Johnson & Davidson

[gophers141]

Any news on Will Johnson and Nick Davidson's recruiting process?

I know Davidson was moved here with his dad so it will be difficult to keep him in state but Johnson would be a big loss, especially if he ends up being an SEC caliber player.

 

[Off-GridTNgopher]

in my humble opinion both are gone...

 

[Curseislifted33]

it is weird how little attention Nick Davidson has gotten since he moved here.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Will Johnson visited this past weekend. The recruitniks out there have suggested that it looks to be down to the U and West Virginia.

Nick Davidson is in a tough situation. The kid broke his leg and I imagine some of the offers dried up. It doesn't look like tOSU is interested anymore. He's in a tough spot, I'm not sure what he is going to do now that he broke his leg.

 

[dpodoll68]

With the way the Vikings have been playing, the one reason Davidson would want to stay here (so his dad could see him play) almost certainly won't be a factor for very long. Zero chance he commits here.

As long as Johnson is taking with his recruitment, it seems as though the odds are against us, but I wouldn't at all be surprised to see him end up a Gopher.

 

[DrunkGopher]

With the way the Vikings have been playing, the one reason Davidson would want to stay here (so his dad could see him play) almost certainly won't be a factor for very long. Zero chance he commits here.

As long as Johnson is taking with his recruitment, it seems as though the odds are against us, but I wouldn't at all be surprised to see him end up a Gopher.

His dad is considered one of the better OL coaches in the NFL, obviously not based on this year, so even if the staff gets canned there is a possibility he would be retained. Not really sure if that relates to his son's recruitment or not but figured I would throw it out there

 

[nsmike]

It's between WVa and us on Johnson. Davidson's recruiting came to a sudden halt when he broke his leg. At the time of the injury it was said that they will not know about his rehabilitation schedule for 30-60 days. It's highly likely that he will have to grayshirt.

 

[Nate]

it is weird how little attention Nick Davidson has gotten since he moved here.

His dad was on KFAN pre-broken leg. He listed off a few schools none of which were MN. When KFAN asked him about MN, he laughed and said yeah we hear that alot. I'll search for the interview, but he basically hasn't even thought of MN, so no need to put in the effort thinking about him.

 

[nsmike]

His dad was on KFAN pre-broken leg. He listed off a few schools none of which were MN. When KFAN asked him about MN, he laughed and said yeah we hear that alot. I'll search for the interview, but he basically hasn't even thought of MN, so no need to put in the effort thinking about him.

That was pre broken leg most of the schools he was interested in wont take a chance on player with a major leg injury.

 

[gophers141]

Any news on Jamal Marcus the DE from North Carolina? I know he has a lot of offers so I was just curious if he is considering the U at all.

 

[Nate]

That was pre broken leg most of the schools he was interested in wont take a chance on player with a major leg injury.

I mentioned that, the other guy wanted to know why he hasn't gotten attention since moving here. The reason is because he has shown no interest in MN.

 

[gophmeister]

The lucky thing for us is that we were so outside with Davidson that we won't get any backlash for no longer recruiting him. One thing I like about Kill is he doesn't waste time recruiting kids who don't want to be here.

Speaking of local recruiting, has anyone else noticed how hard Mike Grant is campaigning for Larson to get a scholarship? We've never had much luck with the EP guys we've signed, so I don't think we owe Grant any favors.

 

[corcoran1]

The lucky thing for us is that we were so outside with Davidson that we won't get any backlash for no longer recruiting him. One thing I like about Kill is he doesn't waste time recruiting kids who don't want to be here.

Speaking of local recruiting, has anyone else noticed how hard Mike Grant is campaigning for Larson to get a scholarship? We've never had much luck with the EP guys we've signed, so I don't think we owe Grant any favors.

I believe Derek Burns was a very good player.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

It's not about doing anyone any favors, it's about having a good/honest relationship with the staffs. Mike Grant will not be upset with Kill if he doesn't offer Larson or Michaelson, just like Kill won't be upset with Grant if one of their players goes elsewhere. It's about having a good relationship with coaches where Grant can tell Kill "hey, I think you really need to look at this kid", and that Kill does take an honest look.

That's how those kinds of relationships are cultivated. It's not about Grant asking Kill to do him a favor and sign Andrew Larson. That doesn't make any sense.

