Jeff Borchardt, WR from Wayzata Commits to Gophers as a PWO

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does the kid catch anything under 30 yards?
 



This kid is a stud. Played RB/WR and KR and was a threat from anywhere. i think this is a nice get and it wouldn't shock me to see him on scholarship someday.
 

btowngopher said:
How many preferred walk-ons are allowed?
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A preferred walk-on means you are "guaranteed" by the coach to practice with the team. The team is only limited by how many players are allowed to practice by the NCAA. It's a math thing, just like scholarships. If you aren't at your max schollies, you could certainly carry more PWOs. However, if a lot of non-PWOs make the practice squad, that limits the number of PWOs you are willing to offer.
 

I really like this as PWO. Looks like he could be a good player!
 



He's a talented kid, he reminds me quite a bit of Engel.

Welcome aboard!
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
He's a talented kid, he reminds me quite a bit of Engel.

Welcome aboard!
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+1 on the Engel comparison. the other thing I really like is he adjusts well to the flight of the ball and uses his body well in getting position, which is a an issue for many of our current WRs.
 

corcoran1 said:
+1 on the Engel comparison. the other thing I really like is he adjusts well to the flight of the ball and uses his body well in getting position, which is a an issue for many of our current WRs.
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Yep, he's a natural receiver (like Engel and Barker). There are guys who are fast and run good routes and even catch the ball well that can't seem to develop that skill.
 





The Gopher Report ‏@TheGopherReport
#Gophers commit Jeff Borchardt also had PWO offers from Oregon and Wisconsin.
 

Nice. I know some people don't place as much importance on walk-ons but getting quality walk-ons is huge, especially on a developing team.

It's great for depth in case of injuries, but even in terms of practice/scrimmage. 1st team going against better competition only helps them improve that much quicker.
 

pharmacygopher said:
Nice. I know some people don't place as much importance on walk-ons but getting quality walk-ons is huge, especially on a developing team.

It's great for depth in case of injuries, but even in terms of practice/scrimmage. 1st team going against better competition only helps them improve that much quicker.
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Yeah, it's one of the most overlooked aspect of college football, especially emerging programs.

Just look at the amount of walk ons / former walk ons who played a big part in our team last year:

Rallis
Hill
Botticelli
Barker
Engel
Henry
Mottla
Christensen
Eldred
Wettstein
Bak

That's 11 players who were either starters or primary backups (and played a lot) at their positions.

That isn't even mentioning the guys who provided depth at practices (the better they are, the better the practice).
 



Bob_Loblaw said:
Yeah, it's one of the most overlooked aspect of college football, especially emerging programs.

Just look at the amount of walk ons / former walk ons who played a big part in our team last year:

Rallis
Hill
Botticelli
Barker
Engel
Henry
Mottla
Christensen
Eldred
Wettstein
Bak

That's 11 players who were either starters or primary backups (and played a lot) at their positions.

That isn't even mentioning the guys who provided depth at practices (the better they are, the better the practice).
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Personally, I don't view a high number of walk-ons playing as a positive. And remember, we were 2-6 in the Big Ten.

It's important to have quality walkons, but lets not get too excited. Some will play, but if too many are playing, it is NOT a good sign.
 

We were worse with Brewster and no walk on's. Nebraska gets lots of walk ons and makes them starters and scholarship players.
 

play hard said:
We were worse with Brewster and no walk on's. Nebraska gets lots of walk ons and makes them starters and scholarship players.
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Um, I think you should look at the players those walkons at Nebraska are playing with and the offers their scholarship players had coming out of high school. And I think the argument could be made that the culture/tradition is a little different at Nebraska, no? They have all conference and all american players as models for those walkons (models in the weight room and on the field).

Also, if we're playing this many walkons in two years, then I'm going to be questioning Kill and Company's ability to evaluate talent and who they are in fact offering scholarships too (and this from as big of a Kill guy as there is). If walkons are beating out scholarship players on a large scale, we're going to be in trouble.
 

And sorry, didn't mean to get this thread off-track.

Borchardt looks like the ideal walkon to have three years to develop and hopefully contribute as an upper-classman.
 

maybe the walk on players are just better than then some scholarship players. Do you think Decker was recruited at all ? He got the last scholarship Mason had and was set for St.John's --- Look at the NFL getting more and more Div 2 and 3 players in the league. Football recruiting is crap shoot. Many times guys develop or are missed in the recruiting process.
 

TCF=UnitedWeStand said:
Personally, I don't view a high number of walk-ons playing as a positive. And remember, we were 2-6 in the Big Ten.

It's important to have quality walkons, but lets not get too excited. Some will play, but if too many are playing, it is NOT a good sign.
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I hear what you're saying but my point wasn't that I wanted to continue to have 11-12 walk ons getting a ton of PT every year. My point was that these 12 athletes (and others) were a part of a decent team. Going forward, it'd be nice if our scholarship players all turned out, but that's tough. Christensen is a quality Big 10 backup OL (as well as Mottla), Rallis would have been a quality backup LBer in the Big 10 as well as Hill, Botticelli, Engel and Barker all good enough to get some PT for good Big 10 teams. Do I wish we had two Hagemans to start at DT? Absolutely. But until that time comes, we need to patch our depth with some quality players and some of them will be walkons.

We simply need more talent, I don't care if that talent comes via scholarship or if it comes for the opportunity to walk on.
 

play hard said:
maybe the walk on players are just better than then some scholarship players. Do you think Decker was recruited at all ? He got the last scholarship Mason had and was set for St.John's --- Look at the NFL getting more and more Div 2 and 3 players in the league. Football recruiting is crap shoot. Many times guys develop or are missed in the recruiting process.
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You don't get it.
 

TCF - Your in left field... Jerry just mentioned on WCCO this am. There are 8 walk on starters on the Northern Illinois team that just played in the Orange Bowl . He also mentioned Nebraska as the model 150 players---- He menioned he had 4 starters this year. Look at Barker and Engel leading the team in yard per catch almost 20 yards per catch. They beat out many scholarship players. They had lower level offers but chose to play for their home state. Football recruiting is a crap shoot. Many great players are missed ... Marcus Williams , Varmah Sonie to name a few exceptional athletes that Brewster wanted to walk on and all these guys are better than alot of guys that got full rides from out of state.
 


This kid is impressive and like others have commented he reminds me of Decker. Gets separations and has great hands in a crowd.
 

People always talk about Nebraska and walk ons, but is that really even a big thing in Nebraska anymore? I don't think they had as strict of rules on roster sizes back then. That said, I do think the walk on program is very important for us. Especially since we are in a region where talent can get over looked pretty easily as there aren't a ton of programs beating the bushes around MN in search for these kids.
 

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