2011 Class- No D-linemen or RB's

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Handsome Pete

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I think it's a bit crazy that out of 20 recruits for 2011 so far, we don't have a single D-lineman or RB in the group. The entire class seems to be OL, DB's, LB's and WR's. Are any of these guys projected to switch positions?

I also think it is interesting that we have 20 commits and 11 of them are now Kill recruits. This guy is moving fast.

Edit: Ha, I just looked again and we do have Drew Goodger signed up as a DE. But this is a pretty big spot and the question remains- are any of our current guys looking to switch to DL? Or to RB for that matter?
 

So, Edwards, Kirkwood, and Wright are not enough depth? They'll go for the RBs next year.
 

Pete ~

I am pretty sure the Goodger has said that he is going to be playing TE at the U, so just to add a little fuel to your fire :)


It is a fair question though. I am a bit curious about the DT position. I know that DT is a stacked position within the state next year and that we had 3 guys signed last year (Ferguson, Legania, Tauefa) and Botticelli was impressive last season as a FR walk on, so I suppose I could see us deciding to neglect that position this year. I would feel more comfortable if we at least added 1 kid who will play DT, but we'll see. I'd guess the only current recruit that has been whispered to possibly play Dt is the smaller of the two McAvoys.

As for DE, i'm not sure. There has been talk about a couple recruits who would certainly be DE. I can't remember his name but there is a kid from FL who is a DE that we have been recruiting. I think we should also expect to see DE be a position where we move good athletes to that position. When Kill was at Northern Illinois, his DE's were HS WR, QB, RB, and S. I have no idea who could possibly be moved, but the MLB from California (Bauducco) seems to have DE size and I think it will be interesting to see what players (if any) are moved to that DE spot. I can't think of anyone else who makes a ton of sense to be moved up, maybe Westeraus?

RB...it seems like they might have someone on the line that they are pretty confident in, I only say this because according to pretty solid posters we are no longer interested in the Giles kid or Butler. I don't know if that kid is Sankey (hope) or someone else. I also think Marcus Jones could very well end up at RB. He would need to add 10-15 lbs, but he would have time.
 


If we are going hard after him, it should be a done deal. His offers are not exactly the greatest. I hope we can steal him from florida atlantic or eastern tennessee state.
 


Highway...

I'm with you 100%. Kirkwood was the guy I expected the least out of from last year's trio of freshmen running backs and he showed some promise.

I think we'll be ok at RB--- the DL spots concern me most.
 

Also there's been talk that one of the twins may move to DT.
 





It was mentioned in another thread that some posters "in the know" believe that there may be some silent verbals that the team has secured which may alleviate some of these concerns. I have never had a lot of faith in the silent verbal thing but it worked to our advantage one time I recall (MG).
 

What's the point of silent verbals?
 

If Estime were to sign with us, I think we may look back at this class five years from now and he's a major steal. That's just my opinion, I love the kids motor and athleticism.
 

highwayman said:
So, Edwards, Kirkwood, and Wright are not enough depth? They'll go for the RBs next year.
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It is two threes year down the line when depth becomes an issue if he have no recruits at a position in a given year. Running backs can become productive in a year, defensive line may need more time to develop. I hope they can add at least one more defensive lineman. With Wright being eligible next year they should be okay at RB if they miss this year.
 



gopher1more said:
It was mentioned in another thread that some posters "in the know" believe that there may be some silent verbals that the team has secured which may alleviate some of these concerns. I have never had a lot of faith in the silent verbal thing but it worked to our advantage one time I recall (MG).
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Why would we have any silent verbals. I am under the impression that SV's are used for kids who want to commit early but also make a big splash on a televised all star game or on signing day at their school. I wasn't aware that we were in the running for any players who are of the higher tier ilk that their announcement would make a splash. Of course, I could be (and hope I am) wrong.
 

It could be a player that doesn't want to announce until a certain time or a guy who is thinking of switching.
 

ryanlee1 said:
If we are going hard after him, it should be a done deal. His offers are not exactly the greatest. I hope we can steal him from florida atlantic or eastern tennessee state.
Click to expand...

It is hard to gage interest in some of these under the radar kids at this point in the recruiting cycle. For example, we are also recruiting a safety (Cortez Johnson) that early last week was shown as a solid Southern Mississippi commit. I checked his Rivals profile and in addition to the Southern Mississippi offer he also had an offer from Louisiana Tech. Should be easy to get him, right. One day later, after he scheduled a visit with us, I looked at his profile again. Now in addition to the two offers he had before, he now had offers from Arizona, Pittsburgh, and Minnesota. He also had visits scheduled to all three.
 

gopher1more said:
It was mentioned in another thread that some posters "in the know" believe that there may be some silent verbals that the team has secured which may alleviate some of these concerns. I have never had a lot of faith in the silent verbal thing but it worked to our advantage one time I recall (MG).
Click to expand...

I don't think they're silent verbals...rather they're soft verbals depending on another school offering or not...and the kid wants it kept quiet so as to not screw up a potential offer from the school they really want.

I know some coaches wont allow this...but second tier schools like ours don't have a choice right now...if a kid doesn't get that home state of dream school offer...and we are his second choice...sounds good to me. Rather be the second choice and wait on a 4 star recruit than sign another non-BCS offered kid right now.

