Class of 2018 National Signing Day Thread - Tweets, Analysis and More

[Dano564]

Question about Vic.

Saw passion, connectivity, natural leader.
Special. Special. Always done it with expectation.
Wants to take the weight of the world and put it on his shoulders.
Haven't done it for 51 years. Most special relationship is between QB and coach.
(same with Zack A).

Inspiring.

 

[Dano564]

Question about Faalele

Learn football.
Can bend. Needs to learn hand placement, quickness, first step, etc.
Our staff is great at that.
He'll be first off the bus with PJ.


Credit to Rodney, Shannon Smith, Barber,. They know if they come to MN, we will run. A credit to our past.

2 RB's top 25
Edmonds decommitted. He wanted to see something else. Maybe you'll have to do something else.
PJ normally doesn't take people back.
PJ knew what he was doing and knew what he had to do to better himself. Knew after he saw something else, he'd come back.


Did early period help this team?
Everyone has opportunity.
Dec 20 is when we will do it. These guys know each other inside and out.
Should help our next class.
We go back out in January.
Going to attack 2019 class today.

Question about keeping MN talent in state.
Need to keep it here.
That's going to need to be an expectation.
Need to fit our culture. Your life has to be important to you.

 

[Dano564]

Elite18palooza.

Was good. Showed parents who they will tailgate with.
A lot of help.


Sid said were done.

Ski-u_Mah, Go Gophers.

 

[MennoSota]

Where are all the Fleck doubters today? All the, he’s only recruiting marginally better, if not the same, as Claeys and Kill? It’s ok to say you were wrong. To say you had no idea. It’s ok. [emoji23]


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Have any of the kids won a game for the Gophers?
I am glad to hear and see that young men want to study and play football at UMN, but I withhold celebration until there are positive results in the classroom and on the football field. However, you are free to celebrate to your hearts content. I don't begrudge your Snoopy dance. [emoji41]

 

[rugger14]

However, you are free to celebrate to your hearts content. I don't begrudge your Snoopy dance. [emoji41]

I appreciate that because I am seriously rowing the boat today.

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[STPGopher]

Thats a good insight but its also the main insight anyone makes regarding early signing day and the main reason coaches wanted it in the first place

It's the "Mack Brown" approach. Although early signing (obviously) didn't exist back then, that is what Mack Brown tried to do every season. Lock up his class before the season started.

 

[hungan1]

Elite18palooza.

Was good. Showed parents who they will tailgate with.
A lot of help.


Sid said were done.

Ski-u_Mah, Go Gophers.

FTF - Thanks for all the insightful info!

What do you hear about Verdis Brown? Is he still a possibility of being signed between now and December 22, or are we done?

 

[joshvanklomp]

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet (if so, please excuse my oversight), but one HUGE advantage to this early signing-day thing is that now coaches do not have to devote a single drop of energy to keep those players committed, fending off all the last minute attacks to get them to sign elsewhere. Think about the man-hours that will allow coaches to do other things, including recruiting next year's players. I would think that the number of hours saved would be signficant. ELITE job on getting all those guys signed.

Oh, they still had to fend off teams for guys. It just moved up the timeline.

 

[Dano564]

FTF - Thanks for all the insightful info!

What do you hear about Verdis Brown? Is he still a possibility of being signed between now and December 22, or are we done?

Don't know anything about Verdis.

There was a question about someone (not sure who, I believed it had to do with the 2019 class, (probably the greyshirt), and PJ said he can't talk about anyone who hasn't signed "yet".

It appears Verdis will announced either later today or Friday. (conflicting reports on twitter).

 

[Dano564]

Oh, they still had to fend off teams for guys. It just moved up the timeline.

Maybe some benefit to it being during the football season though.
With the season ending end of November, that's just a few weeks until early signing day.
Where otherwise, you have a full month after bowl season to sit and pluck, not to mention the whole month of December.

 

[joshvanklomp]

Don't know anything about Verdis.

There was a question about someone (not sure who, I believed it had to do with the 2019 class, (probably the greyshirt), and PJ said he can't talk about anyone who hasn't signed "yet".

Yeah, he couldn't talk about Richter.

 

[Spoofin]

Maybe some benefit to it being during the football season though.
With the season ending end of November, that's just a few weeks until early signing day.
Where otherwise, you have a full month after bowl season to sit and pluck, not to mention the whole month of December.

Thanks for your effort in this thread.


