All Things RB Jeffrey Jones Thread

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This is the recruit Gopher Football has been waiting for. He could do for the Gophers what Reggie White did for the Packers in the early days of NFL free agency, add some legitimacy to a program coming out of the dark ages. Can't wait to see how our 2014 class ends up with this guy as the head ambassador.
 

As someone not very familiar with next years recruiting crop, how good is Jones both in Minnesota and nationwide?

I love his attitude though! Sounds like he's got a great head on his shoulders. That attitude alone from one of the better in-state kids could prove to be a program changer indeed.
 

This kid really seems to be a leader at this point. Good stuff. Wish we could have gotten the walk-on this year.

I wish that they would create three HS Football teams in Mpls. Combine SW and Washburn, Roosevelt and South, then put North, Edison, and Henry together. Have these kids be part of a bigger program possibly some success. Specifically SW and Washburn area with time, could compete.
 

joshvanklomp said:
As someone not very familiar with next years recruiting crop, how good is Jones both in Minnesota and nationwide?
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He's easily the #1 in-state recruit for next year, is as good as any in-state recruit in many years outside of Henderson and Floyd, and will probably end up Top 100 or Top 150 overall on Rivals next year.
 

joshvanklomp said:
As someone not very familiar with next years recruiting crop, how good is Jones both in Minnesota and nationwide?

I love his attitude though! Sounds like he's got a great head on his shoulders. That attitude alone from one of the better in-state kids could prove to be a program changer indeed.
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Top recruit in the state and 4* RB. Not sure where he is Nationally ranked for position.
 



joshvanklomp said:
As someone not very familiar with next years recruiting crop, how good is Jones both in Minnesota and nationwide?

I love his attitude though! Sounds like he's got a great head on his shoulders. That attitude alone from one of the better in-state kids could prove to be a program changer indeed.
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He's one of the better recruits in recent memory. He probably is in the Michael Floyd range (I believe Floyd was a 4 star). He's 4 stars by all the recruiting services, a top 10 back in the country. I think his closest comparison in terms of "level of a recruit" is Michael Floyd.
 

dpodoll68 said:
He's easily the #1 in-state recruit for next year, is as good as any in-state recruit in many years outside of Henderson and Floyd, and will probably end up Top 100 or Top 150 overall on Rivals next year.
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Wow, that's awesome then that he's committed already!
 






Bob_Loblaw said:
He's one of the better recruits in recent memory. He probably is in the Michael Floyd range (I believe Floyd was a 4 star). He's 4 stars by all the recruiting services, a top 10 back in the country. I think his closest comparison in terms of "level of a recruit" is Michael Floyd.
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Floyd was a 5 star and was seen as a notch below Julio Jones and AJ Green coming out of HS. Don't think Jones is that good as a prospect. Now he's an RB so he could definitely have a huge impact similar to Floyd but he won't be as highly rated as Floyd
 




Wouldn't You like to Know said:
you need to read what the kid says about the Gophers! He is a very SOLID commitment
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Not to be that guy, but Keelon said a lot of that stuff too. Even Malik talked about how it would be a dream to be recruited by Minnesota (or something like that).

Kill knows well enough that his recruitment has just started. Let's not be naive.
 

Gopherprof said:
Not to be that guy, but Keelon said a lot of that stuff too. Even Malik talked about how it would be a dream to be recruited by Minnesota (or something like that).

Kill knows well enough that his recruitment has just started. Let's not be naive.
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A. Malik NEVER committed
B. Keelon is NOT the recruit that Jones is and NEVER said half of the things Jeff has.

You are right that they need to keep recruiting Jeff but they need to do that with ALL recruits who commit. And BTW Brookins didn't have any other offers at the time of his commitment while Jones is sporting several other B1G offers including; WI, IA, IL, and Michigan State!
 

Wouldn't You like to Know said:
A. Malik NEVER committed
B. Keelon is NOT the recruit that Jones is and NEVER said half of the things Jeff has.

