All Things Malik Rucker Thread

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Saskatchewan Gopher said:
GopherGod is a troll... That I know for a fact.
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I just don't like people fabricating excuses for not getting a recruit.
 

It's also looking like it's going to be really tough for the gophers to keep Jeff Jones in state from the 2014' class. Already visiting Notre Dame this weekend and said in terms of what college he would pick it would come down to: “I'm looking for strong academics and just great tradition.”.... Already a top 100 prospect on 247 (84th overall) and recently earned MVP camp honors over Jaylon smith, a Notre Dame recruit in the 2013 class who is ranked #4 overall on rivals. He is about to blow up on a national level, and already has multiple big ten offers including Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan state prior to his junior year of high school.

I stumbled upon this news because I do follow the Irish heavily as DPO knows but I thought it was pertinent information to the way this thread was progressing. It's definitely looking like he will be one of the more highly rated players to come out of Minnesota in quite a while.

Edit: didn't notice the Jeff Jones thread that was recently bumped. whatevs
 

iowa-you have got be kidding me. I could see asu or even sconnie but frickin iowa! This kid has serious issues if he chose iowa. I have long understood we aren't going to get every Minnesota kid and have taken the attitude that if they don't want to go to the U they are passing up an excellent chance to play at home. But to play at a dump like kinnick and before fans who's biggest worry is about hog prices and their daughters making their weight in their wrestling weight class is really stupid. Oh well it just opens up another opportunity for another kid to help Floyd stay where he belongs!
 

John Galt said:
Stating that it's the staff's fault for not offering sooner is stupid. They offered him February of his junior year, and were his 3rd or 4th offer overall.
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I disagree, strongly. First of all, they didn't offer him in February. I doubt anyone besides the staff and Rucker knew exactly when he received the offer, but we know he didn't have an offer as of March 1 (http://www.gopherhole.com/news_article/show/136715?referrer_id=394965). 247 lists the date as March 8, so a safe assumption for the timeline is "early March", not February. Further, what new information became available between the end of his football season (October 25) and early March? Even a football neophyte such as myself could see that he was a no-brainer high-major football player after just a cursory viewing of his highlight tape. In-state players who are no-brainer high-major players need to have a Minnesota offer in their hands as soon as possible, preferably within weeks of their junior seasons ending, if not sooner. A Minnesota coaching staff cannot afford to let those types of players leave without giving it 100% effort, and I don't think an early March offer is indicative of 100% effort. For example, most could see that there were at least 4 no-brainer high-major players in the 2011 Minnesota HS class. All of them had offers by February (if not January), and 3 of them were committed by February 23 (i.e., approx. 2 weeks before Rucker even received an offer). We had, in my opinion, 3 no-brainer high-major players in this year's class - Onwualu, Brookins, and Rucker. Onwualu and Brookins had offers in February (if not January), and Brookins committed on February 26 (i.e., approx. 2 weeks before Rucker even received an offer). You can afford to wait on guys like Chris Wipson. They aren't going anywhere. You can't afford to wait on guys like Rucker. A guy like him went from 0 BCS offers to 9 (10, if you count future Big East school SMU) in a matter of days. Minnesota needs to be ahead of that curve on no-brainer in-state guys, not waiting for others to set the standard. I haven't even mentioned the fact that he's a high-major in-state defensive back. Guys like that are rarer than sub 300-lb. coeds at Madison.

I have to mention, further, that it's a strange contradiction that you claim blaming the staff for not offering sooner is "stupid", and yet you've made several posts (even started a thread, as I recall) lamenting the state of this year's recruiting class. Why do you suppose there hasn't been more momentum? Letting players like Rucker receive other offers first doesn't help.

