Houston Baptist DT transfer Kyler Baugh commits to the Gophers!

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A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I feel like those DLs really benefited from stacking EVERYONE in the box and relying on Tyrone Carter cleaning up ... almost everything that went 5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage ;)

That's not a knock on the DL but but more an observation that at that time they were operating in a somewhat strange environment / getting lots of help / operated in a very high risk / reward manner that likely gets you BOMBED these days... or even then.

At least that's what I remember ...
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That 1999 team had a DL of Riley, Schlecht, Russ, Michals....that was an awesome group. Riley and Schlecht were an unstoppable inside/outside combo and Russ ate up a ton of space in the middle. That group was a ton of fun and one of the last times I remember us having a truly dominant DL. We have had some good players at spots but to have a full group that could play like those guys has been hard to come by around here.
 

MNVCGUY said:
That 1999 team had a DL of Riley, Schlecht, Russ, Michals....that was an awesome group. Riley and Schlecht were an unstoppable inside/outside combo and Russ ate up a ton of space in the middle. That group was a ton of fun and one of the last times I remember us having a truly dominant DL. We have had some good players at spots but to have a full group that could play like those guys has been hard to come by around here.
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Yup they were fun to watch -

1999 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

Karon Riley were named All-Big Ten first team.[3] Defensive tackle John Schlecht and corner back Willie Middlebrooks were named All-Big Ten second team.[3] And, of course, both played several years in the League as well. Apparently Karon caught the acting bug and is doing that now as well as producing some Indy Films.

My thinking is we're getting to the point where we'll routinely have players every year that are All Conference level performers and/or drafted and not just an outlier - I think this year is the jumping off point with Boye and Esezi being the cornerstones.
 

Stars or not the players and performance on the field is on average increasingly better than we've seen in a long time. Those making it to the B1G All Teams and pros...in whatever capacity...is a measure of that.

Of interest is when the coaching is not rising to the occassion...which too has been a historic issue...at least for the current regime changes will indeed be made albeit slowly. This year we'll see how Coach applies this to himself...

Progress.
 
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BilldGopher said:
Stars or not the players and performance on the field is on average increasingly better than we've seen in a long time. Those making it to the B1G All Teams and pros...in whatever capacity...is a measure of that.

Of interest is when the coaching is not rising to the occassion...which too has been a historic issue...at least for the current regime changes will indeed be made albeit slowly. This year we'll see how Coach applies this to himself...

Progress.
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Amen.

IMHO, Coach Rossi is a godsend on defense. He simplified the schemes so that the players learned to react instinctively at the beginning instead of thinking.

If you look at the Defense over the last three years, you will notice that they got better and better.

It boils down to teaching players to lead as PJ Fleck has espoused. Now we see the players become the leaders of each position group.

Elite defensive teams do not play hero ball. Every player plays their role with discipline. They have Esprit de Corps.

A well-oiled team comprised primarily of three stars players can beat teams like PSU and Auburn.

A great example of team ball is when the Gophers when to Nebraska and beat them with thirty players inactive due to Covid.
 

Full Speed Ahead said:
IMO, it's better to have a lot of playing experience in a lower-level league, than to ride the bench on a P5. I'm all in, welcome to the Gophers Kyler :cool03::clap::cool03:
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Yeah, I don't know about that. Going up against lower tier competition every day that probably rarely challenges a dominant guy, vs being challenged competitively every day in practice and learning from upper echelon guys 5 days a week? Who has the better coaching staffs, facilities, nutrition programs for development?

That said, football tiers in Texas are different than most other places with the exception of maybe Florida. I guess we'll see how well the Gophers' staff projected him by the on field results.

But if I remember right??, the Gophers had 2 more scholarships and both Irving and Emilien are in the portal and uncommitted? Hopefully this guy was worth using the slot, but with all the higher tier recruits we have at DT, this doesn't make much sense to me at first glance.
 


Six to Eight said:
Yeah, I don't know about that. Going up against lower tier competition every day that probably rarely challenges a dominant guy, vs being challenged competitively every day in practice and learning from upper echelon guys 5 days a week? Who has the better coaching staffs, facilities, nutrition programs for development?

That said, football tiers in Texas are different than most other places with the exception of maybe Florida. I guess we'll see how well the Gophers' staff projected him by the on field results.

But if I remember right??, the Gophers had 2 more scholarships and both Irving and Emilien are in the portal and uncommitted? Hopefully this guy was worth using the slot, but with all the higher tier recruits we have at DT, this doesn't make much sense to me at first glance.
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He went to Dallas Baptist as a linebacker......he's obviously put on 80 pounds or so. He wasn't a dominant guy at first, but has played himself into a defensive lineman worthy of an offer. As for the other guys? Not to be cruel, but is Emilien really a loss? I can't see getting any playing time.
 

hungan1 said:
Amen.

IMHO, Coach Rossi is a godsend on defense. He simplified the schemes so that the players learned to react instinctively at the beginning instead of thinking.

If you look at the Defense over the last three years, you will notice that they got better and better.

