Craig McDonald

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Bob_Loblaw said:
The odd thing about Hooker and Spielman is that we didn't seem very interested in them. Maybe Spielman told us early on that he wasn't interested or wanted to leave home, but both were strange.

I never understood why we didn't go after Amani Hooker.

With McDonald, I'm disappointed and surprised, but it's recruiting. A lot of things can play into it. Maybe he didn't want to go to college 10 minutes from his parents. Maybe he had a good relationship with Coach Campbell. Maybe his girlfriend is going to Iowa State (heck, maybe she's going to MN).
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It was academic concerns with Hooker. And with Kasl, we already had Olson, Schlueter, Kegel and Sean Foster committed at the time.
 

dpodoll68 said:
McDonald would've been the 7th/8th-highest rated recruit signed had he been in our vaunted 2019 class - and yet it's "no big deal" that we didn't sign him. K.

The baseline expectation is that a Minnesota head coach should sign virtually every in-state 3-star recruit that he wants. And we should never lose an in-state recruit to Iowa St. Even a catastrophically horrible all-time worst recruiter like Tracy Claeys was able to cross that low threshold.
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He would have been ranked 14th in the 2019 class. At least don't lie about things that you can verify with a simple click of a button.

They should have offered earlier and they missed on him because of it, it appears.

https://247sports.com/college/minnesota/Season/2019-Football/Commits/
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
What about Patrick Kasl, JD Spielman, and Amani Hooker?
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We didn't even offer Hooker, and all 3 committed months before Claeys was the head coach.

GopherWeatherGuy said:
McDonald is pretty much the first 3* in-state recruit that Fleck wanted and missed.
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According to many of the disciples here, it seems like we really didn't want him and he's not that big of a miss. Our recruiting is so elite that we can cast aside top-700 in-state recruits and it's nbd.
 

Johnnyboy18 said:
He would have been ranked 14th in the 2019 class. At least don't lie about things that you can verify with a simple click of a button.

They should have offered earlier and they missed on him because of it, it appears.

https://247sports.com/college/minnesota/Season/2019-Football/Commits/
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I wasn't lying - I was looking at national overall rank, when I should've been looking at the composite rating.

Sorry I besmirched your boyfriend and his recruiting skills.
 

dpodoll68 said:
I wasn't lying - I was looking at national overall rank, when I should've been looking at the composite rating.

Sorry I besmirched your boyfriend and his recruiting skills.
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Gets called out for being wrong and immediately says I'm in a relationship with PJ. Hilarious
 


dpodoll68 said:
We didn't even offer Hooker, and all 3 committed months before Claeys was the head coach.



According to many of the disciples here, it seems like we really didn't want him and he's not that big of a miss. Our recruiting is so elite that we can cast aside top-700 in-state recruits and it's nbd.
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I don't think it breaks our program he decided to go elsewhere, you can't expect to get EVERYONE

Should we fire PJ because McDonald went elsewhere? Hyperventilate? This class is doomed?

Kid chose a different direction, happens, on to the next
 

Avoided this thread til now and SHOCKING it's turned into a Fleck vs Claeys thread.
 


salzie said:
I don't think it breaks our program he decided to go elsewhere, you can't expect to get EVERYONE

Should we fire PJ because McDonald went elsewhere? Hyperventilate? This class is doomed?

Kid chose a different direction, happens, on to the next
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I'm mostly being tongue-in-cheek. The hypocrisy is hilarious and is what I'm referencing. Claeys couldn't recruit to save his life (that's the acolyte company line, at least), and we're willing to forgive St. P.J. for losing a key in-state recruit to freaking Iowa St., of all places. Then, to top it off, we're bending over backwards to convince ourselves that we don't want an in-state top-700 national recruit (who plays at a speed position, nonetheless) because we can't admit to ourselves that the Greatest Recruiter in the History of Earth got out-recruited for an in-state recruit who many had rubber-stamped to the Gophers.

