Isaiah Gentry Commits!!

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highwayman said:
I'll disagree with you. There was no "slipping". This is hard work. This is recruiting.
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I'm not trying to take anything away from the staff but I think Jerry Kill would be the first one to tell you there is some luck involved in recruiting.
 

MNGoldenGophers1 said:
And here I thought it was just 20-years of blind luck that has gotten Kill this far. ;-)

Welcome Mr. Gentry! What a great get for our program!!

Ski-U-Mah and Go Gophers!
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LOL - You weren't the only one. There was significant number people here who believed that Jerry and Company wouldn't be able to recruit at this level. As Jerry would say, I may not be smart but I will outwork everybody. Sadly, since he is using a private jet to travel to most of homes of our recruits, the poor guy doesn't even earn frequent flyer miles for his hard work.
 

highwayman said:
I'll disagree with you. There was no "slipping". This is hard work. This is recruiting.
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we are lucky that both Holland and Gentry only broke out for their senior season's and went under the radar. I'm not saying our staff didn't work their butts off to get them but we are still very fortunate. We may have still been able to get Gentry even if he was more highly recruited but Holland would be as good as gone and playing for an SEC powerhouse if it wouldn't have happened to him. We our lucky that that never happened
 


die hard gopher said:
we are lucky that both Holland and Gentry only broke out for their senior season's and went under the radar. I'm not saying our staff didn't work their butts off to get them but we are still very fortunate. We may have still been able to get Gentry even if he was more highly recruited but Holland would be as good as gone and playing for an SEC powerhouse if it wouldn't have happened to him. We our lucky that that never happened
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Cue the "luck police" in three, two, one...
 



jaymil said:
I'm not trying to take anything away from the staff but I think Jerry Kill would be the first one to tell you there is some luck involved in recruiting.
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I don't think it's luck…it seems all these commits this week have one thing in common…in home visits with Mrs. Kill..
 

jaymil said:
I'm not trying to take anything away from the staff but I think Jerry Kill would be the first one to tell you there is some luck involved in recruiting.
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There is always a little luck in most things in life but in Jerry's case it has very little to do with luck. It has much more to do with hard work, research, understanding your program needs, expertise, experience, relationships, etc., etc., etc.
 




some see size, some see stride, but he has the one trait you must have...great hands. He makes the catch look too easy.
 

CoMn said:
I don't think it's luck…it seems all these commits this week have one thing in common…in home visits with Mrs. Kill..
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Rebecca IS the deciding factor, because she relates to Momma. She makes Momma feel happy. And when Momma is happy, everyone is happy.
 

Dr.Don said:
Rebecca IS the deciding factor, because she relates to Momma. She makes Momma feel happy. And when Momma is happy, everyone is happy.
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I think two things are pushing favor of recruiting to Minnesota this year - (1) the relative success of this season and the related good press, and (2) Minnesota is going to stick with Jerry Kill, and Jerry Kill is going to stick with Minnesota. I'm not sure which is more important.
 

These guys were only "under the radar" to people who didn't recognize their talent. Kill and company have been on them for a long time, and if they turn out to be good players they should be credited for their skill in evaluating talent.
 



Killjoy said:
There is always a little luck in most things in life but in Jerry's case it has very little to do with luck. It has much more to do with hard work, research, understanding your program needs, expertise, experience, relationships, etc., etc., etc.
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I'll suggest a couple of other factors: charm and charisma. The Rebecca factor is also underrated. She's a gem of a person.
 


GopherHomer said:
These guys were only "under the radar" to people who didn't recognize their talent.
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Better to remain silent and be thought an idiot...

And lets not get ahead of ourselves here. We have no idea if these two receivers are the next Harbison/McDonald duo, or whether one will be the next Sammy Watkins.
 

e.bigelow said:
While I agree with the bold, the same was probably said of D. Jones as well. He certainly did not look physically ready to block in the B1G Ten. Here's to hoping both Holland and Gentry will be BIG contributors here in the future! Welcome aboard!
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That's a very good point. You never know I guess?
 

