You can say that recruiting classes take a couple of years to have an impact on the field and generally that's true, but not so much in the case of Minnesota's class of 2008. Of the 29 players, 6 were Juco.
Rex Sharpe was a 3 star on Rivals, is now a senior, and is a backup.
David Pittman was a 4 star, is now a senior, and is not in the two-deep.
Tramaine Brock was a 3 star and is not on the team.
Cedric McKinley, Simoni Lawrence, and Traye Simmons all start, but all are seniors.
In fact, you'd think that with the supposed strength of the team being the last 2 recruiting classes, there would be fewer juniors and seniors in the two-deep. Not so. According to Rivals Minnesota has 26 juniors and seniors in the two-deep and Wisconsin has 22. Add in the punter and kicker and the gap grows to 28 to 22. The Gophers have 12 seniors starting (14 if you count punter and kicker), whereas the Badgers have 7.