Gopher's best pro prospect...

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centerofmn

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According to Mel Kiper, it is none other than Jeff Willis.

"Mammoth tackle at 6-foot-7, 365 pounds, needs to improve his pass protection skills."
 


I'm not sure our Senior class really has much NFL potential, but with Jeff's size and work ethic, he's got a shot. Of course I wouldn't have thought we had much last year except for Decker, and quite a few made a serious run at it.

I bet though, there will be at least a dozen guys on this years squad who eventually play in the NFL. Unfortunately they're mostly underclassmen.
 

You can't teach 6'7", 365 pounds. He's got a ways to go but the base is there.
 

you can't teach 6-7. you can teach 365
 



didn't we almost get a kid named Willis from florida too. That would have been great for confusion sake.
 

Oops. Added an extra "i" for dramatic effect. Kiper did misspell it, but I should know better than that.

Anyways, I was kind of surprised by Kiper's call on this one. Not that I don't have high hopes for our big LT...
 

centerofmn said:
Oops. Added an extra "i" for dramatic effect. And no, Kiper got the name right. That was all me.

Anyways, I was kind of surprised by Kiper's call on this one. Not that I don't have high hopes for our big LT...
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Big RT?
 





So disregarding draft eligibility, who is their best Pro Prospect?

Off the top of my head, I'd probably say Carter.
 




Let's just hope it isn't Brewster... needing to return to the TE coach gig.

Here's to a big pleasant surprise for the Gophs in '10 so we don't have to entertain that potential move to the NFL.
 

Schnauzer said:
Let's just hope it isn't Brewster... needing to return to the TE coach gig.

Here's to a big pleasant surprise for the Gophs in '10 so we don't have to entertain that potential move to the NFL.
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Who's to say he wouldn't leverage a pleasant surprise for a new gig?
 


For the seniors, I'd say Weber. 2 years ago he was looking like a potential pro prospect. Maybe a late rounder, but still. If he has a really good year he may get a late round look. The only others player I could see getting a pro tryout (of the seniors) is Royston, converting to maybe a cover 2 corner and Wills if his feet and conditioning get a lot better.
 

If you're talking the whole team there really are alot of possibilities. That's what makes this team so exciting. Hageman by measurables for sure, but cooper has alot of talent. The truth will probably be someone like Orseke who is head and shoulders above most of his peers.
 

Schnoodler said:
I bet though, there will be at least a dozen guys on this years squad who eventually play in the NFL. Unfortunately they're mostly underclassmen.
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12 guys? I say not a chance. MAYBE 12 make it on the 80 man rosters in camp, but I really doubt a dozen guys will spend time on the 53 man rosters of NFL teams.
 

centerofmn said:
According to Mel Kiper, it is none other than Jeff Willis.

"Mammoth tackle at 6-foot-7, 365 pounds, needs to improve his pass protection skills."
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Yup, this is the only thing he needs to improve on. Not his run blocking that is perfectly fine.

To whoever posted that 12 gophers will be on an NFL roster someday, please start listing.

I am a HUGE gopher fan but some comments are just to far out there to now comment on.
 

streetfighter said:
12 guys? I say not a chance. MAYBE 12 make it on the 80 man rosters in camp, but I really doubt a dozen guys will spend time on the 53 man rosters of NFL teams.
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I'd tend to agree with you but its not all that crazy. While I doubt 12 get onto a regular season roster, 12 could get legit shots. Remember we have 5 classes on the roster now (sr, jr, soph, fr, rs fr). If we got 2-3 guys with NFL chances a year that would do it
Listing guys I think may (MAY) get a shot in the NFL due to athleticism/size, obviously dependent upon their play:

Sr - Weber, Wills, Royston, Alford
Jr - Kirksey, Edwards, Tinsley, McKnight, Stoudemire (return man), Lair,
Soph - Gray, Cooper, Rallis, Carter, Whilhite
Fr - Hageman, KGM, Olson, Michel, Alipate
RS FR - (I'm assuming all these guys RS for now) Gjere, Edwards, Manuel,Fergusen

Thats 24 guys I'd say have some type of shot to get an NFL look at some point. As I said, its dependent on their play, of course but those guys at least either have the physical size/abilities to be somewhere on the NFL radar
 

oleboy41 said:
I'd tend to agree with you but its not all that crazy. While I doubt 12 get onto a regular season roster, 12 could get legit shots. Remember we have 5 classes on the roster now (sr, jr, soph, fr, rs fr). If we got 2-3 guys with NFL chances a year that would do it
Listing guys I think may (MAY) get a shot in the NFL due to athleticism/size, obviously dependent upon their play:

Sr - Weber, Wills, Royston, Alford
Jr - Kirksey, Edwards, Tinsley, McKnight, Stoudemire (return man), Lair,
Soph - Gray, Cooper, Rallis, Carter, Whilhite
Fr - Hageman, KGM, Olson, Michel, Alipate
RS FR - (I'm assuming all these guys RS for now) Gjere, Edwards, Manuel,Fergusen

