Joel Bauman for KMS.

WolfontheProwl

Active member
Joined
Nov 22, 2008
Messages
1,511
Reaction score
0
Points
36
Its small school football and all but this kid is listed on Rivals and is one of the top wrestlers in his weight class in the country but he would make one heck of a Gopher. He is 6'2" and 190 pounds and is only a JR. He is playing this afternoon in the prep bowl and is a great athlete.
 

Unfortunately the coaching staff doesn’t seem very excited about Mr. Bauman.
 

I have never seen him until today.

He probably isnt a RB in the Big Ten if he can even get to that level. He is very quick and tough by the looks of it. He just picked up his 30th TD of the season.
 

I was just going to ask if anyone is watching him. That was a great TD run and he looks really good. I'm not disagreeing with Fugly Pete but we are said to be interested in him. I read an interview on him earlier this year in which he said that he was coming up to as many games as possible to try to make sure he got an offer from Minnesota. ESPN lists him as considering Minnesota, Wisconsin, Stanford, Oregon, and Boise State and rivals also lists Alabama.

His size and speed are good for a big RB or a LB if he can add 30 lbs.

Fugly--can you elaborate on where you heard the coaches are not interested?
 

One guess.

I think wrestling might be his priority and that could change what football coaches think because it might limit his football offers simply because of the weight issue. Football coaches will want him bluked up and the wrestling coaches are not going to be in favor of that. They just said on the telecast that Gophers have shown some interest.
 


I don't buy that Bauman is 190 lbs. He looks like he has the body of a receiver right now. My guess is that he is 170 or 180 tops.
 

I would agree.

He is listed at that but as we all know those are not very accurate. I am not sure what weight he wrestles at. This kid is tall though he looks all of the 6'2" he is listed at. He is closing on 120 yards in the first half and might get that on this drive plus another TD he looks unstoppable.
 

I've always believed that minn kids are way under rated/valued. I think Brew knows this. I however, think that he sees it as a chance to have a very powerful walk-on program rather than he is searching out diamonds in the rough to hand schollies out to. It's both fortunate and unfortunate for the Minn kids. I think we go about 20-30 deep in this state. Brew probably approaches it like throwing mud against the wall. Tells 'em all he'd love to have them walk on and takes what shows up. Four or five show up every year and that's like an extra 5 schollies.
 

Baumann's weight!

Last year as a Soph Bauman wrestled at 189 pounds so its a safe bet that his 190 pounds he is listed at is close to his real weight. He looks very slim but he is 6'2".
 



He is listed at that but as we all know those are not very accurate. I am not sure what weight he wrestles at. This kid is tall though he looks all of the 6'2" he is listed at. He is closing on 120 yards in the first half and might get that on this drive plus another TD he looks unstoppable.

I just Googled it and it says he wrestled at 189 last year. The weight class below that is 171 lbs and the one above that is 215 lbs so there is a pretty big gap. My brother was 6'0" and wrestled 189 in high school I think he looked much more physically developed than Bauman.
 

Overall I'm impressed with the guy and I think I'd offer him a scholarship. It is tough to see what his frame looks like with shoulder pads on but I would redshirt him his first year and I think he goes 1 of 3 ways. If he stays about 190-210 and you have either a RB or Safety. If you can get his weight up to 215-230 you have a good OLB prospect.
 

What a crazy game.

Bauman well over 200 yards in a close game. His long TD run was a thing of beauty showed speed and power. It looks like he should have some chances to pad the running stats to ice the game with under 5 minutes to play.
 




Remember

He is only a Junior and could easily pack another 25+ more pounds on his frame. You can't coach size or speed.
 

I have a cousin that plays ball at the same level Bauman does. He and my uncle said that although he dominates at the lowest level of ball in MN, 1A, they think he would just be an avg/above avg player in 5A. They said he runs in the 4.6 range and he has a very short stride. I don't know if that meant he had short legs, or is just the way he runs. he has a distinct V shaped frame for those that wonder how he will fill out physically.

I don't know much, if anythinig, about projecting how someone should develop, Joel has some positives and negatives about his situation

1. He is physically superior to his competition and he basically won state for KMS. Kids his size play OL/DL at the 1A level. He's never played against a 6'2" 240 LB that runs faster and hits harder than he does.
2. Small school players can compete at a high level though. Do you guys remember a running back from RTR named Kyle Minett? He is playing excellent ball right now for South Dakota State 1AA. Probably a player the Gophers should have recruited harder.
3. Since he plays small ball in MN, the only schools that might be interested at the BCS level would be the locals. MN, WI, IA, IA st. maaaaaaaybe Nebraska. I know that NDSU, SDSU are all over this guy. He is really gonna have to dominate/set records and push his own recruiting hard next year for some of the schools he likes to offer him. I'm sorry, but the southern SEC, BIG-12, teams simply are not gonna offer a small school MN running back when they have 10-20 in-state options just like him.

Final thoughts on the young man.

I've never seen him play, but he DOMINATES at the level of football he plays in. If he comes to MN as a RB, I don't think he will ever see the field. I think MN should offer him for wrestling and he should walk on to the football team.
 

I have a cousin that plays ball at the same level Bauman does. He and my uncle said that although he dominates at the lowest level of ball in MN, 1A, they think he would just be an avg/above avg player in 5A. They said he runs in the 4.6 range and he has a very short stride. I don't know if that meant he had short legs, or is just the way he runs. he has a distinct V shaped frame for those that wonder how he will fill out physically.

