JEFF JONES OFFICIALLY A GOPHER!!!




Jenkins seems like a really good dude. It'd be cool to have a little Washburn pipeline going on. There is definitely some talented kids in the area - hopefully he keeps them interested and eligible in football.

If I recall from previous Gopherhole threads, when Jerry Kill came in and cleaned house it was Jenkins and the Hagemans that he turned to help Rashede turn around his life and his football future. The rest is history.

My point here is that the Washburn pipeline was established from the moment JK reached out to Jenkins.

Two caring coaches are now helping guide JJ in the right direction. I expect this relationship to flourish. Good for Gopher Football.

Previous to Coach Kill, it seems to me that Gopher Football did not do a good job of fostering closer ties with inner city HS football coaches. Am I wrong on this?
 

I know I'm a little late to the party but I have to break this out:

caddyshack-gopher-o.gif
 


Awesome news!!!

So, someone correct me if I'm wrong. The new 'worst case scenario' is that he can't play in 2014 but gets a year of classroom work WITH tutors and gets to lift/workout with the team (but not fully practice) and still has 4 years of eligibility remaining? That is a much better worst case than before!
 

Awesome news!!!

So, someone correct me if I'm wrong. The new 'worst case scenario' is that he can't play in 2014 but gets a year of classroom work WITH tutors and gets to lift/workout with the team (but not fully practice) and still has 4 years of eligibility remaining? That is a much better worst case than before!

:drink:
 

Awesome news!!!

So, someone correct me if I'm wrong. The new 'worst case scenario' is that he can't play in 2014 but gets a year of classroom work WITH tutors and gets to lift/workout with the team (but not fully practice) and still has 4 years of eligibility remaining? That is a much better worst case than before!

I mean, there are much worse "worst case scenarios" than that. But if we assume that he's capable of keeping his grades up while at the U (and I don't think that's difficult to assume), then yes, that's where we're sitting.
 

If JJ redshirts this year, I really really want to see him graduate in 5 years. With a Masters. Serious.
 



Awesome news!!!

So, someone correct me if I'm wrong. The new 'worst case scenario' is that he can't play in 2014 but gets a year of classroom work WITH tutors and gets to lift/workout with the team (but not fully practice) and still has 4 years of eligibility remaining? That is a much better worst case than before!

In my line of work people ask for 'worst case scenarios' all the time. I always tell them, 'Worst case is the truck driver has a heart attack and drives off a cliff, and your merchandise is destroyed.'

But things are definitely looking up right now. :)
 

*cough*OSU*cough*

OSU, Michigan, Penn State, Illinois, Iowa, Purdue, Northwestern, Maryland, Indiana, Nebraska, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Rutgers, and Minnesota being granted autonomy should address who is eligible. With all the money the Big 10 has, hire 14 investigators to enforce the rules. They should be granted subpoena power. If anyone objects to a student's acceptance then it should be addressed and determined within 2 weeks. And eligibility or denial announced. We should not be beholding to some bungling bureaucrats in Indiana. Neither an outdated, mismanaged, NCAA.
 

OK - here's a serious question:

Are the Gophers better off with Jones playing this year, or taking a redshirt?

Obviously, only the coaches can answer this, but.........IMHO, unless Jones is going to be a significant part of the offense this year (at least 10+ carries a game), then I would rather see him redshirt and have 4 years of eligibility remaining. Assuming nobody gets hurt (never a safe assumption), one could argue that the Gophs are in good shape with Cobb, Williams, Kirkwood, and Edwards as the RB rotation.

The question I cannot answer is whether Jones is good enough right now to take carries away from one of the above. Cobb seems to be the type of back who gets better the more he carries the ball, so unless Jones is significantly better than Cobb, I don't think you want him taking carries away from Cobb. Edwards has the speed element the Gophers need, so I don't want him losing carries. That leaves the two power backs in Williams and Kirkwood - who are different types of backs than Jones.

Bottom line - I don't know if you want have Jones burn a year of eligibility for 5 or 6 carries a game. Thoughts?
 

Regardless of how much he can contribute right away, Jones needs to concentrate on academics right now so I'm willing to be patient. Give him a year to balance football and education.
 



I want him to come in, get 20+ carries a game, and then flunk out. (Sarcasm)

Actually, I would prefer he get his academics in order, and red shirt this year, grow up a bunch, and give us 4 years of unleashed fury at running back.
 

Why do folks seem to think that if he redshirts he can concentrate more on academics? Obligation is the same, either way, except on Saturday afternoon.

I think JJ is good enough to be the guy this year, but I find it less and less likely that he would play this year due to missed practices, etc. Excited to see him next year tho!
 

Why do folks seem to think that if he redshirts he can concentrate more on academics? Obligation is the same, either way, except on Saturday afternoon.

I think JJ is good enough to be the guy this year, but I find it less and less likely that he would play this year due to missed practices, etc. Excited to see him next year tho!

Exactly. The only way he will redshirt is because he misses all of fall camp which seems likely.
 

Why do folks seem to think that if he redshirts he can concentrate more on academics? Obligation is the same, either way, except on Saturday afternoon.

I think JJ is good enough to be the guy this year, but I find it less and less likely that he would play this year due to missed practices, etc. Excited to see him next year tho!

It does mean that he can get his degree in 5 years instead of 4, so he will be able to take a lighter load. We don't yet know if he is going to be on scholarship this year and if he isn't, he's not going to have practice to compete with his studies. The obligation is the same if the coach says it will be the same.
 

