All Things RB Jeffrey Jones Thread

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A post on 247 was just made about what a source close to Jones said regarding his visit this weekend...."He's not going to Iowa St.". Ok then.
 

I think it would be great and helpful if the Gophers would enlist an alumni with NFL success like Marion Barber to help in the recruiting process. Bring them back for a game and meet with prospective recruits. A call from Tony Dungy or Eric Decker would have to put a positive spin on the program.
 

nsmike said:
After many years in sales, when you have a prospect sold but can't quite close the deal, because they keep looking at other options, I've learned that, most of the time it's because there's an outside influence. I could be wrong but Jones' recruitment seems to fit the pattern.
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Reid Travis's dad?
 


Gopherprof said:
I'm pretty sure that's tampering.
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I don't think so, I wanna say I remember one of the basketball recruits we were after getting a visit from a big name former player of another team. Unfortunately, I can't remember any of the specifics (maybe it was UNC?)
 


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It's a Pig Man! said:
I don't think so, I wanna say I remember one of the basketball recruits we were after getting a visit from a big name former player of another team. Unfortunately, I can't remember any of the specifics (maybe it was UNC?)
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Yeah it would be hard to monitor. Like when a recruit goes to USC and Snoop Dog and Will Ferrel are on the sidelines. You can't stop the recruit from talking to them.
 

It'd be pretty easy to monitor if you're calling them on the phone.
 



It's a Pig Man! said:
I don't think so, I wanna say I remember one of the basketball recruits we were after getting a visit from a big name former player of another team. Unfortunately, I can't remember any of the specifics (maybe it was UNC?)
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I think Whitehead met Oladipo. Indiana played if off as Oladipo was already there working out, and it's allowed as long as it wasn't set up. Obviously there are easy ways around that.
 


Gopherprof said:
Come on....I knew someone would say something like this. We're talking about recruiting. Are those schools in the same class as Ohio State and Michigan in recruiting? Does this really need to be explained?
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Yes - I do need it explained to me how WI wouldn't be a top tier team for a RB recruit.
 

jaymil said:
A post on 247 was just made about what a source close to Jones said regarding his visit this weekend...."He's not going to Iowa St.". Ok then.
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Always love these types of posts, especially when the exact opposite is being said on the other side of this while citing the same type of sources.
 



Spoofin said:
Yes - I do need it explained to me how WI wouldn't be a top tier team for a RB recruit.
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Gladly.

Currently the Badgers have two RB commits, Taiwan Deal, a 3-star kid who is the 27th ranked RB in 2014, and Caleb Kinlaw, who is ranked 43rd and similarly a 3-star. By comparisons sake, Jeff Jones is the 9th ranked RB in 2014, which would be well above where the Badgers are at.

In 2013, the Badgers got arguably their most high-profile RB commit ever in Corey Clement, who was the 12th ranked RB, still below Jones. Much of this was attributed to good ol' Thomas Hammock, who we know can recruit his ass off. Clement, however, had offers from Notre Dame, Florida State, and Ohio State, meaning he chose to turn down the helmet schools for Wisconsin. This is not only uncommon, but it again underlines the question why Jones, an equally ranked RB, does not have similar offers.

In 2012 they got a commit from Vonte Jackson, the 18th ranked RB, but Jackson was a local kid, so this would not count as a national recruit. Ditto Melvin Gordon in 2011 (though, again, neither were as highly regarded as Jones).

In 2010, James White was the 41st ranked RB and a 3-star kid out of South Florida. Befitting his status as a 3-star kid, White had offers from schools like Rutgers, Michigan State, Iowa, etc. His only arguably high-profile school was Clemson, but Clemson is a borderline "helmet school" at best.

In 2009, Montee Ball was the 44th ranked RB and a 3-star kid out of Missouri. He had offers from lower profile schools like Missouri, Kansas, and Indiana, but that's about it.

So...to recap, Wisconsin has never had an RB recruit as highly regarded as Mr. Jones, and their ability to recruit runningbacks outside of the state of Wisconsin has generally resulted in 3-star kids with similar offers from similar schools. Wisconsin is very good at finding underrated 3-star runningbacks and developing them alongside their massive offensive lineman. This makes them a very good program. It does not, however, make them a high profile recruiting school.

I hope this helps.
 


John Clay was a Wisconsin kid, and thus not a national recruit.

Lots of programs are able to nab high-profile kids from close to home. We do it too. The difference between those programs and the top-tier recruiting programs is that the latter can consistently recruit nationally for the best players. Wisconsin and Michigan State are really good at getting the kids they want locally and finding underrated talent across the country. They are considerably less good at going into states like Texas and Florida and grabbing the elite talents.