I don't know much, if anythinig, about projecting how someone should develop, Joel has some positives and negatives about his situation

1. He is physically superior to his competition and he basically won state for KMS. Kids his size play OL/DL at the 1A level. He's never played against a 6'2" 240 LB that runs faster and hits harder than he does.
2. Small school players can compete at a high level though. Do you guys remember a running back from RTR named Kyle Minett? He is playing excellent ball right now for South Dakota State 1AA. Probably a player the Gophers should have recruited harder.
3. Since he plays small ball in MN, the only schools that might be interested at the BCS level would be the locals. MN, WI, IA, IA st. maaaaaaaybe Nebraska. I know that NDSU, SDSU are all over this guy. He is really gonna have to dominate/set records and push his own recruiting hard next year for some of the schools he likes to offer him. I'm sorry, but the southern SEC, BIG-12, teams simply are not gonna offer a small school MN running back when they have 10-20 in-state options just like him.

Final thoughts on the young man.



I've never seen him play, but he DOMINATES at the level of football he plays in. If he comes to MN as a RB, I don't think he will ever see the field. I think MN should offer him for wrestling and he should walk on to the football team.

that is a good point. it is easy to say that he will bulk up in a college strength program, but some people just don't have the kind of muscle build to put on bulk. i have known stringy WRs who work out constantly and never put on any weight at all. i, myself, have lifted weights in the past, and while i got stronger (i'm not saying i am conan or anywhere near it) i never put on weight.

but i have also known guys who get in the weight room and blow up so fast that the get all scarred with stretch marks. some people have the innate ability to put on weight some do not. so while i have made comments in the past about how a high school recruit should put on weight in college--you never know.
 

Football camps

The key for him to get a DI scholarship is to go to summer football camp(s). Do you think Mason's staff was scouring the plains of North Dakota and came across Eslinger? No, he came to camp and Mason's staff evaluated him in the same environment and competition that every other player in the camp had. At the end of the camp they offered him a scholarship.

Participation in off season camps is how Rengel and Alipate got scholarships too. It is good for the athletes and good for the schools.
 

The key for him to get a DI scholarship is to go to summer football camp(s). Do you think Mason's staff was scouring the plains of North Dakota and came across Eslinger? No, he came to camp and Mason's staff evaluated him in the same environment and competition that every other player in the camp had. At the end of the camp they offered him a scholarship.

Participation in off season camps is how Rengel and Alipate got scholarships too. It is good for the athletes and good for the schools.

Bingo
 

I remember Park Williams from the Gophers was from a pretty small school and he had a nice career. I think there are similarities with Bauman in terms of size and background.
 

I think MN should offer him for wrestling and he should walk on to the football team.

In this case - by rule - if he ends up playing a single down in a football game, he would count against one of the 85 scholarship limit for football, even though wrestling would be paying the way.
 

Are you sure about the way that would work? A scholarship athlete in one sport walks onto the football team, plays, and then is suddenly counted as one of the 85 scholarship athletes? Bear in mind that a sport like wrestling isn't all full-ride scholarships, they offer partial scholarships as well, if that matters at all.
 

Bauman is the son of a respected poster over at GI. What I know of him I'm just repeating from posts over there.

* He's grown up a Gopher fan in dad's gopher football tailgating lot and is known by many posters at the other site, so many are hoping he gets an offer from the U.

* By all accounts he's a rugged kid, who's got tons of heart and fight in him (it's the wrestler in him I'd bet). He's still just a kid and could indeed bulk up and play some LB at 220-225 (my personal projection) in a few years. His dad says they're open to him playing wherever and they'll just let it play itself out.

* It sounds like his future may lie on the mat as he has an invitation to attend the Olympic Training Center if I'm not mistaken. I'm no wrestling expert but that's got to be about as high a level as a guy could achieve at his age right?

* At the end of the day he sounds like a real nice kid who's grown up a Gopher fan and if the opportunity arises I'd think he'd be a virtual lock to commit to Brew, if not I'd think there's no chance of him walking on and instead I'd guess he'll wrestle and focus on the Olympics.
 

School size.

Just a couple comments about the level of play.

Class is indeed small school football KMS had to beat the #1 ranked team in the state in the class to get to the state tourny. Minneota is one of the smallest school in the class and averages about 50 kids per class SR-FR. So it isnt the biggest but to compare what a guy can and cant do against better competition is hard to do. What would Bauman do at a bigger school? I think he would be just fine. Lets remember he hasnt gone up against some of the top competition a bigger school would get but he also hasnt had that type of talent blocking for him. With the small school kids each guy is different but you have to remember they are not going against the best players every week but they also dont have many 260+ pound kids opening holes for him either.

To me he looks like a defensive player in the future because of his height not so much his weight. 6'2" RBs dont come along very often and when they do they get beat around pretty good.
 

Are you sure about the way that would work? A scholarship athlete in one sport walks onto the football team, plays, and then is suddenly counted as one of the 85 scholarship athletes? Bear in mind that a sport like wrestling isn't all full-ride scholarships, they offer partial scholarships as well, if that matters at all.

Yes, I am positive. The rule is in place to prevent football power schools from offering "wrestling" or "track" scholarships to football players as a way to avoid counting towards the 85. Basically, if you play in a football game, and you're on financial aid through some other sport, then you count toward the 85 in football even though track or wrestling or baseball might be paying the way.
 

Yes, I am positive. The rule is in place to prevent football power schools from offering "wrestling" or "track" scholarships to football players as a way to avoid counting towards the 85. Basically, if you play in a football game, and you're on financial aid through some other sport, then you count toward the 85 in football even though track or wrestling or baseball might be paying the way.

I have never heard of that rule before, but it totally makes sense. I am also glad that the NCAA has this rule. Could you immagine schools like tOSU, FSU, USC, etc offering kids track scholarships when they are stud football players??? Wow, that would get ugly and turn into some powerhouse teams.
 




Top Bottom