Leon

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JasonBourne21

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According to scout.com Safety Anthony Leon committed to Oregon tonight..... Bummer!!!!! Man do they have ugly uniforms!!!!
 

Just confirmed it

I just talked to a person that is currently with Leon right now, and he confirmed it. :(

Edit - Word on the street is we still MAY have a chance. Not likely, so don't get your hopes too high, but it's a possibility. There's a little silver lining.
 

I think this is a pretty big blow to Brew and crew... :( we're getting beat out for this last few key players. If it wasnt for Allen committing it would be very negative right now. This was one kid who I felt could come in and in his 2 years of service be a big factor. I feel like someone just stole my x mas tree!
 

Our higher profile targets are starting to run out, hopefully we can hang on to a few of the ones we have left.
 



scout also raised him to a 4*. I think we should start loving the class we currently have (which is nice) cuz I feel it might not change much
 

This was one kid I really wanted and I bet Brew did too.

I am still not convinced that our late season collapse didn't hurt us this year in recruiting. We still have a bowl game before the all star games and maybe have one last chance to make an impression on some kids (of course that is if they have the NFL Channel).

We need 4 more quality players to make this years class good enough to compete for a Big Ten title in 2010 IMO. I don't think we are there yet....

We need a DB with man cover skills, a DE that can get to the QB, a linebacker with speed and a WR with game breaking abilities.

Carter at DB and McNeal at WR are natural fits for needs. We still have hopes for a Juco DE, but I am not overly optimistic, and there are not many speedy linebackers left to get.

Lets hope we can finish strong and get at least two of these four filled and do our best with the rest.
 

I just realized that maybe Brew knew about this a few days ago and prob then got Singleton to committ once the spot opened. Looks to be the same position player and maybe you give Singlrton 2 years and he is as good as Leon?? remember JC vs. HS
 

Crawford

Does anyone know the latest on Frank Crawford? I know he came up for a visit really early into the season...Maybe this will make him more of a priority now...
 



JasonBourne21 said:
Does anyone know the latest on Frank Crawford? I know he came up for a visit really early into the season...Maybe this will make him more of a priority now...
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I thought I had read somewhere that he had torn his ACL or had some other major injury. Granted, I could be wrong on that but am about 80% sure I read that.
 

This is how I look at it......... with the guys who will be coming to campus from last years class and the 2009 recruiting class we will have a solid core of players. Our 09 class may not rate out like our 08 class, but the 3 stars we have are dang good players (Hageman, Allen, Garin, etc could all argue these guys deserve 4 star ratings, so who cares). We will be significantly improved next year with a healthy Decker, an improved Weber, Careufel and Wills as bookends, and better RBs, where we will have better success, and Brewster will have the best asset in the country (new stadium) to use as a recruiting tool (No more "recruiting tent" in the Metrodome parking lot). I'm not worried about the headlines from this class, I think we got some solid guys, and we'll get a few more. But I'm assuming the classes he will be able to pull in the coming years will be awesome due to our team improving on the field and the new stadium.
 

sonnygarcia said:
This is how I look at it......... with the guys who will be coming to campus from last years class and the 2009 recruiting class we will have a solid core of players. Our 09 class may not rate out like our 08 class, but the 3 stars we have are dang good players (Hageman, Allen, Garin, etc could all argue these guys deserve 4 star ratings, so who cares). We will be significantly improved next year with a healthy Decker, an improved Weber, Careufel and Wills as bookends, and better RBs, where we will have better success, and Brewster will have the best asset in the country (new stadium) to use as a recruiting tool (No more "recruiting tent" in the Metrodome parking lot). I'm not worried about the headlines from this class, I think we got some solid guys, and we'll get a few more. But I'm assuming the classes he will be able to pull in the coming years will be awesome due to our team improving on the field and the new stadium.
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It sounds like Carufel has been practicing at RG all season so I think we'll have a new right side of the line rather than new bookends.