Thats 24 guys I'd say have some type of shot to get an NFL look at some point. As I said, its dependent on their play, of course but those guys at least either have the physical size/abilities to be somewhere on the NFL radar
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Can I have what you are smoking?!?! :)

Sr-NONE, maybe weber IF HE HAS A GOOD YEAR. Thats a big IF!!
Jr-Kirksey could, Edwards hasn't done anything for us to think he is good enough to play at the next level. Tinsley will have to be OUTSTANDING for teams to get past his legal troubles and next year, if beal is as good as ppl say he is, Tinsley will be fighting to keep his spot. If McKnight can prove the ISU game was not a mirage then absolutely a YES!! I'll give you him. Stoudemire has been a good returnman but not that good...Lair, what has he done?? He didn't play over Tow-Arnett.
So-Where is Gray going to play? QB?!?! I think Cooper can but he needs to go back to safety. No way 210 pound LB will play in the NFL. Rallis...not that he has done a whole lot in a gopher uni but i think i can buy that one. Carter I think so. Wilhite...not sure on him so i'll give you that one.
Fr-If Hags is all the hype then he has the most potential out of anyone. I don't understand how you can peg a freshman and say they will play in the NFL though...so I don't buy any of them. Could they? ABSOLUTELY!! But I am not going to add them to this list. Except Hags.

You sir are on optimist, I am a realist.
 

I have a friend who's a long time NFL agent and the only 3 seniors on the NFL's radar is Weber, Wills, and Alford... He mentioned that Wills has a lot of work to do weight wise and must show improvement this year to be drafted but he's a camp guy as of now.
 

Of all Gophers I think Gray has the most NFL potential...as a wide receiver.
 

I believe the better way to go about it is.....after we played Iowa State who envisioned Tripplet being drafted in the 5th round, Trey getting a good look in an NFL camp after losing his spot to Collado/Carter, Lee Campbell in an NFL camp and Marcus Sherrels making it to training camp with the Vikings?

My point is it only takes one NFL team.
 

streetfighter said:
12 guys? I say not a chance. MAYBE 12 make it on the 80 man rosters in camp, but I really doubt a dozen guys will spend time on the 53 man rosters of NFL teams.
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I wouldn't bet against 12 guys making NFL rosters (not 12 guys having recoginzable careers). There's 5 classes on campus, so you are looking at 2.4 kids per year. Out of this past year, we will have Decker and Tripplett earn an NFL paycheck and I would bet that (at worst) one of Campbell, Sherels, Simmons, Brown, Moen and the Tow Arnett brothers will be on a 53 man roster. It would be interesting to keep track of, but I don't think you'd want to bet against 12 guys on campus now spending some time on a 53 man roster within the next 5-6 years. That doesn't mean much though, I would guess that many BCS conference teams could see 12 guys see time on an NFL roster in that same time frame.
 

go4fan said:
Can I have what you are smoking?!?! :)

Sr-NONE, maybe weber IF HE HAS A GOOD YEAR. Thats a big IF!!
Jr-Kirksey could, Edwards hasn't done anything for us to think he is good enough to play at the next level. Tinsley will have to be OUTSTANDING for teams to get past his legal troubles and next year, if beal is as good as ppl say he is, Tinsley will be fighting to keep his spot. If McKnight can prove the ISU game was not a mirage then absolutely a YES!! I'll give you him. Stoudemire has been a good returnman but not that good...Lair, what has he done?? He didn't play over Tow-Arnett.
So-Where is Gray going to play? QB?!?! I think Cooper can but he needs to go back to safety. No way 210 pound LB will play in the NFL. Rallis...not that he has done a whole lot in a gopher uni but i think i can buy that one. Carter I think so. Wilhite...not sure on him so i'll give you that one.
Fr-If Hags is all the hype then he has the most potential out of anyone. I don't understand how you can peg a freshman and say they will play in the NFL though...so I don't buy any of them. Could they? ABSOLUTELY!! But I am not going to add them to this list. Except Hags.

You sir are on optimist, I am a realist.
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Read the post, homie. I listed 25 guys off the entire roster that I said appear to have the physical capabilities to be pro prospects. I said multiple times that their play has to be high quality and that I never said these guys WOULD be NFL players. But I'll still humour you

go4fan said:
Sr-NONE, maybe weber IF HE HAS A GOOD YEAR. Thats a big IF!!
Click to expand...