I want him to come in, get 20+ carries a game, and then flunk out. (Sarcasm)

Actually, I would prefer he get his academics in order, and red shirt this year, grow up a bunch, and give us 4 years of unleashed fury at running back.

Please. I'd rather he become All-Academic Big Ten on his way to winning the Heisman and leading us to his first of four consecutive National Championships as a true freshman. So in that scenario, I prefer he doesn't redshirt.
 

It's not like you declare someone a "redshirt" at the beginning of the year.

If JJ starts practicing soon, he'll be buried on the depth chart. He will be behind Edwards, Cobb, Kirkwood and Williams. But he's extremely talented and things happen.

If he can't ever dig himself out of the hole of arriving late and being freshman, he will RS.

If there are injuries, he plays.

If, in the first half of the season, he shows that he can contribute and help us win games, he'll play right away.

We could have a good team this year and if Jeff is the difference between a 8 and 9 win season. . he'll play.
 

It's not like you declare someone a "redshirt" at the beginning of the year.

If JJ starts practicing soon, he'll be buried on the depth chart. He will be behind Edwards, Cobb, Kirkwood and Williams. But he's extremely talented and things happen.

If he can't ever dig himself out of the hole of arriving late and being freshman, he will RS.

If there are injuries, he plays.

If, in the first half of the season, he shows that he can contribute and help us win games, he'll play right away.

We could have a good team this year and if Jeff is the difference between a 8 and 9 win season. . he'll play.

And maybe R. Smith after watching him this afternoon
 

If I recall from previous Gopherhole threads, when Jerry Kill came in and cleaned house it was Jenkins and the Hagemans that he turned to help Rashede turn around his life and his football future. The rest is history.

My point here is that the Washburn pipeline was established from the moment JK reached out to Jenkins.

Two caring coaches are now helping guide JJ in the right direction. I expect this relationship to flourish. Good for Gopher Football.

Previous to Coach Kill, it seems to me that Gopher Football did not do a good job of fostering closer ties with inner city HS football coaches. Am I wrong on this?

Not just football. We've had trouble recruiting in the city for a long, long time in both football and basketball.
 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Good to see <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Gophers?src=hash">#Gophers</a> RB recruit Jeff Jones, who just got admitted into school, on the sideline watching the team during the scrimmage today.</p>— Marcus R. Fuller (@GophersNow) <a href="https://twitter.com/GophersNow/statuses/498290533689995264">August 10, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Go Gophers!!
 

Can someone clear something up for me? It seems that ONE scenario at this point is that Jeff Jones gets admitted to the U (already happened) and practices with the team, but does not qualify per the NCAA.

Everyone talks as if he sits out a year, gets his books in order and then plays next year.

My question is: Does the 1 year in college then trump anything he didn't achieve in high school? Or does he have to go through the same qualifying process next year?
 

Let me get this right. He has been admitted to the University of Minnesota and is waiting, still waiting for the NCAA Clearinghouse. Its time to blow up the NCAA Clearinghouse. If a member of the Big 10, accepts a student then why do we need to have an NCAA Clearinghouse.


Could it be...that the NCAA is trying to preserve some semblance of minimal academic/entrance standards...but the local B1G institution appears not to have much/any sort of academic standard whatsoever? :confused:

On one hand, this news may be cause for celebration...but on the other, not so much. :cry:
 

Could it be...that the NCAA is trying to preserve some semblance of minimal academic/entrance standards...but the local B1G institution appears not to have much/any sort of academic standard whatsoever? :confused:

On one hand, this news may be cause for celebration...but on the other, not so much. :cry:

If anyone was still wondering if dinky was a troll...this should definitively answer that question.
 

If anyone was still wondering if dinky was a troll...this should definitively answer that question.

Yes, definitely a troll post. But it highlights that there are obvious potential conflicts of interest that require a governing body to arbitrate.

I just saw a local news segment about how the U is more selective than ever. They probably turned down a large number of in state kids with at least the state average ACT and a B to B+ GPA. Yet they were able to make a spot just weeks before school for a kid with a 19 ACT and a C to C+ GPA? I agree, if anyone were to get by doing this, it would be the local university giving a kid an opportunity. But to whom they chose to give that special opportunity is obviously a COI (not to mention Washburn who surely felt under the gun to err on the side of the higher grade to bump up the GPA).
 

Maybe, the U looked at his grades from his junior and senior years and decided to overlook his freshman and sophomore grades, because of a positive trend. I've heard of people with marginal grades and test scores that where because the wrote a great essay. There are a lot of things that could have gone into the decision but I don't see the U admitting anyone that can't do the work.
 

They also take in to consideration other factors such as leadership, activities, affirmative action, and recent trends. In this case, as nsmike pointed out, the most recent grades are more heavily weighted.
 

Can someone clear something up for me? It seems that ONE scenario at this point is that Jeff Jones gets admitted to the U (already happened) and practices with the team, but does not qualify per the NCAA.

Everyone talks as if he sits out a year, gets his books in order and then plays next year.

My question is: Does the 1 year in college then trump anything he didn't achieve in high school? Or does he have to go through the same qualifying process next year?

No, he doesn't have to requalify.

However, everything I read says that Jones will only have 3 years of eligibility left unless*.

NCAA Bylaw 14.3

*"They can play only three seasons in their sport if they maintain eligibility from year to year (to earn a fourth season they must complete at least 80 percent of their degree before beginning their fifth year of college)." From this.
 





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