It boils down to teaching players to lead as PJ Fleck has espoused. Now we see the players become the leaders of each position group.

Elite defensive teams do not play hero ball. Every player plays their role with discipline. They have Esprit de Corps.

A well-oiled team comprised primarily of three stars players can beat teams like PSU and Auburn.

A great example of team ball is when the Gophers when to Nebraska and beat them with thirty players inactive due to Covid.
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Very good post. "Leaders" is the key term. Like PJ says elite teams are led by the players. That culture is becoming very evident.
 

btowngopher said:
Is there any tape of this guy in college? He moved really well in his high school tape playing linebacker. I honestly didn’t think Chris Smith looked particularly special and now he’s going to ND. Curious how the two compare to others.
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No need to compare. ND just out bid us for his service. The beginning of the end. Sad
 

Q&A: Kyler Baugh on Transfer to Gophers “It is a great opportunity and I think it’s going to be a place I can call home away from home.”

By Chris Monter

gopherhole.com

Houston Baptist Transfer Kyler Baugh Talks Move to Minnesota- "It is a great opportunity and I think it’s going to be a place I can call home away from home." - GopherHole.com

Kyler Baugh, a 6-foot-3, 300-pound defensive lineman from Houston Baptist announced Thursday, that he was transferring to Minnesota. He could have two years of eligibility for the Gophers. Baugh had 52 tackles, 3 ½ sacks and 4 ½ tackles for loss this past season for the Huskies, who finished...
gopherhole.com gopherhole.com
 



There's no downside to this addition.

At the worst, it ties up a scholly, but given the mass departures on this team in the last year, they'll be more.

It possibly will hurt high school recruiting with Fleck's love of the portal.
 

Boomtime said:
There's no downside to this addition.

At the worst, it ties up a scholly, but given the mass departures on this team in the last year, they'll be more.

It possibly will hurt high school recruiting with Fleck's love of the portal.
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In regards to Fleck's love of the portal I thought it would be interesting to see how our # of incoming transfers compares to the rest of the conference. Time will tell if focusing more heavily on the portal vs. high school is a good or bad strategy. Personally I like it because if you have a good eye for transfers you are getting more proven developed players than what you get from high school. Anyway...

Using 247's listing of transfers from 2021 and 2022 on each teams commitments page:

MSU - 22 - incoming transfers
Ind - 20
Neb - 16
MN - 15
Pur - 14
ILL - 13
Rut - 12
NW - 10
PSU - 9
WIS - 7
Mich - 6
MD - 4
OSU - 3
IA - 2

So we use the portal more than some but not as much as others and overall it is clear we are not alone in going to the portal on a pretty regular basis.
 

cheeseheadgophfan said:
He went to Dallas Baptist as a linebacker......he's obviously put on 80 pounds or so. He wasn't a dominant guy at first, but has played himself into a defensive lineman worthy of an offer. As for the other guys? Not to be cruel, but is Emilien really a loss? I can't see getting any playing time.
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His recruiting profile listed him as a 270 lb MLB.
 

cheeseheadgophfan said:
He went to Dallas Baptist as a linebacker......he's obviously put on 80 pounds or so. He wasn't a dominant guy at first, but has played himself into a defensive lineman worthy of an offer. As for the other guys? Not to be cruel, but is Emilien really a loss? I can't see getting any playing time.
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You do realize Kyler is from Houston Baptist right?
 




MNVCGUY said:
In regards to Fleck's love of the portal I thought it would be interesting to see how our # of incoming transfers compares to the rest of the conference. Time will tell if focusing more heavily on the portal vs. high school is a good or bad strategy. Personally I like it because if you have a good eye for transfers you are getting more proven developed players than what you get from high school. Anyway...

Using 247's listing of transfers from 2021 and 2022 on each teams commitments page:

MSU - 22 - incoming transfers
Ind - 20
Neb - 16
MN - 15
Pur - 14
ILL - 13
Rut - 12
NW - 10
PSU - 9
WIS - 7
Mich - 6
MD - 4
OSU - 3
IA - 2

So we use the portal more than some but not as much as others and overall it is clear we are not alone in going to the portal on a pretty regular basis.
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Also noted that, for the most part, the most successful teams in the B1G are in the bottom half of portal usage.
 


Boomtime said:
Also noted that, for the most part, the most successful teams in the B1G are in the bottom half of portal usage.
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If you are talking long term that is kind of true but this increased portal usage has been a pretty recent thing so remains to be seen how much of an impact heavy portal usage has.

MSU was one of the top teams in the East last year. Minnesota and Purdue had the same conference record as Wisconsin and were just behind Iowa. So 3 of the top 5 teams in the Big Ten in terms of transfers finished near the top of their divisions in 2021. But that is also kind of flawed on my part since my list includes 2021 and 2022 transfers which means some of the guys listed have not yet played for their new teams.

For 2022 both Nebraska and Indiana brought in double digit numbers in the portal so remains to be seen how big an impact those guys have in the upcoming season.
 





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