John Galt said:
Offering a player in February is early by pretty much any standard.
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In modern recruiting? No way. Looking at other northern schools' commit lists as of March 8 (approx. date of Rucker's offer):

Michigan - 14 commits
Ohio St. - 5 commits
Penn St. - 3 commits (and 1 the next day)

These aren't offers. These are commits. In other words, players had completed their entire recruiting cycles before Rucker even received an offer. I realize we aren't at the level of these schools in recruiting, and likely never will be, but that's all the more reason to be super-aggressive and wait for nothing and no one when it comes to no-brainer in-state high-major players. I'll say it again - there is no new information that comes available between the end of the junior season and beginning of summer camps. If the staff couldn't look at his game tapes in January (hell, November for that matter) and discern that he is a no-brainer high-major player, that is a serious lapse in judgment. It's not an indictment of their recruiting overall, but they absolutely screwed the pooch with Rucker, big time.

John Galt said:
I have no proof that this didn't play a role, and you have no evidence that it did.
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It's likely, even probable, that the reason he didn't commit to Minnesota isn't because they weren't his first offer. At worst, however, it can't hurt. It has, at worst, a neutral effect. When's the last time you heard a commit say something to the effect of "I'm really pissed at Minnesota for offering me first. What a bunch of jerks! There's no way I'm going there since they didn't take a more measured approach to recruiting me." I have, however, heard players praising a school for being their first offer many, many times.
 

dpodoll68 said:
I disagree, strongly. First of all, they didn't offer him in February. I doubt anyone besides the staff and Rucker knew exactly when he received the offer, but we know he didn't have an offer as of March 1 (http://www.gopherhole.com/news_article/show/136715?referrer_id=394965). 247 lists the date as March 8, so a safe assumption for the timeline is "early March", not February. Further, what new information became available between the end of his football season (October 25) and early March? Even a football neophyte such as myself could see that he was a no-brainer high-major football player after just a cursory viewing of his highlight tape. In-state players who are no-brainer high-major players need to have a Minnesota offer in their hands as soon as possible, preferably within weeks of their junior seasons ending, if not sooner. A Minnesota coaching staff cannot afford to let those types of players leave without giving it 100% effort, and I don't think an early March offer is indicative of 100% effort. For example, most could see that there were at least 4 no-brainer high-major players in the 2011 Minnesota HS class. All of them had offers by February (if not January), and 3 of them were committed by February 23 (i.e., approx. 2 weeks before Rucker even received an offer). We had, in my opinion, 3 no-brainer high-major players in this year's class - Onwualu, Brookins, and Rucker. Onwualu and Brookins had offers in February (if not January), and Brookins committed on February 26 (i.e., approx. 2 weeks before Rucker even received an offer). You can afford to wait on guys like Chris Wipson. They aren't going anywhere. You can't afford to wait on guys like Rucker. A guy like him went from 0 BCS offers to 9 (10, if you count future Big East school SMU) in a matter of days. Minnesota needs to be ahead of that curve on no-brainer in-state guys, not waiting for others to set the standard. I haven't even mentioned the fact that he's a high-major in-state defensive back. Guys like that are rarer than sub 300-lb. coeds at Madison.

I have to mention, further, that it's a strange contradiction that you claim blaming the staff for not offering sooner is "stupid", and yet you've made several posts (even started a thread, as I recall) lamenting the state of this year's recruiting class. Why do you suppose there hasn't been more momentum? Letting players like Rucker receive other offers first doesn't help.



In modern recruiting? No way. Looking at other northern schools' commit lists as of March 8 (approx. date of Rucker's offer):

Michigan - 14 commits
Ohio St. - 5 commits
Penn St. - 3 commits (and 1 the next day)

These aren't offers. These are commits. In other words, players had completed their entire recruiting cycles before Rucker even received an offer. I realize we aren't at the level of these schools in recruiting, and likely never will be, but that's all the more reason to be super-aggressive and wait for nothing and no one when it comes to no-brainer in-state high-major players. I'll say it again - there is no new information that comes available between the end of the junior season and beginning of summer camps. If the staff couldn't look at his game tapes in January (hell, November for that matter) and discern that he is a no-brainer high-major player, that is a serious lapse in judgment. It's not an indictment of their recruiting overall, but they absolutely screwed the pooch with Rucker, big time.