die hard gopher said:
we are lucky that both Holland and Gentry only broke out for their senior season's and went under the radar. I'm not saying our staff didn't work their butts off to get them but we are still very fortunate. We may have still been able to get Gentry even if he was more highly recruited but Holland would be as good as gone and playing for an SEC powerhouse if it wouldn't have happened to him. We our lucky that that never happened
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Is it lucky or do we make our own luck? Little of both maybe? Yes, we're lucky that these guys blew up in their Sr years & that Gentry was a late qualifier to boot. That kept some of the wolves away as they fuill up early & don't have to take risks on academics. That said, Kill & staff target a bunch of guys like this at various positions who they think have great upside. It's what they do. Sometimes they blow up so much they decommit from us & jump to a helmet school. Sometimes they don't blow up at all. But every year we get some of these guys who were late bloomers, late qualifiers or great athletes coming off an injury in their Junior years. It's a strategy that involves major work & some luck. My .02
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
Is it lucky or do we make our own luck? Little of both maybe? Yes, we're lucky that these guys blew up in their Sr years & that Gentry was a late qualifier to boot. That kept some of the wolves away as they fuill up early & don't have to take risks on academics. That said, Kill & staff target a bunch of guys like this at various positions who they think have great upside. It's what they do. Sometimes they blow up so much they decommit from us & jump to a helmet school. Sometimes they don't blow up at all. But every year we get some of these guys who were late bloomers, late qualifiers or great athletes coming off an injury in their Junior years. It's a strategy that involves major work & some luck. My .02
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+1,000 Great Post, couldn't agree more.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
Is it lucky or do we make our own luck? Little of both maybe? Yes, we're lucky that these guys blew up in their Sr years & that Gentry was a late qualifier to boot. That kept some of the wolves away as they fuill up early & don't have to take risks on academics. That said, Kill & staff target a bunch of guys like this at various positions who they think have great upside. It's what they do. Sometimes they blow up so much they decommit from us & jump to a helmet school. Sometimes they don't blow up at all. But every year we get some of these guys who were late bloomers, late qualifiers or great athletes coming off an injury in their Junior years. It's a strategy that involves major work & some luck. My .02
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I like the tone of your post because luck is always there. But to say that the reason doesn't recognize all the things that Jerry and his staff are doing to to be successful. Every recruiting year is going to be different but how Kill and his staff to about recruiting won't be.

A good example of this is the walk-on FBs we have on campus now. The first thing he and his staff does it recognize what their needs are then begin the process of identifying how they can fill that need. In the case of the need to replace Mike Henry they were able to find two unknowns through their relationships with other coaches at a JC school. I don't know for sure but I doubt that many other people were recruiting these guys but Jerry was.

Another great example is how they focused on punters last year to solve a big problem here. Also, the quality of last year and this year walk-ons has significantly improved since Jerry has taken over. This wan't by accident. You don't get kids to give up scholarship to walk on at Minnesota unless you know what you are doing. It always amazes how many kids are walking on here when they could have a scholarship somewhere else. So to say that Jerry is just lucky is way off the mark.
 

Killjoy said:
I like the tone of your post because luck is always there but unless you know what you are doing and are able to recognize the potential you will miss the opportunity for what some people prefer to call luck. There are so many things that Jerry and his staff do to to be successful that to say it is luck really misses the mark. Every recruiting year is going to be different but when it comes to recruiting Kill's approach won't be.

A good example is the walk-on FBs we campus now. The first thing he and his staff does it recognize what their needs are then begin the process of identifying how they can do it. Through their relationships they were able to find two unknown but excellent FB's at a JC school. I son't know for sure but I doubt many other people were recruiting them when Jerry was but I doubt it.

Another great example is how they focused on punters to solve a big problem here last year. The quality of last year and this year walk-ons has significantly improved since Jerry has taken over. I am amaze how many kids are walking on here when they could have a scholarship somewhere else. So to say that Jerry is just lucky is way off the mark.
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I guessed I missed the post where someone claimed that Kill has only been lucky. I've made a few comments where sometimes you do have to get lucky, but I've also given credit to the staff. A lot of what you're saying is right, there's no doubt Kill and his staff worked hard to find guys like Holland and Gentry. They put in the time to watch film, be one of the first BCS schools to contact them and offer them and spent countless hours recruiting them and flying multiple staff members and Mrs Kill into their homes. Kudos to them. The staff has a great strategy and they execute.

