Adam Rittenberg blog: Q&A: Minnesota coach Jerry Kill

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A very good read on Jerry Kill. And naturally, there are already some trolls getting their licks in early on this article.
 

To "answer" the Freshman playing question...

"How many young players do you anticipate playing, true freshmen and redshirt freshmen?

JK: Too many. It is what it is. We've got a situation where we've got one recruiting class that only has five players left. There's a reason things are open. We've got one senior running back [Duane Bennett] and four freshmen, whether they're redshirt or true freshmen. We've got one senior wide receiver [Da'Jon McKnight] and the rest are freshmen and a junior college player. Offensive line, we've got three seniors and the rest of them are freshmen and redshirt freshmen, a couple sophomores sprinkled in there. So it's a young football team.

Who are some of the young guys who have stood out to you so far?

JK: Lamonte Edwards at tailback has shown some great signs. He's a redshirt freshman. He's run pretty hard. Malcolm Moulton, a wide receiver transfer that's got three years left, from Fort Scott Junior College, he's done some good things. [Devin] Crawford-Tufts, a true freshman, has done some good things at receiver. All the offensive linemen are young, so they have to do some good things. David Cobb's done a nice job. He could be [a factor at running back], but we'll see. But he has had a good camp. Tommy Olson has done a good job, Foster Bush, a true freshman offensive lineman that we're probably going to need to do some things for us.

On the defensive side of the ball, Ben Perry has done some good things at defensive end. [Michael] Amaefula, a true freshman from Texas, is going to have to play some minutes for us at defensive end. We've got a lot of young players."

He doesn't specifically mention Shortell, but you gotta figure now that he's the back-up.
 

It is horrendous that we only have 5 recruits left from a recruiting class. You cannot build a program with such high attrition. I remember Brewster saying how he wanted a chance to coach this year because he had finally built the program how he wanted it (or words to that effect); what a joke - 5 players left. If Brewster would have coached again this season, there would be a good chance that we do not win a game. Brewster may have had some good recruiting classes, but it does no good if all the players are gone before they become seniors. Man, Brewster was such a freakin joke.
 

GO4INLALALAND said:
It is horrendous that we only have 5 recruits left from a recruiting class. You cannot build a program with such high attrition. I remember Brewster saying how he wanted a chance to coach this year because he had finally built the program how he wanted it (or words to that effect); what a joke - 5 players left. If Brewster would have coached again this season, there would be a good chance that we do not win a game. Brewster may have had some good recruiting classes, but it does no good if all the players are gone before they become seniors. Man, Brewster was such a freakin joke.
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I think his biggest mistake was taking the bait and trying the quick turnaround with JC players. A large number of JC players plus attrition equals low class numbers come years four and five. Johnnys and Joes beats x's and o's (read as highly ranked recruits beat coaching and strategies) may work at a helmet school but is tough to pull off at a program that has been in the rebuild mode as long as our Gophers. Oh well, I'm hopeful that Kill can even out the classes soon enough.
 


STPGopher said:
I think his biggest mistake was taking the bait and trying the quick turnaround with JC players. A large number of JC players plus attrition equals low class numbers come years four and five. Johnnys and Joes beats x's and o's (read as highly ranked recruits beat coaching and strategies) may work at a helmet school but is tough to pull off at a program that has been in the rebuild mode as long as our Gophers. Oh well, I'm hopeful that Kill can even out the classes soon enough.
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The JC thing would be a non-issue if the attrition hadn't been so high throughout the rest of the class.
 

I don't think the problem is JuCo kids, in fact, I imagine Kill will recruit a similar number of JuCo kids to Brewster.

Kill tried to bring in 4 guys to last years class (Moulton, Harris, Rabe and Crawford). Crawford didn't qualify. He already has Fruechte signed to next year's class.

Brew brought in 4 in 2010.
2 in 2009.
5 in 2008.

I think the big problem is the attrition of the younger kids.

However, I did notice that there has been absolutely no mention of Brandon Green in any of the chatter and Kill even pointed out that he is working with McKnight and a bunch of freshmen....anyone heard anything on Green? Did I miss something?
 

