Nate Godwin UPDATED 12/24: Decommits from Gophers, commits to South Florida

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Bob_Loblaw said:
Has Boddy played a snap this year? Is he being RS?

But I had the same question as you. I think someone will make the switch. I'd guess it would be Thompson, Montgomery or Johnson.

I know very few people would agree with me, but if it were me, I would consider Wells. I think he has played fantastic at moments at S, but I really have noticed his struggles making the one-on-one tackle on a lot of the longer runs. It's tough, because he looks so natural playing centerfield. However, I think Wells best position might be boundary corner (ala Stoud). He is tough enough to take on the run, he'll get to blitz a bit and he's a good cover man. It's tough to move a good player to a new position, but it evens out the classes as well.

BCB- Wells (JR) / Balthazar (SR)
FCB - Shabazz (SR) / Boddy (JR) / Murray (SO)
S - Vereen (SR) / Johnson (SO)
S - Thompson (JR) / Travis (SO)

I don't know, it's probably not a good idea to move a player who is already pretty effective at his current position. So any criticism of this take is probably warranted.
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Corner is a concern next year and I don't think the idea of moving Wells is crazy. He looked good early in the year but has bee next to invisible (I know the injury plays a role in this) since Big Ten games have started. He is undersized for a Big Ten safety so moving him to the outside could work if his coverage skills are strong enough.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Has Boddy played a snap this year? Is he being RS?
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Yeah, he's played. Not much, but he's played.

The biggest concern with this defense next year is clearly losing Carter and Stoud. Shabazz flashed a bit early in the year, but I haven't noticed him much one way or the other lately. Baltazar seems to be really good at running into the guy trying to catch the ball. So...there's that.

With a class this small, I'm not crazy about adding a JUCO, but an argument could be made at cornerback.

I also don't hate the idea of moving Wells. He looks pretty lost in run defense. Then again, Thompson looks even worse, so he might make the most sense.
 


Gopherprof said:
Baltazar seems to be really good at running into the guy trying to catch the ball. So...there's that.
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Hey, at least it means he's close to the ball.

In all seriousness though, it does mean that he's consistently been close to the player catching the ball. That's more than half the battle. Now it just means they need to refine his ball skills once the pass is in the air. That's a lot more comfortable spot to be in than having him be halfway across the field watching a receiver run free consistently.

I think the CB concern is overblown. We will still have 4 experienced CBs next year (Baltazar, Shabazz, Boddy, and Murray) and will keep building the pipeline into the future. I'm more concerned about who's going to play OLB next year.
 

Boddy and Murray have played almost exclusively on special teams. I don't think any of us have an idea of how their coverage skills are.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Has Boddy played a snap this year? Is he being RS?

But I had the same question as you. I think someone will make the switch. I'd guess it would be Thompson, Montgomery or Johnson.

I know very few people would agree with me, but if it were me, I would consider Wells. I think he has played fantastic at moments at S, but I really have noticed his struggles making the one-on-one tackle on a lot of the longer runs. It's tough, because he looks so natural playing centerfield. However, I think Wells best position might be boundary corner (ala Stoud). He is tough enough to take on the run, he'll get to blitz a bit and he's a good cover man. It's tough to move a good player to a new position, but it evens out the classes as well.

BCB- Wells (JR) / Balthazar (SR)
FCB - Shabazz (SR) / Boddy (JR) / Murray (SO)
S - Vereen (SR) / Johnson (SO)
S - Thompson (JR) / Travis (SO)

I don't know, it's probably not a good idea to move a player who is already pretty effective at his current position. So any criticism of this take is probably warranted.
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Good observation. I've heard Montgomery is one of the fastest players on the team, so he could be a possible candidate as well. At the end of the day, I really think we need someone who has lots of game experience to make the move. This would be Wells, Thompson, or Vereen. There's no way we start next year with Shabazz, Balthazzar, Boddy, and Murray as our top 4 corners, we just wouldn't have enough experience with that group.
 

