Official 2013 Class Recruiting Updates Thread

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Our walk-on program will only become a really good program if they indeed hand out scholarships to those who earned them. My guess is that most of the parents who allow their kids to take on walk-on offers over scholarship offers must be well off financially. If you were an average income family it must be really difficult to turn down a DII offer even if it is your dream to play DI.
 

I liked Bridgeport Tusler as much as anyone, but the Gopher chose not to offer.

And doesn't sound like any other FBS programs have offered.
Always thought he was the best player on the football field when he played, Minnesota HS football was not great this year
but he was at the head of this class in my opinion. Kid seemed to have leadership skills that you would like to have on your defense,
as the other kids seemed to rally around him. That said I think the Gophers had him in camp and chose not to offer a scholarship
based on there camp evaluation. Some kids
have parents that can allow them to take the PWO and make it. Not all kids are so lucky to have that.
Kill must not think Tusler is a Big 10 level player. I hope the kid goes to SDSU and plays with a chip on his shoulder because
I think he will out work and out hustle his talent level. That kid just seems to have something that defies his physical speed.
He just seems football fast to me, faster during games than maybe a track time.
Some guy's are just football players and Tusler is a good football player, maybe in another year he would have gotten an offer.
To me he would be the guy I give the last scholarship offer on, because like when they gambled on Barber sometimes you hit on that.
SDSUwill be happy to have him. Tusler would love to be a Gopher and I think he has an edge about him that people say he can't do things
and the kid just makes plays. Tusler would come in and be a leader in the program and I think he has intangibles that you don't always see on film,
He would hustle and work hard and push people and you need those types in the program. I would think he is worthy of a gray shirt offer at least.
I know that this staff doesn't seem to like Gray shirts but Tusler would be worth the gamble.
 

I really hope we can land Webb, this kid would be an absolute steal. He ran for 619 yrds 8.7 yrd avr and 10 tds in 4 playoff games on the way to a state title, 1,860 yrds and 26 tds on the season. He is backed up by a jr who has offers from half a dozen "helmet schools" already. Webb and Edwards would be two legit well rounded rbs capable of big plays. Can't remember the last time we brought in a rb like that. Terrence Sherrer or Jay Thomas maybe? And we all know how they turned out unfortunately. Devon Wright I suppose too, I think he really suffered from the coaching change. Never really seemed to get much of a chance.
 

Sounds like Reid Travis recruiting is really starting to heat up Per doogie

Gophers football coach Jerry Kill is expected at DeLaSalle High School on Saturday afternoon to watch quarterback recruit Reid Travis' basketball game against Eden Prairie. Iowa is visiting with Travis weekly and Stanford, Tennessee, Arkansas and Oregon are expected to visit in the next month. This excludes all the basketball interest in him. Big-time coaches are swinging in regularly on that front too.
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gopherdudepart2 said:
And doesn't sound like any other FBS programs have offered.
Always thought he was the best player on the football field when he played, Minnesota HS football was not great this year
but he was at the head of this class in my opinion. Kid seemed to have leadership skills that you would like to have on your defense,
as the other kids seemed to rally around him. That said I think the Gophers had him in camp and chose not to offer a scholarship
based on there camp evaluation. Some kids
have parents that can allow them to take the PWO and make it. Not all kids are so lucky to have that.
Kill must not think Tusler is a Big 10 level player. I hope the kid goes to UNI and plays with a chip on his shoulder because
I think he will out work and out hustle his talent level. That kid just seems to have something that defies his physical speed.
He just seems football fast to me, faster during games than maybe a track time.
Some guy's are just football players and Tusler is a good football player, maybe in another year he would have gotten an offer.
To me he would be the guy I give the last scholarship offer on, because like when they gambled on Barber sometimes you hit on that.
UNI will be happy to have him.
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Don't know much about the kid and have not seen him play in person but based on what I have seen here and even based off your description he seems like the definition of a PWO offer at the D1 level. He very well could be one of the many guys that falls through the cracks or gets overlooked but clearly the consensus on him is he is not worth a BCS level offer. It is not like the old days where a kid might get overlooked because no one had access to film on him, teams have evaluated him.
 

MNVCGUY said:
It is not like the old days where a kid might get overlooked because no one had access to film on him, teams have evaluated him.
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This is a very good point. Recruiting mistakes still happen because it's an inexact science, but it is extremely rare for a guy to be missed by everyone and then be an instant impact-type player at the DI-AA/DII level. There are surprisingly quite a few guys who end up being very good at the lower levels and everyone says "shoulda offered him", but most often it's because he really developed in college (late bloomer) or was an academic risk in the first place.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I agree and I think he does. But what do I know? I hope I do my job better than Coach Kill could and I'm certain he does his better than me. If I was going to take a chance on a player who had question marks, it would have been Harden. He was simply THAT dominant playing against the best teams in the state. I don't mind the staff having a different opinion than me, I hope they're right about the local guys more often than I would be (I'm sure they will be).

