Another 2011 Offer

Donate To GopherHole
D

DL65

Active member
Joined
Nov 20, 2008
Messages
1,812
Reaction score
16
Points
38
There's a short blurb on the front page of Scout about Minnesota tendering a 2011 offer to a Sioux Falls (Washington HS), SD lineman. Derek Farniok is 6-8, 302 pounds and plays left tackle for his thus far undefeated team. The offer was apparently made after the Minnesota-MSU game last Saturday night.

It's amazing how large the players have become, especially at the high school level.

Go Gophers!!
 

I am positive that this guy is wayyyy out of place in South Dakota :D .
 

Also, his dad played at St. cloud State. I really like this offer and he has shown a lot of interest in us and it looks good that we offered this early as generally we don't offer this early unless the player has a lot of potential as a d-1 athlete. Let's hope the early offer pays off once his recruiting really heats up.
 

DL65 said:
It's amazing how large the players have become, especially at the high school level.

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

Its hard to believe that when Rochester John Marshall won state titles in '73 and '74 they did not have one player who weighed 200+ pounds. They had a few guys at 195, including Kent Kitzmann, but their center was 160 dripping wet. Its a different game and a different era.
 

It looks like he has a brother or cousin that is committed to Iowa State this year.
 


Brother. I doubt he'll be headed to ISU.
 

denguegopher said:
Its hard to believe that when Rochester John Marshall won state titles in '73 and '74 they did not have one player who weighed 200+ pounds. They had a few guys at 195, including Kent Kitzmann, but their center was 160 dripping wet. Its a different game and a different era.
Click to expand...

eh idk about that I know for a fact they had guys over 200lbs
 

thestl said:
I am positive that this guy is wayyyy out of place in South Dakota :D .
Click to expand...

^^^^ ??? You should study the heights and weights of linemen on both Sioux Falls Roosevelt and Sioux Falls Washington and you will see that Farniok is not the only big guy. He is the most talented of the current crop although several other big linemen in South Dakota are on BCS radar screens.


Farniok has excellent potential to get stronger in the next couple of years. He has room to add additional weight to his frame. It was smart for MN to be the first to offer.
 







1960-61 Gopher Roster

Dickson, Judge FB 6-2 214
Munsey, William RB 6-0 201
Bell, Bobby OT 6-5 217
Brown, Thomas OG 6-0 243
Stephens, Sanford QB 6-0 212
Halverson, Dale OT 6-1 210
Jelacic, Steve OG 6-0 215
Perault, James OC 6-1 189
Zak, Jim OG 5-10 199

etc, etc. Tom Brown was considered a behemoth. Amazing...
 



I'm pretty sure I saw this kid walking up from the recruit seating area. He looked legit, I assumed he was a local walk on type, big, big kid though.
 

SF Washington is a damn good football team. They have won their first two playoff games 65-0 and 42-0. The Farniok brothers are a huge reason why.

It's sad, really, the way the Gophers haven't capitalized on talent coming out of SD. We got lucky with Eslinger in ND, and have had some other good contributors like Kwapinski coming out of that state.

Sure, you can bring up the big names like Leber, Greenway, Brady McDonnell, etc. that the Gophers either didn't try for or even have a chance with. But there have been a lot of other players at least worthy of an opportunity to be contributors, even if they don't have superstar potential. And I think there are some serious players to be had in the upcoming years. If I were recruiting for the U, I'd offer a scholarship right now to Austin Sumner, QB from Brandon Valley. Stands 6'5", 220, throws the ball 70 yards in the air, 88 career TD passes, etc.

Of course, there is a superiority complex a lot of Minnesotans have toward South Dakota (including at least one idiot on this board) and they think nothing good can come out of the state, so maybe that bias has existed in the coaching staff as well.
 

dpodoll68 said:
SF Washington is a damn good football team. They have won their first two playoff games 65-0 and 42-0. The Farniok brothers are a huge reason why.

It's sad, really, the way the Gophers haven't capitalized on talent coming out of SD. We got lucky with Eslinger in ND, and have had some other good contributors like Kwapinski coming out of that state.

