2020 DE Aaron Witt commits!

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GopherDog1 said:
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In 4 years, would Aaron Witt contribute at OSU, Michigan or Alabama? I say no and it is time we start thinking about the Gophers competing at a much higher level than we have in many years.
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I come here just for takes like this. Thanks.


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Spoofin said:
I come here just for takes like this. Thanks.


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Lines up with MC's expectations from his intro presser. I'm with you on the backpedaling and expectation adjustment of some posters. Win/Loss record has a larger affect on recruiting for teams like Gophs. They need a big season in 2019. Classes in the 35-45 range will bring in the raw talent needed. The rest is up to the staff.
 

MNVCGUY said:
because it definitely is not in this state.

I do some work with a 6A in-state program that is consistently ranked in the top 10 and it is kind of sad because the team isn't that good from a talent standpoint the other teams are just worse.
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Sheer nonsense.
 

tjgopher said:
There is no doubt our baseline recruiting has to pick up and it has noticeably since PJ took over.

But, I would also argue we will never recruit on an equal footing with OSU, Michigan or Alabama. So, it becomes huge to find kids that can develop into NFL caliber players that aren't recruited by the big dogs, and there are literally 100s of those kids out there. It is a matter of identifying them, recruiting them, and developing them. Wisconsin and Iowa have made a living of doing that over the years. They consistently put 2-star and 3-star kids (and walksons) into the NFL that never got a sniff from OSU, Michigan, and Alabama. And, guess what? They also beat Michigan and OSU occasionally. We need to join those ranks on a more consistent basis.

I don't know if Witt is one of those kids, but Iowa is after him hard and he plans to visit there next month. That tells me he could potentially be one of those guys.
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Excellent post.

If Witt decommitted from us because he wants to go to Iowa, and they only recently started making overtures to him, what can you do? Sometimes kids want to get out of state, or their household is a big fan of a certain school, parents went there, etc. Don't know Witt's story. But he clearly has enough talent to play and do well in the Big Ten West.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Excellent post.

If Witt decommitted from us because he wants to go to Iowa, and they only recently started making overtures to him, what can you do? Sometimes kids want to get out of state, or their household is a big fan of a certain school, parents went there, etc. Don't know Witt's story. But he clearly has enough talent to play and do well in the Big Ten West.
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If he always wanted to go to Iowa but jumped on an offerfrom us, the kid should’ve waited. Poor decision but who knows his motivation - I’m guessing recruitment for this level of recruit (legit P5 aspirations but not elite) is a roller coaster ride so benefit of doubt.

As for him just having NDSU and Wyoming offers - that reflects his list of schools at the time he committed to us. For all we know, he could rack up a bunch more if his commitment status remains open.


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Gopherphile said:
If he always wanted to go to Iowa but jumped on an offerfrom us, the kid should’ve waited. Poor decision but who knows his motivation - I’m guessing recruitment for this level of recruit (legit P5 aspirations but not elite) is a roller coaster ride so benefit of doubt.

As for him just having NDSU and Wyoming offers - that reflects his list of schools at the time he committed to us. For all we know, he could rack up a bunch more if his commitment status remains open.
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But it's kinda how things work, actually.

I'm talking in terms of how fast schools move on recruits (offers). The lower the level of school, usually (not always) the faster they move on a recruit who they think might be a good fit. That's why you almost always see the recruits we offer from the upper midwest already having offers from the Dakota schools, N Iowa, sometimes Wyoming (their head coach and a good deal of staff still came from NDSU). They go in earlier.

Iowa has accused Minnesota and Iowa St of offering "too early, too often", essentially. So this could be a case where they sat back, let us do the early work, and then came to poach one of our players. That's a wild guess, would love to know more of the actual story.
 

Gopherphile said:
If he always wanted to go to Iowa but jumped on an offerfrom us, the kid should’ve waited. Poor decision but who knows his motivation - I’m guessing recruitment for this level of recruit (legit P5 aspirations but not elite) is a roller coaster ride so benefit of doubt.

As for him just having NDSU and Wyoming offers - that reflects his list of schools at the time he committed to us. For all we know, he could rack up a bunch more if his commitment status remains open.


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They're kids, they get to change their mind. I don't have to like the decision, but changing your mind isn't necessarily a poor decision.
 


Gophers_4life said:
Excellent post.

If Witt decommitted from us because he wants to go to Iowa, and they only recently started making overtures to him, what can you do? Sometimes kids want to get out of state, or their household is a big fan of a certain school, parents went there, etc. Don't know Witt's story. But he clearly has enough talent to play and do well in the Big Ten West.
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Iowa State was actually his first Power Five offer last June, followed a week later by Iowa. We offered later and he committed to us in November. Not sure what changed.
 
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Gophers_4life said:
Iowa has accused Minnesota and Iowa St of offering "too early, too often", essentially. So this could be a case where they sat back, let us do the early work, and then came to poach one of our players. That's a wild guess, would love to know more of the actual story.
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Iowa offered him before we did.
 



tjgopher said:
Iowa State was actually his first Power Five offer last June, followed by Iowa. We offered later and he committed to us in November. Not sure what changed.
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Thanks. If that’s correct then it completely blows away my hypothesis. And leaves me even more curious!

