In-state Recruiting

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Brewster definately had his faults as a head coach, but I think we have to credit where credit is due. He firmed up the boarders and did an excellent job recruiting the state of MN. Was he perfect? No way, but you will never get every in-state kid. Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, heck even Texas lets their top player get away. How many division 1 programs are in Texas?

When you have a Seantrel Henderson or Mike Floyd you have every school in the country recruiting them and they will always be a challenge to get.

Brewster didn't let very many get away. McNeal, the WR from Breck, attended Clemson because the majority of his extended family is from South Carolina. Allen, the DT from Minnetonka, attends Wisconsin and both his parents are graduates of Wisconsin.

I hope to see Kill continue with recruiting the state of Minnesota. Brewster improved greatly over Mason in this facet of the job.
 

in state dream team

I agree, go after the boys of Minnesota right away!! Time is ticking.. I think there was a post a few days ago about the in-state dream team... I hope ge goes and gets those boys..
 

Recruiting is important, but I think we have learned from the Brewster era that coaching is more important. Good coaching can get good results even out of less regarded athletes, but poor coaching can bring disaster even with good athletes. It's best to have both, but winning is the best recruiter there is.
 

northerngopher said:
I agree, go after the boys of Minnesota right away!! Time is ticking.. I think there was a post a few days ago about the in-state dream team... I hope ge goes and gets those boys..
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You do have to say no to some in-state recruits who would want to come here, but if possible, we should bring in those who really want to be here. Those who bleed Maroon and Gold will give you all they have. And they will be great ambassadors for the program when they graduate. So, I'd give the edge to an in-state recruit who really wants to be here over a recruit from out of state that you have to beg to come here, even if the out of state recruit is slightly better. In-state recruits should be the backbone of the team.
 

Just Asking

If he firmed up the boarders. Where is the talent?
 



Brewster did a good job. There were certain kids that simply wanted to leave the area (McNeal and Allen) but he generally got most of the kids in MN. Well, at least he got a decent amount of the kids and did much better in-state than Mason.

From what i've heard most of Mason's issues with the in state recruiting weren't a failure as being any sort of recruiting guru or anything like that. It was really a matter of disrespect and not putting the effort in. I only know from the people at Cretin and the staff at Cretin were really spurned by Mason early on. There were many instances where the U wouldn't start recruiting their kids till really late in the game and not take a chance on some of the kids with preferred walk ons. The U will always lose some Cretin kids to Notre Dame and further away, but they were consistantly losing kids to Wisconsin and Iowa and I think simple effort will take care of that.
 


Roland Brooks said:
If he firmed up the boarders. Where is the talent?
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Too young still. Jimmy Gjere, Tommy Olson, and Lamonte Edwards haven't seen the field yet. Optimus Prime hasn't made an impact yet, but hopefully will soon. Maresh had health problems and flunked out, but could have been huge.
 



Roland Brooks said:
If he firmed up the boarders. Where is the talent?
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We don't live in a state where we can build like 75% of our class from MN. However there is enoguh talent in the state where we should add a few quality eventual Big 10 starters every single year.

There are certainly some MN kids playing on other BCS schools that we would have had a really good chance to get (but whiffed under Mason or because it was during the coaching change) that could have helped us quite a bit this season (Binns, Klug, Sorenson, McNaul).

Locking down the local kids should be one of the easier aspects about recruiting (but it can't be taken for granted). Take this season for instance, we already have Ed Olson locked down and if we whiffed on him, we'd likely have to be spending a lot of our time and resources into finding another OT that was impressive, but now our efforts can go elsewhere. It's like if you are going on a scavenger hunt, it would be really helpful if 1/2 or a 1/3 of the items on the list were right in your garage.
 

I think it would be cool if each conference had a rep that could recommend players or opponents to the coaching staff. I think the metro area is pretty well covered, but there are some daimonds out-state that could be uncovered for offers or walking-on.

There are some great players in class 1A in southern MN. Springfield and New Ulm Cathedral have size and speed every year.

The Big 9 in 4/5 a has many athletes that play muliple sports.

The MN river had really good teams in 3A this year.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
I think it would be cool if each conference had a rep that could recommend players or opponents to the coaching staff. I think the metro area is pretty well covered, but there are some daimonds out-state that could be uncovered for offers or walking-on.

