Minnesota and the MAC

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Gopherprof

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Cody Hazlett, a linebacker out of Simley, signed with Northern Illinois today. This kid defines "under the radar." Vames (one of our resident high school experts) didn't have anything about him that I could find, and he has no rivals profile. Simley has improved in the last few years, but certainly aren't a traditional hotbed of Minnesota talent.

I'm not sure if it's just because this is a good year for Minnesota high school football, or if there is longterm increased activity, but the MAC has increased their interest in Minnesota this year (or, at least 6 of their schools have).

-Jonathan Harden is a Western Michigan commit and also had an Eastern Michigan offer
-Kyle Hughes is an Eastern Michigan commit
-Drake Michaelson has offers from Akron, Ohio, and Toledo (and Tim Beckman's interest has followed to Illinois, where Michaelson is visiting)
-Chase Roullier has offers from Akron, Western Michigan, and Toledo
-Charles Webb has a Toledo offer
-Andrew Moritko has an Akron offer
-Brett Pierce has a Northern Illinois offer

It used to be that MAC recruiting went no further west than Illinois, so, again, I wonder if this is an anomaly or a sign of things to come. While some of the local contributors from NDSU's team might not have been Big Ten worthy, one would think they certainly are MAC worthy.

And for those of you that consider this non-Minnesota related, this has a direct effect on our ability to recruit walk-ons.

I'm always torn on that; I want our walk-on program to be the best it can be, but I'm also happy when a local kid can go to school for free. Either way, I'd much rather they go to the MAC than play for the Bison.
 

But now we have to cheer for all MAC teams because they have a lot of Minnesota guys.
 

Gopherprof said:
Cody Hazlett, a linebacker out of Simley, signed with Northern Illinois today.
Click to expand...

No, he didn't. :)

I agree that there've been a lot more MN HS players with MAC offers than there used to be. It's kind of a double-edged sword; it means that the quantity of quality football players in MN is going up (good for us), but it also means that higher-level schools will be competing for the kids we would like to walk-on (bad for us).
 


If you're sick of the NDSU talk, this would be a positive development. The FCS schools have benefited greatly from the lack of lower-tier FBS competition in both Minnesota and Wisconsin. Schools like Youngstown State have to compete not only with the entire Big Ten in Ohio, but all of the MAC as well.
 



Hazlett is extremely under the radar, I've seen him play a couple times and i'm not shocked he got an offer from a FBS school.
 


I've been waiting a long time to create the Trinity Bible College of Ellendale North Dakota thread. Now I finally have my opening!
 




Speaking of Minnesota high school kids playing for schools outside the state, does anyone know which of them are headed to the Dakota schools?
 

The MAC expanding to Minnesota hurts the Dakota schools. All of these kids would have wound up at northern Iowa or one of the dakotas even a couple of years ago.
 

Eagan said:
Speaking of Minnesota high school kids playing for schools outside the state, does anyone know which of them are headed to the Dakota schools?
Click to expand...
I'm guessing the Bison board knows more than people on here.
EDIT:
Not trying to start an argument, just a fact.
 



personally, I kinda like the MAC conference but I do feel it might have an impact on the walk-on aspect of recruiting. kids with an undying passion for Gopher ball (Rallis) might not even worry about the cost of tuition, even though he had offers from some other schools. the skill players in the MAC are all pretty athletic (Jordan White, W.Mich) and if you wanna watch wild west shootouts, then turn on your tv during the weeknights in the regular season. I feel a major difference between the 10 and the mac is the play of the lineman and their size and strength.
 

Gopherprof said:
-Drake Michaelson has offers from Akron, Ohio, and Toledo (and Tim Beckman's interest has followed to Illinois, where Michaelson is visiting)
Click to expand...

Didn't want to start another thread. Anyway, Drake has narrowed his list to seven.
 

Not sure this needed its own thread, but Chase Roullier (Burnsville) committed to Wyoming over offers from Akron, Western Michigan, and Toledo.
 

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