You are right that they need to keep recruiting Jeff but they need to do that with ALL recruits who commit. And BTW Brookins didn't have any other offers at the time of his commitment while Jones is sporting several other B1G offers including; WI, IA, IL, and Michigan State!
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Keelon did say a lot of those things. Go back and look.

But the obvious point is that nothing is settled until it actually is, and we're talking about kids who say a lot of things and for whom a verbal commitment often means nothing more than what they are thinking at that exact moment.

I like following recruiting because it interests me, but there's something a bit unhealthy to me about hanging your hopes on the words of a teenager.
 

Wouldn't You like to Know said:
A. Malik NEVER committed
B. Keelon is NOT the recruit that Jones is and NEVER said half of the things Jeff has.

You are right that they need to keep recruiting Jeff but they need to do that with ALL recruits who commit. And BTW Brookins didn't have any other offers at the time of his commitment while Jones is sporting several other B1G offers including; WI, IA, IL, and Michigan State!
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Getting an early commitment out of Jones is awesome and yeah his comments make it seem like he is very solid in making this verbal. But as Prof was pointing out there is a long way to go until NSD 2014. Right now Jones is 100% commited to playing for the Gophers when he is done with High School but a lot can happen over the course of a year.

And to Madtown's comments about this being a transformative type of recruit, I don't know how much of that was just sarcasm but let's not go blowing the guy out of proportion already. He looks like a very strong RB prospect and right now easily the top recruit Jerry Kill has gotten a commitment out of.
 

Wouldn't You like to Know said:
Jones is sporting several other B1G offers including; WI, IA, IL, and Michigan State!
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Of course no recruit is 100% solid until NSD, but the fact that Jones already has several other offers and is committing now makes me think that he is a lot more solid than most. As mentioned, Brookins didn't have any other offers, and wavered when he got what he perceived to be a better one. Jones already has those types of offers, so if he were going to pick a different school, I'd think he would wait until the summer or fall to decide.
 


MaxyJR1 said:
This kid really seems to be a leader at this point. Good stuff. Wish we could have gotten the walk-on this year.

I wish that they would create three HS Football teams in Mpls. Combine SW and Washburn, Roosevelt and South, then put North, Edison, and Henry together. Have these kids be part of a bigger program possibly some success. Specifically SW and Washburn area with time, could compete.
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That's a really good idea. I guess Mpls South's coach is trying to get them into the big suburban conference that Eden Prairie and Wayzata play in as he thinks it will restore the program back to it's glory and encourage other city kids to attend South. Interesting theory, but I like yours better.

Hope to see some of you GopherHolers at Washburn this Winter at BBall games (Jeff plays) or in the Fall at football. I don't know if Jeff has a relationship with Rashad and Travis Reid, but it would be great if his decision had just a little bit of influence on those guys as well. I know he's played bball against Travis before.
 

Gopherprof said:
Keelon did say a lot of those things. Go back and look.
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Brookins was offered on junior day last year and basically committed on the spot. He got a Wisconsin offer in June and flipped to them in July. This is what he said when he committed last February:

"I'm 100% Minnesota don't worry," Brookins said jokingly. "You know, although I have verbally committed I am still going to honor the invites that I have received to some of the other schools I have been invited to. That is important to me as I'm learning a lot and enjoying the recruiting process. I intend to go through the process until it's complete. I was getting interest from UCLA, Wisconsin, Michigan State and Nebraska just to name a few. I need to have some more conversations with my parents, but as of now, Minnesota has my commitment and I'm very happy to be committed there. You know what they say, there is no place like home."

Gee, sure sounds solid, "but as of now".
 

harrys ghost said:
Brookins was offered on junior day last year and basically committed on the spot. He got a Wisconsin offer in June and flipped to them in July. This is what he said when he committed last February:

"I'm 100% Minnesota don't worry," Brookins said jokingly. "You know, although I have verbally committed I am still going to honor the invites that I have received to some of the other schools I have been invited to. That is important to me as I'm learning a lot and enjoying the recruiting process. I intend to go through the process until it's complete. I was getting interest from UCLA, Wisconsin, Michigan State and Nebraska just to name a few. I need to have some more conversations with my parents, but as of now, Minnesota has my commitment and I'm very happy to be committed there. You know what they say, there is no place like home."