Dr.Don said:
A very good read on Jerry Kill. And naturally, there are already some trolls getting their licks in early on this article.
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Some guy named Rodenator (PantherHawk?) is bashing Coach Kill's physical appearance, and saying that there is no way we get more than 3 wins this season, and a Michigan fan is saying that our program needs a lot of fixing, and that this season will be interesting for Minnesota, and not in a good way.
 

GO4INLALALAND said:
It is horrendous that we only have 5 recruits left from a recruiting class. You cannot build a program with such high attrition. I remember Brewster saying how he wanted a chance to coach this year because he had finally built the program how he wanted it (or words to that effect); what a joke - 5 players left. If Brewster would have coached again this season, there would be a good chance that we do not win a game. Brewster may have had some good recruiting classes, but it does no good if all the players are gone before they become seniors. Man, Brewster was such a freakin joke.
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Kill is referring to the 2007 class, dummy.
 



There are six remaining from the 07 class: Bennett, Bunders, Jacobs, McGarry, Orton and Wynn.
*****************************************
Gopher Football Signs 22 Football Recruiting

by Cory Doffing February 7, 2007

..........When asked about recruiting Junior College players, Brewster said he has a priority when it comes to recruiting. The first is to recruit the state of Minnesota and to get all of the players possible from here. The second is to them recruit the rest of the nation and get as many kids as you can that way. Then the third preference is recruiting JUCO players. He said he will only recruit JUCO kids when he believes that they can fill a specific need and if they will be able to contribute. He said he will not recruit Junior College players to provide depth................ As to the chances of any of this years recruits playing this fall, Brewster said that he does not believe in wholesale redshirting, and thinks those days of college football are gone. Rather, he said that he will play a true freshman if he thinks that player can help them to win 1 game.

Prep signees
Name Pos. Ht Wt Hometown, School
Duane Bennett RB 5'9" 190 Fairview Heights, Ill. (O'Fallon Township)
Clint Brewster QB 6'1" 190 Denver, Colo. (J.K. Mullen)
Chris Bunders OL 6'3" 305 Maple Grove, Minn. (Osseo)
Justin Chatman Ath 5'9" 165 Mesquite, Texas (Horn)
Ryan Collado CB 5'9" 165 Cincinnati, Ohio (Hills Christian)
Trey Davis OL 6'2" 275 Farmington, Minn. (Farmington)
Tray Herndon WR 5'10" 170 Jacksonville, Fla. (The Bolles School)
Harold Howell Ath 5'8" 160 Jacksonville, Fla. (Mandarin)
Anthony Jacobs DE 6'2" 265 Northfield, Minn. (Northfield)
Collin McGarry TE 6'4" 230 Stillwater, Minn. (Stillwater)
Ryan Orton OL 6'4" 265 Eden Prairie, Minn. (Eden Prairie)
Shane Potter DB 6'1" 195 Clearwater, Minn. (Becker)
Andre Tate' RB 6'2" 215 Mendota Heights, Minn. (Henry Sibley)

Kyle Theret DB 5'11" 185 Denver, Colo. (J.K. Mullen)
Curtis Thomas DB 6'1" 190 Aldine, Texas (Aldine)
Jimmy Thompson WR 6'1" 180 Hayward, Wis. (Hayward)
Ryan Wynn OL 6'5" 240 Plymouth, Minn. (Maple Grove)


Junior College signees
Marc Cheatham WR 6'2" 210 Oakland, Calif. (Laney College)
Durrell Clark-James
DB 6'1" 190 San Francisco, Calif. (City College of San Francisco)
Serge Elizee DL 6'1" 300 Miami, Fla. (College of the Sequoias)
Eric Small DL 6'2" 265 Naperville, Ill. (Joliet JC)

Logan Uu LB 5'10" 225 Oakland, Calif. (Laney College)
*********************
Plus he added two more JUCO's
********************
Ralph Spry Jr. 2 stars WR Auburn, AL
Auburn 5'11" 171 4.5 2 stars 5.1 5/1/07 3 videos yes George McDonald
Damien White 2 stars WR Culver City, CA
Culver City 6'0" 170 4.4 2 stars 5.2 4/8/07
 

Of course every one of you guys failed to mention 2007 was Brewster's first recruiting class. He had three weeks to hire a coaching staff and do the recruiting before signing day. That is an important bit of information, wouldn't you say?
 