I completely agree with you on this class. It doesn't have quite as much star power as the last class (Senior film and All star game evals could upgrade Hageman, Garin, KGM, and Alipate in order of likelihood) but the talent runs a little deeper in this class. We only have two 2 star guys, one is a punter (they gave 0 4 stars to P/K & 6 3 stars to HS P/K'ers) and the other is a local guy we had at summer camp to evaluate against good competition while rivals evaluated him off film against weak competition. Aside from that we still are waiting on a few 4 stars to announce.

The number of scholarships are different from class to class so we are going to naturally have bigger (higher ranked) classes in 2008, 2010, 2012, etc and smaller classes (lower ranked) in 2009, 2011, etc. I'd be content to be in the 25-30 range with this class and then I honestly believe we could be top 15 next year with an outside shot at jumping to top 10. The 2010 class sets up really well because we have Seantrel Henderson locally who will be a 5 star top 2 overall and is a must get (Jake Heaps QB from Washington is the other possible #1). Aside from Henderson we have Gjere (high 3 to 4), Beau Allen (high 3 to 4), LaMonte Edwards (mid 3 to high 3), AJ Tarpley (mid 3 to high 3), Marcus Williams (mid 3)--these are all my own prediction for how Rivals rates the players and the order. If Brewster can lock down Minnesota we'll have a good class. The Dallas Metroplex is loaded next year--especially at RB--and with A&M down and Brewster getting the Skyline 4 a year ago and Lewis, Searcy and Lipscomb out of Texas this year, we may have the chance to go pull some more talent out of Texas. We've already offered multiple WR's in Texas for 2010.

If we can top that off with even the #25 class in 2011 we would have 4 good years of recruiting and depth that we have never seen at Minnesota.
 

I hate losing Leon, but we are going to lose a few more because our depth is improving so serious PT is getting harder to come by quickly. This is especially true for JUCOs that don't qualify for spring practice. If I couldn't have both Leon and Singleton, especially if Carter puts on the cap with the big M at the game. We still need depth, but it is not as desperately needed from the JUCO ranks as last year. Beating out Theret is going to be much harder than most of us realize. Replacing him when nicked or injured is a different question as I suspect Rallis will physically outgrow playing safety. We have Simoni, Cooper, and Reeves plus others for SAM. Campbell, Triplett, Maresh, Tinsley, Sharpe, Grant (if S&C is working for Ryan, if see him being the big surprise) plus others at the other two LB positions. Rallis is another wildcard that I expect will be a big piece of the D. I still want Leon, however, but I feel good about Singleton. I'm not sure we can afford to lose Paige.
 



I should add that I think those recruiting rankings are possible as long as we continue to show improvement on the field and win games. Nationally we are seen as an up and coming program because of the 1-11 to 7-5 season. If we stagnate and finish 6-6 or worse next season it will hurt our chances to get the elite players that wait until December or January to make their decision. If we go 8-4 which would make us a borderline top 25 team at the end of the year, or if we do better, I think we can reel in a better class than we had in 2008.
 

grunkiejr said:
It sounds like Carufel has been practicing at RG all season so I think we'll have a new right side of the line rather than new bookends.

I completely agree with you on this class. It doesn't have quite as much star power as the last class (Senior film and All star game evals could upgrade Hageman, Garin, KGM, and Alipate in order of likelihood) but the talent runs a little deeper in this class. We only have two 2 star guys, one is a punter (they gave 0 4 stars to P/K & 6 3 stars to HS P/K'ers) and the other is a local guy we had at summer camp to evaluate against good competition while rivals evaluated him off film against weak competition. Aside from that we still are waiting on a few 4 stars to announce.

The number of scholarships are different from class to class so we are going to naturally have bigger (higher ranked) classes in 2008, 2010, 2012, etc and smaller classes (lower ranked) in 2009, 2011, etc. I'd be content to be in the 25-30 range with this class and then I honestly believe we could be top 15 next year with an outside shot at jumping to top 10. The 2010 class sets up really well because we have Seantrel Henderson locally who will be a 5 star top 2 overall and is a must get (Jake Heaps QB from Washington is the other possible #1). Aside from Henderson we have Gjere (high 3 to 4), Beau Allen (high 3 to 4), LaMonte Edwards (mid 3 to high 3), AJ Tarpley (mid 3 to high 3), Marcus Williams (mid 3)--these are all my own prediction for how Rivals rates the players and the order. If Brewster can lock down Minnesota we'll have a good class. The Dallas Metroplex is loaded next year--especially at RB--and with A&M down and Brewster getting the Skyline 4 a year ago and Lewis, Searcy and Lipscomb out of Texas this year, we may have the chance to go pull some more talent out of Texas. We've already offered multiple WR's in Texas for 2010.

If we can top that off with even the #25 class in 2011 we would have 4 good years of recruiting and depth that we have never seen at Minnesota.
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Texas A&M may be down by record but their recruiting is still turning out very well. Texas is also being raided heavily and successfully by other up and coming programs such as Oklahoma State, Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska in the Big 12 so it will be a challenge but the level of division 1 talent down there is amazing. Our disadvantage is that there is no exposure to the Big Ten in Texas. As someone who recently lived for several years in San Antonio it was almost impossible to see any sort of Big Ten sporting event.
 

"Our disadvantage is that there is no exposure to the Big Ten in Texas. As someone who recently lived for several years in San Antonio it was almost impossible to see any sort of Big Ten sporting event."

Isn't this where the Big Ten Network will eventually help us? I thought about this right away when the network was established. I assume the satellite services carry it down there also? Not sure about the cable systems.
 

Recruiting becoming a joke

JasonBourne21 said:
According to scout.com Safety Anthony Leon committed to Oregon tonight..... Bummer!!!!! Man do they have ugly uniforms!!!!
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This is not only frustrating but is becoming laughable. Recruiting has taken a HUGE step backward this season. Who's left now? Carter? McNeal? Those guys are just as likely to go to joke schools West Virginia and Clemson as they are to come here. I cannot believe we have whiffed on guys like Leon and Lewan. Both of these guys picked total crap over sure starting roles on a supposedly up and coming program. Hope this helps.
 

Handsome Pete said:
This is not only frustrating but is becoming laughable. Recruiting has taken a HUGE step backward this season. Who's left now? Carter? McNeal? Those guys are just as likely to go to joke schools West Virginia and Clemson as they are to come here. I cannot believe we have whiffed on guys like Leon and Lewan. Both of these guys picked total crap over sure starting roles on a supposedly up and coming program. Hope this helps.
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Sorry it doesn't help. In what way has recruiting taken a HUGE step back? How are things laughable? West Virginia and Clemson are joke schools???? Compared to the gophers??? Oregon and Michigan are total crap??? Cripes man get a grip. It's only the second best class the gophs have had since rivals invention. This is still a very solid class. 11 guys were rated 5.7 or higher last year, Edwards, Green, and Simmons were good contributors and to a lesser extent Pittman and Brodrick Smith. This class so far has 10 guys rated 5.7 or higher. Oh yeah Vincent Hill didn't make it in, so that makes it even 10 and 10.
 

Petey- not only does btown nail it on the head, but Maresh, Gray, and Reeves turn out to be '09 not '08. Now it's not anyone's fault they are Maroon for the first time in '09 because of heart surgery and scoring too high on the SAT x 2. Fact is they are '09 (scholarshipwise, only 2). January 3 is going to be a big day. The not very well kept secret last year of a 'surprise' 4 star announcement may well be eclipsed with two or three times the news. Mark it down, Jan 3, 2009 will be a big daay in Gopher football. We will likely sign at least one more 4 star than that. We only have 5 left to give as of today. A big finish that will also feature a few walk ons that will impact. This level of recruiting is all so very new to Gopher fans that it is very difficult to assimilate the actual value this class will have before it is over. 09 will be a much greater impact to the program than 08 was, and 08 turned the whole thing around. It's time to be excited about year 2 of Roof and the Davis impact on the O. In a few days we will have some sign of coming of Davis.
 

diehard said:
Petey- not only does btown nail it on the head, but Maresh, Gray, and Reeves turn out to be '09 not '08. Now it's not anyone's fault they are Maroon for the first time in '09 because of heart surgery and scoring too high on the SAT x 2. Fact is they are '09 (scholarshipwise, only 2). January 3 is going to be a big day. The not very well kept secret last year of a 'surprise' 4 star announcement may well be eclipsed with two or three times the news. Mark it down, Jan 3, 2009 will be a big daay in Gopher football. We will likely sign at least one more 4 star than that. We only have 5 left to give as of today. A big finish that will also feature a few walk ons that will impact. This level of recruiting is all so very new to Gopher fans that it is very difficult to assimilate the actual value this class will have before it is over. 09 will be a much greater impact to the program than 08 was, and 08 turned the whole thing around. It's time to be excited about year 2 of Roof and the Davis impact on the O. In a few days we will have some sign of coming of Davis.
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Going from 7 four stars to 3 is a problem when we arguably have much more to sell after showing legitimate improvement on the field. Granted, some of those 2008 guys didn't qualify, but at least they picked the U. For 2009, these top-rated guys are looking at the U and saying "no thanks" whereas a year ago, after we went 1-11 mind you, they were saying "yes please." That is a HUGE step back in my opinion and perhaps evidence Brewster's rah rah message is becoming stale. Believe me, I hope I am dead wrong and would love to eat crow on every syllable I've written here. Leon is a guy that likely would have landed here last year (see Traye Simmons) and this year he thinks Oregon is a better option. Then again, maybe this shows that automatic playing time is no longer guaranteed here because we've improved in personnel? Hmmm... Anyway, hope this helps.
 

I understand what you are saying, but you can't lose something that was never yours to begin with.
 

Handsome Pete said:
Going from 7 four stars to 3 is a problem when we arguably have much more to sell after showing legitimate improvement on the field. Granted, some of those 2008 guys didn't qualify, but at least they picked the U. For 2009, these top-rated guys are looking at the U and saying "no thanks" whereas a year ago, after we went 1-11 mind you, they were saying "yes please." That is a HUGE step back in my opinion and perhaps evidence Brewster's rah rah message is becoming stale. Believe me, I hope I am dead wrong and would love to eat crow on every syllable I've written here. Leon is a guy that likely would have landed here last year (see Traye Simmons) and this year he thinks Oregon is a better option. Then again, maybe this shows that automatic playing time is no longer guaranteed here because we've improved in personnel? Hmmm... Anyway, hope this helps.
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You are way too concerned with the stars rivals give out. 4-star prospects are not the be all end all. Even in rivals system, a low 4 star is not much better than a high 3 star (which we have a bounty of). Sure, it's not as good of a class as last years, but to say we have "taken a HUGE step backward" is ignorant of our current class and what's been going on this season.
 

Handsome Pete said:
This is not only frustrating but is becoming laughable. Recruiting has taken a HUGE step backward this season. Who's left now? Carter? McNeal? Those guys are just as likely to go to joke schools West Virginia and Clemson as they are to come here. I cannot believe we have whiffed on guys like Leon and Lewan. Both of these guys picked total crap over sure starting roles on a supposedly up and coming program. Hope this helps.
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Pete, WV and Clemson aren't joke schools, and neither are Michigan and Oregon.
 

I don't know guys. This class is looking pretty good. You need to compare the right figures. It's a smaller class, the kids are ranked higher within the range. I think it's actually a better class as it sits, it is certainly better than where we were at this point last year.

I'm trying to figure out where the negativity is coming from, it's certainly not based on reality. Maybe it's because we have so many higher ranked athletes that were giving us consideration that have fallin through. We forget, these guys wouldn't even look at us last year. This year we held them in their top threes to the end. We've got 2 and 3*'s that are on hold hoping for a spot. Two years ago those guys are our marquee signings. Are you kidding me, that's great growth.

I see massive improvement in recruiting.
 

Schnoodler said:
I don't know guys. This class is looking pretty good. You need to compare the right figures. It's a smaller class, the kids are ranked higher within the range. I think it's actually a better class as it sits, it is certainly better than where we were at this point last year.

I'm trying to figure out where the negativity is coming from, it's certainly not based on reality. Maybe it's because we have so many higher ranked athletes that were giving us consideration that have fallin through. We forget, these guys wouldn't even look at us last year. This year we held them in their top threes to the end. We've got 2 and 3*'s that are on hold hoping for a spot. Two years ago those guys are our marquee signings. Are you kidding me, that's great growth.