Gopherprof said:
Boddy and Murray have played almost exclusively on special teams. I don't think any of us have an idea of how their coverage skills are.
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Totally agree. Shabazz looked good before he got hurt, hasn't done much in the 2 games since his return. Have not been overly impressed with Baltazar and the other two are unknowns. Replacing Carter and Stoudermire next year could be a big issue. Really the defense outside of the DL is a pretty big question mark for next year. Thre are some young guys with experience and redshirts but the number of proven comodities in the back 7 could be a little dicey. Lots of time though for guys to step up and who knows how the roster will really look next fall.
 



MNVCGUY said:
Totally agree. Shabazz looked good before he got hurt, hasn't done much in the 2 games since his return. Have not been overly impressed with Baltazar and the other two are unknowns. Replacing Carter and Stoudermire next year could be a big issue. Really the defense outside of the DL is a pretty big question mark for next year. Thre are some young guys with experience and redshirts but the number of proven comodities in the back 7 could be a little dicey. Lots of time though for guys to step up and who knows how the roster will really look next fall.
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I thought no one was to mention that we are young?
 

DrunkGopher said:
So he got suspended 2 games for that hit in the article? Really? What kind of weak ass football are they playing down there, completely clean hit. Definitely don't see how you can take 2 games away from a kids senior year for it.
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Yeah that was weak. I can see a penalty but not a suspension.

He looks like a good get. Welcome Nate!
 

I am going to do the "base recruits off of stars" method. He has a multitude of offers. The non-bcs schools obviously see the talent so they offered (and a LOT of them did). This is the kind of kid that may have been recognized as a talent early, but could easily over perform during his senior year. This kid could end up being very good. I hope we hold onto that 'commitment'.
 




Gopherprof said:
Glad to hear. My favorite commit so far, and we need defensive back depth.

I'll be interested to see what we do with our defensive backfield. We have far more listed safties next year than cornerbacks.

CB- Shabazz, Baltazar, Boddy, Murray, Myrick

S- Wells, Vereen, Thompson, Travis, Johnson, Levine, Montgomery, Watkins, Godwin

I wouldn't favor moving Vereen back to corner. I think he's much more suited to playing deep. Montgomery seems like a guy who could play corner, but outside of that I'm not sure.
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Nor would I. Some guys need to play with the game in front of them and Vereen seems to be one of those guys. Given we graduated Royston and Lewis and moved Manuel to LB, I was worried going into the season, but things have turned out alright.

With Carter and Stoudemire, we're going to need to get some fresh bodies in there and Kill and Claeys appear to be letting a number of guys get their feet wet on special teams and in nickel and dime packages.

It's getting to where you almost always need to recruit a full set of DBs every class.
 

scools12 said:
they could sign a 4th grader and your response would be the same.
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In fairness that is how it works here. If we get a kid he is an underated star in the making, if he goes somewhere else we didn't want/need him anyway. That is why I don't get too excited about any recruit until they show up on campus and you find out if they can actually play or not. Any kid good enough to get a d1 offer is going to have an impressive high school highlight video.
 

MNVCGUY said:
In fairness that is how it works here. If we get a kid he is an underated star in the making, if he goes somewhere else we didn't want/need him anyway. That is why I don't get too excited about any recruit until they show up on campus and you find out if they can actually play or not. Any kid good enough to get a d1 offer is going to have an impressive high school highlight video.
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Just a general observation with regards to his comments on all the recruits that commit.
 


MNVCGUY said:
In fairness that is how it works here. If we get a kid he is an underated star in the making, if he goes somewhere else we didn't want/need him anyway. That is why I don't get too excited about any recruit until they show up on campus and you find out if they can actually play or not. Any kid good enough to get a d1 offer is going to have an impressive high school highlight video.
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This is sort of the nature of the beast, but it's also because people seem to trust Coach Kill thus far.

When you get a guy who is choosing us over more successfull programs, people are going to be excited. It shows that his talent is universally thought of at a certain level.

