List of Players Returning and Departing for 2021

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MNVCGUY

MNVCGUY

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Maybe this is already started somewhere else but think it would be interesting to have a definitive list of players that have declared their intentions for the 2021 season. So here is my best whack at it for what its worth and if people add others in the thread I will keep updating the list.

Departing:
St. Juste - Draft
Stephenson
Gelecinski
Thompson - Transfer Portal
Paulson - Retiring

Returning:
Ibrahim
Green
Dunlap - injury
Durr
Dew-Treadway
Schad
Oliver - Inury
Howard
Geary
Olson
Schlueter
Kieft
Faalele
McDonald - just put on scholarship
Witham
Teague - retiring ?
Swenson
Schoenfeld
Harris

Let me know if I am missing any. I only included guys that would technically have eligibility left if there was some question about their status for next year (Ibrahim, Teague, Faalele...). Otherwise making the assumption that guys with eligibilty left will be back unless we hear otherwise.
 
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Great post/thread, thanks for starting this!

I don't think Dunlap was ever not going to return? I think it's unknown if he will be physically ready to play football in the calendar year 2021. Depends how severe his injury was (captain obvious).

I wouldn't consider him any differently than I would Oliver.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Maybe this is already started somewhere else but think it would be interesting to have a definitive list of players that have declared their intentions for the 2021 season. So here is my best whack at it for what its worth and if people add others in the thread I will keep updating the list.

Departing:
St. Juste - Draft
Stephenson

Returning:
Ibrahim
Green
Dunlap - injury
Durr
Dew-Treadway
Schad - pretty sure this was confirmed
Oliver - Inury

Undeclared: - Key guys in bold
Teague - retiring ?
Swenson
Howard
Geary
Thompson
McDonald
Kieft
Schoenfeld
Gelecinski
Olson
Schlueter
Witham
Faalele
Harris

Let me know if I am missing any. I only included guys that would technically have eligibility left if there was some question about their status for next year (Ibrahim, Teague, Faalele...). Otherwise making the assumption that guys with eligibilty left will be back unless we hear otherwise.
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Thanks
 

MNVCGUY said:
Otherwise making the assumption that guys with eligibilty left will be back unless we hear otherwise.
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Is this actually how it's going in college football? Most of the seniors are coming back and therefore shrinking the 2021 recruiting class immensely?
 

bonin21 said:
Is this actually how it's going in college football? Most of the seniors are coming back and therefore shrinking the 2021 recruiting class immensely?
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Sort of this year. The number of seniors returning is a bit of an anomaly this year with COVID because there are essentially two classes to be factored in. You also need to factor in that there will be far more transfers due to the COVID rules.
 


Many seniors that have finished school and don't have NFL hopes should think about graduating and leaving to give a spot to someone in the HS class of 21, in my opinion. That's not Gopher specific.

Senior class is lucky cuz they can get even more scholarship money toward grad school (right?), and a lot of the HS class coming out misses out on a scholarship.
 

From Dec 22 Strib article. "Officially, cornerbacks Coney Durr and Phil Howard as well as receiver Clay Geary have said they will return for sixth years in 2021......"
 

bonin21 said:
Many seniors that have finished school and don't have NFL hopes should think about graduating and leaving to give a spot to someone in the HS class of 21, in my opinion. That's not Gopher specific.

Senior class is lucky cuz they can get even more scholarship money toward grad school (right?), and a lot of the HS class coming out misses out on a scholarship.
Click to expand...

Give up a scholarship to grad school so someone else can use it?
I mean.....
 

bonin21 said:
Many seniors that have finished school and don't have NFL hopes should think about graduating and leaving to give a spot to someone in the HS class of 21, in my opinion. That's not Gopher specific.

Senior class is lucky cuz they can get even more scholarship money toward grad school (right?), and a lot of the HS class coming out misses out on a scholarship.
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As with any legislation/rule, there are unintended winners and losers.
 



Anders G is done per his Twitter. Did MDT officially say he was returning?
 

bonin21 said:
Many seniors that have finished school and don't have NFL hopes should think about graduating and leaving to give a spot to someone in the HS class of 21, in my opinion. That's not Gopher specific.