- apparently you know more than Kiper as well. Last year nobody thought Campbell, Sherels or NTA would ever be in an NFL camp. Both Wills and Alford have the size to get a look and Royston is going to have a very good year IMO and get some looks at CB as well.

go4fan said:
Jr-Kirksey could, Edwards hasn't done anything for us to think he is good enough to play at the next level. Tinsley will have to be OUTSTANDING for teams to get past his legal troubles and next year, if beal is as good as ppl say he is, Tinsley will be fighting to keep his spot. If McKnight can prove the ISU game was not a mirage then absolutely a YES!! I'll give you him. Stoudemire has been a good returnman but not that good...Lair, what has he done?? He didn't play over Tow-Arnett.
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- Cmon son. Edwards was arguable just as good as Small and Brown last year despite being 2 years yougner and Brown is still in an NFL camp. Edwards is also 330 with a great first step for a man his size. Dude is easily an NFL prospect at this point. Only knock is that he's a bit short and doesn't have a great motor. Tinsley has the size at 245 and the speed. He's faster than Campbell was and has flashed a lot of ability in his short stints. And his legal troubles are far less than many other guys on the NFLs radar. And if Beal is as good as people think he can be, that's no knock on Tinsley. Beal was a 5 star recruit. TS has been the best return man in the B10 for 2 years. Apparently for you that's not good enough to even get a tryout in the NFL despite him having 2 years to get better :rolleyes:. As for Lair, the kid is 6'3" and runs a legit 4.5 at the TE spot. That's excellent speed. And you're knocking him for being a backup to a guy that's in NFL camp? lol. I guess that means all our LBs must be bums too.

go4fan said:
So-Where is Gray going to play? QB?!?! I think Cooper can but he needs to go back to safety. No way 210 pound LB will play in the NFL. Rallis...not that he has done a whole lot in a gopher uni but i think i can buy that one. Carter I think so. Wilhite...not sure on him so i'll give you that one.
Click to expand...
So because Gray hasn't started his first 2 years he's automatically not a QB? Please don't fall into that trap because it's silly. 2 years ago Weber was a clear NFL prospect, last year he struggled and the coaches didn't want to throw a true frosh who hadn't played football in 2 years (injured his senior year in HS and sat out in 08) to the wolves in an offense a 4th year junior had trouble grasping. Now Weber, who still has some very good tools, beat him out for the job (as any good program would actually want a 5th year, 3 year starter to beat out a true soph) and now the kid can't play QB? Either way he's 6'5", 230 with a strong arm and excellent speed. The kid has all the physical tools to play QB (or WR if you want to argue that)
- Cooper has literally never been a safety. He played LB in HS and has always been an LB here. Plus the kid is 225 (not 210 as you think for some reason. Please take a look at the updated roster weights on gophersports.com) and already as big as Simoni was last year, but for some reason you think Cooper needs to move to safety to get a look in the NFL when Simoni went to the combine after playing at the same weight and Cooper is even faster than Simoni was? I spose...

go4fan said:
Fr-If Hags is all the hype then he has the most potential out of anyone. I don't understand how you can peg a freshman and say they will play in the NFL though...so I don't buy any of them. Could they? ABSOLUTELY!! But I am not going to add them to this list. Except Hags.
Click to expand...

As I said, I named the guys that appear to have NFL potential based on their size/strength/speed and perceived potential for the sake of argument. I've said multiple times that their play has to dictate whether or not they get there. At this point I'd say you're less of a realist and more of a pessimist seeing as how you went negative on most of those guys despite not being really informed about them at all (no offense but your analysis of guys like Cooper and Edwards were way off). I actually consider myself a realist
 

LOL oleboy killed it. People need to relax on this whole, "The entire roster sucks" attitude I've seen. There's some PHYSICALLY talented kids out there that we haven't seen in ages. Yes, they still have to go out there on the field and show it, but my goodness, the oldest ones are just now going into their junior season. This is their time finally to go out there and show what they can do. It'll be fun for me to see if they can step up, or just fall back. But let's not throw in the towel on them already before they've even had their shot.
 

go4fan said:
Can I have what you are smoking?!?! :)

Sr-NONE, maybe weber IF HE HAS A GOOD YEAR. Thats a big IF!!
Jr-Kirksey could, Edwards hasn't done anything for us to think he is good enough to play at the next level. Tinsley will have to be OUTSTANDING for teams to get past his legal troubles and next year, if beal is as good as ppl say he is, Tinsley will be fighting to keep his spot. If McKnight can prove the ISU game was not a mirage then absolutely a YES!! I'll give you him. Stoudemire has been a good returnman but not that good...Lair, what has he done?? He didn't play over Tow-Arnett.
So-Where is Gray going to play? QB?!?! I think Cooper can but he needs to go back to safety. No way 210 pound LB will play in the NFL. Rallis...not that he has done a whole lot in a gopher uni but i think i can buy that one. Carter I think so. Wilhite...not sure on him so i'll give you that one.
Fr-If Hags is all the hype then he has the most potential out of anyone. I don't understand how you can peg a freshman and say they will play in the NFL though...so I don't buy any of them. Could they? ABSOLUTELY!! But I am not going to add them to this list. Except Hags.

You sir are on optimist, I am a realist.
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+ 1 what I was thinking while reading this sillyness up top lol
 

Gophers507 said:
+ 1 what I was thinking while reading this sillyness up top lol
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no offense but then you're just as wrong as the previous gentleman. Its ok, though since none of this truly matters.
 

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