Mason's 1998 recruiting class had 7 guys play in the NFL!

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What's funny is that 3 of the more heavily recruited players from that class didn't really turn out (Spencer, Iverson, Andrashko)
 

Even the punter, Gruening, was a Playboy All-American. The best part of the class was that they hit big on offense, defense, and special teams. There were solid multi-year starters at a bunch of positions.

Also funny: Lehan is listed as a RB (became DB), Brewer is a WR (Became DB), and Gruening is a K (All-American P)
 

This is what happens when you are able to coach/mold athletes in the players you need to fill holes!! Use the best athlete for the position.

It was waste of a career for DaJon McKnight to follow Brewster here. McKnight should have been a better player with better coaching. Though McKnight could act like a dog, when the chance came to win the game by fighting/digging down deep for a way to win, he was not that type of player. He was a great winner when the going was easy.
 

Brewster's 2008 class will have 7+ that at least get a cup of coffee in the NFL

Go ahead and laugh if you want but 7+ of these guys will get a chance in the NFL. Oh yeah and 4 already have - Simmons, Brock, Mckinley and Lawrence

Tramaine Brock
Keanon Cooper
MarQueis Gray
Brandon Kirksey
Eric Lair
Simoni Lawrence
Sam Maresh
Cedric McKinley
Da'Jon McKnight
Traye Simmons
Brodrick Smith
Troy Stoudermire
Gary Tinsley
D.L. Wilhite
 


I like your thinking Bleed, but it's not accurate that 7 guys from that class played in the NFL. It was actually 5:

Jack Brewer
Arland Bruce
Ron Johnson
Mike Lehan
Karon Riley

These are the guys who actually stepped on the field and played in a regular-season game in the NFL. If you wish to include guys who were drafted/signed to practice squads/played in preseason games/etc., I'm not sure about that. It would probably add more to those 5. Either way, it is a very impressive class by Minnesota standards and by Glen Mason standards. If he would've continued to recruit in 2004-2006 the way he did from 1997-2003 rather than giving up and being derelict in his duties, it is very likely, even probable, that he would still be employed here and that we could be a consistent upper-half Big Ten team.
 

dpodoll68 said:
I like your thinking Bleed, but it's not accurate that 7 guys from that class played in the NFL. It was actually 5:

Jack Brewer
Arland Bruce
Ron Johnson
Mike Lehan
Karon Riley

These are the guys who actually stepped on the field and played in a regular-season game in the NFL. If you wish to include guys who were drafted/signed to practice squads/played in preseason games/etc., I'm not sure about that. It would probably add more to those 5. Either way, it is a very impressive class by Minnesota standards and by Glen Mason standards. If he would've continued to recruit in 2004-2006 the way he did from 1997-2003 rather than giving up and being derelict in his duties, it is very likely, even probable, that he would still be employed here and that we could be a consistent upper-half Big Ten team.
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Yep, good call...my bad. I thought for sure Jermaine Mays and Tellis Redmon played in actual NFL games and even quickly looked it up last night but clearly not deep enough as they were on rosters/practice teams but never on the field.

Good catch.

Go Gophers!!
 

gophergv said:
Go ahead and laugh if you want but 7+ of these guys will get a chance in the NFL. Oh yeah and 4 already have - Simmons, Brock, Mckinley and Lawrence

Tramaine Brock
Keanon Cooper
MarQueis Gray
Brandon Kirksey
Eric Lair
Simoni Lawrence
Sam Maresh
Cedric McKinley
Da'Jon McKnight
Traye Simmons
Brodrick Smith
Troy Stoudermire
Gary Tinsley
D.L. Wilhite
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I was actually thinking the same thing. I think your list is a little liberal, but I think more players from the 2008 Brew class will actually play in the NFL than this class. They are both nice classes though.
 

I agree the list is liberal, I tried to just add people that had an outside shot. I'm guessing Marquise, Tinsley, McKnight and Stoudemire get a shot. The others will be a stretch but you never know DL could be the next Stylez White.
 



Bob_Loblaw said:
I was actually thinking the same thing. I think your list is a little liberal, but I think more players from the 2008 Brew class will actually play in the NFL than this class. They are both nice classes though.
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The results should be adjusted for the number of classes each coach had. I am sure MV could do a couple of regression analyses for us to give us further insight into this topic.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
What's funny is that 3 of the more heavily recruited players from that class didn't really turn out (Spencer, Iverson, Andrashko)
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Not if you don't pay any attention to the recruiting rankings, like me. Further proof they don't have a clue.
 

DMB123 said:
Not if you don't pay any attention to the recruiting rankings, like me. Further proof they don't have a clue.
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Fine...pull out your magic 8-ball, and tell us exactly how our current class will measure up?

I mean...you've never been wrong. That is what you are stating.
 