I see massive improvement in recruiting.
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Schnoods is right about this year versus last, but lets go back 3-8 years...we would have on 4*, a couple of low 3s and then high 2s and the best players in the country would not even take our calls. I don't know about you all, but I am just happy that we are no longer the laughing stock of the big ten. I mean, NW has been to a Rose Bowl in the last 20 years and they can always say recruiting is harder for them because of academics. We don't have a Rose Bowl and we don't thier academic issues. Don't get me wrong, I would take us over MSU, PSU or IO as far as academics, but they all Rose Bowl births too.

The next transition we will make in recruiting is when we get recruits because they want to win and have a chance at a big time bowl game. To do this, we have to win 8-9 games next year.
 

Handsome Pete said:
Going from 7 four stars to 3 is a problem when we arguably have much more to sell after showing legitimate improvement on the field. Granted, some of those 2008 guys didn't qualify, but at least they picked the U. For 2009, these top-rated guys are looking at the U and saying "no thanks" whereas a year ago, after we went 1-11 mind you, they were saying "yes please." That is a HUGE step back in my opinion and perhaps evidence Brewster's rah rah message is becoming stale. Believe me, I hope I am dead wrong and would love to eat crow on every syllable I've written here. Leon is a guy that likely would have landed here last year (see Traye Simmons) and this year he thinks Oregon is a better option. Then again, maybe this shows that automatic playing time is no longer guaranteed here because we've improved in personnel? Hmmm... Anyway, hope this helps.
Click to expand...

If you don't get hung up on stars you will notice that at this point the 2009 class has less "elite" talent but it has more depth of good talent than the last class. To put it in other terms, we had a lot of A-'s, a lot of B's to B-'s, and some C's in 2008. This year we have a few A'-s, a lot more B+'s, a few B's and maybe 1 C. Overall, the average grade is actually better in year 2 even though there are less A's than in the prior year. In other words, our 3 stars in 2009 are better quality than our 3 stars in 2008. Last year we had some gaping holes and we needed guys like Brandon Green and Traye Simmons to step in and play immediately. Looking ahead to next year, we have less gaping holes and the more important need to fill is depth which is what this class is accomplishing.

The other thing to consider is that some of our recruits still have the chance to be upgraded from 3 star to 4 star. Rivals goes through and updates ratings after watching film from their senior year and observing them in practice at All Star games. Last year's class benefitted from that and this year's class hasn't had the opportunity yet so you're not comparing apples to apples. With all of the high 3 stars we have this year there are a number of them that have the possibility of being upgraded (Hageman & Garin-most likely, KGM, Alipate, etc).

We have less scholarships available so 2009 will likely rank lower than 2008 but let the last 1.5 months play out before you press the emergency button because our recruiting is taking a huge step back. If we can finish in the top 30 I will be very happy with this year's class. We have more scholarships available next season so the ranking of the 2010 class is more likely to look like 2008 (or better) than it is this year's class.
 

This class may be the slightest step back, but seriously, it's not much. We don't have a MarQueis Gray type signing yet, that's about the only difference. Last year's class was just so huge, it made it better. But on sheer talent of the players coming in, there's more quality in this class right now. I'm still hoping for another 4-star or two, but that would only reinforce the quality of this class even further, not just make it at last year's class' level. It's hard to compare the 29 last year to this year's 18 so far.
 

Just curious - does anyone (Grunk, maybe) understand the Rivals numbers well enough to project what the 09 class would be if they included Maresh, Reeves and Gray?
 

I would point out that Rivals does not yet list Leon as a Ducks commit. It would seem to me that this would be big news and immediately reportable. Rivals also indicates Leon does NOT have a USC offer as it once indicated. Hope this helos
 

Handsome Pete said:
I would point out that Rivals does not yet list Leon as a Ducks commit. It would seem to me that this would be big news and immediately reportable. Rivals also indicates Leon does NOT have a USC offer as it once indicated. Hope this helos
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According to Leon himself he does have an offer from USC and I am guessing Rivals may not have updated his profile yet. In regards to the quality of the class we should be around # 30 nationally however we will still only be 5th or 6th in the Big Ten which is still a little frustrating.
 

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