For instance, I remember when Mottla was at Cretin. He was pretty undersized (still is). He is 6'1"ish and probably 255 lbs. However, the Cretin coaches kept telling Brew that the kid could play, he was a good kid and that he works really hard. Brew took that suggestion to heart, viewed the kid, and offered him a preferred walk on situation (he wasn't on our radar at all). So because of that sort of relationship between coaches, Mottla was able to get a chance to prove that he can play in the Big 10, and he is already part of our rotation on the OL, he walked on, and it worked out for everyone. That is how Coaches campaign for their players, they don't ask for a scholarship to a kid as a favor.

 

[Gopherprof]

It's not about doing anyone any favors, it's about having a good/honest relationship with the staffs. Mike Grant will not be upset with Kill if he doesn't offer Larson or Michaelson, just like Kill won't be upset with Grant if one of their players goes elsewhere. It's about having a good relationship with coaches where Grant can tell Kill "hey, I think you really need to look at this kid", and that Kill does take an honest look.

That's how those kinds of relationships are cultivated. It's not about Grant asking Kill to do him a favor and sign Andrew Larson. That doesn't make any sense.

For instance, I remember when Mottla was at Cretin. He was pretty undersized (still is). He is 6'1"ish and probably 255 lbs. However, the Cretin coaches kept telling Brew that the kid could play, he was a good kid and that he works really hard. Brew took that suggestion to heart, viewed the kid, and offered him a preferred walk on situation (he wasn't on our radar at all). So because of that sort of relationship between coaches, Mottla was able to get a chance to prove that he can play in the Big 10, and he is already part of our rotation on the OL, he walked on, and it worked out for everyone. That is how Coaches campaign for their players, they don't ask for a scholarship to a kid as a favor.

Does Ryan Grant get a scholarship offer if he isn't Mike Grant's son? Does J.D. Pride get an offer if he isn't a legacy/Seantrel's friend?

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Does Ryan Grant get a scholarship offer if he isn't Mike Grant's son? Does J.D. Pride get an offer if he isn't a legacy/Seantrel's friend?

JD Pride is a terrible example. The idea that I was refuting was that Coaches ask College Coaches to do them a favor and offer a kid. JD Pride might not have gotten an offer from his ability alone (hard to say, he's a FR), but it certainly wasn't out of a favor to his HS coach to get in with his HS coach. If your theory is correct, Brew did it to try to pursuade Pride's friend. He didn't do it for a favor to anybody. Assuming that theory is correct, Brew did it in an attempt to make MN more appealing to Seantrel. That example isn't an apt comparison.

Ryan Grant...I don't know, it's a close call. I think he was a borderline prospect. He has played quite a bit here (not much last year), but he started about half of the season last year. There are plenty of scholarship athletes at every school who contribute less than Ryan Grant. He was All State for the best program in the state. He is local, good grades, good kid...a top 10 player in the state. He had gone to a lot of Big 10 camps, so it's really a tough call on whether or not he would have been offered if he had a different last name. We didn't offer his little brother who is a TE at North Dakota. Did Mike Grant only love Ryan enough to ask Brew for a scholarship offer? It's conceivable that him being a Grant played into the decision a bit, but that is wholly different than offering him as a favor to Mike Grant.

I have no doubt that Coaches will sometimes factor in other things when offering a player (quality of their program, friends with recruits, etc.), I don't think it really happens where a HS coach asks a college coach for a favor scholarship offer. The college coach might offer people he wouldn't to try to get an ins with a recruit, but that's a completely different hypothetical.

 

[Gopherprof]

JD Pride is a terrible example. The idea that I was refuting was that Coaches ask College Coaches to do them a favor and offer a kid. JD Pride might not have gotten an offer from his ability alone (hard to say, he's a FR), but it certainly wasn't out of a favor to his HS coach to get in with his HS coach. If your theory is correct, Brew did it to try to pursuade Pride's friend. He didn't do it for a favor to anybody. Assuming that theory is correct, Brew did it in an attempt to make MN more appealing to Seantrel. That example isn't an apt comparison.