An example would be the difference between Alabama and Minnesota this year. We take kids from Alabama that they don't want. They took a kid from Minnesota that we would be damn glad to have. And that's not a knock on Minnesota, but it's the difference between us and them, and it's the difference between Wisconsin and Ohio State.
 

I checked again on the Michigan state scout forum and they said they only are only looking for 2 more recruits, they could make room for more if they needed to, and they are definitely not looking for one of their future recruits to be another RB
 

GopherProf - good response/stats, but I still think in 2013 WI has to look as good as MI to a RB.
 

Spoofin said:
GopherProf - good response/stats, but I still think in 2013 WI has to look as good as MI to a RB.
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The kid looks at the names of the schools and disagrees with you.

Prof is on point.

Wisconsin is OUR rival and WE pay a lot of attention to them, the rest of the world does not. The rest of the nation views Wisconsin as a consistently solid program that has produced a large amount of offensive linemen and can run the ball at will against almost anyone.

Michigan, Nebraska, OSU are big ten recruiting schools for RB.
 

Gopherprof said:
In the world of recruiting? Michigan and Ohio State are in another league as far as the B1G goes. Penn State and Nebraska have the potential to get back up there, but haven't been recruiting at that national level lately.

When you talk about "helmet schools", do those schools ever come up? No. Why? Because they aren't big brand names that get the big kids at a national level. Michigan State and Iowa have a whopping zero 4-star kids this year. Not 5-star, 4-star.
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this means jerry is a better recruiter than dantonio and ferentz #winning
 

Winasota Gopher said:
The kid looks at the names of the schools and disagrees with you.

Prof is on point.

Wisconsin is OUR rival and WE pay a lot of attention to them, the rest of the world does not. The rest of the nation views Wisconsin as a consistently solid program that has produced a large amount of offensive linemen and can run the ball at will against almost anyone.

Michigan, Nebraska, OSU are big ten recruiting schools for RB.
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I'm clearly in the minority on this topic. That's fine. As mentioned, I was impressed with GopherProf's stats as well. With that said, I am pretty sure kids outside of MN are aware of the success WI has had at the RB position. Heck, even an exclusive-NFL fan would know that.

Now, considering I hate the Badgers and am losing sleep over the fact that I seem to be praising them here, I'm going to acknowledge that I may be wrong on this topic and refrain from further comment on it.
 


die hard gopher said:
false statement by gopherprof
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Umm....no. If you look across the entirety of the field you can find one outlet that gives them 4 stars. The consensus, provided by 247, is that none of them are, however. I'll take the collective opinion over that of one media outlet.

That's like AJ Barker saying he's the best player on the team because his mom's friend says he is.
 

Spoofin said:
With that said, I am pretty sure kids outside of MN are aware of the success WI has had at the RB position. Heck, even an exclusive-NFL fan would know that.
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I think you are too closely blurring the line between what a recruit knows and what a recruit wants. A kid from Miami may know that Wisconsin does a really good job of producing runningbacks and putting them into the league. That recruit is still more likely to be enticed by the idea of playing at Ohio State, or LSU, or Notre Dame, or USC, however, because that means more to people. It sounds more impressive and it has a lot more cachet. This is the ultimate advantage that helmet schools have over non-helmet schools and the reason why an offer from them carries so much more weight in terms of national perception.

People overrate on-field success with recruiting success. The two are connected, of course, but it's not a direct correlation. If it was, we would expect Michigan State to be outrecruiting Michigan by now. It takes a lot of variables and time to change the overall perception of a program.
 

Spoofin said:
I'm clearly in the minority on this topic. That's fine. As mentioned, I was impressed with GopherProf's stats as well. With that said, I am pretty sure kids outside of MN are aware of the success WI has had at the RB position. Heck, even an exclusive-NFL fan would know that.
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According to the Badgers NFL update on their site, just one Wisconsin tailback saw any action in the NFL last week. By comparison, 10 OL/TE played last week. Michael Bennett made a Pro Bowl in 2003...don't see any other running backs make it in the last 20-30 years.

Would an NFL exclusive fan look around the league and marvel at all the Badger tailbacks and their success?
 

Badger tailbacks have a horrible track record in the NFL. Doesn't matter what kind of success they had in college, from Ron Dayne to Brian Calhoun to John Clay, they all struggle or fail to stick in the league.
 

MadtownGopher said:
Badger tailbacks have a horrible track record in the NFL. Doesn't matter what kind of success they had in college, from Ron Dayne to Brian Calhoun to John Clay, they all struggle or fail to stick in the league.
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Brent Moss
 

I just did a quick search of NFL rosters and Dan Herron was the only Ohio State RB currently in the NFL. Who was the last succeful OSU RB in the NFL? My mind is blanking.
 



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