Having one set of standards would be nice - even though I know that will never happen for the disciples.
 




Perhaps down the road will know why McDonald chose Iowa State. Meanwhile I'm not going to lose any sleep over it and trust that Fleck is constantly analyzing what he is doing right or wrong when it comes to recruiting. All part of the overall management of his football team.
See that were still dealing with the past on many of the posts. Time to move on.
 

I was paraphrasing Burns regarding the loss of McDonald not being a huge deal. It’s pretty clear the staff didn’t prioritize him and wasn’t impressed enough after seeing him live to offer him right away. McDonald would have been an average recruit based on his current ranking and is rated lower than Gervarius Owens, who we didn’t recruit for long as part of last year’s class.

As of now, it’s a recruiting miss. If we end up landing Johnson or Lockett and getting a safety of equal caliber, it won’t matter.
 

John Galt said:
I was paraphrasing Burns regarding the loss of McDonald not being a huge deal. It’s pretty clear the staff didn’t prioritize him and wasn’t impressed enough after seeing him live to offer him right away. McDonald would have been an average recruit based on his current ranking and is rated lower than Gervarius Owens, who we didn’t recruit for long as part of last year’s class.

As of now, it’s a recruiting miss. If we end up landing Johnson or Lockett and getting a safety of equal caliber, it won’t matter.
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So you were only paraphrasing Burns, but agree with him. Ok. Thanks for the enlightening post.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 



dpodoll68 said:
We didn't even offer Hooker, and all 3 committed months before Claeys was the head coach.



According to many of the disciples here, it seems like we really didn't want him and he's not that big of a miss. Our recruiting is so elite that we can cast aside top-700 in-state recruits and it's nbd.
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I haven't seen many on here saying we didn't want him. And it really isn't that big of a miss. Just because he is from Minnesota does not make it a bigger miss. I'm pretty sure Fleck will find a similarly ranked safety somewhere else. Sorry we aren't all calling for Fleck's head over this.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
With McDonald, I'm disappointed and surprised, but it's recruiting. A lot of things can play into it. Maybe he didn't want to go to college 10 minutes from his parents. Maybe he had a good relationship with Coach Campbell. Maybe his girlfriend is going to Iowa State (heck, maybe she's going to MN).
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If the truth of it is that he (McD) let the Gophs know he wasn’t interested, rather than the other way around, then all the things you list here definitely are valid reasons why that could be.

But I’m worried that he was open to the Gophs and for whatever reason PJ didn’t show enough interest early enough.
 

Gophers_4life said:
If the truth of it is that he (McD) let the Gophs know he wasn’t interested, rather than the other way around, then all the things you list here definitely are valid reasons why that could be.

But I’m worried that he was open to the Gophs and for whatever reason PJ didn’t show enough interest early enough.
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If he really isn't coming here simply because Fleck didn't give show as much interest as early as ISU did then I would really question the kids character. Seems like a foolish and vain reason. It may have played a part, but I'm sure there were a lot of reasons. Wisconsin has done well for years with waiting on offering instate kids.
 

btowngopher said:
If he really isn't coming here simply because Fleck didn't give show as much interest as early as ISU did then I would really question the kids character. Seems like a foolish and vain reason. It may have played a part, but I'm sure there were a lot of reasons. Wisconsin has done well for years with waiting on offering instate kids.
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Sure, that seems to be the "classic" way, but we know that is not the way that PJ and Matt Campbell operate. They work the opposite way.

We know this because the Iowa offensive coordinator lamented about it on a radio show a couple years ago, complaining about "those guys in Ames and Minneapolis" giving out early offers.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Sure, that seems to be the "classic" way, but we know that is not the way that PJ and Matt Campbell operate. They work the opposite way.

