Improvement in recruiting since Coach Kill took over

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pharmacygopher

pharmacygopher

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I wanted to look at the quality of offers and look how our recruiting has changed since Coach Kill first took over. I tried to limit to BCS offers. I know not all the offers are current or committable, but they are what are listed on Rivals/Scout/ESPN/247, so don't shoot the messenger because there might be some inaccuracies. I also included Northern Illinois because they’ve been to the BCS, were almost a BCS-buster this season, and still have a lot in common (IMO) with what the Gophers are trying to get in type of athlete. I included the service academies as well, just because I have a lot of respect for the guys who play there and think it takes an extra level of dedication (again, IMO).

A few tendencies I noticed. First, compared to Kill’s 1st few classes, more and higher quality BCS offers. It seems like we are moving up a bit in terms of team we are competing against. We’re not beating Texas, Alabama, Georgia, LSU but we did hold our own against wisconsin, Michigan State, Missouri, South Carolina, Nebraska, Iowa. I like the trend. For the more lightly recruited guys, I notice a lot of service academies and Ivy offers – I’m probably generalizing but these a probably disciplined, smart guys that we probably don’t need to worry about academically.

We did a good job of grabbing Minnesota kids and plucking a few out of wisconsin – 5 total, 4 TE/OL/DL and 1 RB. We can build the lines from Midwest kids plus holding onto the occasional skill position player and we’re doing that. Also, we grabbed 7 guys from Texas and the Southeast. Good to get some of that ‘southern speed and athleticism’. Also, position versatility. We have quite a few guys that can be moved and play multiple positions. I think that is huge for a building program. Put guys in the best position to succeed and help the team the most.

Lastly, preferred walk-ons. It’s nice to get guys with scholarship offers to give that up and walk on here. Says a lot about Jerry. It’s important to have quality depth and go against talent every day in practice.


Jeff Jones RB (MN): Missouri, Michigan State, wisconsin, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Iowa State, Illinois, Kentucky, Syracuse

Gaelin Elmore TE/ATH (WI): Michigan State, Nebraska, wisconsin, Vanderbilt, Indiana, Iowa State

Connor Mayes OL (TX): Oklahoma, Texas A&M, TCU, Texas Tech, Baylor, Kansas State, Duke, UConn, Kansas, Ole Miss, Washington State, Colorado, Colorado State

Craig James CB (IL): Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Iowa State, Syracuse, Northern Illinois

Melvin Holland Jr WR (VA): wisconsin, Boston College, Wake Forest, Rutgers, Navy

Dimonic McKinzy QB/ATH (KS): Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas

Jerry Gibson TE/ATH (AL): South Carolina, Iowa, Northern Illinois

Isaiah Gentry WR (OH): Rutgers

Andrew Stelter DL (MN): Duke, Iowa State, Army, Northern Illinois, Ivy – Harvard, Yale, Princeton

Julien Kafo DE (CN): Nebraska, Iowa, Indiana, Purdue, Pitt, UConn

Connor Krizancic WR/ATH/S/QB? (OH): Cincinnati

Cody Poock LB (IA CC): TCU, Illinois

Steven Richardson DT (IL): Northern Illinois

Gary Moore DT (AL): Northern Illinois

Everett Williams LB (TX): Navy

Luke Rasmussen OL (WI): Air Force, Ivy – Harvard, Yale

Branden Lingen TE/OL (MN): Air Force

Jared Weyler OL (OH): Air Force

Rodney Smith RB (GA):

Jonathan Celestin LB (GA):





Preferred Walk-ons

Jacques Perra QB (Roseville): South Dakota

Payton Jordahl LS/ATH (Perham): NDSU, South Dakota

Emmit Carpenter K (Green Bay, WI): Illinois State

Josh Parks RB (Chisago Lakes): North Dakota, South Dakota State

Blake Weber LB/RB (Prior Lake): Northern Iowa

Nick Leach RB/ATH (Woodbury)

Logan McElfresh P (Brainerd)

Davis Anderson DB (Apple Valley)

Miles Thomas FB (KS CC)

Riley Oharah FB (KS CC)
 

Great analysis pharmacygopher, thanks for putting this together!...and nice job not capitalizing wisconsin!

Go Gophers!!
 

A little early eh?


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Pharmacy. . .you make a really good point about our lesser recruited athletes. We seem to put an absolute premium on academics and discipline with the guys who aren't the heaviest recruited. It's a great strategy.
 

Tanner said:
A little early eh?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Yeah it's a bit early, so there might be a few surprises (maybe some good, maybe some bad) but most things are set. Unless Jeff, Connor, Gaelin, and Melvin all decide to go elsewhere, I think the overall theme of my post holds true.

Plus I work 12 hours tomorrow and won't be able to post, so figured I'd but my thoughts down while I had time
 


All good, wouldn't want to jinx anything! Hopefully your post holds true!


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My guess is that these 2 guys (Rodney Smith RB ;Jonathan Celestin LB) make solid contributions to the program. Seems like its the last couple of guys we sign that make an impact. Go Gophers!
 

denguegopher said:
My guess is that these 2 guys (Rodney Smith RB ;Jonathan Celestin LB) make solid contributions to the program. Seems like its the last couple of guys we sign that make an impact. Go Gophers!
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Looking at the film on most of our guys I don't understand the lack of offers. Connor Krizancic is the Ohio player of the year and has one offer. I don't get it.
 



Halsey Hall said:
Looking at the film on most of our guys I don't understand the lack of offers. Connor Krizancic is the Ohio player of the year and has one offer. I don't get it.
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Agree. It must have to do with uncertainty on what position he fits. I won't speculate on other possible reasons...
 

Go back and look at our classes say to '02 and we are getting way better student athletes under Kill. Amazingly so. It's awesome to see the progress being made. Had to chuckle at Masons 5 QB class.
 


Halsey Hall said:
Looking at the film on most of our guys I don't understand the lack of offers. Connor Krizancic is the Ohio player of the year and has one offer. I don't get it.
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Like Spoofin said, some may question what position he will play. He's also had 2 concussions, who knows if that's a factor at all.
 



jaymil said:
Like Spoofin said, some may question what position he will play. He's also had 2 concussions, who knows if that's a factor at all.
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Not going to say medical wasn't part of it...but it also comes down to the kid and who he engages. Top programs don't just send out offers, they watch film, talk to the coach, kid etc and if the kid isn't interested in a school and says so, they won't waste an offer.

My suspicion is Connor had a plan, knew he wanted to play in the B1G and we obliged him with a great opportunity of early playing time at multiple positions.
 

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