Gee, sure sounds solid, "but as of now".
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Jones also said that he was going to take visits.
 

dpodoll68 said:
Of course no recruit is 100% solid until NSD, but the fact that Jones already has several other offers and is committing now makes me think that he is a lot more solid than most. As mentioned, Brookins didn't have any other offers, and wavered when he got what he perceived to be a better one. Jones already has those types of offers, so if he were going to pick a different school, I'd think he would wait until the summer or fall to decide.
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We may be the best of the offers he has now, but it's not like he has every offer he could get. Again, not to be a Debbie Downer, but haven't we all been down this road a bunch of times before? I'm not saying he will switch, but people are already talking about him like he's here.

Hell, people are already talking about Connor Mayes like that, and he hasn't even committed yet.
 

Gopherprof said:
We may be the best of the offers he has now, but it's not like he has every offer he could get. Again, not to be a Debbie Downer, but haven't we all been down this road a bunch of times before? I'm not saying he will switch, but people are already talking about him like he's here.

Hell, people are already talking about Connor Mayes like that, and he hasn't even committed yet.
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He is sooo here
 

Gopherprof said:
We may be the best of the offers he has now, but it's not like he has every offer he could get. Again, not to be a Debbie Downer, but haven't we all been down this road a bunch of times before? I'm not saying he will switch, but people are already talking about him like he's here.

Hell, people are already talking about Connor Mayes like that, and he hasn't even committed yet.
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I realize that you are very cautious about verbals and all things Gopher but there are so many positive signs that the program is turning the corner. After 2014 recruiting class is signed even you will be a believer. You may not believe in Coach Kill yet but his recruits do and there is where it needs to start.
 

Gopherprof said:
Jones also said that he was going to take visits.
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And that will be the real test of his commitment. Will he waiver after seeing the helmet school's facilities and their game day experiences.
 

Killjoy said:
I realize that you are very cautious about verbals and all things Gopher but there are so many positive signs that the program is turning the corner. After 2014 recruiting class is signed even you will be a believer. You may not believe in Coach Kill yet but his recruits do and there is where it needs to start.
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Fair enough. I should certainly hope and expect that the players believe in him.

It's not that I don't "believe" in Coach Kill either, however. I think he's a fine coach and certainly an improvement over Brewster in terms of pretty much everything but selling used cars. I just don't know if he's capable of pulling off the herculean effort to turn this program around to where we would all like it to be, but that's a pretty tall task for anyone, let alone someone who has no prior experience at this level. I'm fine with going along for the ride 99% of the time and enjoying the process, I just usually have a much more cautious approach to things than a lot of people on this board, often because I think they think with their hearts and project from there.
 

I agree with GopherProf, to act like this thing is locked up is a bit premature. We've heard it before and it's scary when they continue to take visits. I love the U and I "believe" in Coach Kill, but the helmet schools could put on a pretty intoxicating showing for a kid like Jones (or anyone for that matter). When you go to a game at these places it is incredibly impressive and it should scare people that Jones is going to experience that between now and signing day.

That said, I have more trust in him staying than most of these early commits, largely because he wasn't lured to Totino, CDH, Wayzata, etc in HS. I'll be especially confident if we start signing a couple more of these MN kids, like in 2010, the class started recruiting each other.

So Misters Ragnow, Travis and Woods. . .you'd all look good in maroon and gold!
 

From Doogie's 1500ESPN interview:

"Could you play both football and basketball?

I definitely believe I can. I grew up loving both sports."


Pretty sure he's talking about college but maybe I'm mistaken and he's just talking about his senior year. Anyways, would he contribute anything to the U's basketball program? Haven't seen him play. I have a feeling that Kill would immediately shoot that down tho when he steps on campus.
 

Why commit if you plan to take visits to other schools? If you commit to NU and then take an official visit to another school NU dumps you. This happened to a NU commit named Davison who visited and later committed to Cal.
 

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