The 07 class was handicapped from the start, brewster would have been better off taking a bunch of fringe BCS/developmental/local types probably. He gambled and lost, and played most of the class right away. Kids like Theret, Potter, and Collado could have helped us this year if they had been redshirted. That 07 D was so bad it really didn't matter.

Back on subject, the quote Kill gave about trying to keep NIU close in games and win in the 4th quarter in his first year there caught my eye.
 

Plinnius said:
Kill is referring to the 2007 class, dummy.
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Exactly. But hey, let's not miss an opportunity to take a gratuitous shot at Brewster, right? After all, who can forget how he took a BCS title-contending team and drove them into the ground in only 3.5 short years? We all long for those glory days of 1968-2006.
 



JK: Too many. It is what it is. We've got a situation where we've got one recruiting class that only has five players left. There's a reason things are open. We've got one senior running back [Duane Bennett] and four freshmen, whether they're redshirt or true freshmen. We've got one senior wide receiver [Da'Jon McKnight] and the rest are freshmen and a junior college player. Offensive line, we've got three seniors and the rest of them are freshmen and redshirt freshmen, a couple sophomores sprinkled in there. So it's a young football team. [/Quote]


There has been a fair amount of turnover but Kill is flat out lying. Brewster's first class has 10 players left but he had a large number of Jucos. The 2009 class has 12 left. The 2010 has more. I'm not sure how you count the fifth year senior class, that was Mason's class anyway, but your numbers are never going to be high, especially with two coaching changes. I don't think Kill's numbers will be that different than Brewsters.

I'm not a big fan of Brewster but this more than anything shows how awfull the shape Mason left the program in. Brewster did a decent job building up the numbers.


2008 - 10 - 5 juco graduated
Xzavian Brandon 2 stars WR Atlanta, GA Not Sure
Tramaine Brock 3 stars DB Perkinston, MS Juco Graduated
Terrell Combs 3 stars ATH Lexington, KY Gone
Keanon Cooper 4 stars DB Dallas, TX On Team
Tim Dandridge 3 stars DB Detroit, MI Gone
Jewhan Edwards 3 stars DT Philadelphia, PA Gone
Deleon Eskridge 3 stars RB San Mateo, CA Gone
Ryan Grant 2 stars LB Eden Prairie, MN On Team
MarQueis Gray 4 stars QB Indianapolis, IN On Team
Brandon Green 4 stars WR Chicago, IL On Team
Vincent Hill 4 stars WR New Berlin, NY Gone
Johnny Johnson 2 stars DB Chicago, IL Gone
Brandon Kirksey 3 stars DE St. Louis, MO On Team
Eric Lair 3 stars TE Houston, TX On Team
Simoni Lawrence 3 stars DB Upper Dar, PA Juco Graduated
Sam Maresh 4 stars LB Champlin, MN Gone
Cedric McKinley 3 stars DE Perkinston, MS Juco Graduated
Da'Jon McKnight 2 stars DB Dallas, TX On Team
John Nance 2 stars ATH St. Paul, MN Gone
David Pittman 4 stars ATH Pasadena, CA Juco Graduated
Spencer Reeves 3 stars LB Dallas, TX On Team
Shady Salamon 3 stars RB St. Paul, MN Gone
Rex Sharpe 3 stars LB Yuma, AZ Juco Gone
Traye Simmons 4 stars DB Visalia, CA Graduated
Brodrick Smith 3 stars WR Garden City, KS Gone
Troy Stoudermire 3 stars ATH Dallas, TX On Team
Gary Tinsley 3 stars LB Jacksonville, FL On Team
Kevin Whaley 3 stars RB Virginia Beach, VA Gone
D.L. Wilhite 3 stars ATH Lexington, KY On Team