There are some great players in class 1A in southern MN. Springfield and New Ulm Cathedral have size and speed every year.

The Big 9 in 4/5 a has many athletes that play muliple sports.

The MN river had really good teams in 3A this year.
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That's not a bad idea and it is exactly why the current coach needs to have a good relationship with the local coaches. The staff needs to be able to trust a coach that says "this kid could be Division 1" and that sort of thing.
 

Here is the In state Dream Team

1. OL Tommy Olson 6'4" 275 Mahtomedi
2. QB Brian Athey 6'4" 215 Eden Prairie
3. LB Peter Westerhaus 6'3" 205 Chanhassen
4. WR Devin Crawford-Tufts 6'2" 180 Edina
5. OL Tyler Marz 6'8" 280 Springfield
6. RB Reggie Gandy 5'8" 180 MPLS
7. OL Joe Bjorklund 6'5" 285 Rosemount
8. DE/LB Ernie Heifort 6'6" 245 Bemidji
9. OL Ross Windfield 6'5" 318 St. Cloud
10 WR Jameer Jackson 6'3" 210 Osseo
 



northerngopher said:
1. OL Tommy Olson 6'4" 275 Mahtomedi
2. QB Brian Athey 6'4" 215 Eden Prairie
3. LB Peter Westerhaus 6'3" 205 Chanhassen
4. WR Devin Crawford-Tufts 6'2" 180 Edina
5. OL Tyler Marz 6'8" 280 Springfield
6. RB Reggie Gandy 5'8" 180 MPLS
7. OL Joe Bjorklund 6'5" 285 Rosemount
8. DE/LB Ernie Heifort 6'6" 245 Bemidji
9. OL Ross Windfield 6'5" 318 St. Cloud
10 WR Jameer Jackson 6'3" 210 Osseo
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I personall think that I would prefer Shortell to Athey, but instate, yeah.

In my opinion, you are missing a couple guys: Hayes (DT going to Stanford) from St. Thomas, Frank Veldman (S from Eastview), Greyson Levin (DB from Eden Praire), the WR from Shakopee, and Farrow (who I think might be the best player in the state).
 

northerngopher said:
1. OL Tommy Olson 6'4" 275 Mahtomedi
2. QB Brian Athey 6'4" 215 Eden Prairie
3. LB Peter Westerhaus 6'3" 205 Chanhassen
4. WR Devin Crawford-Tufts 6'2" 180 Edina
5. OL Tyler Marz 6'8" 280 Springfield
6. RB Reggie Gandy 5'8" 180 MPLS
7. OL Joe Bjorklund 6'5" 285 Rosemount
8. DE/LB Ernie Heifort 6'6" 245 Bemidji
9. OL Ross Windfield 6'5" 318 St. Cloud
10 WR Jameer Jackson 6'3" 210 Osseo
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Olson - Minnesota
Athey - West Virginia?
Westerhaus - Minnesota
Crawford-Tufts - Minnesota
Marz - Wisconsin
Gandy - uncommitted, maybe NDSU
Bjorkland - ?
Heifort - No scholarship yet, wants to go to Gophers
Winfield - ?
Jackson - NDSU?

Then like Bob_Loblaw said
Hayes - Stanford
Farrow - Virginia Tech
Levine - Wants a Gopher Scholarship. (was this the kid looking at Ivy League schools??)
Veldman - ??
Shakopee WR (Utlefs?? something like that) - Not sure

Anyone know where anyone else is going? I put this list together pretty quick. I am sure there are mistakes and I am sure someone will kindly point them out to me!!! :D
 

Supposedly Bjorklund got an offer from WI (that is what I heard from Rosemountain who seems pretty plugged into that program and not prone to making stuff up). I am sure we will offer him as well.

Utlefs, I am not sure where he has gotten interest from yet.
Veldman, just Iowa St so far. I really hope this kid ends up at the U. He has the size to be a really good safety, and he tackles, returns punts, and is just a really smart football player. I think his speed is a little in question.
Levine is a kid whose stock has seemed to go up at the end of the year, I would be surprised if he didn't get an offer.
Gandy, it's tough because he's borderline. I wouldn't be shocked to see him end up at Iowa St too.
 

I would post some of them if you people were interested but most of these guys have highlight reels floating around on the internet.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Supposedly Bjorklund got an offer from WI (that is what I heard from Rosemountain who seems pretty plugged into that program and not prone to making stuff up). I am sure we will offer him as well.