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[BleedGopher]

per Randy:

Gophers coach P.J. Fleck wasted no time Wednesday signing his recruiting Class of 2018, getting 25 future Minnesota players signed to national letters of intent by 9:30 a.m. He then held a news conference about a half-hour later. “A very special day for our program,’’ Fleck said.

Some highlights of the news conference:

** The Gophers ranked 26th nationally in the 247Sports.com’s composite ratings after signing the class, although that ranking will fluctuate during the signing period as other schools sign players. Minnesota ranked sixth among Big Ten teams but first among their competition in the conference’s West Division.

** The Gophers have their highest-ranked offensive line, defensive line and wide receiver classes during the Internet era.

** Seven players will enroll at Minnesota in January: preferred walk-on QB Zack Annexstad, QB Vic Viramontes, offensive guard Curtis Dunlap Jr., offensive tackle Daniel Faalele, defensive end Alex Reigelsperger, receiver Jornell Manns and linebacker Thomas Rush.

** Fleck on QB Vic Viramontes: “This guy commands the huddle. … His film makes you say, ‘wow.’’

http://m.startribune.com/gophers-co...our-program/465469813/?section=sports/gophers

Go Gophers!!

 

[BarnBurner]

Have any of the kids won a game for the Gophers?
I am glad to hear and see that young men want to study and play football at UMN, but I withhold celebration until there are positive results in the classroom and on the football field. However, you are free to celebrate to your hearts content. I don't begrudge your Snoopy dance. [emoji41]

I agree. No wins yet.

Appears to be a good class. On paper.

We shall see.

 

[Tucker32]

Have any of the kids won a game for the Gophers?
I am glad to hear and see that young men want to study and play football at UMN, but I withhold celebration until there are positive results in the classroom and on the football field. However, you are free to celebrate to your hearts content. I don't begrudge your Snoopy dance. [emoji41]

This. Don’t get the celebrations until he actually wins on the field. In the end it will probably still be a mid-tier class in Big Ten.


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[PhillyGopher]

Have any of the kids won a game for the Gophers?
I am glad to hear and see that young men want to study and play football at UMN, but I withhold celebration until there are positive results in the classroom and on the football field. However, you are free to celebrate to your hearts content. I don't begrudge your Snoopy dance. [emoji41]

Thank you for giving permission to celebrate - you have my permission to continue sucking on that lemon

 

[short ornery norwegian]

This. Don’t get the celebrations until he actually wins on the field. In the end it will probably still be a mid-tier class in Big Ten.


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On paper, looks like a good class. But none of these players has taken a snap for the Gophers yet, and for most of them, it may be a year or two before they see significant playing time. Now that they've signed, it's all about development and teaching. It's up to the coaches to help the players realize their potential.

It will be interesting to see how many of these players actually see game action during the 2018 season. Some of them may be ready to contribute right away, but I suspect a majority of the class will red-shirt. the JUCOs and transfers should play right away. as far as the true FR, I would guess that Bateman has a chance of playing right away, given the depth and production (or lack thereof) at his position.

 

[Dano564]

This. Don’t get the celebrations until he actually wins on the field. In the end it will probably still be a mid-tier class in Big Ten.


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It's like celebrating the NFL draft.

The analogy I would use here is that instead of us having a class of 4th,5th, 6th and 7th, rounders with a couple UDFA's, and maybe a player who slipped from the 2nd round.
This year's class we have a lot of 3rd and 4th rounders, and maybe one or two who should have got drafted in the first or second.

 

[WorkingMyTailOff]

Face the Facts, thank you for the great write ups about the signees. Some were very funny (his mom made PJ flan and he had never had it before). Were you making this stuff up?
Fun day for us Gopher fans! I hope we can look back on this day 3 years later before the bowl game [emoji257]

 

[BleedGopher]

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Go Gophers!!

 

[Johnnyboy18]

Face the Facts, thank you for the great write ups about the signees. Some were very funny (his mom made PJ flan and he had never had it before). Were you making this stuff up?
Fun day for us Gopher fans! I hope we can look back on this day 3 years later before the bowl game [emoji257]

Nope, PJ actually said these things in his press conference.

 

[BleedGopher]

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Go Gophers!!

 

[Fire McHale]

This. Don’t get the celebrations until he actually wins on the field. In the end it will probably still be a mid-tier class in Big Ten.


