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Gopher4life15

Gopher4life15

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Are we going to bring in Evan Williams?

Also, what are the chances we can get A.J. Tarpley to switch his commitment?
 

we don't want either, they are not good. If you are not satisfied with mediocrity why would you want Minnesota kids?
 

bankonit said:
we don't want either, they are not good. If you are not satisfied with mediocrity why would you want Minnesota kids?
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I think I will take Jim Harbaugh's opinion of Tarpley over yours but thanks anyways.
 

I know Evan's family. He wants to play and doesn't think he'll have much chance at the U and is looking at D2 schools.
 

I actually thought Tarpley looked pretty good. I saw them play, and I was trying to watch for the DE/DT (kid who went to Nebraska), but Tarpley seemed a lot more impressive.

We have offered Evan Williams, but my guess is that it is a conditional thing (seeing if we can get other RBs). His only other Division 1 offer is Wyoming.

My guess is that we don't have a chance on the kid, but maybe it is worth offering him, and seeing if there is any interest.

As far as the guy who said not to go after Minnesota kids...Wisconsin, Notre Dame, Iowa, and Ohio St. have had a quite a bit of recent success with some Minnesota kids. We don't put out as many good players as some states, but MN puts out some decent athletes.
 



So the theory used to be "lock up the borders" now it is we don't want them? Interesting.
 


MNBadgerGuy said:
So the theory used to be "lock up the borders" now it is we don't want them? Interesting.
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After the top maybe 2 to 3 players the rest of the Minnesota kids year in and year out just are not the type of talent to carry a program, they are serviceable at best. The Henderson's, Floyd's, Laurinaitis' are rare Minnesota talents. Most others are backup or walk on material.
 





bankonit said:
After the top maybe 2 to 3 players the rest of the Minnesota kids year in and year out just are not the type of talent to carry a program, they are serviceable at best. The Henderson's, Floyd's, Laurinaitis' are rare Minnesota talents. Most others are backup or walk on material.
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That is really an ignorant statement...
Here is a list of guys who were not considered to be in the top 3 (in the state of MN) over the past few years:

2004:
Nathan Swift: Nebraska's all time leader in receptions, had 63 rec for 941 yards and 10 TDs. He had 4 really good years at Nebraska.
Dominique Barber: Second Team All Big 10 ~ In the NFL
2005:
James Laurinaitis: He was considered and ranked the 4th best prospect in the state.
Eric Decker: Hopefully he doesn't need a ton of explanation.
2006:
Isaac Anderson: A solid big 10 player who still has a couple years left. He has shown about as much as any of our young heralded receivers.
Alexander Robinson: 1,000 yard rusher (700 yards as a Soph), who is a very solid Big 12 RB.
2007:
David Gilraeth
Bryce McNaul
Blake Sorensen
2008:
Roszell Gayden
Brandan Kelly


These are all guys that would have helped the Gophers quite a bit, and none of them were rated in the top 3 in state. If we had a program that was at a different stage of it's development and we never lost these guys, we would certainly be a better program. I am not blasting Brewster for not getting these guys, but lets not pretend that these players haven't or couldn't help our program.

Keep in mind, there are plenty of decent Gophers that I didn't even mention on this list (Royston, Bunders, Triplett, Wynn, Davis, etc.).
 

Bob_Loblaw, don't forget Mitch Erickson, an offensive lineman from Hutchinson who ended up at one of the South Dakota schools and is now on the Denver Broncos practice squad. Mason didn't even bother recruiting him.
 



A lot of the players you mentioned would never see the field at a Florida, Texas, USC, Oklahoma. If that is where you want to be you can not have kids like most you mentioned playing significant roles or getting significant minutes. We need to be at a point where we are so talented those kids never leave the bench. Some have been diamonds in the rough, but you will always have that, some 4 stars will fail and some unrated or low rated will rise to the top, but you can't bank on Minnesota talent to bring the program to the elite level.(with very few exceptions)
 

bankonit said:
A lot of the players you mentioned would never see the field at a Florida, Texas, USC, Oklahoma. If that is where you want to be you can not have kids like most you mentioned playing significant roles or getting significant minutes. We need to be at a point where we are so talented those kids never leave the bench. Some have been diamonds in the rough, but you will always have that, some 4 stars will fail and some unrated or low rated will rise to the top, but you can't bank on Minnesota talent to bring the program to the elite level.(with very few exceptions)
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Oh well, I think we have different expectations. I don't really expect us to compete with USC, Texas, Florida, and Oklahoma year in and year out.
 