It's likely, even probable, that the reason he didn't commit to Minnesota isn't because they weren't his first offer. At worst, however, it can't hurt. It has, at worst, a neutral effect. When's the last time you heard a commit say something to the effect of "I'm really pissed at Minnesota for offering me first. What a bunch of jerks! There's no way I'm going there since they didn't take a more measured approach to recruiting me." I have, however, heard players praising a school for being their first offer many, many times.
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Here's the link to the GH interview with him. On March 1, he said that he pretty much knew an offer was coming and that he wouldn't commit right away, but we would be "on my top list." It appears he wasn't holding any type of grudge, and even with 2 other offers in hand, stated that "it would be a blessing to play for them." From reading into this, it appears he was probably told at junior days that they were going to offer him, but just wanted to check on references and academics.

Bottom line, I agree that it's best to offer players early and it may help, but doesn't hurt. Your comment insinuated that the reason Rucker didn't commit here was that the staff screwed up and didn't offer him early enough. From the interview with him, it appears this isn't the case.

http://www.gopherhole.com/news_article/show/136715?referrer_id=394965
 


GopherGod said:
I simply asked for proof of his family feeling slighted, as his reason for not coming here and none was presented. He may very well have wanted to simply go away or it may have been a failure of Kill and his staff also. Some others were presenting the slighted theory as if it was fact and the only possible or most likely reason, that is the difference.
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Mr Rucker would pretty much have to get on line TV & say it point blank to provide proof, so since that's not reasonable there is no way to provide the proof you're looking for. Even less possible if you've already decided you don't believe it's true.

What I do know is Royston's Dad (SF24) over at GI made a well thought out post a couple months back regarding Kill having taken his time offering Rucker & that it might already be too late (it was). He listed several top in-state players over the past 10-15 years or so, who's fathers got the cold shoulder from the U as city recruits that ended up playing elsewhere. His point was that these kids don't grow up rooting for the Gophers in their homes & if we want to land them we need to be in early to show we care & yes, we have some damage control to do with the parents.
 

Why did he just tweet this:

Malik Rucker ‏@MRuck2 Official offer from the #gophers
 


JackiO said:
It's also looking like it's going to be really tough for the gophers to keep Jeff Jones in state from the 2014' class. Already visiting Notre Dame this weekend and said in terms of what college he would pick it would come down to: “I'm looking for strong academics and just great tradition.”.... Already a top 100 prospect on 247 (84th overall) and recently earned MVP camp honors over Jaylon smith, a Notre Dame recruit in the 2013 class who is ranked #4 overall on rivals. He is about to blow up on a national level, and already has multiple big ten offers including Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan state prior to his junior year of high school.

I stumbled upon this news because I do follow the Irish heavily as DPO knows but I thought it was pertinent information to the way this thread was progressing. It's definitely looking like he will be one of the more highly rated players to come out of Minnesota in quite a while.

Edit: didn't notice the Jeff Jones thread that was recently bumped. whatevs
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Jeff Jones is an interesting kid. I certainly feel better about Jeff Jones than I did about Onwualu. What I mean is that the Cretin kids have a different mindset. I am not ripping on this mindset, because I am a Cretin alum. However, a percentage of the Cretin kids chose to attend a private school away from home because it was better in football and had more tradition.

Now, that's almost the exact reason why a lot of them choose schools that aren't the U.

Jeff Jones chose to continue going to a school where he won't get as much recognition as he would at Cretin (I'm wrong about that because Jones is beyond special, but the average Washburn athlete), isn't a powerhouse program and is HIS school.

I think it's a similar choice for a kid to choose to go to Cretin as it is to choose to go to Notre Dame. I don't think it's a bad choice, it's just a different kind of choice than a kid choosing to continue to play for Washburn rather than Holy Angels, Totino Grace, Cretin, EP, etc.
 



Winona Gopher said:
Per FBT/MV apparently this one is a written offer. I am guessing the previous one was just a verbal one.
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Well, I hope this changes something. I'd really like to be able to be able to sign either Rucker or Brookins.
 


Rucker tweets like crazy - all his talk has been about Iowa...he has no interest in coming to the U. Don't read into that "official offer" tweet. Surprised they even bothered.
 

