Can we envision a Gophers' Top 20 Recruiting Class ?

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HoustonTXGopher said:
In the spirit of ....It doesnt matter who starts the game, it matters who ends it......
I am more interested in guys leaving our program being drafted and playing in the NFL, to the tune of 4-5 per year. This is how I will judge our recruiting classes on the back end as well as the play on the field.

If you're not one of the top 10 classes, it becomes a complete crapshoot anyway.
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I'm more interested in adding wins on the field.
 

Certainly possible they'll reach top 20 status recruiting wise but its going to be quite some time before they match the 4 or 5 teams at the very top. Clemson and Alabama particularly are stacked with 5 star players and Ohio State has a few too. The 5 star guys tend to gravitate to them. And the same goes for 4 star recruits except more so.

That said, star ratings are far from precise and sometimes mistaken. They are a general indicator though.
 



I think we'll eventually end up with a top 20 recruiting class. Next year will have a lot of momentum coming off a 10+ win season, and 2 of our 3 current commits are 4-stars (Athan and Sam).
 

Absolutely!

Look at the 2020 class, for example. Stanford is the #20 class (247 ranking) with 6 4-stars and 12 3-stars, with an average rating of 87.88. Our 2020 class is #33, with 2 4-stars and 20 3-stars, for an 85.81 average rating, and has the chance of getting better over the next few days.

All it takes is a few more 4-star players. This isn’t a stretch.
 

Panthadad2 said:
I'm curious if the recruit services just don't do a good job of ranking Upper Midwest players. Wisconsin and Iowa average in the 30s-40s in recruit rankings but the teams routinely finish in the top 20 polls and both teams rank around top 15 in NFL players (probably the best measure for player quality). Meanwhile, you get schools like Texas and USC that do the exact opposite.
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Clemson lost 4 players in the first round of the NFL draft this past years. Gophers would be ecstatic to have 4 players drafted period in a given year. I think the rankings are pretty fair
 

DLib said:
Clemson lost 4 players in the first round of the NFL draft this past years. Gophers would be ecstatic to have 4 players drafted period in a given year. I think the rankings are pretty fair
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The rankings probably do just fine with the identified 4 and 5 stars. My point is, there are plenty of <3 star recruits in the NFL - the last time I checked Iowa and Wisconsin have sent plenty. That tells me the recruiting services might be underrating Upper Midwest talent - an area that doesn't treat recruiting rankings as a high school sport (like the southeast).
 



PitinoFan said:
Absolutely!

Look at the 2020 class, for example. Stanford is the #20 class (247 ranking) with 6 4-stars and 12 3-stars, with an average rating of 87.88. Our 2020 class is #33, with 2 4-stars and 20 3-stars, for an 85.81 average rating, and has the chance of getting better over the next few days.

All it takes is a few more 4-star players. This isn’t a stretch.
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Yeah, but our current #33 class is an outlier- and a positive outlier. We currently are #46 in talent composite. That's not good, if you consider that there are, to be exact, 65 power teams. (Including Notre Dame)

Gold Rush said:
Back in 1986 or 1987, Gutey had a Tom Lemming's top 25 class. The Gophers had a great buzz at that time that was similar to now - Holtz had left but there was still a lot of excitement here. Gutekunst landed QB Scott Schaffner from Ohio - the Midwest offensive player of the year. Ohio St. took Kirk Herbstreit that year. Gutey also landed the Midwest defensive player of the year in LB Rickey "The Train" Williams and Kraig Hackbarth who was listed as a man amongst boys and a player who would be in the pros someday. Alas -- it didn't all work out and there were many busts in that class but if a guy as dry as Gutey could do it, it could be done here again by someone as dynamic as PJ Fleck!!
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They seriously had recruiting rankings in 1986 or 1987?
 


giveme said:
Yeah, but our current #33 class is an outlier- and a positive outlier. We currently are #46 in talent composite. That's not good, if you consider that there are, to be exact, 65 power teams. (Including Notre Dame)
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It’s trending in the right direction. As I stated, it only takes a handful of 4-star recruits. This is not exactly a steep hill to climb. 2021 is also trending in a positive direction. I won’t be surprised if that class hits top 20, or at least close.
 