Unregistered User said:
Fine...pull out your magic 8-ball, and tell us exactly how our current class will measure up?

I mean...you've never been wrong. That is what you are stating.
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How am I stating that exactly? I never once said or even implied that. All I'm saying is I'm not surprised to see that the more highly regarded recruits ended up not panning out while 5 others who were not highly thought of played in the NFL. It's only a surprise to people who follow and believe the recruiting rankings and think they actually mean something.
 



DMB123 said:
Not if you don't pay any attention to the recruiting rankings, like me. Further proof they don't have a clue.
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How heavily recruited a player is has nothing to do with his ranking. But I'm sure you already knew that.
 


DMB123 said:
Not if you don't pay any attention to the recruiting rankings, like me. Further proof they don't have a clue.
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You're an awful big advocate of 247 Sports for someone who doesn't pay attention to recruiting rankings.
 

DMB123 said:
How am I stating that exactly? I never once said or even implied that. All I'm saying is I'm not surprised to see that the more highly regarded recruits ended up not panning out while 5 others who were not highly thought of played in the NFL. It's only a surprise to people who follow and believe the recruiting rankings and think they actually mean something.
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Of course they mean something. Are you serious?

People have posted indisputable mathematical proof that they do mean "something". They aren't a certainty, but they are indicative of an obvious trend. If you are a 4 star player, you have a much better chance to play in the NFL, be all conference, all american, and win a national championship than a 2 star player. There are tons of examples of exceptions to that trend, but that is till the statistical trend. So, they undoubtedly mean something.
 

mattw1067 said:
You're an awful big advocate of 247 Sports for someone who doesn't pay attention to recruiting rankings.
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I have no idea what this post means. What the hell is 247 Sports? It would be nice to know since apparently I'm an advocate of it.
 

The five Heisman finalists this year were 4 stars or better on Rivals, although Tyrann Mathieu's ranking was probably influenced by his offers from FIU, Tulane and Hampton.
 

dpodoll68 said:
How heavily recruited a player is has nothing to do with his ranking. But I'm sure you already knew that.
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Total up the number of Big Ten wins each recruiting class contributes to and you will have a pretty good indication of how good that recruiting class was. Big Ten wins can tell us so MUCH about coaches, players and recruiting. Really other than running a completely honest program, graduating ever increasing numbers of student athletes...the total number of Big Ten wins means EVERYTHING to a Big Ten Football Program. That is one of the hard, cold facts of life. Big Ten wins matter. Fantasy recruiting stars are a fool's game pretend thing...

; 0 )
 

imthewalrus said:
Blah, blah, blah
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Once again...this sums up every wren post:

FsAm1.gif
 



Recruiting rankings mirror performance over time. Recruit highly ranked players, you will win over time. Not in every case, but on average.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Of course they mean something. Are you serious?

People have posted indisputable mathematical proof that they do mean "something". They aren't a certainty, but they are indicative of an obvious trend. If you are a 4 star player, you have a much better chance to play in the NFL, be all conference, all american, and win a national championship than a 2 star player. There are tons of examples of exceptions to that trend, but that is till the statistical trend. So, they undoubtedly mean something.
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One might say there is a positive correlation and not a certainty of causation.
 

Was this Mason's first full class or the class that he partially inherited from Wacker? I thought for sure that Brewer, Riley, and Redmon were all Wacker commits.

Another interesting aspect of the class is that I don't Byron Gettis ever made it on campus. He signed a minor league contract with the Kansas City Royals in 1998 and wove his way through the system and managed to get 39 big league at-bats in 2004.
 

50PoundHead said:
Was this Mason's first full class or the class that he partially inherited from Wacker? I thought for sure that Brewer, Riley, and Redmon were all Wacker commits.

Another interesting aspect of the class is that I don't Byron Gettis ever made it on campus. He signed a minor league contract with the Kansas City Royals in 1998 and wove his way through the system and managed to get 39 big league at-bats in 2004.
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Naw fiftypoundhead...Mason coached the 1997 team. He was on board at the end of 1996. The 1997 recruiting class was his first recruiting class...NOT the 1998 class that this thread is talking about.

; 0 )
 

Unregistered User said:
Once again...this sums up every wren post:

FsAm1.gif
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At this point, Wren is the only member of my "ignore list" so although I have no idea what was said here, your visual certainly sums up what I'd guess.
 

Here's "mud" in your eye schnauzer... some of you people are about sixth or seventh grade level...and I hate to insult any 6th or 7th graders...you are a real schnauzer, aren't you...

; 0 )
 

Schnauzer said:
At this point, Wren is the only member of my "ignore list" so although I have no idea what was said here, your visual certainly sums up what I'd guess.
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He obviously doesn't understand the concept of the "ignore list," as he wrote a snappy comeback where he called you a Schnauzer.
 

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