Aaron Philo Commits!!!!

EG#9

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Is there any chance this was a Minnesota decision? The Grunkemeyer kid they offered after Philo decommitted actually has a better offer list and has been picking them up at a rapid rate in late March/early April. What would go against that potential angle is Grukemeyer had already camped here and Harbaugh went all over earlier this Spring looking at QB's and Philo was one of only two he offered. Watching their highlight tapes, I would say Philo seems like the more polished passer, but Grunkemeyer is the better athlete.

Then there is the question of how much HS QB recruiting matters any more in the age of the portal if you aren't getting one of the top 20 kids. There will be kids with better pedigrees leaving helmet schools for better oppotunities to play every offseason and kids who perform well in the MAC or wherever looking to move up to play at a big school if the need arises for an immediate starter. Not trying to sugar coat anything here as it's not great that for the second recruiting cycle in a row it doesn't seem like we are going to get/hold on to one of the QB's that we initially targeted and need to reach a little.
 

WindyCityGopher

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Hard to say if Philo will be great or not. But to be honest he might be too highly rated to come here and sit. It’ll be tough in this day and age to bring in a highly sought prospect with a young talent basically cemented into the spot for three years.
But come on, he decommitted just 5 weeks after his verbal. If your scenario is correct, absolutely nothing changed with the Gophers’ QB situation in that time. It’s not like PJ recruited in another 2024 QB. Athan was QB1 when Philo committed and he was still QB1 when he walked away. That would just be bad decision making by the kid and his parents, coaches and other advisors.
 

btowngopher

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But come on, he decommitted just 5 weeks after his verbal. If your scenario is correct, absolutely nothing changed with the Gophers’ QB situation in that time. It’s not like PJ recruited in another 2024 QB. Athan was QB1 when Philo committed and he was still QB1 when he walked away. That would just be bad decision making by the kid and his parents, coaches and other advisors.
Maybe he started getting more attention from other programs, not sure what went into his decision. Will be interesting to see where he ends up.
 

Gophergrandpa

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Grunckemeyer is a little more highly rated than Philo, but they are so close in ratings that there is little functional difference other than what their respective strengths and weaknesses are.
 









btowngopher

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Feels like a landing spot that stings the least. Kid who realized he wanted to stay close to home, can’t fault him for that.
Weird he realized that a little over a month after committing to MN. He already had the GT offer before he committed here.
 

hungan1

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Feels like a landing spot that stings the least. Kid who realized he wanted to stay close to home, can’t fault him for that.
Good for him for wanting to be close to home and family.

Some kids can tolerate being away more than others. I know I was super homesick in my first year of college.
 

FredCoxRocks

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Wouldn't it be cool if this thread, and many like it, started out as "Aaron Philo News" instead?
 




mngolf

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Good for him for wanting to be close to home and family.

Some kids can tolerate being away more than others. I know I was super homesick in my first year of college.
He wasn't gone yet. Hard to be homesick when you haven't left yet. And I can fault him for that.
 

SanDiegoGopherFan

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He wasn't gone yet. Hard to be homesick when you haven't left yet. And I can fault him for that.
Its a little like how we feel when a MN kid we want leaves the state then decides to come back. Minus the leaving part lol.


Have we ever flipped a local kid back to us?
 

MNVCGUY

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He wasn't gone yet. Hard to be homesick when you haven't left yet. And I can fault him for that.
He was a 17-18 year old kid who changed his mind. Decommitments are annoying but they happen all the time.

Would rather have the kid figure out he wanted to be closer to home now as opposed to him signing and then transferring out after a year.
 

mngolf

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He was a 17-18 year old kid who changed his mind. Decommitments are annoying but they happen all the time.

Would rather have the kid figure out he wanted to be closer to home now as opposed to him signing and then transferring out after a year.
I don't spend one second of any day thinking about this kid, so I'm not in the wrong for my opinion when commenting on someone's post on a message board. Nor are you. Just if asked about it, I think it's ridiculous to change your mind that quickly and if I was the uncle and posted on this board about how great the kids' going to be I would definitely post at least once afterward with my thoughts. But that's just me.
 

Word

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I don't spend one second of any day thinking about this kid, so I'm not in the wrong for my opinion when commenting on someone's post on a message board. Nor are you. Just if asked about it, I think it's ridiculous to change your mind that quickly and if I was the uncle and posted on this board about how great the kids' going to be I would definitely post at least once afterward with my thoughts. But that's just me.
Yeah, I don't begrudge the kid for changing his mind, it happens all the time. It was just a little weird in this case with how his (supposed) uncle was posting about how Philo was so stoked to be a Gopher, etc.
 



U2Gopher

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This is where I figured he would end up.
 


skyman31

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Weird he realized that a little over a month after committing to MN. He already had the GT offer before he committed here.
I don’t know, sometimes you make the decision you think you SHOULD make rather than the one you actually want to make, and only realize later you wish you had done something different. Maybe people pressured him to go out of state, maybe he felt like he should go do something new just to have done it. Good for him, he gets a chance to make another choice.
 

Word

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I don’t know, sometimes you make the decision you think you SHOULD make rather than the one you actually want to make, and only realize later you wish you had done something different. Maybe people pressured him to go out of state, maybe he felt like he should go do something new just to have done it. Good for him, he gets a chance to make another choice.
In the end it probably worked out for all parties involved. GT is a great school and Philo gets to stay close to home. We get Lindsey who looks like he's as good or better, at least according to 24/7.
 

mngolf

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I don’t know, sometimes you make the decision you think you SHOULD make rather than the one you actually want to make, and only realize later you wish you had done something different. Maybe people pressured him to go out of state, maybe he felt like he should go do something new just to have done it. Good for him, he gets a chance to make another choice.
Well some of us think a commitment means more than a month. That just sounds like trying to impress someone. And for those of us that stick to our commitments, it's not impressive. But it's his choice and his life. Whatever I guess. Not my kid.
 

skyman31

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Well some of us think a commitment means more than a month. That just sounds like trying to impress someone. And for those of us that stick to our commitments, it's not impressive. But it's his choice and his life. Whatever I guess. Not my kid.
So if your kid made the biggest decision of his life so far, realized a few weeks later that he had made a mistake, and would be happier doing something else, you wouldn’t support that? These are 17-18 year old kids, give them a break.
 

hungan1

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In the end it probably worked out for all parties involved. GT is a great school and Philo gets to stay close to home. We get Lindsey who looks like he's as good or better, at least according to 24/7.
We were elated when Jacob Knuth signed as a Gopher. It turned out that for one reason or another, the stars weren't aligned being a Gopher quarterback.

I'd rather Aaron Philo de-commit now than find out that he doesn't want to be here later too.
 
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mngolf

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So if your kid made the biggest decision of his life so far, realized a few weeks later that he had made a mistake, and would be happier doing something else, you wouldn’t support that? These are 17-18 year old kids, give them a break.
I would have had, and have had plenty of conversations with them about what a commitment means to us. So very unlikely that scenario would have occurred in the first place. I can only say there would be serious explanations, and if I'm not convinced then much disappointment. But again, this is not my kid so whatever.
 




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