All Things RB Jeffrey Jones Thread

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I am tired of the 'Gloom and Doomers' proclaiming that we don't have a chance every time a 'Helmet School' shows interest in one of our recruits. Jeff Jones has already said he's looking at schools with an eye on how well they will prepare him for life after football. By that criteria, you can eliminate at least half of the 'Helmet Schools', with Alabama being one of them.
 

nsmike said:
I am tired of the 'Gloom and Doomers' proclaiming that we don't have a chance every time a 'Helmet School' shows interest in one of our recruits. Jeff Jones has already said he's looking at schools with an eye on how well they will prepare him for life after football. By that criteria, you can eliminate at least half of the 'Helmet Schools', with Alabama being one of them.
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You really can't blame Gopher fans for thinking this way. It happens every year, particularly in football. Sometimes we are able to do the last second stealing though, like with Donovahn Jones last year. It's what makes the last couple of weeks on the recruiting calendar so interesting/nerve-racking.
 

nsmike said:
Jeff Jones has already said he's looking at schools with an eye on how well they will prepare him for life after football. By that criteria, you can eliminate at least half of the 'Helmet Schools', with Alabama being one of them.
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Explain.
 

MadtownGopher said:
You really can't blame Gopher fans for thinking this way. It happens every year, particularly in football. Sometimes we are able to do the last second stealing though, like with Donovahn Jones last year. It's what makes the last couple of weeks on the recruiting calendar so interesting/nerve-racking.
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This is exaggerated. It does happen, but you also get guys like Jonah Pirsig, Andre McDonald, or Ra'Shede Hageman who get "helmet school offers" and still stay home.
 

Alabama has a terrible reputation for not taking care of their recruits. They have pulled scholarships, forced medical scholarships, and put students in useless degree programs to keep them eligible. Unless you come from the area and are already part upper crust society you won't make the kinds of contacts that help later in life. A lot of the SEC and Big 12 schools have a similar dynamic, proximity to a major metropolitan area improves the situation, but doesn't eliminate it.
 


MadtownGopher said:
Interesting, I don't follow Alabama's recruiting so I had no idea they already had a 5-star RB in this class. That does indeed help our case. Kind of surprised Alabama would even go after Jones.
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Actually Bo Scarborough is a tweener. Tide wants to move him to WR. Adding a Jones would allow them to do that. For that sole purpose, I think there is a legitimate chance he receives a Bama offer.

That said, I don't think Jeff would be too interested in Bama. Not if he wants to play anytime soon. Alabama's fourth HB is a 4 star back from last year who was rated higher than Jones in Altee Tenpenny. Bama has a 2015 4 star commit, also ranked higher than Jones. Now rankings aren't everything but the point is that there is way too much talent there for Jones to see the 20+ carries a game that Jeff deserves. Michigan State and Michigan are probably the biggest threats at this point.
 

Mr. Jones will go to the program that will get him to the NFL and he will consider what will happen if he doesn't make it to the NFL…which school will prepare him best for plan B or life after the NFL. The Gophers have a lot to offer. First they run a scheme that highlights the RB, second they have a much, much, much, much better academic institution than Alabama, Florida and the like. The opportunities in Minnesota smoke those in Michigan as the entire state of Michigan is dealing with a huge mess including having its biggest city in bankruptcy. We are the only place his friends and family can go to the games. So the question is can Michigan or Alabama or Florida give him a better chance to go to the NFL? At Minnesota we will have 2 All-American OL's in Conner Mayes and Lauer…that's 40% of our OL! We run, run, run the ball more than anyone and we have no plans to change that formula. We have no 4-star or 5-star recruits that Mr. Jones will have to compete with for playing time. Florida and Alabama each had one RB drafted last year. However, North Carolina had the top recruit followed by a couple Big 10 recruits. Even Harvard's RB was drafted above the Florida RB. In 2009 the SEC recruited 13 4-star and 5-star RBs. In 2013 the year these recruits would graduate, they had 6 RBs drafted. The Big Ten had 4 4-star RBs (no 5-star) recruited in 2009 yet in 2013 they had 3 drafted. Point is….RBs improve more in the Big 10 than in the SEC and therefore increase their chances of getting drafted more if they have the natural ability to begin with…Mr. Jones has the natural ability. My guess is he will get to showcase it more and therefore improve it more if he goes to Minnesota. IMO
 