Brewster does expect that and that is the goal. Being Iowa or Wisconsin is shooting very low. After 2011 we will be in position to be competing for Conference titles and January bowl games
 

bankonit said:
A lot of the players you mentioned would never see the field at a Florida, Texas, USC, Oklahoma. If that is where you want to be you can not have kids like most you mentioned playing significant roles or getting significant minutes. We need to be at a point where we are so talented those kids never leave the bench. Some have been diamonds in the rough, but you will always have that, some 4 stars will fail and some unrated or low rated will rise to the top, but you can't bank on Minnesota talent to bring the program to the elite level.(with very few exceptions)
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I love reading your posts where you turn into the Rivals robot and are more worried about stars than the game. You put more value in the rankings created by guys who either never were or couldn't make it as coaches versus the analysis of actual coaches such as Jim Harbaugh and Tarpley. The fact is that many diamonds in the rough can develop to be effective contributors if they receive good coaching. For example, take the Nebraska walk-on program where over the years they had 480 walk-ons and over 130 eventually became starters, nevermind the lower rated scholarship recruits.
 

Brewster will always out recruit our percieved team level. If we can get to the Iowa level on the field he'll be recruiting top twenty every year. That is what keeps the other pretenders from becoming contenders. they have good years but continure recruiting as they were. That won't be our problem. I don't need to say what our problem might be.
 

perception

Like it or not Rivals star rankings are very important to a program. The more 4 and 5 star players you have, the more 4 and 5 star players will commit to your program because talented guys want to play with talented guys. The talented kids look to see what other talented kids are on your roster or who's considering playing for your school, and coaches use it for evaluation and recruiting as well. When you land the big "get" it is very good publicity for your program and you can tell the other guys you are recruiting that so and so just committed. Not as glamorous when you are telling the 5 star "we just landed a 144th best LB prospect!, come play for us!"
 

bankonit said:
Like it or not Rivals star rankings are very important to a program. The more 4 and 5 star players you have, the more 4 and 5 star players will commit to your program because talented guys want to play with talented guys. The talented kids look to see what other talented kids are on your roster or who's considering playing for your school, and coaches use it for evaluation and recruiting as well. When you land the big "get" it is very good publicity for your program and you can tell the other guys you are recruiting that so and so just committed. Not as glamorous when you are telling the 5 star "we just landed a 144th best LB prospect!, come play for us!"
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Do you honestly believe that many coaches use Rivals for their evaluations, they use the evaluations of their own staff. Most coaches worth a darn are not worried about what Rivals has their recruits ranked at because I guarantee you that Rivals has watched significantly less film or games of the recruit than the coaching staff. Newsflash for you, coaches were able to evaluate talent before Rivals existed. Also, I would venture that most recruits are more concerned about playing time and wining than what the recruit on the other end of the locker room is/was ranked. More glamorous to show a recruit the Rose Bowl trophy. Feel free to keep on throwing all your eggs in the Rivals basket and the evaluation of guys who couldn't make it as coaches.
 

Are you telling me Pete Carroll has no idea whatsoever that Seantrel is the #1 recruit in the nation? or that having the number #1 overall rated recruiting class is not important to the top programs? These coaches are competitive on and off the field and they are well aware of rankings. The good athletes recruit each other to play on the same team.

GopherGod, have fun trying to win a rose bowl with the untalented players you wish we were recruiting
 

bankonit said:
Brewster does expect that and that is the goal. Being Iowa or Wisconsin is shooting very low. After 2011 we will be in position to be competing for Conference titles and January bowl games
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It would be a blast to run before you can walk. We have to compete with the Wisconsin's and Iowa's before we can even think of bigger things. What you said about keeping Minnesota kids and staying average. Twice this decade, Minnesota had 2 #1 overall recruits in the nation (Mauer, Henderson), they had a defensive player of the year (Laurinitis), a Heisman trophy finalist (Fitzgerald), 1/2 of the best running back duo's in recent college fb history (Barber) just to name a few things...
 

bankonit said:
Are you telling me Pete Carroll has no idea whatsoever that Seantrel is the #1 recruit in the nation? or that having the number #1 overall rated recruiting class is not important to the top programs? These coaches are competitive on and off the field and they are well aware of rankings. The good athletes recruit each other to play on the same team.

GopherGod, have fun trying to win a rose bowl with the untalented players you wish we were recruiting
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I didn't say recruit bad players. You said that coaches use Rivals for evaluations and I stated that coaching staffs do it on their own, they don't need Rivals to tell them who to recruit. Do you even watch the games or just recruiting?
 