I suspect that Kill has a number of high profile hits waiting in the wings...plus with home visits and on campus visits...he may be able to sway the kid to us as our first choice...ala Michael Carter a couple of years ago.

I'm excited to see how this years class finishes up.
 



Very possibly, there could be some SDE on roster right now that the staff may feel like that would be better suited moving inside. Making a SDE a little bigger to play DT generally works pretty good as they are generally faster than most DT recruits a school like Minnesota can land. Lets say you had a 6'3", 255-260 pound SDE that runs a 4.7-4.8, if you bulk him up to 280 and maintain around a 4.9-5.0 forty, you can have yourself a pretty quick DT. I know a lot of schools are starting to go that direction. The SEC is so tough to beat because their DT's are so fast. The only way some schools are getting around that, that aren't able to recruit that 280-290 pound kid out of high school with great speed, is again to take a SDE and grow him into a DT.

Btw, as I've stated before about Estime, he is a kid that has a lot of talent, but is stuck behind a top 5 Prep School prospect that is going to Clemson. At one time Kansas was all over him, but since got a 3* DE out of Texas to fill that spot. Estime is one of those under the radar type. He is much better than one assumes. Like mentioned, he is the type that 4 years from now, you will be blown away with the type of steal Minnesota had. The SEC/ACC schools never offered because once they found out about him, most were already filled up at that position. That is where the likes middle ground major D-1 programs in the BIG 10, BIG XII, BIG EAST and the lower level D-1 conference like the MAC/Sunbelt/MWC, etc. jump into the get a steal.
 

KU4LIFE said:
Very possibly, there could be some SDE on roster right now that the staff may feel like that would be better suited moving inside. Making a SDE a little bigger to play DT generally works pretty good as they are generally faster than most DT recruits a school like Minnesota can land. Lets say you had a 6'3", 255-260 pound SDE that runs a 4.7-4.8, if you bulk him up to 280 and maintain around a 4.9-5.0 forty, you can have yourself a pretty quick DT. I know a lot of schools are starting to go that direction. The SEC is so tough to beat because their DT's are so fast. The only way some schools are getting around that, that aren't able to recruit that 280-290 pound kid out of high school with great speed, is again to take a SDE and grow him into a DT.
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I would actually prefer they go this route rather than just signing big guys from HS to play DT. In my opinion, it's too hard to project how good a kid is going to be. A 300lb, fast guy is rare enough. If a guy is that size/speed combo in HS, all the big programs will be all over those guys anyway, and the U isn't going to be able to compete.

I would prefer to pick a guy who has a big frame with speed, then get him on a good weight program until he reaches the 280+ size, retaining some of the speed & athleticism. The downside is that it may take 2-3yrs to see the prospects pay off and play, or get pushed around early in their development (see Garin this past season). But, if you believe in your coaches & strength program (as Kill has shown that he does), this should be a pretty sound long-term strategy.
 

Case in point why it's much too early to worry about the lack of D-Lineman in this year's recruit class. Here is Nick Fairley's profile coming out of high school

http://rivals.yahoo.com/footballrecruiting/football/recruiting/player-Nick-Fairley-46796

# Ht:6'4"
# Wt:257 lbs
# 40:4.89 secs
# Bench Max:306
# Squat Max:495
# Vertical:26 inches
Class:2007 (High School)
3-star

Today, he's the most dominant DT in all of FBS. Who could have predicted that in 2007?
 

the only thing that seems notable about the Fairly stats is the 26" vertical jump for an o-lineman. To me that would indicate some explosiveness for a guy that size, but it does show you what a crapshoot recruiting can be.
He may be a dirty player, but he was the best player on the field in the NC game.
 

WHB Brewer said:
I would actually prefer they go this route rather than just signing big guys from HS to play DT. In my opinion, it's too hard to project how good a kid is going to be. A 300lb, fast guy is rare enough. If a guy is that size/speed combo in HS, all the big programs will be all over those guys anyway, and the U isn't going to be able to compete.

I would prefer to pick a guy who has a big frame with speed, then get him on a good weight program until he reaches the 280+ size, retaining some of the speed & athleticism. The downside is that it may take 2-3yrs to see the prospects pay off and play, or get pushed around early in their development (see Garin this past season). But, if you believe in your coaches & strength program (as Kill has shown that he does), this should be a pretty sound long-term strategy.
Click to expand...


This is pretty standard to what we've already been doing and it is common pretty much everywhere in college football.

Kirksey was 6'3" 250 lbs coming out of HS. (300 lbs now)
Hageman was 6'6" 251 lbs coming out of HS. (295 lbs now)
KGM was 6'4" 215 lbs coming out of HS. (275 lbs now)
Anthony Jacobs was 6'3" 250 lbs coming out of HS. (300 lbs now)

These are all guys who do or could play quite a bit at the DT position. The same type of thing is currently being done with Botticelli who came in as a 245 lbs DE, and his future will be at DT (possibly Ben Perry as well) and even Josh Tauafa who was 260 lbs coming out of HS.

We are seeing some of these "bumps" in the road in a guy liek Hageman. HE is best suited to be a DT in the college game and if he has any aspirations of playing beyond MN, it will certainly be at DT. He still has to learn the position, and I believe he will. KGM is another guy who might see some time inside this season.
 

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