2009 - 12
Moses Alipate 3 stars QB Bloomington, MN On Team
Bryant Allen 3 stars ATH Maplewood, MO Gone
Josh Campion 3 stars OL Fergus Falls, MN On Team
Hayo Carpenter 4 stars WR Santa Clarita, CA Graduated
Michael Carter 4 stars DB Pompano Beach, FL On Team
Matt Garin 3 stars DE Apple Valley, MN On Team
Kendall Gregory-McGhee 3 stars ATH Aurora, CO On Team
Ra'shede Hageman 3 stars TE Minneapolis, MN On Team
Eric Jacques 3 stars OL Pompano Beach, FL On Team
Victor Keise 3 stars WR Coral Springs, FL On Team
Kerry Lewis 3 stars DB Lancaster, TX Gone
Hasan Lipscomb 4 stars RB Houston, TX Never Here
Brooks Michel 3 stars OL Carmel, IN On Team
Ed Olson 3 stars OL Mahtomedi, MN On Team
Dan Orseske 2 stars K Chicago, IL On Team
Nick Rengel 2 stars ATH Sartell, MN Gone
Joey Searcy 3 stars DT Grand Prairie, TX Gone
Brent Singleton 3 stars LB Plantation, FL On Team
Kenneth Watkins 3 stars DB Birmingham, MI Gone
Jeff Wills 3 stars OL Scranton, PA Graduated
 

There are still 13 players left from 2008 (Brandon, Johnson, and Salamon are still here) and 13 left from 2009 (Watkins is still on the team).

Also, there were six JuCos in the 2008 class (Traye Simmons being the one you missed).
 

Alot of turnover there that wasn't coaching change related.
The past is the past, alot of this mess goes back to the 05' and 06' classes too, depth has been an issue for a long time in this program. Freshmen have played too early, sophmores and RSfreshmen have left for various reasons too early. The 08' class all played, the 09' class all redshirted.

BTW if Kill doesn't get a better retention rate in his commits through their upperclassmen years we'll be in trouble again.
The emphasis on character and academics is good to keep kids in the program, high risk high reward commits often can make or break programs if theres not depth to fall back on.

I see a trend in Kill's recruits, alot of Vanderbilt/Duke/Army/Standford interest and alot of team leader/hard working types. Good combos for developing unselfish and team oriented kids who can fill depth roles until they emerge as starters.

The scholarships will be goofy for awhile as Kill filters through the past few classes and the lack of depth he has to work with, expect a few more JUCOs and calculated freshmen to play early.
 

I'm amazed how many people on this board continue to defend Tim Brewster. Not only was he a bad coach but he was a terrible representative for the school. He was a slimeball and a liar, a total disgrace in so many ways.
 


Agreed DMB. I cannot believe anyone would try and defend that doofus Brewster. Plinnius you may think I am a dummy because I am disgusted that only 5 players were left from the 2007 class, but you are an absolute moron and would not know a good coach if it bit you in the a$$ if you are even trying to defend Brewster and his recruiting. There is no question that there was high attrition during the whole time Brewster was here. Why in the hell do you think the coaches keep saying we are thin at EVERY position. If Brewster recrutied the right type of players we should have depth at every position, instead of having true freshman backing up seniors. You moron. As to you Go4Broke- Yeah, I would rather have gone back to the Mason era than continue on with the Brewster era. Do you think the program was headed in a better direction with Brewster than under Mason. I did not like Mason, but he was clearly a better coach than Brewster.
 

Brewster wasn't ready to be a BCS head coach. But he wasn't the devil either.
 


Can't believe there's another damn brewster v mason thread devolving on this board.

Brewster wasn't a damn slimeball, he did fine in most settings, better than Mason in some respects PR wise. Bad coach? yeah i think that's fair at this point. Devil? Not even close

The point I was trying to make in my previous post was that the angelic mason had these same depth issues in poor retention of 05 and 06 recruits, making a hard situation tougher for an inexperienced coach like Brewster.
Now Kill is dealing with a gap in the scholarships due to the 08 class all playing as true freshmen/being JUCO contributors right away and gone in 2, and the 09 class all being redshirted. It's obvious Brewster thought he'd be coaching 5-6 years and could have the 09 class as RS seniors, oops.

Kill will have to play more Frosh than he likes and will have to fill in JUCOs later to balance everything out down the line. He's got it figured out, not ideal, but nothing about our program is right now.
Retain this freshmen class until 2014, continue strong in state recruiting and hit on some of these developmental/under the radar types in the upcoming class and we'll be fine and dandy.
 

RodentRampage said:
Brewster wasn't ready to be a BCS head coach. But he wasn't the devil either.
Click to expand...