Sure, you can bring up the big names like Leber, Greenway, Brady McDonnell, etc. that the Gophers either didn't try for or even have a chance with. But there have been a lot of other players at least worthy of an opportunity to be contributors, even if they don't have superstar potential. And I think there are some serious players to be had in the upcoming years. If I were recruiting for the U, I'd offer a scholarship right now to Austin Sumner, QB from Brandon Valley. Stands 6'5", 220, throws the ball 70 yards in the air, 88 career TD passes, etc.

Of course, there is a superiority complex a lot of Minnesotans have toward South Dakota (including at least one idiot on this board) and they think nothing good can come out of the state, so maybe that bias has existed in the coaching staff as well.
Click to expand...

No doubt Sioux Falls has some good football programs and some decent athletes. If you remember the Edina coach of the last couple years, Kim Nelson, he has moved down there and now coaches one of the local public schools.

But the fact is, South Dakota just doesn't produce the same amount of talent as some of it's neighboring states. Year after year, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Iowa will produce more D-1 talent than South Dakota (and north Dakota for that matter). I honestly don't think it's worth it to recruit a whole lot down there, unless you keep it exclusively to Sioux Falls.

In the crazy game of recruiting, watching random game film from Dallas is a better use of time than watching random game film from fill-in-the-blank, SD. Iowa and Nebraska will continue to recruit there because they like to keep it local. But Brewster wants to recruit in-state, Texas, Florida, and a little bit of everywhere else. I've got no problem with that.
 

Big kid and I hope we can land him. I found the story a bit confusing though. Either that or his coach's math skills (or my reading comprehension skills) are lacking.

It says he won't turn 17 until May and then his coach says he won't turn 17 until after he graduates. He's a junior, right? That would mean he will turn 17 late in his junior year and if SF Washington has an early graduation in 2010, he'll still be 17 when he graduates. Granted, I'm old and things were different in the 1960s and early 1970s, but I didn't turn 18 until a month before I started college.

I realize I'm quibbling and that it would be great to have a kid this big and talented to mold into a first-class Big 10 lineman.
 


KoolAid said:
No doubt Sioux Falls has some good football programs and some decent athletes. If you remember the Edina coach of the last couple years, Kim Nelson, he has moved down there and now coaches one of the local public schools.

But the fact is, South Dakota just doesn't produce the same amount of talent as some of it's neighboring states. Year after year, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Iowa will produce more D-1 talent than South Dakota (and north Dakota for that matter). I honestly don't think it's worth it to recruit a whole lot down there, unless you keep it exclusively to Sioux Falls.

In the crazy game of recruiting, watching random game film from Dallas is a better use of time than watching random game film from fill-in-the-blank, SD. Iowa and Nebraska will continue to recruit there because they like to keep it local. But Brewster wants to recruit in-state, Texas, Florida, and a little bit of everywhere else. I've got no problem with that.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on all points. But I don't think you need to keep it to Sioux Falls. There are opportunities to be had if you know where to look, and Chad Greenway coming out of tiny 9-man Mount Vernon is evidence of that. Overall, SD/ND do not turn out a ton of D-I prospects. But that is exactly why I think it is an untapped resource. People overlook it. There's not a lot of competition for prospects. I guarantee there are at least 1-2 players coming out of the state every year (especially now) who are worth a scholarship, or at least a preferred walk-on offer. So, theoretically, there could be at least 5-10 SD players on the Gopher roster right now. And how many are there? Zero point zero. And that is my point.

I love Brewster's recruiting strategy of making inroads into TX, FL, CO, etc. and eventually trying to beat the big boys for some of these guys. I just think we're missing an opportunity by not supplementing that talent with more outstate MN, SD, and ND players.
 

Two SD boys on the vikings right now

There are two SD boys on the Vikings right now. Leber (Vermillion) and Greenway(as stated earlier Mount Vernon -9-man). Just a few years back a kid who went to Augustana named Brian Swartz went #54 in the draft to Jacksonville. Played 3 or 4 years but injuries put him out of the league. He came from a town of Miller which is less than 2000. So if you keep your eyes open there are a few diamonds to be found.

Not arguing that they are going to out produce more populated states but we should keep our eyes on the state.
 