Ryan Grant...I don't know, it's a close call. I think he was a borderline prospect. He has played quite a bit here (not much last year), but he started about half of the season last year. There are plenty of scholarship athletes at every school who contribute less than Ryan Grant. He was All State for the best program in the state. He is local, good grades, good kid...a top 10 player in the state. He had gone to a lot of Big 10 camps, so it's really a tough call on whether or not he would have been offered if he had a different last name. We didn't offer his little brother who is a TE at North Dakota. Did Mike Grant only love Ryan enough to ask Brew for a scholarship offer? It's conceivable that him being a Grant played into the decision a bit, but that is wholly different than offering him as a favor to Mike Grant.

I have no doubt that Coaches will sometimes factor in other things when offering a player (quality of their program, friends with recruits, etc.), I don't think it really happens where a HS coach asks a college coach for a favor scholarship offer. The college coach might offer people he wouldn't to try to get an ins with a recruit, but that's a completely different hypothetical.

It wasn't a rhetorical question, so I wasn't necessarily asking that to refute you. I think we agree in general; in borderline cases, I think politics can play a factor. Such is life.

 

[RoyalGopher]

It's between WVa and us on Johnson.

Source? Not at all saying you're wrong, but I would like to know who said that.

 

[nsmike]

He's scheduled two official visits WVa. and us. He has said we were the only school still recruiting him as a TE. Shortly after saying that he schedules his visits. A bit of conjecture on my part but actions speak louder than words.

 

[corcoran1]

It wasn't a rhetorical question, so I wasn't necessarily asking that to refute you. I think we agree in general; in borderline cases, I think politics can play a factor. Such is life.

Ryan Grant has been a very good special teams player, and works hard in practice every day. He does not make the top 20 of guys on this roster Brewster should not have given a scholarship to. I'll take him over a bunch of guys on this team.
I have no relationship with Ryan, his family, or his high school, but it po's me that he is consistently used as an example of inequity when he has paid the price every day to be on the team/.

 

[Gopherprof]

Ryan Grant has been a very good special teams player, and works hard in practice every day. He does not make the top 20 of guys on this roster Brewster should not have given a scholarship to. I'll take him over a bunch of guys on this team.
I have no relationship with Ryan, his family, or his high school, but it po's me that he is consistently used as an example of inequity when he has paid the price every day to be on the team/.

It's not a commentary on anything he's done as a Gopher. I'm glad he works hard and contributes and I'm glad that he's been able to have a scholarship to pay his way through college. I'm not complaining about it. And maybe he would have gotten a scholly if his name was Joe Smith, I honestly don't know one way or the other. Only Brewster knows for sure.

However, when the subject of politics in scholarship offers is being discussed, of course a borderline prospect who is the son/grandson of Mike Grant and Bud Grant is going to come up. It's not a damnation of Ryan or the Grant family, but it is germane to the conversation.

 

[dinkything]

...Nick Davidson is in a tough situation. The kid broke his leg and I imagine some of the offers dried up. It doesn't look like tOSU is interested anymore. He's in a tough spot, I'm not sure what he is going to do now that he broke his leg.

Good thing Nick is not a horse...otherwise, they would have to....ummmm...well....I better not say....

 

[Chris Monter]

I talked to Nick Davidson after the Prep Bowl win over Wayzata. He told me his top five schools are Stanford, where he already visited, Clemson, Oregon, Colorado and Ohio State. His father and grandfather both went to Ohio State, but the school he raved about to me was Colorado, which would be a surprise to many observers.

Chris Monter

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Ryan Grant has been a very good special teams player, and works hard in practice every day. He does not make the top 20 of guys on this roster Brewster should not have given a scholarship to. I'll take him over a bunch of guys on this team.
I have no relationship with Ryan, his family, or his high school, but it po's me that he is consistently used as an example of inequity when he has paid the price every day to be on the team/.

I don't think GopherProf meant anything bad by pointing at Ryan Grant, so my post isn't really aimed at him. But in general, I think it's weird that some people point at kids like Ryan Grant and Shady as examples of Brew's failures as a recruiter. Every program has kids like these guys that aren't quite the top 25 players on the team, however they work hard, don't get into trouble, play special teams and contribute as backups. Both Shady and Ryan have been vital parts of our special teams, provided depth when we needed it, haven't complained, and even changed positions for the program. The fact remains that every program will have a decent amount of players like them (the good programs more than others because they actually have full upper classes). Again, this isn't a jab at GopherProf, as I don't think he was ripping on Ryan Grant.

 

[50PoundHead]

I don't think GopherProf meant anything bad by pointing at Ryan Grant, so my post isn't really aimed at him. But in general, I think it's weird that some people point at kids like Ryan Grant and Shady as examples of Brew's failures as a recruiter. Every program has kids like these guys that aren't quite the top 25 players on the team, however they work hard, don't get into trouble, play special teams and contribute as backups. Both Shady and Ryan have been vital parts of our special teams, provided depth when we needed it, haven't complained, and even changed positions for the program. The fact remains that every program will have a decent amount of players like them (the good programs more than others because they actually have full upper classes). Again, this isn't a jab at GopherProf, as I don't think he was ripping on Ryan Grant.

B_Ll always makes contact and he does again here. It's a little different with the lower number of scholarships handed out these days, but when you get to your last few scholarships and you still want to fill up the class, almost every coach (exempt the top x-number of programs) is going to hand out a few what I call "goodwill" scholarships.

The perception (true or not) was that Mason didn't do well in a couple of Minnesota's best high school programs (Wren, this isn't meant as a criticism as Mason, so please don't take it that way) and Brewster wanted to make an immediate effort to "fix" that. We can argue that Brewster just tossed a few scholarships to Cretin and EP kids carelessly, buy maybe he felt that is how he could get the Minnesota high school football world behind him (Not meant as a criticism of Brewster, so Brewster supporters please don't take it that way).

To me, the bottom line is both Shady and Ryan are good football players. Not every kid you get to commit is going to be an All-American, but both of these guys showed enough in high school to warrant an offer.

 

[ButchNashGuy]

The lucky thing for us is that we were so outside with Davidson that we won't get any backlash for no longer recruiting him. One thing I like about Kill is he doesn't waste time recruiting kids who don't want to be here.

Speaking of local recruiting, has anyone else noticed how hard Mike Grant is campaigning for Larson to get a scholarship? We've never had much luck with the EP guys we've signed, so I don't think we owe Grant any favors.

Not for or against Mike Grant. However, he has never been a guy that has been known to oversell his players abilities. Maybe Larson and Michaelson are that good.

 

[Gopherprof]

I don't think GopherProf meant anything bad by pointing at Ryan Grant, so my post isn't really aimed at him. But in general, I think it's weird that some people point at kids like Ryan Grant and Shady as examples of Brew's failures as a recruiter. Every program has kids like these guys that aren't quite the top 25 players on the team, however they work hard, don't get into trouble, play special teams and contribute as backups. Both Shady and Ryan have been vital parts of our special teams, provided depth when we needed it, haven't complained, and even changed positions for the program. The fact remains that every program will have a decent amount of players like them (the good programs more than others because they actually have full upper classes). Again, this isn't a jab at GopherProf, as I don't think he was ripping on Ryan Grant.

I agree. I'm actually of the more conservative type, in that I think Brewster took too many academic/personal risks and didn't take character enough into account.

 

[Killjoy]

Nice try 50PoundHead

B_Ll always makes contact and he does again here. It's a little different with the lower number of scholarships handed out these days, but when you get to your last few scholarships and you still want to fill up the class, almost every coach (exempt the top x-number of programs) is going to hand out a few what I call "goodwill" scholarships.

The perception (true or not) was that Mason didn't do well in a couple of Minnesota's best high school programs (Wren, this isn't meant as a criticism as Mason, so please don't take it that way) and Brewster wanted to make an immediate effort to "fix" that. We can argue that Brewster just tossed a few scholarships to Cretin and EP kids carelessly, buy maybe he felt that is how he could get the Minnesota high school football world behind him (Not meant as a criticism of Brewster, so Brewster supporters please don't take it that way).

To me, the bottom line is both Shady and Ryan are good football players. Not every kid you get to commit is going to be an All-American, but both of these guys showed enough in high school to warrant an offer.

LOL - First you say "Mason didn't do well" and then you say "Brewster wanted to 'fix' it". Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to mix those two reagents together? The best part of your comment was “Wren, this isn't meant as a criticism as Mason, so please don't take it that way.” Thanks for the laugh.