Despite all of the hard work, if LSU ever offered Holland he would've been gone and we wouldn't have a shot. There's some luck involved here and we're lucky LSU never offered, or any other school like LSU. There are similar examples for other players. We aren't an Alabama who can just select players. We have to work hard AND occasionally get lucky. I'm not insulting anyone by saying that, and like I've said before, Kill would probably the first person to admit there's some luck involved.
 

jaymil said:
I guessed I missed the post where someone claimed that Kill has only been lucky. I've made a few comments where sometimes you do have to get lucky, but I've also given credit to the staff. A lot of what you're saying is right, there's no doubt Kill and his staff worked hard to find guys like Holland and Gentry. They put in the time to watch film, be one of the first BCS schools to contact them and offer them and spent countless hours recruiting them and flying multiple staff members and Mrs Kill into their homes. Kudos to them. The staff has a great strategy and they execute.

Despite all of the hard work, if LSU ever offered Holland he would've been gone and we wouldn't have a shot. There's some luck involved here and we're lucky LSU never offered, or any other school like LSU. There are similar examples for other players. We aren't an Alabama who can just select players. We have to work hard AND occasionally get lucky. I'm not insulting anyone by saying that, and like I've said before, Kill would probably the first person to admit there's some luck involved.
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I have already said that luck is involved. The thing about Jerry is if something doesn't work out he immediately moves on and tries another way to solve the problem. He is not in the business of leaving it to "luck". I not quite sure why you are pointing out that things can happen in recruiting and some schools can select instead of recruit. Jerry isn't going let that get in the way of what he is doing. That another reason why he has a much better chance of being successful. Besides, LSU doesn't have Rebecca.
 

Killjoy said:
I like the tone of your post because luck is always there. But to say that the reason doesn't recognize all the things that Jerry and his staff are doing to to be successful. Every recruiting year is going to be different but how Kill and his staff to about recruiting won't be.

A good example of this is the walk-on FBs we have on campus now. The first thing he and his staff does it recognize what their needs are then begin the process of identifying how they can fill that need. In the case of the need to replace Mike Henry they were able to find two unknowns through their relationships with other coaches at a JC school. I don't know for sure but I doubt that many other people were recruiting these guys but Jerry was.

Another great example is how they focused on punters last year to solve a big problem here. Also, the quality of last year and this year walk-ons has significantly improved since Jerry has taken over. This wan't by accident. You don't get kids to give up scholarship to walk on at Minnesota unless you know what you are doing. It always amazes how many kids are walking on here when they could have a scholarship somewhere else. So to say that Jerry is just lucky is way off the mark.
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But that's not what I said at all.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
But that's not what I said at all.
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I think it goes something like this, hardwork by Jerry and Co. to identify that the majority of the country missed resulted in them getting lucky to receive a commit from a prospect that is vastly underrated.
 

cjcarter8 said:
I think it goes something like this, hardwork by Jerry and Co. to identify that the majority of the country missed resulted in them getting lucky to receive a commit from a prospect that is vastly underrated.
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"I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it."
- Thomas Jefferson
 

Agreed. Some people think that successful people are lucky. I think sucessful people might be fortunate but they are not lucky. Luck seems to come with hard work.

My $0.02.
 

Jerry and his staff are bright guys who generally make very good decisions and manage all aspects of their program in a very intelligent manner; recruiting being just one part of that.
 

Indi1006 said:
Jerry and his staff are bright guys who generally make very good decisions and manage all aspects of their program in a very intelligent manner; recruiting being just one part of that.
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If it was Brewster I'd say hold your breath on Gentry getting in. I can't remember Kill signing any players that didn't qualify. With Brewster it seemed like there were some in every class.
 

Killjoy said:
I have already said that luck is involved. The thing about Jerry is if something doesn't work out he immediately moves on and tries another way to solve the problem. He is not in the business of leaving it to "luck". I not quite sure why you are pointing out that things can happen in recruiting and some schools can select instead of recruit. Jerry isn't going let that get in the way of what he is doing. That another reason why he has a much better chance of being successful. Besides, LSU doesn't have Rebecca.
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Killjoy laying it on extra thick in this thread.
 

Gentry and Holland mean as much to this program as Jones. We must have all three! This is a very big late development. Our TEs and WRs would make one heck of a basketball team. Tall, strong, and athletic!!! Ragnow is a big need to keep the OL improving. You can't run or pass on a high level without a dominating OL.

Go Gophers.
 

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