill has gone out of state to get guys like Dominic Schultz, Luke Trucilla, John McKelvey, and E.J. Sardinha. Trucilla isn't on the roster anymore, but you don't often see guys come across the country to pay to play football, especially guys who look like they can contribute at some point.

 

[Gopherprof]

A fairer statement would be to his willingness to search for those under-recruited players that he think can play. He has signed some guys who were not very highly recruited that have already panned out to be pretty good players. I "feel" like Kill doesn't care about stars on rivals or scout like Brewster did. He likes to personally evaluate kids and decide from there. He has offered kids that aren't high on the national radar; 2 star kids with offers from only "Western Michigan." I think that the ridicule he got for doing this has since desisted because he has proven that he knows what he wants from a player, and he goes out and gets that player, and they perform. He is really good at finding under the radar players that become solid contributors. Look at how many of his guys played last year as true freshmen, guys he brought in at the last minute that had offers from nobody that ended up playing immediately.

Well, the guys playing was as much a product of necessity as anything else. That said, you're right about guys like Derrick Wells, Michael Amafuela, and Isaac Freucthe as being off the radar and who are playing quite well so far. (Though, when you break down the starters, there are still a lot of Brewster's boys)

I think it goes both ways. Kill has shown a willingness and ability to find underrecruited guys that have so far turned out well. On the other hand, some of that is a product of necessity, he has to search out the less heralded guys because the 5 and 4 star guys aren't looking at us. This year alone the staff has offered 155 players according to rivals, and that's with a class of about 15 scholarships.

 

[RunGopherRun]

Good points. I think we can all agree that we're happy he's our coach and the Gophers are 3-0!