Nonetheless, it just confirms even more that he’s a talented player who easily belongs in the Big Ten West. And it’s not at all a case of having to go after a low talent in-state player for PR reasons, because Minnesota doesn’t play at a high level. Sheer silliness.
 




Goldteam said:
Write this down!

He will still end up a Gopher!
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Anyone still want him? This kid has burned the bridge. I will laugh my ass off if Nebby and Wisky don't offer and he's stuck at Ames. Enjoy!
 

Section2 said:
Anyone still want him? This kid has burned the bridge. I will laugh my ass off if Nebby and Wisky don't offer and he's stuck at Ames. Enjoy!
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Has he really burned a bridge? It sounded like he wanted to go through the recruiting process to make sure.
 

Section2 said:
Anyone still want him? This kid has burned the bridge. I will laugh my ass off if Nebby and Wisky don't offer and he's stuck at Ames. Enjoy!
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Stuck in Ames? Campbell seems to be building a pretty competitive program.
 

John Galt said:
Has he really burned a bridge? It sounded like he wanted to go through the recruiting process to make sure.
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From what I've read he's trying to earn camp offers at Neb and WI? Going thru the recruiting process, sure, I think we can all understand that.

Campbell is probably going to win big this year, and he's going to be a hot ticket. No chance he's there 4 years, is there?
 

Section2 said:
From what I've read he's trying to earn camp offers at Neb and WI? Going thru the recruiting process, sure, I think we can all understand that.

Campbell is probably going to win big this year, and he's going to be a hot ticket. No chance he's there 4 years, is there?
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Agree that Campbell is likely gone in 1-2 years. Iowa St isn’t a destination for anyone - maybe Craig McDonald should take note.

I’m curious to see if Witt really goes through with trying to earn camp offers to Wisky and Nebraska. It almost seems like he’s just desperate for some attention. I’d be more than happy with Gage Keys and another DE if Witt has truly burned a bridge with the staff.
 

John Galt said:
Agree that Campbell is likely gone in 1-2 years. Iowa St isn’t a destination for anyone - maybe Craig McDonald should take note.

I’m curious to see if Witt really goes through with trying to earn camp offers to Wisky and Nebraska. It almost seems like he’s just desperate for some attention. I’d be more than happy with Gage Keys and another DE if Witt has truly burned a bridge with the staff.
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I don't know that he's burned bridges with the staff, he has with me and that's what matters :)
It's not like he was some can't miss prospect. I think the staff really liked him, and I trust their evals, but more important is to get local kids who want to be Gophers.
 


Section2 said:
I don't know that he's burned bridges with the staff, he has with me and that's what matters :)
It's not like he was some can't miss prospect. I think the staff really liked him, and I trust their evals, but more important is to get local kids who want to be Gophers.
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Seems to me like Witt wanted some more attention so he reopened his recruitment. Fleck probably told him that's fine, but we are not holding your spot. Fleck gets a couple of DE commits and tells Witt there's no room in the boat anymore. Iowa is starting to fill up and Wisky was not interested so Witt pulled the trigger on Iowa. Wish the kid the best, but hope he never even gets to sniff Floyd over the next 4 years.
 

Frank Grimey Grimes said:
Seems to me like Witt wanted some more attention so he reopened his recruitment. Fleck probably told him that's fine, but we are not holding your spot. Fleck gets a couple of DE commits and tells Witt there's no room in the boat anymore. Iowa is starting to fill up and Wisky was not interested so Witt pulled the trigger on Iowa. Wish the kid the best, but hope he never even gets to sniff Floyd over the next 4 years.
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Not accurate. Fleck wanted him for sure. At some point they both moved on. Kid's just not elite, nothing wrong with that.
 


winona kid

Gophers_4life said:
Not good enough for Minn, but good enough for Iowa. Right
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It's obvious he was not into the program here or he would have stayed committed. Me being from Winona, really disappointing to see him become a pigeyeeeee.
 

Yes agreed. I think he committed early to our early P5 offer, as a “fallback”, and then used the boost in recruiting recognition to parlay that into an offer for a school he really wanted.

Bet that type of thing goes on all the time, every year. It’s just the business
 

SelectionSunday said:
Stuck in Ames? Campbell seems to be building a pretty competitive program.
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Yes, and if my memory serves me correctly, I read right here on Gopher Hole that ISU is a program Minnesota needs to model themselves after.
 

Section2 said:
Not accurate. Fleck wanted him for sure. At some point they both moved on. Kid's just not elite, nothing wrong with that.
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I don't doubt that Fleck wanted him, but Fleck aslo also wasn't going to sit around for him either. Fleck filled his spot with a couple of quality DEs in Gage and Larkins.
 

Sure glad Witt de-commited opening the door for studs like Itayvion Brown.
 

Frank Grimey Grimes said:
I don't doubt that Fleck wanted him, but Fleck aslo also wasn't going to sit around for him either. Fleck filled his spot with a couple of quality DEs in Gage and Larkins.
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I"m not sure what kind of distinction you're trying to make. Fleck wanted Witt. Witt said no. Fleck tried to change his mind. Witt didn't change his mind. Both moved on. I'm very happy with Gage and Larkins, and definitely fine with Witt moving on. Like I said, Witt is just not elite.
 

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