For those who use forum runner to access GH there is a Gator Country recruiting forum in the football directory where you can do a quick search on JJ to see what Gator fans are thinking. Needless to say there is not a 77 page thread on JJ there. They believe he has stars in his eyes now after the AA game. I hope he stays home. He'll be another fish in the sea there. Looking backwards most of us recognize that family is #1. I'd want my family to be able to see me play.
 



positively4thstreet said:
This is exaggerated. It does happen, but you also get guys like Jonah Pirsig, Andre McDonald, or Ra'Shede Hageman who get "helmet school offers" and still stay home.
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Pirsig, Mcdonald and Ra'shede are not the same as Cornell, Seantrel henderson, and Michale Floyd, Mauer etc. those guys were high 3 star recruits that had maybe one or 2 helmet schools as their plan C, Henderson Floyd, Jashon had offer could go to almost anywhere they went and not only had offers from most helmet schools but they were priority #1 for those schools, not their third choice, big difference, the gophers haven't really gotten anybody of that caliber
 

die hard gopher said:
Pirsig, Mcdonald and Ra'shede are not the same as Cornell, Seantrel henderson, and Michale Floyd, Mauer etc. those guys were high 3 star recruits that had maybe one or 2 helmet schools as their plan C, Henderson Floyd, Jashon had offer could go to almost anywhere they went and not only had offers from most helmet schools but they were priority #1 for those schools, not their third choice, big difference, the gophers haven't really gotten anybody of that caliber
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Not what I was arguing. I was refuting the argument of "helmet schools" coming in and stealing our recruits every time they offer.
 

positively4thstreet said:
Not what I was arguing. I was refuting the argument of "helmet schools" coming in and stealing our recruits every time they offer.
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every time a helmet school tries to steal one of our guys they really want then more so then not it happens but i guess Jeff isn't FLorida's, Michigan's and possibly Alabama's #1 priority either, more of a luxury for them but he is
 




nsmike said:
Alabama has a terrible reputation for not taking care of their recruits. They have pulled scholarships, forced medical scholarships, and put students in useless degree programs to keep them eligible. Unless you come from the area and are already part upper crust society you won't make the kinds of contacts that help later in life. A lot of the SEC and Big 12 schools have a similar dynamic, proximity to a major metropolitan area improves the situation, but doesn't eliminate it.
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As a college student you can choose your major, maybe some of these kids should actually go to class and learn how to be productive human beings, if they want a useful degree. Environmental health and city planning are going to land you in a Mc Donalds drive through
 

bemidjigopher said:
As a college student you can choose your major, maybe some of these kids should actually go to class and learn how to be productive human beings, if they want a useful degree. Environmental health and city planning are going to land you in a Mc Donalds drive through
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Just to be blunt, at Alabama and similar schools, it's all about keeping a kid eligible not about preparing kids for life after football. Life after football matters to Coach Kill and his staff any kid that pays attention will see that. Some kids will always choose the chance at gridiron glory but not all kids.
 


bemidjigopher said:
As a college student you can choose your major, maybe some of these kids should actually go to class and learn how to be productive human beings, if they want a useful degree. Environmental health and city planning are going to land you in a Mc Donalds drive through
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As a recruit I would be concerned about what % of previous recruits graduate. However the people that I know who have degrees in environmental health or urban/city planning are doing much better than the ones you seem to be acquainted with.
 


bemidjigopher said:
Gotta agree, Alabama is actually a pretty good school, not on Vandy's level, but I'd rank it #2 in the SEC. Auburn is where all the hicks in that state go to.
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#2 in the SEC for academics is like being the tallest midget, the prettiest horse in the glue factory, the fastest snail…Vandy is the only school that doesn't stink academically in the SEC with the exception of Missouri's #1 undergraduate journalism program….which BTW is a dying industry.
 

CoMn said:
#2 in the SEC for academics is like being the tallest midget, the prettiest horse in the glue factory, the fastest snail…Vandy is the only school that doesn't stink academically in the SEC with the exception of Missouri's #1 undergraduate journalism program….which BTW is a dying industry.
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Again, according to whom?
 

