Farrow: Soft Verbal??

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DL65

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There's a story on Scout that says James Farrow, Minnesota's newest commit, may be a soft verbal as he plans to look at other options even though he's announced his commitment to the Gophers. Apparently his father would like him to weigh other offers (apparently his stock is rising).

Maybe premature annoucements and the games of recruiting would be curtailed with an early signing period as Coach Brewster suggests.


Go Gophers!!
 

Why bother with a verbal when you don't really know what you want?
 

personally, i really can't stand kids and their parents who completely disregard what the term commitment actually means and act like this through the sports media/recruiting websites while playing "games" with schools and coaches. sounds like another parent trying to "pull the strings" by having their kid play the "verbal shopping" game with schools/coaches. considering that the dad is apparently a U of M grad and former gopher football player just it makes it all the more "disgusting" to me.


as DL65 suggested an early signing period would curtail a lot of this and take away most of the leverage these kids and their parents currently have (with the advent of 24/7 recruiting websites, etc.) to play the deceitful "verbal shopping" games through the sports media and recruiting websites that we all see more and more.

even if he does stay with minnesota this type of public behavior through the media/recruiting websites (basically verbal shopping without admitting it) will have already tarnished the image of him (and his father) amongst some gophers fans, alums and former gophers players who are close to the program.

tikited - i think we both know why he likely verballed so early. it wasn't because he was confused or didn't know what he wants. it was most likely so that he and his dad could play the "verbal shopping" game and are using minnesota and coach brewster for some leverage. you can replace the school and the coach's name, but the game is the same all over these days.
 

We can cross Farrow off the committed list for now...this quote says it all, he's not committed. He may very well end up signing with us in February and if Brew and staff think he's worthy of an offer, then I hope he signs with us, but he flat out says he's still going to continue the recruiting process. Therefore, IMO, there is nothing different today than there was before he "committed" - he's still looking and we should still be looking for recruits that may better than him:

James Farrow: "Well you know, for me, I wanted to commit to the Gophers early because it is such a good place, but I talked it over with my dad and he would still like me to keep an open mind and see what other schools have to offer. I committed to the Gophers a few weeks ago and its really early, so me and my dad talked to Coach Brew and Coach Cosgrove and kind of let them know that we’re still going to be active in the recruiting process, but I’m not planning on de-committing from the Gophers any time soon."

Go Gophers!!
 

All verbals are "soft" until the dotted line is signed.
 


I would hope that Brew told him our offer will be pulled if we can get a more highly rated recruit to sign instead of him. If he is looking for greener grass, so should we.
 

kandj said:
I would hope that Brew told him our offer will be pulled if we can get a more highly rated recruit to sign instead of him. If he is looking for greener grass, so should we.
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ditto! i sincerely hope brew & staff do tell him this along with any other minnesota high school football recruits who are interested in a minnesota offer.

it should go something like this: you want to commit to your home state school? fine. that is wonderful and is something you should do and we would love to have you. but a publicized verbal comittment by you (as opposed to say a "silent" verbal process) is a committment and we expect you to stop visiting/speaking with other schools and honor your publicized verbal until LOI day. you want to continue looking at other schools too? that is also fine, but you and your parents are not going to use our institution and football program as leverage in your "verbal shopping" adventure.
 

i think that he is very much a gopher's commit. i just think that he may be having second chances, which can happen.

he is being honest with the coaching staff and not claiming to be rock solid when he's not. i am sure brewster and his staff know how to handle this situation and have seen this thing before.

from the video of the midwest showcase he looked really good, and if he does well at the 7-on-7 and has a good season, then i wouldn't be surprised to see his stock rising and see some other big offers. i really hope he becomes a gopher!
 

The Ghost of Bierman said:
ditto! i sincerely hope brew & staff do tell him this along with any other minnesota high school football recruits who are interesting in a minnesota offer.

it should go something like this: you want to commit to your home state school? fine. that is wonderful and is something you should do and we would love to have you. but a publicized verbal comittment by you (as opposed to say a "silent" verbal process) is a committment and we expect you to stop visiting/speaking with other schools and honor your publicized verbal until LOI day. you want to continue looking at other schools too? that is also fine, but you and your parents are not going to use our institution and football program as leverage in your "verbal shopping" adventure.
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I think this is the correct approach. I don't believe Ferentz messes with kids who won't give him a solid handshake. look straight into his eyes and tell him Brewster can count on him. Brewster should no longer be grasping at straws going into his fourth year of recruiting.
 



Bayfieldgopher said:
I don't believe Ferentz messes with kids who won't give him a solid handshake.QUOTE]

A perfect example of this is Iowa's recruitment of SH. SH wasn't willing to take an "official" visit to Iowa so Ferents withdrew there offer to him.

Put me in the camp that says an early signing period would be one of the best things to happen to college football in a long time. This game of commit and decommit is getting really old and I can only imagine how much harder it makes things for a coaching staff. My 2 cents anyway.
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Another parent dictating his child's future. C'mon.. the kid is getting FREE schooling at a top notch university, and that's not good enough for Pops? Sickening.
 






I have a gut feeling that Farrow will stay with the Gophers; whether he receives "better" BCS offers or not. I think this may be a mild ego thing. The more offers he receives the higher rating he will receive from the recruiting services.

In any event, welcome aboard James and I hope you stick to your commitment.
 

Recruits and universities play the same game. Both have a selfish interest and it's hard to blame kids for doing exactly what Brew would do if the Gophers won the Big Ten next season and found that bigger, stronger, faster, smarter guys wanted to come on board. Kids think they lock-in a spot when they commit, but that is BS. The door swings both ways until the signing day.
 

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