Chris Monter Q&A: Mahtomedi LB Ben McDonald Gets Gopher Looks

[GopherHole Staff]

Ben McDonald, a 6-foot-1, 220-pound linebacker from Mahtomedi, was named to the KARE-11 preseason All-Metro team. McDonald attended ten college football camps, including Minnesota. GopherHole.com caught up with McDonald Sunday to learn the latest on his expectations for his senior season and his recruitment.

http://www.forums.gopherhole.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1462

 

[KoolAid]

Anybody seen this kid play?

Mahtomedi has some seriously tough kids on their roster every year. Would love to see some more wearing Maroon and Gold

 

[JackiO]

Anybody seen this kid play?

Mahtomedi has some seriously tough kids on their roster every year. Would love to see some more wearing Maroon and Gold

I've seen him play a lot. He's been a monster since he started at MLB his sophomore year. He is very smart and relentless and always is making the big play. I think his limitations reside in the fact that he just isn't quite athletic enough to play division one football. He's a great high school linebacker to be sure, but you really need to be very special to excel at the next level. I am not sure if he has the over-all speed and acceleration that is needed to make the big plays at the next level. Mike Henry, the walk-on featured in webisode 20, is an extremely comparable player to Ben.

What you have to take into consideration though is that he has unreal work ethic and would love to be a gopher. That could in itself make up for some of his limitations in the future.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Maybe it was you JackiO, but I remember talking to someone about this kid last winter and he does seem to be the kind of guy we would love to be able to get to walk on.

I don't know how possible it is and I wouldn't be the kind of guy who would ever complain about the caliber of players we are offering (unless 4 years from now, we aren't a talented football team), but I could never begin to try to predict who will be a good football and who won't. But I really hope Kill can land some of these players like Ben McDonald/Ernie Heifort/Mike Henry who can come to the U, work hard and eventually have really promising careers. Walk ons are a huge part of building your program. Mike Henry will likely be our starting H-Back this season and I think the state of MN is full of players like that.

So if McDonald ends up getting an offer, it could make sense. IF not, I really hope he considers walking on.

 

[KoolAid]

Sometimes I take for granted the fact that I'm from such an H-back plentiful state. I need to be more mindful in the future.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Sometimes I take for granted the fact that I'm from such an H-back plentiful state. I need to be more mindful in the future.

I don't think it's so much of an H-Back plentiful state, it's more of an area where we can find certain players who might not have the measurables when they are 16-17 to get a lot of D1 looks and can find a niche in college football. I think you will always see more DT, H-Back/FB, TE and even MLB types who emerge as walk ons than other positions. You see it on our team with Delaney, Botticelli, Hahn, Cotton (moved to WR), Henry, Hoese (last year) and even a guy like Balthazor could see some PT this season.

 

[JackiO]

Maybe it was you JackiO, but I remember talking to someone about this kid last winter and he does seem to be the kind of guy we would love to be able to get to walk on.

I don't know how possible it is and I wouldn't be the kind of guy who would ever complain about the caliber of players we are offering (unless 4 years from now, we aren't a talented football team), but I could never begin to try to predict who will be a good football and who won't. But I really hope Kill can land some of these players like Ben McDonald/Ernie Heifort/Mike Henry who can come to the U, work hard and eventually have really promising careers. Walk ons are a huge part of building your program. Mike Henry will likely be our starting H-Back this season and I think the state of MN is full of players like that.

So if McDonald ends up getting an offer, it could make sense. IF not, I really hope he considers walking on.

I'm pretty sure we were talking about Ben. He is definitely the kind of player you get lucky to have walk on. He will have a chance to play at an NDSU/UMD/Northern Iowa etc etc or equivalent school and shine. If he didn't get an offer to the U and decided to walk on, that would be a steal imo.

 

[zambam]

A guy like this is exactly the kind of guy I would think a school like UMD or St. Cloud would be going after hard.