Parski1 said:
Rucker tweets like crazy - all his talk has been about Iowa...he has no interest in coming to the U. Don't read into that "official offer" tweet. Surprised they even bothered.
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It so much work to offer.Why even bother. Why not? Kids never change their minds. It isn't like he's a local kid. :confused:
 



Yeah, that McDonald kid will never leave UCLA, or Vanderbilt...
 

As long as we can make sure he gets down to Iowa and has to smell it, we have a great shot. Why anyone would want to drive through that state, let alone live in it, is beyond me.
 

John Galt said:
As long as we can make sure he gets down to Iowa and has to smell it, we have a great shot. Why anyone would want to drive through that state, let alone live in it, is beyond me.
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I think an effective strategy for the Twin Cities kids is to stay on 'em after they commit elsewhere. Often they commit somewhere after years of being told that they are some sort of phenom. They feel like they need to get away a go somewhere different (somewhere better) than their classmates. After awhile, the realization sets-in that a college football scholarship is not a majic ticket to some sort of Wonderland. It is nothing more than a landlmark in another monumental challnge that lies ahead. And that Iowa still sucks.
 


Curseislifted33 said:
He just tweeted : "Recruiting bout to get hectic"

De-commit coming?
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I follow recruiting way more than a healthy and sane person should, but I'm marking Malik under the "wake me in February" category. That kind of behavior is obviously attention seeking and I'd rather not be part of it, personally.

That said, I'd take him and Keelon in a heartbeat. We need some corner recruits.
 


From Doogie:

@DarrenWolfson

Just spoke w/ Cooper DB Malik Rucker. He had a nice chat w/ J. Kill the other day. But he's still solid to Iowa. Will be there Sat. #gophers
 

GopherInPittsburgh said:
From Doogie:

@DarrenWolfson

Just spoke w/ Cooper DB Malik Rucker. He had a nice chat w/ J. Kill the other day. But he's still solid to Iowa. Will be there Sat. #gophers
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Iowa has 2 other safeties currently verballed that appear to be more highly regarded by the Iowa staff. Maybe he will give the Gophs another look, would be a wise decision.
 

RyanBurnsGI ‏@RyanBurnsGI
@LucasTrickleGI and I put out many updates on #Gopher targets tonight such as @ECARTERLG8 @_Tedxric & @MRuck2. Check out The Gopher Report.
Retweeted by Malik Rucker



Something is up.
 

Nothing is up on Rucker. Lucas' post had nothing new, just rehashed Doogie's tweet and quoted Rucker as being solid on Iowa. Tedrick Thompson enjoyed the unlv game and will schedule a visit to Minnesota soon. He will visit the U, Hawaii and Wazzu. Eric Carter loves the Gophers and says that he is leaning towards Minnesota and Iowa State.
 

Rumor Mill: Malik Rucker having second thoughts about Iowa. Met w/ Kill recently

Rumor is Malik Rucker is not too sure about the giant shiite show that is going on in Iowa City. Is not liking what he is seeing from the Iowa coaching staff or team and having some serious second thoughts about his initial decision to verbal to Iowa. May change to Minnesota.

Would be a very smart move on Rucker's part. Will have a better college football career and overall experience at Minnesota versus Iowa. Can't blame him. As I learned more, I wouldn't want to spend the next 4 years of my football career and college career at Iowa either.

As Spike Lee said: "Do the right thing" Malik.
 



Stay home Malik, be a part of something special.
 

I wouldn't mind an implosion in both Wisky and Iowa, resulting in getting both Rucker and Brookins to commit.
 

Quite frankly, if Iowa does not improve, Ferentz could be fired. In which case, there would be a new coaching staff creating uncertainty for Ferentz's commits. At least with Kill, any commit can be assured that he will be playing for Kill throughout his career, unless there is a complete melt down 3 years down the road.
 

GO4INLALALAND said:
Quite frankly, if Iowa does not improve, Ferentz could be fired. In which case, there would be a new coaching staff creating uncertainty for Ferentz's commits. At least with Kill, any commit can be assured that he will be playing for Kill throughout his career, unless there is a complete melt down 3 years down the road.
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Ferentz probably only has to win four/maybe five games to keep his job. His sweat would be really hot, but I can't see him getting fired unless he wins 3 or less games.
 

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