From someone at the U who knows the Farnioks personally -
Tom is heading to Iowa State I believe (his older brother)
Derek is only a junior this year, and has really progressed from freshman and sophomore year. He and Tom go to camps all over the U.S. and I believe Derek got looks from the likes of Oklahoma and Nebraska while at the camps. They are close brothers and I could see Derek following Tom to college, although Derek might have the potential for a big time program. He's that big too...one of those guys you have to tilt your head way back to talk to. Good offer by brewster, he'd be a great player for the U, that's for sure. They also have two younger brothers who apparently are working their way through youth football and dominating more than their older brothers did. 2015 or 2016 offer? I don't think so, but it'd be pretty funny.
 

Drive through the housing developments and neighborhoods in Sioux Falls or any South Dakota community for that matter and the flags on the houses and bumperstickers on the grocery-getters bear a giant red "N." Some Hogeye stuff too, and a splash of ISU. No maroon and gold block "M's." (For that matter, you don't need to get very far away from Dinkytown before you wonder if there's a Big 10 team in Minnesota.) Any Minnesota coach has their work cut out for them if anybody thinks we could be populating the roster with a dozen SD kids. That could change, of course. This is no longer Tom Osbourne's Nebraska so maybe the allegiance will fade. But as things currently stand, SD is not there for the taking as "home" territory.
 

Swede said:
Drive through the housing developments and neighborhoods in Sioux Falls or any South Dakota community for that matter and the flags on the houses and bumperstickers on the grocery-getters bear a giant red "N." Some Hogeye stuff too, and a splash of ISU. No maroon and gold block "M's." (For that matter, you don't need to get very far away from Dinkytown before you wonder if there's a Big 10 team in Minnesota.) Any Minnesota coach has their work cut out for them if anybody thinks we could be populating the roster with a dozen SD kids. That could change, of course. This is no longer Tom Osbourne's Nebraska so maybe the allegiance will fade. But as things currently stand, SD is not there for the taking as "home" territory.
Click to expand...

I'm not too worried. Judging by these rankings: http://iowastate.rivals.com/viewrank.asp?ra_key=2465

The gophers aren't missing out on much. Granted you find a diamond in the rough here and there --Greenway and Leber, but it certainly doesn't justify entrenching ourselves in the state to lure talent when there really isn't that much in the first place.
 

Swede said:
Drive through the housing developments and neighborhoods in Sioux Falls or any South Dakota community for that matter and the flags on the houses and bumperstickers on the grocery-getters bear a giant red "N."
Click to expand...

Wrong! There is a huge Nebraska fan contingent in SD, but it's all concentrated in the southeast and south central portions of the state.

As I've said on here before, most fans in the Black Hills area that follow a D-IA team are Wyoming fans. And as for my home area, the northeast, most fans don't even follow a D-IA football team. Most are far more heavily invested in their local D-IAA/DII school, and those that do follow D-IA tend to cheer for the "flavor of the month" school (i.e., Florida, previously USC, Oklahoma, etc.). I will say, though, that there is a pretty significant Oklahoma fanbase in Aberdeen just because of Josh Heupel, who is from there.

I do agree, though, that it would be tough for the U to stake a claim on SD as "home" territory. But I think that's more to not caring about it than actually trying and failing.

JackiO said:
The gophers aren't missing out on much. Granted you find a diamond in the rough here and there --Greenway and Leber, but it certainly doesn't justify entrenching ourselves in the state to lure talent when there really isn't that much in the first place.
Click to expand...

I disagree. If the younger Farniok is at least a 3-star, which is almost a certainty, then SD has produced at least 4 3- or 4-star players over the last decade. That shows they don't come along very often, but they are there. If even a minimal amount of work went into "building our brand" in the area, we could be first on the minds of these players when they do come along. I would've loved to have had Taylor Mehlhaff kicking for us for 4 years instead of those red bastards across the St. Croix. And Riley Reiff would be our best OL, right now, if he had committed to us.

No one is saying anything even close to making either Dakota a central focus of recruiting. In fact, that's exactly the thing I'm not saying - the area is so lightly recruited that even a modicum of effort could pay huge dividends down the line. I look at it as a low-input/high-reward scenario.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom