Coach Kill joined the Sports Huddle at 9:45 a.m. The questions of Sid Hartman and Dave Mona focused on this year's recruiting efforts as well as rules related to the same.
1) Sid opened saying that Kill must be setting a record in traveling: Kill responded saying that he's been to a lot of places and has been meeting with a lot of recruits. He said the final days are hectic and they need to hold on to their commits and sign six other recruits. No names given, of course.
2) Sid wondered about the NCAA's reasoninng for a signing period in February and why there isn't an early signing period: "I think there's a lot of talk to change the signing date - early signing date." Kill believes an early signing date would slow down the incidents of decommitments. "I think we'll see an early signing period - sooner than later."
Kill then said he feels good about the 14 kids that have committed (again, stressed the importance of holding on to the kids committed). It sounded as though he's pleased with the commitments - meeting the teams needs. He also said that they're in on 4 or 5 that "could make a difference." Said it's the critical time, the remaining days before the Signing Day, and for the "pieces" to fall in place (reference to the remaining recruits difference makers) that they're in on.
3) Sid turned to academics saying the team has a 3.0 GPA again: Kill said the kids deserve the credit for their attitude and hard work. The team's fall semester GPA is 2.98. He also credited the academic department for the team's academic success as well as the coaches . . . the coaches held the players accountable in their studies. "We've had three great semesters (academic studies) . . . program is going in the right direction."
Kill then spent some time talking about an upcoming promotion that the players are heading up. On Wednesday, February 13 the Gopher football team will be conducting a Bone Marrow Screening project at TCF Bank Stadium. The afternoon project will be in the football locker room, 1-4 p.m. The players have set a goal of recruiting 1,700 people for the event. Medical personnel will use a swab to see if they can come up with possible matches. Kill stressed and sounded pleased about the good things the players are doing in the off season, and the Bone Marrow Screening is a great example. He said the goal of 1,700 persons is a high bar to achieve - but he sounded excited over their goal.
4) Mona asked about the term "oversigning:" Kill responded saying football is a tough game and a teams needs can be altered, as a result. As to oversigning, as an example, he said if you're planning to sign 19 recruits, you can sign an additional 3 players; however, you must be at the 85 number when the season starts. Frequently, to get to the required number, some of the players would be grey shirted (coming in at January instead of the fall semester). As a result, they're able to participate in the spring drills and they retain their scholarship. He said the rules related to oversigning have changed a little bit.
He then said not knowing if a recruit is committing to your school until signing day can be problematic, when it comes to oversigning, especially if you have a number of top recruits hanging loose until the end of the recruiting period. Again, he inferred an early signing period would alleviate some of the problems that they now contend wiith.
5) Dave Mona asked about position changes and what goes in to players moving to other positions: Kill related several factors that can lead to a position change: first is the evaluation process conducted by the coaching staff; recruiting and signing of new athletes will be a factor - are they short or long at certain positions; wanting to get the best athletes on the field (doesn't help the team to have solid athletes not on the field because of other athletes ahead of the player(s) in a certain position); body change - players experiencing growing spurts as a result of strength and conditioning and diet; and lastly, maturity (physical and mental) can lead to a position change.
6) Sid asked about the number of walkons in this year's edition of recruiting: (Walkons) "It's what makes a program great." He said the walkons at Minnesota have helped the team. He then the cited the famous walkon program at Nebraska . . . Nebraska has 150 players and 65-70 are walkons. There's a mentality in the state of Nebraska: "We want to play at Nebraska . . . That's what we want to do; want to play at Minnesota."
He concluded the question saying that eight of the starters on Northern Illinois' Orange Bowl team arrived as walkons.
Go Gophers!!
1) Sid opened saying that Kill must be setting a record in traveling: Kill responded saying that he's been to a lot of places and has been meeting with a lot of recruits. He said the final days are hectic and they need to hold on to their commits and sign six other recruits. No names given, of course.
2) Sid wondered about the NCAA's reasoninng for a signing period in February and why there isn't an early signing period: "I think there's a lot of talk to change the signing date - early signing date." Kill believes an early signing date would slow down the incidents of decommitments. "I think we'll see an early signing period - sooner than later."
Kill then said he feels good about the 14 kids that have committed (again, stressed the importance of holding on to the kids committed). It sounded as though he's pleased with the commitments - meeting the teams needs. He also said that they're in on 4 or 5 that "could make a difference." Said it's the critical time, the remaining days before the Signing Day, and for the "pieces" to fall in place (reference to the remaining recruits difference makers) that they're in on.
3) Sid turned to academics saying the team has a 3.0 GPA again: Kill said the kids deserve the credit for their attitude and hard work. The team's fall semester GPA is 2.98. He also credited the academic department for the team's academic success as well as the coaches . . . the coaches held the players accountable in their studies. "We've had three great semesters (academic studies) . . . program is going in the right direction."
Kill then spent some time talking about an upcoming promotion that the players are heading up. On Wednesday, February 13 the Gopher football team will be conducting a Bone Marrow Screening project at TCF Bank Stadium. The afternoon project will be in the football locker room, 1-4 p.m. The players have set a goal of recruiting 1,700 people for the event. Medical personnel will use a swab to see if they can come up with possible matches. Kill stressed and sounded pleased about the good things the players are doing in the off season, and the Bone Marrow Screening is a great example. He said the goal of 1,700 persons is a high bar to achieve - but he sounded excited over their goal.
4) Mona asked about the term "oversigning:" Kill responded saying football is a tough game and a teams needs can be altered, as a result. As to oversigning, as an example, he said if you're planning to sign 19 recruits, you can sign an additional 3 players; however, you must be at the 85 number when the season starts. Frequently, to get to the required number, some of the players would be grey shirted (coming in at January instead of the fall semester). As a result, they're able to participate in the spring drills and they retain their scholarship. He said the rules related to oversigning have changed a little bit.
He then said not knowing if a recruit is committing to your school until signing day can be problematic, when it comes to oversigning, especially if you have a number of top recruits hanging loose until the end of the recruiting period. Again, he inferred an early signing period would alleviate some of the problems that they now contend wiith.
5) Dave Mona asked about position changes and what goes in to players moving to other positions: Kill related several factors that can lead to a position change: first is the evaluation process conducted by the coaching staff; recruiting and signing of new athletes will be a factor - are they short or long at certain positions; wanting to get the best athletes on the field (doesn't help the team to have solid athletes not on the field because of other athletes ahead of the player(s) in a certain position); body change - players experiencing growing spurts as a result of strength and conditioning and diet; and lastly, maturity (physical and mental) can lead to a position change.
6) Sid asked about the number of walkons in this year's edition of recruiting: (Walkons) "It's what makes a program great." He said the walkons at Minnesota have helped the team. He then the cited the famous walkon program at Nebraska . . . Nebraska has 150 players and 65-70 are walkons. There's a mentality in the state of Nebraska: "We want to play at Nebraska . . . That's what we want to do; want to play at Minnesota."
He concluded the question saying that eight of the starters on Northern Illinois' Orange Bowl team arrived as walkons.
Go Gophers!!