Exactly. My limited personal interactions with him and the much more frequent personal interactions between him and some family friends all led me to believe strongly that he was a good guy who was just not a good HC.
 

It's the same things Coach Kill has said during his tenure here.

Brew and Mason can lick my taint. Crocshots Out
 

RodentRampage said:
Brewster wasn't ready to be a BCS head coach. But he wasn't the devil either.
Click to expand...

Some people seem to have a tremendous difficulty in discerning between a "coach" and the head coach at a D-1 BCS football program.

You really think Brewster completely fooled the likes of Mike Shanahan and Mack Brown (among others) for 20+ years in a profession like this? Good grief, get a grip.

Brewster was a horrible head coach that was nowhere near ready for a head gig at a BCS school. But a horrible coach, an idiot, a slimeball, a liar? Some of you people have some serious anger issues....

Besides all that, the fact that there are 5 folks from the 2007 class left (or whatever it is), is 90% on Mason, 10% on Brewster. Those were kids that Mason should have been bringing along and recruiting for the last 2 years before he left. Thanks a million, Glen.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Please cite evidence. I'll be waiting.
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Really? How about the fact that he had on his website an overall record that wasn't even close? He counted Mack Brown's wins as wins for himself to make his resume look better for recruits to see on playforbrew.com. You can't excuse that, it was an outright lie.
 

DMB123 said:
Really? How about the fact that he had on his website an overall record that wasn't even close? He counted Mack Brown's wins as wins for himself to make his resume look better for recruits to see on playforbrew.com. You can't excuse that, it was an outright lie.
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Obviously 'slimeball" label worthy.
Your devil is gone quit rolling in the corpse like my dog in a dead carp on the beach.

Brewster = not a a good coach
Brewster does not equal a "slimeball"
 

DMB123 said:
How about the fact that he had on his website an overall record that wasn't even close?
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False.

DMB123 said:
He counted Mack Brown's wins as wins for himself
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As an assistant? Yup, sure did. He was there.

As a head coach? Nope, never did anything remotely approaching that.

DMB123 said:
You can't excuse that, it was an outright lie.
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I sure can, because it wasn't a lie.

How many times do I have to correct you on this? Your misinformed opinion on this always has been, and always will be, wrong.
 

I think the Brewster defenders are vastly underestimating the amount of pure embarrassment he caused the football program, and not just because of losing to teams like Bowling Green, North Dakota State and South Dakota (all at home btw). Fans from opposing schools were laughing at us due to Brewster's antics on and off the field. Examples...
- laying on his stomach during the 2 pt conversion vs Bowling Green
- Promising Rose Bowls every time he opened his mouth
- Promising a "killer hire" for the OC position, then hiring Jedd Fisch
- Lying about his overall won/loss record on his website, actually counting wins as an assistant coach as his own.
- Flying around on a helicopter like Donald Trump to watch high school games
- Playing in the spread for two years, then 4 weeks later at the Insight.com Bowl Weber is under center with two tight ends and a full back. He actually thought we could just change schemes that easily and everything would be fine. Just like that he thought we could be a Big Ten power running team?
- Bringing up the fact that Bret Bielema didn't have a wife/girlfriend at Big Ten Media Days in Chicago as if it were a bad thing. That was just bizarre.
- Saying Kim Royston would be ready for the 1st game of 2010 when he and everyone else knew there was no chance of that happening. Just another example of his constant BS that he would spew.
- Video of him debuting the white helmets in Madison the night before the game. These are the things he cared about...white helmets of all things.

We have proof of his lying, and I stand by my slimeball comment. He was a snake oil salesman and a charlatan, recruits and their families saw right through him. High school coaches knew it too.
 

dpodoll68 said:
False.



As an assistant? Yup, sure did. He was there.

As a head coach? Nope, never did anything remotely approaching that.



I sure can, because it wasn't a lie.

How many times do I have to correct you on this? Your misinformed opinion on this always has been, and always will be, wrong.
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You're wrong. The website said his overall record was... and then listed over 100 wins and however many losses, I can't remember the exact record it showed but it was an outright lie. It NEVER pointed out the small fact that these "wins" were as an assistant coach.
 

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