Senior class is lucky cuz they can get even more scholarship money toward grad school (right?), and a lot of the HS class coming out misses out on a scholarship.
Click to expand...
Disagree. Anyone who has worked hard, has been positive and contributed should be able to continue playing despite not making it to the NFL. Only the cream of the crop make it to the NFL each year. College football is not just about the NFL.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
From Dec 22 Strib article. "Officially, cornerbacks Coney Durr and Phil Howard as well as receiver Clay Geary have said they will return for sixth years in 2021......"
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Really big that Durr is returning. Howard has been rough at times this year....but I'm glad to see that he is returning as well. Honestly....as many players as we can get back is good from a depth and experience standpoint.
 

bonin21 said:
Is this actually how it's going in college football? Most of the seniors are coming back and therefore shrinking the 2021 recruiting class immensely?
Click to expand...
Is the temporary increase in scholarship limits officially not happening now?
 



What is the graduation rate for the football team over the last several years?
 

Updated with a few of the mentions from this thread so far. Has the Teague situation been clarified 100% either way? I know there was speculation he was retiring from football but don't know if that has ever been made official.
 





WMFD5fs.gif
 

bonin21 said:
Many seniors that have finished school and don't have NFL hopes should think about graduating and leaving to give a spot to someone in the HS class of 21, in my opinion. That's not Gopher specific.

Senior class is lucky cuz they can get even more scholarship money toward grad school (right?), and a lot of the HS class coming out misses out on a scholarship.
Click to expand...

If you're a graduate, you don't count against the total scholarship number.
 

btowngopher said:
94% the last two years, 93% in 2018, per google search. 94% is a school record apparently.
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It's worth mentioning that this is vastly higher than the U average, or the rest of the Big Ten student bodies, or almost any university student body in America. It's in the neighborhood of the average student graduation rate from Ivy League schools.
 


btowngopher said:
Is that true? Wouldn’t you want to add as many grad transfers as possible then?
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So, someone else talked about it on here and I was reading into it.

Here is how I believe it works:
If you bring in grad transfer, that scholarship will count against the total.
For football, if you bring in a grad transfer, that person does NOT count against the yearly cap (25) but they count against the total cap (85).
Because of COVID, the graduating player (who now has an extra year) does not count against the total scholarship count.

This is how I believe it would work:
Next year, Curry's scholarship would NOT count against our total cap. Whether or not he left or stayed, it would have zero impact on our total scholarship count. However, if we brought in a grad transfer, that player WOULD count against our total scholarship cap.

I think the theory is that they wanted to have seasons this year but not have it have any impact on scholarships. We all know that's not possible because a whole new class is graduating high school and they need spots.
 

Every thread dissolves into being worried about scholarship numbers. Its an off-season rite of passage on gopherhole

Incoming classes aren’t being limited by these rules. The NCAA doesn’t want that because you’re hurting programs in the future. Robbing Peter to pay Paul. Its illogical.
 

I think any player in any sport who graduates from any NCAA member school with an undergraduate degree, should be allowed to be immediately eligible (starting the next season) to finish whatever remaining eligibility they have at any other NCAA school without counting against any roster or scholarship limits in that sport.

This has nothing to do with covid. I think that should just be the policy. It would encourage student-athletes to graduate!
 


Is the extra year of eligibility for everyone or just this year’s seniors? Like does Tanner Morgan have two more years if he wants?
 


die hard gopher said:
Yes. If Winfield would have come back, he'd still have two more years of eligibility after this year. Same with Bateman.
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Would/will be interesting to see if the NCAA does indeed grant one year clock/one season eligibility extensions to players who had already been upgraded to six years/five seasons before this year and were not seniors in 2020.

This is different than guys like Dew and Witham, because 2020 was "supposed" to be their sixth and final year, but because covid screwed things up so much, it would make sense and be fair (in my opinion) to grant them seventh years, if they want them.

Winfield would've been in his fifth year and third season in 2020. I assume he was already upgraded to six/five based on his injured 2017 and 2018 seasons. So, I could see the NCAA saying something like "no, sorry, you already were going to have a normal sixth year and fourth full season in 2021, so that will be your senior year".
 

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