MNfootballfan said:
It would be a blast to run before you can walk. We have to compete with the Wisconsin's and Iowa's before we can even think of bigger things. What you said about keeping Minnesota kids and staying average. Twice this decade, Minnesota had 2 #1 overall recruits in the nation (Mauer, Henderson), they had a defensive player of the year (Laurinitis), a Heisman trophy finalist (Fitzgerald), 1/2 of the best running back duo's in recent college fb history (Barber) just to name a few things...
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According to bankonit none of th occurred if Rivals didn't say it. Based on his writing he has got to be pretty young and doesn't understand that Rivals hasn't been around tht long as was only created to make money of of fans.
 

Coaches obviously use more than rivals, but to to act like they are completely oblivious to it is not true. I watch the games but at this point in our program I would rather lose a game and get a big time recruit than win a game and lose a 4 star recruit to someone else. Because the wins will come down the road, we need to build up to them.
 

bankonit said:
Coaches obviously use more than rivals, but to to act like they are completely oblivious to it is not true. I watch the games but at this point in our program I would rather lose a game and get a big time recruit than win a game and lose a 4 star recruit to someone else. Because the wins will come down the road, we need to build up to them.
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Wow that is sad, you do realize the easiest way to attract better players is by winning. You also realize that those Rivals evaluators that you put all your faith into were guys that either never coached or couldn't cut it. But I am sure they are better qualified to evaluate players than successful college coaches.
 

If the rivals guys can't evaluate talent then neither can the USC coaching staff because they are recruiting the #1 and #2 recruits in the nation (according to Rivals). So they are either both right that Henderson and Prater are excellent players or they both are poor judges of talent because they both like the same players.
 

bankonit said:
If the rivals guys can't evaluate talent then neither can the USC coaching staff because they are recruiting the #1 and #2 recruits in the nation (according to Rivals). So they are either both right that Henderson and Prater are excellent players or they both are poor judges of talent because they both like the same players.
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Yet I get anoyed with people such as yourself who simply discard a player based on what Rivals says alone, nevermind that a accomplished coach thinks differently(i.e. what you did with A.J. Tarpley and have done with others. The opinions of the coaches are all that matter and when it disagrees with what some former video coordinator/writer/rivals evaluator says then I will go with the coaches opinions everytime unlike you.
 

GopherGod said:
Wow that is sad, you do realize the easiest way to attract better players is by winning. You also realize that those Rivals evaluators that you put all your faith into were guys that either never coached or couldn't cut it. But I am sure they are better qualified to evaluate players than successful college coaches.
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+1

The two things go hand in hand. I think we would have had a much better chance at Seantrel, Allen, and countless other recruits if we had won a couple more games this season.

I love looking at recruiting websites and getting pumped about these young guys entering the program, but it sure doesn't compare to beating Wisconsin or Iowa.
 

That is really an ignorant statement...
Here is a list of guys who were not considered to be in the top 3 (in the state of MN) over the past few years:

2004:
Nathan Swift: Nebraska's all time leader in receptions, had 63 rec for 941 yards and 10 TDs. He had 4 really good years at Nebraska.
Dominique Barber: Second Team All Big 10 ~ In the NFL
2005:
James Laurinaitis: He was considered and ranked the 4th best prospect in the state.
Eric Decker: Hopefully he doesn't need a ton of explanation.
2006:
Isaac Anderson: A solid big 10 player who still has a couple years left. He has shown about as much as any of our young heralded receivers.
Alexander Robinson: 1,000 yard rusher (700 yards as a Soph), who is a very solid Big 12 RB.
2007:
David Gilraeth
Bryce McNaul
Blake Sorensen
2008:
Roszell Gayden
Brandan Kelly
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Swift - How long have they been passing the ball at Nebraska? What, they started right when Swift got there? Oh, what a coicidence. Is he in the NFL now?

D. Barber - in the top 5, and he got a scholly to MN. This was a pretty safe bet he'd turn out good. Not sure what your point is here. Sometimes you can't just blanket "top 3" every year.

Laurinaitis - How good would he have been at MN? Wouldn't have won all those awards, thats for sure. Good player, sure. See Barber above.

Decker - Yes, I'll give you one.

I. Anderson - You said it - on par with our receivers, nothing more.

Robinson, Gilreath - FCS contributors - nothing to get too hyped about.

Rest of the list - TBD.

While MN can once in a while produce a couple good players, overall the depth of upper level talent is not there. I couldn't care less where the Jimmys and Joes come from. We need more explosive talent on both sides of the ball and for the vast majority of it we'd better look elsewhere.
 

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