He would have been last year. Take nothing away from Timms, but if I could have swapped out Harden for Timms last year, I would have. However, Timms is supposedly impressive and I know NOTHING about him, so again, what do I know?[B/]

It's even more interesting with guys at NDSU that the discussion comes up. At least guys like Harden, Reineke, Cottrell, are going to FBS schools. The vast majority of guys who ended up at NDSU didn't even have MAC offers, yet, some hold the Gopher staff for not offering every kid who turns out (I've even seen it with St. Thomas and UMD athletes).
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Bob, you are just nailing it. I completely agree on the swapping Timms out for Harden. But, like you said, I am not at practice everyday so what they say about Timms could very well be correct. Just on face value though, I would have taken Harden, who like you said, dominated against some pretty good competition.
 

gophergrad said:
Sounds like Reid Travis recruiting is really starting to heat up Per doogie
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I haven't heard a lot about this Travis kid. 6'7" and 235 on rivlas and listed as Pro Style QB. I have to think he has good athleticism and speed with the basketball attention and the fact the Oregon would be interested.
 



gophers141 said:
I haven't heard a lot about this Travis kid. 6'7" and 235 on rivlas and listed as Pro Style QB. I have to think he has good athleticism and speed with the basketball attention and the fact the Oregon would be interested.
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Clearly you're not a basketball fan.
 


Bridgeport Tusler decommitted from UNI and committed to SDSU. See, it happens to everybody.
 




Nate Sandell tweet: Regardless of Andrews' decomitemnt, #Gophers still sound very satisfied w/ current class. Won't be able to exhale though until Feb. 6

Go Gophers!!
 

dlw4gophers said:
Chad Fahning will be walking on next year. I have to say the WO class is starting to look pretty impressive. Passed on a scholarship offer from Western Michigan to PURSUE HIS DREAM. I love it.
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Fahning is another really impressive WO. He is a talented guy and I didn't think we had a chance to get him as a PWO. The WO OLinemen this year are especially impressive. This is a good sign for our program. We have a ton of football players who are borderline BCS type of athletes (either NDSU or MAC) and getting a decent percentage of athletes of that caliber to pay their own way is a big step.

I actually was impressed with a lot of the walkons that Brew brought into the program, but the walkon program has really taken off with Kill.
 

Nate Sandell tweet: Regardless of Andrews' decomitemnt, #Gophers still sound very satisfied w/ current class. Won't be able to exhale though until Feb. 6

Go Gophers!!
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Whew....here I was thinking we were going to hear they had decided to just stop recruiting now that Andrews has decommited. I feel much better knowing they are satisfied with the guys they have. Sorry for being snarky just don't see the point of a comment like that, what are they going to say "man this class sucks without Andrews"?
 

BleedGopher said:
Nate Sandell tweet: Regardless of Andrews' decomitemnt, #Gophers still sound very satisfied w/ current class. Won't be able to exhale though until Feb. 6

Go Gophers!!
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That's pretty funny.
 


MNVCGUY said:
Whew....here I was thinking we were going to hear they had decided to just stop recruiting now that Andrews has decommited. I feel much better knowing they are satisfied with the guys they have. Sorry for being snarky just don't see the point of a comment like that, what are they going to say "man this class sucks without Andrews"?
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When the gophers finish dead last in recruiting in the Big Ten, they have to make it sound like they are okay with it I guess.
 

We just have to face the facts, we are Minnesota, not Alabama, Florida State, Ohio State, etc. We will not be able to get the 4 stars until the program has turned the corner. You might say, well Brewster was able to get 4 stars, but did they really pan out the way a 4 star is supposed to? No. Coach Kill knows that he must find the diamonds in the rough, and coach them up and develop them to perform like 4 stars by hopefully their Sophomore or Junior year. Kill and company were probably hoping that Andrews would stick and other schools might not find him or offer him, but Florida State was able to offer him a scholly. And if you are from the South, and it's between Florida State and Minnesota. It's Florida State, running away. Maybe in two years or so, a Nate Andrews kind of player will come here.
 