However, now, since Kill has built some trust amongst Gopher fans, people will give him the benefit of the doubt on unheralded players. Look at most of the least heralded Kill recruits, he's had a lot of success with these guys so far (Plsek, Bjorklund, Keith, Maye, Cedric Thompson and Wells). Some of the least sought after recruits are showing that they are at least solid Big 10 contributors. That buys a guy some deference, for awhile.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
This is sort of the nature of the beast, but it's also because people seem to trust Coach Kill thus far.

When you get a guy who is choosing us over more successfull programs, people are going to be excited. It shows that his talent is universally thought of at a certain level.

However, now, since Kill has built some trust amongst Gopher fans, people will give him the benefit of the doubt on unheralded players. Look at most of the least heralded Kill recruits, he's had a lot of success with these guys so far (Plsek, Bjorklund, Keith, Maye, Cedric Thompson and Wells). Some of the least sought after recruits are showing that they are at least solid Big 10 contributors. That buys a guy some deference, for awhile.
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I'm not hating on Kill's recruiting yet, nor am I praising it, time will tell. If and when the unheralded guys contribute to a solid big10 team I will be impressed. I have been impressed with the skills of some those guys though, especially Maye and Wells appear to be big10 caliber athletes. Kill will probably have to do his share of finding h.s. qbs/wrs and turning them into cbs and things like that.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
This is sort of the nature of the beast, but it's also because people seem to trust Coach Kill thus far.

When you get a guy who is choosing us over more successfull programs, people are going to be excited. It shows that his talent is universally thought of at a certain level.

However, now, since Kill has built some trust amongst Gopher fans, people will give him the benefit of the doubt on unheralded players. Look at most of the least heralded Kill recruits, he's had a lot of success with these guys so far (Plsek, Bjorklund, Keith, Maye, Cedric Thompson and Wells). Some of the least sought after recruits are showing that they are at least solid Big 10 contributors. That buys a guy some deference, for awhile.
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I agree with your general sentiment. That being said I think it is a little early to give Kill a lot of credit for the unheralded talent he has brought on board. Some of those young guys are certainly playing but their ability to make an impact at the Big Ten level is still a question mark. Wells looked good early, but hasn't done much in Big Ten play (injury has been a factor but he also missed a ton of tackles against Wisconsin). Like Jones last year I am not as infatuated with Maye as others on here, he is certainly fast but through 7 games I have not seen enough to say he is going to be a weapon. We won't really know for another year or so if these guys can cut it against Big Ten competition.

I guess the thing for me is I don't get overly excited about recruits prior to their arrival on campus. Clearly if they are getting an offer the coaching staff saw something in them however their ability to survive at this level typically takes a few years to be proven. This will be especially true for the guys Kill is recruiting because in general he is not going to be getting the guys that are likely to make an immediate impact. There have only been a handful of guys in the past 15 years or so that I was actually really excited about based on their high school highlights and potential. Dom Sims, Maroney, Spaeth, and Gray are the ones that come to mind.
 

Decommited today. Verbaled to USF Bulls. The Big Least. lol

Too bad, I liked his mindset.
 



This is why Kill keeps saying it don't matter til they sign on the dotted line in Feb.

A commitment means absolutely nothing these days.

Football needs an early signing period to reduce costs and time of recruiting kids that say yes. Maybe let a team sign up to 15 kids before the holiday break and then the balance in Feb.
 


oh well.... at least it opens doors again for Rucker to come back home to the U!
 


GopherinPhilly said:
This is why Kill keeps saying it don't matter til they sign on the dotted line in Feb.

A commitment means absolutely nothing these days.

Football needs an early signing period to reduce costs and time of recruiting kids that say yes. Maybe let a team sign up to 15 kids before the holiday break and then the balance in Feb.
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As Haugy#33 has stated sometime back, "A verbal committment isn't worth the paper it isn't signed on."

Get used to it, guys. This type of thing happens all over the nation in the cutthroat world of Big Time College Recruiting.
 

Dr.Don said:
As Haugy#33 has stated sometime back, "A verbal committment isn't worth the paper it isn't signed on."

Get used to it, guys. This type of thing happens all over the nation in the cutthroat world of Big Time College Recruiting.
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Nothing says "big time" like the USF Bulls
 


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