Me…I work with kids getting them into college. At the local high school in the last 4 years we have not had a single kid rejected at Alabama…including the one in the bottom 15% of his class with horrid SAT scores. We've had plenty rejected at Minnesota. I can get top kids to apply but even with the huge scholarships that Alabama hands out, I have never even seen a NMSF apply there let alone go there. The one kid I know who goes there was a lousy student and is a straight-A engineering student who can pull straight A's, party all the time and chase girls…something he couldn't manage at his local public high school.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Again, according to whom?
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Dpo- I usually love your posts as they're usually insightful, well-thought through and data driven- but this series of responses makes you appear to be a contrarian just for the sake of being a contrarian. Nevertheless, I'll jump into the fray about an SEC education vs a Big10 education. There are 3 major well-thought of sources for world rankings of universities- ARWU, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and QS. All are derived using multiple metrics including research, faculty reputation, student satisfaction, reputation among employers, etc. I'm not reporting the US News rankings as they've been under scrutiny and are more controversial.

The following are the world rankings of the Big 10 schools followed by their rankings by ARWU, Times and QS. Some lower ranked schools are grouped together so the average ranking of the group is quoted

Wisconsin...........19..........30...........37
Michigan............23..........18...........22
Illinois................25..........29...........56
Minnesota..........29..........46...........102
Northwestern......30..........22...........29
Maryland............38.........108..........116
Penn State.........54..........49..........107
Purdue..............57...........62...........99
Rutgers.............61..........103..........255
Ohio State.........65...........59..........113
Indiana..............85..........132.........240
Michigan State....92..........83..........171
Iowa................125.........161..........236
Nebraska..........175.........263..........495

Pretty darn impressive for a 14-school conference to have the great majority of their schools in the top 100 of the world.

Now here are the same numbers for the SEC (again some lower ranked schools are grouped together so the ranking reflects the average of the group)

Vanderbilt..........49........88..........181
Florida..............71........128.........179
Texas A&M........125......159.........153
Georgia............125.......288.........415
Tennessee........175..... 400+........390
LSU.................250......400+........526
Alabama...........250......400+........526
Kentucky..........250......400+........485
Missouri...........250.......325.........425
South Carolina...350......263..........575
Auburn.............450......400+........701+
Arkansas..........450.......400+.......701+
Mississippi........500+.....400+........317
Miss State.......500+......400+.......701+

I think the numbers lead to an obvious conclusion....the Big 10 are far superior universities compared to those in the SEC.
 

I think people in general put a little too much emphasis on college rankings. I'll bet St. Cloud State doesn't appear on too many top-ranked lists, but a person can go there and get a good education and get a decent job (or go to a good grad school). (and no, I didn't go to St. Cloud - I went to the U)
 

remember when this was a Jeff Jones thread? the mods already had to delete a lot of comments
 

The college ranking discussion is interesting, but it does not relate to Jeff Jones' recruitment. We encourage the ranking discussion to pick up where it left off on the Off-Topic board. Any additional comments on it will be deleted. Thanks.
 

Jeff Jones strikes me as a sharp guy.

I think he knows what he will get in Minnesota. Guy would get to be the face of the program, will have EVERY chance to be a 25+ carry-a-game-bell-cow type back, can get a great education and play close to home.

How many non-QBs get to be the face of a program? How much press will Jones get throughout his entire career at Minnesota compared to if he attends any other school?

And when the Gophers win the Big Ten West and go to a BCS bowl, Jones will be the guy getting all the media attention.

JJ has a unique opportunity with Minnesota. I just hope he takes advantage of it.
 

I love the fact that Coach Kill is staying on the guys about academics! Don't show up at the U of M thinking you can skip class and get D's and F's. Kill is making sure they stay on the ball academically, and athletically. Gotta love that in a coach! Hopefully Jeff will be serious about both if he comes here, seeing a similar guy like Rashede follow through and get his undergraduate degree and carve out a path to the NFL.
 

GameDay said:
I love the fact that Coach Kill is staying on the guys about academics! Don't show up at the U of M thinking you can skip class and get D's and F's. Kill is making sure they stay on the ball academically, and athletically. Gotta love that in a coach! Hopefully Jeff will be serious about both if he comes here, seeing a similar guy like Rashede follow through and get his undergraduate degree and carve out a path to the NFL.
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Is Jones going to be an academic qualifier??
 



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