Panthadad2 said:
I'm curious if the recruit services just don't do a good job of ranking Upper Midwest players. Wisconsin and Iowa average in the 30s-40s in recruit rankings but the teams routinely finish in the top 20 polls and both teams rank around top 15 in NFL players (probably the best measure for player quality). Meanwhile, you get schools like Texas and USC that do the exact opposite.
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Maybe it isn’t just Upper Midwest Players ?
 



btowngopher said:
K


Brewster was highly regarded as one of the best recruiters in the country. He also gambled on a few kids with academic issues that didn’t pan out. I don’t think Fleck has the same recruiting chops, I also don’t think he takes a lot of risks as far as we’ve seen so far.
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Brewster also had no clue how to recruit players that complimented each other, the current players, the team’s philosophy, etc. PJ is a way better recruiter than Brew. The fact some still argue that he recruited well while at MN is astonishing.
 

giveme said:
Yeah, but our current #33 class is an outlier- and a positive outlier. We currently are #46 in talent composite. That's not good, if you consider that there are, to be exact, 65 power teams. (Including Notre Dame)




They seriously had recruiting rankings in 1986 or 1987?
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They did indeed. They have been doing this a long time but its really exploded since the internet!
 

Spoofin said:
Brewster also had no clue how to recruit players that complimented each other, the current players, the team’s philosophy, etc. PJ is a way better recruiter than Brew. The fact some still argue that he recruited well while at MN is astonishing.
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He recruited well according to the rankings. I don’t think you can say he had no clue how to recruit players that for the teams philosophy. His coordinators were constantly changing, kind of hard to recruit to a philosophy when the philosophy is constantly changing.
 

btowngopher said:
He recruited well according to the rankings. I don’t think you can say he had no clue how to recruit players that for the teams philosophy. His coordinators were constantly changing, kind of hard to recruit to a philosophy when the philosophy is constantly changing.
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Yep, Brewster showed us all the flaws in recruiting rankings.
 

PitinoFan said:
Absolutely!

Look at the 2020 class, for example. Stanford is the #20 class (247 ranking) with 6 4-stars and 12 3-stars, with an average rating of 87.88. Our 2020 class is #33, with 2 4-stars and 20 3-stars, for an 85.81 average rating, and has the chance of getting better over the next few days.

All it takes is a few more 4-star players. This isn’t a stretch.
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It’s not that easy to just land a few more four stars when you’ve been maxing out at a few to begin with. The only way I see it happening is by locking down a historically strong instate class and adding a few from out of state.
 

GopherTouchdowns said:
Brewster also was friends with Tom Lemming and was able to "help" himself look better. The percentage of his 2008 top 25 class that finished their career here? 66%
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Wonder what the % is for PJ.
 




btowngopher said:
It’s not that easy to just land a few more four stars when you’ve been maxing out at a few to begin with. The only way I see it happening is by locking down a historically strong instate class and adding a few from out of state.
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There are already two 4-stars in the 2021 class. I don’t have a crystal ball, but it’s not unthinkable that we could land 4-5 more after a 10 win season and increased visibility around the program. That would put us in the neighborhood, at least.
 

btowngopher said:
His first class hasn’t graduated yet, but I counted at least 7 out of 25 that have left early so far.
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So 72% still around. Not sure why Brewster's players left - not sure if it was a bad fit, grades, or what. PJ seems to be making sure he nudges those players out if it seems like we have a better recruit to take their place and not for any other reason.
 

PitinoFan said:
There are already two 4-stars in the 2021 class. I don’t have a crystal ball, but it’s not unthinkable that we could land 4-5 more after a 10 win season and increased visibility around the program. That would put us in the neighborhood, at least.
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It’s possibe, but I still would be surprised until it happens.
 

swingman said:
WI rankings this year and back to 2011 per 247 composite: 26, 29, 45, 39, 35, 41, 32, 40, 65, 44
IA rankings this year and back to 2011 per 247 composite: 24, 41, 39, 41, 47, 59, 58, 56, 40, 26
MN rankings this year and back to 2011 per 47 composite: 33, 45, 38, 59, 46, 63, 57, 67, 59, 57

You don't need to be a top 25 recruiting team....
*you need to recruit to o and d systems that work in the Big Ten,
* you need to retain coaches that can teach and develop to that system,
* you need a great s and c program,
* you need to keep your top kids in-state as best as possible,
* you need to keep the kids eligible (see Wisconsin with Cephus vs without; NE issues this year),
* you need to get lucky on some walk-ons,
* more and more you need to play the transfer portal very astutely.
a stud at QB goes a long, long way, see NE with Martinez.
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Can't beat 'em, can't outrecruit 'em. In all seriousness, who cares about the rankings. Still the #3-5 program in Big Ten West. Behind Wisconsin, Iowa, and most years Northwestern. In addition, Nebraska will continue to get better. Need to get consistently to third best before getting to 1 or 2. This year, clearly number 3.
 
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