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I think that regardless of how the individuals ultimately pan out this entire process is a plus for the Gophers. Although PJ has an endless amount of schtick to his game, he's doing what he promised all along - creating a culture. PJ is changing the way the University of MN conducts business and it can only be viewed as a positive at this point. He's created a buzz with his target audience, he's put the U of MN on TV and clearly continues to strive to make the U a thing across the country, and he's injected never-ending energy into everything he does. When has this program ever had this amount of energy? When I look at how this program views social media and their relationships with fans, prospects, the media and more I feel like we went from a flip-phone to an IPhone. This is indeed a process and I fully expect this to be a 5 win team again next year, but the hope for the future is higher for me than it's ever been in my 40 years of being a fan. PJ needs to stay the course, redshirt his freshman and unfortunately remind the masses that programs get built, they don't just pop up overnight.

 

[GophersInIowa]

This. Don’t get the celebrations until he actually wins on the field. In the end it will probably still be a mid-tier class in Big Ten.


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It's the off-season. Nothing wrong with finding things to get excited about. Recruiting is extremely important to any program. And we signed talented guys at key positions. It doesn't guarantee wins of course but it's better than signing a bunch of guys that only have MAC or Sun Belt offers.

 

[Dano564]

On paper, looks like a good class. But none of these players has taken a snap for the Gophers yet, and for most of them, it may be a year or two before they see significant playing time. Now that they've signed, it's all about development and teaching. It's up to the coaches to help the players realize their potential.

It will be interesting to see how many of these players actually see game action during the 2018 season. Some of them may be ready to contribute right away, but I suspect a majority of the class will red-shirt. the JUCOs and transfers should play right away. as far as the true FR, I would guess that Bateman has a chance of playing right away, given the depth and production (or lack thereof) at his position.

Early bets for playing time (and PJ kind of said this) are (and I'll rank in likelihood of most to least):

1. Vic
2. Bateman
3. Brandon Oliver - LB
4. Dickson - OL
5. Dunlop - OL
-----
6. Faalele - OL
7. Reigelsperger - DL
8. Elijah Teague - DL
9. Terrell Smith (T-Time)- CB
10. CJ Smith - (C-Time) -CB

I could be wrong.

 

[MennoSota]

Thank you for giving permission to celebrate - you have my permission to continue sucking on that lemon

D@mn fine lemon. I'm making lemonade! [emoji522]

 

[Dano564]

Face the Facts, thank you for the great write ups about the signees. Some were very funny (his mom made PJ flan and he had never had it before). Were you making this stuff up?
Fun day for us Gopher fans! I hope we can look back on this day 3 years later before the bowl game [emoji257]

I was transcripting the best I could live from the press conference.
It's what PJ was saying.

He had a few remarks that were funny. I think I lost some of the effect of it in trying to keep up.

(Richard Pitino is funnier than Fleck IMHO).

 

[Fire McHale]

Early bets for playing time (and PJ kind of said this) are (and I'll rank in likelihood of most to least):

1. Vic
2. Bateman
3. Brandon Oliver - LB
4. Dickson - OL
5. Dunlop - OL
-----
6. Faalele - OL
7. Reigelsperger - DL
8. Elijah Teague - DL
9. Terrell Smith (T-Time)- CB
10. CJ Smith - (C-Time) -CB

I could be wrong.

VV and Dickson are must-plays for this season, whether they start or not will obviously depend on their skills but both should absolutely get PT or we messed up. IMHO I would just assume let the entire rest of the class redshirt this year. Even though several of them are likely talented enough to win their position battle I'm looking at this from a long view and I'm ok with losing an extra game this season to win two games two years from now.

 

[Triple D]

Where are all the Fleck doubters today? All the, he’s only recruiting marginally better, if not the same, as Claeys and Kill? It’s ok to say you were wrong. To say you had no idea. It’s ok. [emoji23]


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I was a doubter based on on field performance this year, but kudos to Fleck or a job well done in recruiting. Can't argue the results of recruiting aren't positive.

 

[Dano564]

By the way, one key thing PJ said which I think is important to take into consideration (and I didn't want to be the one who had to mention it being a big Fleck-supporter), but again, take it for what it's worth.

When talking about Bateman... he said when they went down to work him in camp, and they offered him, Bateman accepted on the spot.
PJ thought to himself, "Okay, that was too easy". So he mentions like "Oh you have time, etc.".
Bateman responded that "I've been researching schools, and waying possible options for some time. I've been doing my homework, and I've seen what you are about. You're the program I want to play for".

So by June or July, Bateman had heard enough about us to know he wanted to come here.

As much as I hate marketing, in this case it probably helped.