Blaise declares for draft

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Milt Sunde.

Bobby Bell was drafted by both the NFL Vikings and AFL Kansas City, where he had a Hall of Fame career.
 

Willwin40 said:
I checked and there’s been a lot of Gophers drafted by the Vikings. Don’t have time to list right now.
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How many has Spielman drafted? He has run the show for a long period of time and I can't think of one. He certainly had a chance to draft Winfield. Going back 50+ years is a weak argument.
 




BuiltFordTough said:
How many has Spielman drafted? He has run the show for a long period of time and I can't think of one. He certainly had a chance to draft Winfield. Going back 50+ years is a weak argument.
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Nate Triplett in 2010.
 

Biggest miss for the vikings was AWjr, Jeff Gladney (who they picked 10 earlier) is probably done in the NFL and they had a complete inside track on how special AWjr was despite his measurables.
 

Gophergrandpa said:
Big Dan, Blaise, Connor O (?) and Schleuter (?) ... or Kieft (?). Olson to Med School?
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Yeah, I don't think we get 4 OL drafted, I think Fleck was taking some liberties.

Big Dan and Blaise will probably both be drafted.

Olsen might get drafted but will very likely get UDFA if not.

Schlueter I think will get an UDFA shot.
 

LakerFan said:
Biggest miss for the vikings was AWjr, Jeff Gladney (who they picked 10 earlier) is probably done in the NFL and they had a complete inside track on how special AWjr was despite his measurables.
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Except they play different positions. Winfield plays the same position as Harrison Smith. Because of that, they were never going to spend an early pick on Winfield.

For the same reasons the Vikings won't draft Faalele with both tackle positions locked up. Andries, Mafe, and Otomewo are all possibilities in the middle to late rounds though. It'll be interesting to see what a new GM does. :sneaky:
 



50PoundHead said:
Here is a link to that class. I don't know who committed to which coach in that class. I recognize the guys who had committed to WMU who came along with Fleck, but I don't know which of the other guys had committed to Claeys. I want to say Paulson, Douglas, Harris, and Bursch committed prior to the firing but, like you, I am pretty foggy. McLaurin is shown here as a commitment and I know he committed under Claeys, but I don't believe he ever enrolled at the University and, if he did, he left shortly thereafter.

Link: https://www.foxsports.com/north/gallery/minnesota-gophers-pj-fleck-2017-recruiting-class-020117

Most entertaining thing about the link is Fleck still had hair. Five years in the B1G will do a lot of damage to one's follicles.
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I looked at a couple of commitment dates just for the heck of it and it looks like Bursch was in the class before the change but Douglas, Harris and Pualson all committed after Fleck was hired. Blaise committed way back in April of 2016, gotta love a local guy that excited to be part of the program. And then to stick it out through all the turmoil as well makes it even better.

Speaking of hair, funny looking at pics of Blaise when he committed, clean shaven with shorter hair, compared to now when he is rocking the long hair and mustache. :)
 

MNVCGUY said:
I looked at a couple of commitment dates just for the heck of it and it looks like Bursch was in the class before the change but Douglas, Harris and Pualson all committed after Fleck was hired. Blaise committed way back in April of 2016, gotta love a local guy that excited to be part of the program. And then to stick it out through all the turmoil as well makes it even better.

Speaking of hair, funny looking at pics of Blaise when he committed, clean shaven with shorter hair, compared to now when he is rocking the long hair and mustache. :)
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Thanks for doing the deep dig on the data. That whole off-season ran together and with all the noise surrounding Claeys' firing and the legal issues related to the dismissed players, I really lost track of a lot of things.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Nate Triplett in 2010.
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Milt Sunde in Round 20 (yes, there were that many rounds in Ye Olde Days) of the 1964 draft. I love Bud Grant's quote about Milt:

"He wasn't big enough, strong enough or fast enough, but he built up his weight, speed and strength to become a starter on some great Vikings teams."

He started more than 100 games for the Vikings.
 

With the shortage of quality OL in the NFL, I would think Blaise should garner some very good attention. No question he'll work his butt off once he gets there. Just a solid dude. Matt Birk was a very smart guy, and became a helluva player.

Like others have said, just no green and gold! But I'd still be happy for him regardless. :)
 



die hard gopher said:
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Follows the style of the Senior Day tweet which makes me think Blaise was on the fence about this and needed a couple weeks to talk with his family and agent about his NFL prospects. Selfishly wish he would've returned, but totally understand (and expected) this decision. Good luck in the NFL!
 

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