We know this because the Iowa offensive coordinator lamented about it on a radio show a couple years ago, complaining about "those guys in Ames and Minneapolis" giving out early offers.
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Fleck does tend to work the opposite way and tries to wrap things up early. But even if a guy gets an offer just now, that is still pretty early. Fleck offered McDonald plenty early, ISU just got in earlier.
 

btowngopher said:
Fleck does tend to work the opposite way and tries to wrap things up early. But even if a guy gets an offer just now, that is still pretty early. Fleck offered McDonald plenty early, ISU just got in earlier.
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Right.

Hence the thread, and hence people wondering if PJ let this one slip by.
 



Gophers_4life said:
Right.

Hence the thread, and hence people wondering if PJ let this one slip by.
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He offered him, far far before signing day, so no he didn’t let him slip by. The kid chose to go somewhere else. If Fleck never offered at all and he turns out to be good then we can say Fleck let one slip away. Unless we get someone better maybe.
 

Fleck let this one get by but no one is going to bat 1.000.

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk
 

btowngopher said:
He offered him, far far before signing day, so no he didn’t let him slip by. The kid chose to go somewhere else. If Fleck never offered at all and he turns out to be good then we can say Fleck let one slip away. Unless we get someone better maybe.
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You're not wrong.

But do you also think that Fleck had no idea how much and when Iowa St was giving attention to him? I don't believe that. I think Fleck was well aware that they wanted him and were going after him earlier and harder .... and he made a decision not to match them. That's my belief.
 

Word said:
Fleck let this one get by but no one is going to bat 1.000.

Sent from my phone using Tapatalk
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True. And if you really want to get technical, PJ Fleck let's ~2,500 D1 recruits slip by per year. Those are terrible numbers.
 


Where is the post where the guy is beating on a dead horse! Good gracious, can't believe the nit picking on this one. As it has been said, many recruits nationwide as well as Minnesota. How many in Minnesota for DI? Who knows. Was Adam Thielen a DI recruit? Not really. When someone finds the dead horse, make sure its a draft horse to beat on as it never ends.
 

Gophers_4life said:
You're not wrong.

But do you also think that Fleck had no idea how much and when Iowa St was giving attention to him? I don't believe that. I think Fleck was well aware that they wanted him and were going after him earlier and harder .... and he made a decision not to match them. That's my belief.
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I mean...what does it even mean to be “going after him harder”, I’m sure Fleck knew ISU had offered. We are only guessing if we say Fleck lost him because he didn’t give him enough attention.
 

https://www.theonion.com/thousands-of-students-forced-to-attend-iowa-state-after-1833375032

Perhaps he isn't going willingly? Not his choice?



NEWS IN BRIEF
Thousands Of Students Forced To Attend Iowa State After University Sets Acceptance Rate To 140%

AMES, IA—In part of an ongoing effort to foster a more inclusive academic community, thousands of students from across the nation were forced to attend Iowa State Monday after the university set its acceptance rate to 140 percent. “We’d like to congratulate all the people who didn’t apply, but were nevertheless determined to have the heart of a Cyclone,” said university president Wendy Wintersteen, who noted that hundreds of required admissions letters were still in the mail, and that those not yet accepted should not lose hope of being conscripted this Fall. “The class of 2023 will almost certainly be the most diverse and accomplished freshman cohort in the history of Iowa State. In fact, we were quite surprised by the number of international students we were able to prod onto planes. We look forward to meeting you all in September when we can assign your mandatory major, varsity sport, and Greek organization.” At press time, Wintersteen confirmed that the university would not be adding any additional scholarships or housing, but promised that each student would love their dozens of new roommates.
 

Gophers_4life said:
You're not wrong.

But do you also think that Fleck had no idea how much and when Iowa St was giving attention to him? I don't believe that. I think Fleck was well aware that they wanted him and were going after him earlier and harder .... and he made a decision not to match them. That's my belief.
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Match them? He did match him, we both offered, he went with Iowa State.

Why is this so complicated for you?
 

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