Benjamin Onwuzo decommits

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Gold Rush

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Florida DB Benjamin Onwuzo decommitted per Twitter. He was a 5'11, 185 lb. defensive back in next year's class. I wonder why someone would decommit from a team that finished 10-2 and is on the rise. Best of luck to him though.
 

Maybe App State came back hard after him and he couldn't resist? My guess is an upgrade is in the plans.
 


Tlsbhansen said:
Maybe App State came back hard after him and he couldn't resist? My guess is an upgrade is in the plans.
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I think you are right. With this year I would imagine recruiting would be fairly easy right now. There is a lot of buzz going on with this team.
 

7 days before signing. Either got a home state better offer in his eyes or he wasn't meeting our expectations as a recruit. Next 7 days will be as fluid as we've ever seen recruiting IMO.
 



Him and Larkins go to the same High School. I was wondering whether he would decommit after his teammate kinda got processed. Should be a fun close to the 2020 class.
 


I think you lose the right to call us your gopher "family" after you decide to not join the program
 






This is good. Exactly what I expected. Cut off the bottom to try to add to the top. Maybe he'll be great somewhere, I wish him the best. I think with the success this year and what I've read, there are now more options for recruiting than there was in September.
 




UpAndUnder43 said:
This is good. Exactly what I expected. Cut off the bottom to try to add to the top. Maybe he'll be great somewhere, I wish him the best. I think with the success this year and what I've read, there are now more options for recruiting than there was in September.
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I hope this isn't our MO. I realize there is movement in recruiting classes and I am 100% fine with that, but I really do not think it is good for a program like MN to start taking commitments from players and then moving on from them when someone better comes along. It's inviting players to do that to us. I am sure glad Bateman remained loyal, but using this philosophy, why would he?

I'm not saying that's what happened, I have no idea. I think recruiting classes are pretty fluid.
 

Not a fan of this decommit. I thought in a podcast this summer that Ryan Burns said that this was a guy the bigger fish would come after because of his potential
 

Ryany said:
Not a fan of this decommit. I thought in a podcast this summer that Ryan Burns said that this was a guy the bigger fish would come after because of his potential
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Sounds like it was a grades issue, and they offered to gray-shit him.

Seems like they are making sure they aren't trying to squeeze kids in who might have academic issues.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I hope this isn't our MO. I realize there is movement in recruiting classes and I am 100% fine with that, but I really do not think it is good for a program like MN to start taking commitments from players and then moving on from them when someone better comes along. It's inviting players to do that to us. I am sure glad Bateman remained loyal, but using this philosophy, why would he?

I'm not saying that's what happened, I have no idea. I think recruiting classes are pretty fluid.
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If we're being truly honest here ... I doubt that Fleck and team were really thinking 2019 was going to be a 10 win regular season, when they gave some of these offers a long time ago. I frankly don't think they really believe that 2020 will be a 10 win regular season. My opinion

I don't think that will be normal operating procedure. I think they're trying to strike while the iron is hot, and wouldn't be surprised if most P5 coaches would do the same. My opinion
 

BeerFueledFF said:
Sounds like it was a grades issue, and they offered to gray-shit him.

Seems like they are making sure they aren't trying to squeeze kids in who might have academic issues.
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That sucks. Was hoping to keep this kid
 

Right after the Wisconsin game, the coaches went on the trail to check grades, recuit academic and physical progress.
 



MplsGopher said:
If we're being truly honest here ... I doubt that Fleck and team were really thinking 2019 was going to be a 10 win regular season, when they gave some of these offers a long time ago. I frankly don't think they really believe that 2020 will be a 10 win regular season. My opinion

I don't think that will be normal operating procedure. I think they're trying to strike while the iron is hot, and wouldn't be surprised if most P5 coaches would do the same. My opinion
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I understand that the grass is greener for us now, but if we drop people who are fully committed when the grass is greener, we should expect people to that same thing to us. If it really went down this way, It says a lot about our lack of loyalty and trust. Seems short-sighted to improve this class at the expense of your reputation.

Again, I'm not saying that happened, but if it did, it's short-sighted.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I understand that the grass is greener for us now, but if we drop people who are fully committed when the grass is greener, we should expect people to that same thing to us. If it really went down this way, It says a lot about our lack of loyalty and trust. Seems short-sighted to improve this class at the expense of your reputation.

Again, I'm not saying that happened, but if it did, it's short-sighted.
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I'm not saying you're wrong.

I just think that is how the "business" is, now, and that recruits understand it can be a bit "cut throat" at the top. Just like in the league. Recruits decommit all the time. Various reasons.
 

once again, I renew my complaint/quibble:

the use of the word "commitment." to me, when you commit to something, that means you're all-in - 100%.

possible analogy - to me, an engagement ring is a commitment. what recruits do is more like a 'promise ring' in high school. might lead to something, might not.

I want a different word than commitment for recruits indicating their preference for a college choice.

Or, at the very least, call it a "Non-binding commitment." it's not final until you sign the LOI.
 

MplsGopher said:
I'm not saying you're wrong.

I just think that is how the "business" is, now, and that recruits understand it can be a bit "cut throat" at the top. Just like in the league. Recruits decommit all the time. Various reasons.
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I don't think that's how business is and I do not believe recruits understand it's cut throat.

Yes, recruits decommit all of the time and they are entitled to do so. We are also entitled to move on. We, unlike the recruit, are going to have to sit in the dining rooms of players next year and tell the players' parents "trust us, you should have your son come play for us."

It's not apples to apples.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
once again, I renew my complaint/quibble:

the use of the word "commitment." to me, when you commit to something, that means you're all-in - 100%.

possible analogy - to me, an engagement ring is a commitment. what recruits do is more like a 'promise ring' in high school. might lead to something, might not.

I want a different word than commitment for recruits indicating their preference for a college choice.

Or, at the very least, call it a "Non-binding commitment." it's not final until you sign the LOI.
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Fleck says it's a two way street. There are conditions on commitments and if the player doesn't follow the conditions there is a chance of losing the offer. They check and get status reports on grades, conduct, and I assume lifting/conditioning. If they aren't with the program they run risk of losing offer.
 
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short ornery norwegian said:
once again, I renew my complaint/quibble:

the use of the word "commitment." to me, when you commit to something, that means you're all-in - 100%.

possible analogy - to me, an engagement ring is a commitment. what recruits do is more like a 'promise ring' in high school. might lead to something, might not.

I want a different word than commitment for recruits indicating their preference for a college choice.

Or, at the very least, call it a "Non-binding commitment." it's not final until you sign the LOI.
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Are you aware of the divorce rate? It's already called a verbal commitment, people just say commitment to make it easier. Pretty clear to all involved that it isn't binding. College sports isn't the only context in which people don't keep their commitments.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I understand that the grass is greener for us now, but if we drop people who are fully committed when the grass is greener, we should expect people to that same thing to us. If it really went down this way, It says a lot about our lack of loyalty and trust. Seems short-sighted to improve this class at the expense of your reputation.

Again, I'm not saying that happened, but if it did, it's short-sighted.
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Kids already do and always will do this to us and every other program.
 


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