Gold Rush
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2008
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- 1,857
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It looks like PJ Fleck and his staff have brought in a solid class, one that fills many needs. Many of these recruits committed last Summer and I think this is a far different team than it was at that time. The team posted a nice 10-2 record and is hopefully ready to take it to the next level. Finishing as the #13 team in the country DOES put the team on a different plateau than last year and hopefully you can take the recruiting to the next level as well. I am very hopeful next year's class could be even better than this one if we can continue to ride the wave.
Everyone wants to know what type of recruits we are bringing in, how many stars they have or how they grade compared to the other teams in the conference or country and that's fair because all we have now are highlight tapes, opinions and potential to go on for now. I know it has been repeated again and again but you can't officially grade it out until 3-4 years from now when the players are either playing very well, starting, backing up or are no longer with the program. One of the reasons this year's team was so good is the senior class stuck around and made a difference and many were standout players. At this point you would have to give Claeys a pretty good grade for his class, but equally important would be for Fleck and his staff for developing them and keeping them in the program. As far as grading goes, I suppose it would be fairly easy to go down the list and go on a 1-10 schedule and grade how well each player did and give a 10 to a Winfield and a 0 to someone who left with zero contribution but THAT would be your honest grade.
With all that said, getting the recruits committed and signed is an art and the good recruiters are worth their weight in gold. I can imagine PJ Fleck would be a tough guy to say no to and I like our chances of him bringing in elite talent. But again equally important is keeping the players here and developing them because in almost every case, each recruit will grow from being an 18 year old high school kid into a 22-23 year old young man and there is a huge difference between the two. Gopher fans have seen all too many recruiting classes that held promise but were gutted from early departures. If this team wants to get to the next level, we will need to not only keep them here, but develop them better than the other teams do.
With PJ Fleck and his staff he, I really like our chances at developing these recruits and molding them into a very good team. Four or five years from now, we will know for sure!!
Everyone wants to know what type of recruits we are bringing in, how many stars they have or how they grade compared to the other teams in the conference or country and that's fair because all we have now are highlight tapes, opinions and potential to go on for now. I know it has been repeated again and again but you can't officially grade it out until 3-4 years from now when the players are either playing very well, starting, backing up or are no longer with the program. One of the reasons this year's team was so good is the senior class stuck around and made a difference and many were standout players. At this point you would have to give Claeys a pretty good grade for his class, but equally important would be for Fleck and his staff for developing them and keeping them in the program. As far as grading goes, I suppose it would be fairly easy to go down the list and go on a 1-10 schedule and grade how well each player did and give a 10 to a Winfield and a 0 to someone who left with zero contribution but THAT would be your honest grade.
With all that said, getting the recruits committed and signed is an art and the good recruiters are worth their weight in gold. I can imagine PJ Fleck would be a tough guy to say no to and I like our chances of him bringing in elite talent. But again equally important is keeping the players here and developing them because in almost every case, each recruit will grow from being an 18 year old high school kid into a 22-23 year old young man and there is a huge difference between the two. Gopher fans have seen all too many recruiting classes that held promise but were gutted from early departures. If this team wants to get to the next level, we will need to not only keep them here, but develop them better than the other teams do.
With PJ Fleck and his staff he, I really like our chances at developing these recruits and molding them into a very good team. Four or five years from now, we will know for sure!!