Utlefs, I am not sure where he has gotten interest from yet.
Veldman, just Iowa St so far. I really hope this kid ends up at the U. He has the size to be a really good safety, and he tackles, returns punts, and is just a really smart football player. I think his speed is a little in question.
Levine is a kid whose stock has seemed to go up at the end of the year, I would be surprised if he didn't get an offer.
Gandy, it's tough because he's borderline. I wouldn't be shocked to see him end up at Iowa St too.
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I'd be very surprised if Bjorklund got an offer from WI. UW's class if pretty much full already, with the exception of 3-4 very high end prospects that they are waiting on and would make room for. If he did get an offer, then I'd be excited for the kid, Bostad and UW do a great job of spotting OL talent and developing it.
 

Nick Jacobs - OL - Delano. He's the real deal - excellent speed & feet @275 lbs. Won't be a "turtle" as Kill refers to the big slow guys.
 

How about that QB from Mankato? I don't know anything about him other than people have told me he's one of the best they've ever seen.
 

The Blaine QB is very athletic with very good speed. I wonder if he's the kind of guy who could be groomed to run Kill's offense.

We have a lot of great "grunt" talent in this state; linemen who can beef up and contribute at the FBS level. We need to get every one of these kids that projects well that we can.
 

I got it from people I know at rhs that bjorkland got multiple offers the week following the state title game. Including Wisconsin. Maybe my guy was blowing smoke, but I don't think he was. I know Michigan state and Wisconsin had been recruiting him heavily all year. The Wisconsin coaching staff had a guy at the school early last week. (I think it was the o-line coach)
 

Roland Brooks said:
If he firmed up the boarders. Where is the talent?
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Why hasn't anyone mentioned the boarder problem before? I never knew we had to firm up the boarders. Which boarders are we talking about? Who are they renting a room from? Why are they here?
 

Rosemountian said:
I got it from people I know at rhs that bjorkland got multiple offers the week following the state title game. Including Wisconsin. Maybe my guy was blowing smoke, but I don't think he was. I know Michigan state and Wisconsin had been recruiting him heavily all year. The Wisconsin coaching staff had a guy at the school early last week. (I think it was the o-line coach)
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Wouldn't early last week be a violation??:(:confused:
 

50PoundHead said:
The Blaine QB is very athletic with very good speed. I wonder if he's the kind of guy who could be groomed to run Kill's offense.

We have a lot of great "grunt" talent in this state; linemen who can beef up and contribute at the FBS level. We need to get every one of these kids that projects well that we can.
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Yeah, Kline seems like a guy who might be Division 1 caliber as well.
 

Rosemountian said:
I got it from people I know at rhs that bjorkland got multiple offers the week following the state title game. Including Wisconsin. Maybe my guy was blowing smoke, but I don't think he was.
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How can we be sure? I mean, you can't even spell the kid's name correctly.
 


dpodoll68 said:
How can we be sure? I mean, you can't even spell the kid's name correctly.
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Sorry if I don't know how to spell high school kids last names. I'm actually closer to another program than rosemount, I've only seen him play 5-6 times over the past two years and I never really looked at the program to learn his names proper spelling. I do have contacts in the school though. I will say I don't think quite as highly of him as some others do and was surprised when I heard he had a big ten offer. But I do tend to trust my sources.
 

ruralgopher said:
How about that QB from Mankato? I don't know anything about him other than people have told me he's one of the best they've ever seen.
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Would love to see him (Phillip Nelson, Mankato West) as a Gopher. I grew up near Mankato and got to see some of the quarterbacks that led them to state titles over the past decade. He is going to be a good one. I know Wisconsin is looking at him and he is originally from Madison...that could hurt, but he is only a junior so Kill has a bit of time.
 

Rosemountian said:
Sorry if I don't know how to spell high school kids last names. I'm actually closer to another program than rosemount, I've only seen him play 5-6 times over the past two years and I never really looked at the program to learn his names proper spelling. I do have contacts in the school though. I will say I don't think quite as highly of him as some others do and was surprised when I heard he had a big ten offer. But I do tend to trust my sources.
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Considering that Rivals has added new offers for him in the last few days (Wyoming and Toledo), and didn't add Wisconsin, I tend to not trust your sources.
 

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