gopherpride32 said:
We just have to face the facts, we are Minnesota, not Alabama, Florida State, Ohio State, etc. We will not be able to get the 4 stars until the program has turned the corner. You might say, well Brewster was able to get 4 stars, but did they really pan out the way a 4 star is supposed to? No. Coach Kill knows that he must find the diamonds in the rough, and coach them up and develop them to perform like 4 stars by hopefully their Sophomore or Junior year. Kill and company were probably hoping that Andrews would stick and other schools might not find him or offer him, but Florida State was able to offer him a scholly. And if you are from the South, and it's between Florida State and Minnesota. It's Florida State, running away. Maybe in two years or so, a Nate Andrews kind of player will come here.
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He should be able to out recruit at least a few of the following schools like Purdue, Indiana, Penn State on probation, and Illinois however on a semi-regular basis. If he can't do that, he can coach up all he wants but he will not be able to get and stay in the upper half of the big ten much less compete for anything of significance. The fact is the majority of the other programs in the Big Ten have good coaches as well that know how to coach them up, and if they are starting with better talent to begin with, it will be hard to leapfrog them. Diamonds in the rough are great but your whole recruiting class cannot be reliant upon those every year. I think Kill is a good coach and has loyal assistants, but he needs a guy who can flat out recruit and I haven't seen it yet from this staff.
 

It doesn't seem like Kill extends many early offers compared to other programs, I don't know if this hurts his recruiting or not.
 

To bad we couldn't keep Andrews in the mix but I am also not to shocked by his change. I just hope we get some additions at key positions that will make a difference. The Gophers biggest need IMO is some true game changers no matter what the stars are its the talent we really need. It appears Edwards could be a really nice addition and a couple of the lbers in time could be good players. I am looking though some of the lists at other comparable schools and they seem to be adding 2 to 5 players ranked much higher than anything we are bringing in this year which bothers me because we have such a small class compared to others. What doesn't really impress me is all these walk on commits. Its pretty hard for me to get pumped about players who are walking on when the actuall recruiting class isnt overly impressive. I hope these guys develope quickly and we see those diamonds in the rough but all in all Kill really needs to build the base of the program but adding some impact will make the bigger difference in wins and losses.

I think Jerry Kill is entering the most important year of his coaching career not just in wins and losses but in recruiting. He had to put together a strong recruiting class next year no matter what the record is.
 


GopherGod said:
He should be able to out recruit at least a few of the following schools like Purdue, Indiana, Penn State on probation, and Illinois however on a semi-regular basis. If he can't do that, he can coach up all he wants but he will not be able to get and stay in the upper half of the big ten much less compete for anything of significance. The fact is the majority of the other programs in the Big Ten have good coaches as well that know how to coach them up, and if they are starting with better talent to begin with, it will be hard to leapfrog them. Diamonds in the rough are great but your whole recruiting class cannot be reliant upon those every year. I think Kill is a good coach and has loyal assistants, but he needs a guy who can flat out recruit and I haven't seen it yet from this staff.
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This season we will start to get our first indication of whether or not Kill and his staff can do more with less talent then the rest of the conference, in 2014 we will get an even better feel for it. That really has been the contention all along for those that believe in Kill and therefore don't worry about low rated recruiting classes because they feel Kill and his staff can "coach them up".

For Kill's sake and the sake of the program hopefully that is correct because historically finishing #12 in the conference in recruiting typically doesn't translate into a top of the conference finish.
 

GopherGod said:
When the gophers finish dead last in recruiting in the Big Ten, they have to make it sound like they are okay with it I guess.
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Right now it's dead last. Hopefully in a few years we'll look back and say it was a pretty good class. At this point I think we have to trust Kill and his staff. We shall see.
 

GopherGod said:
He should be able to out recruit at least a few of the following schools like Purdue, Indiana, Penn State on probation, and Illinois however on a semi-regular basis. If he can't do that, he can coach up all he wants but he will not be able to get and stay in the upper half of the big ten much less compete for anything of significance. The fact is the majority of the other programs in the Big Ten have good coaches as well that know how to coach them up, and if they are starting with better talent to begin with, it will be hard to leapfrog them. Diamonds in the rough are great but your whole recruiting class cannot be reliant upon those every year. I think Kill is a good coach and has loyal assistants, but he needs a guy who can flat out recruit and I haven't seen it yet from this staff.
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Good post GopherGod. Even if you find a reasonable numbers of diamonds in the rough, you aren't going to find 10 per class, meaning you absolutely have to land some guys who are fairly highly-ranked and on everyone else's radar. This is especially true at the skilled positions. In other words, you have to "win" some kids from other programs. I'm not going to go on-and-on about Nate Andrews, but he was a kid that, at least for awhile, it looked like we were going to "win" from a couple of heralded programs.
 

For what it's worth the 2 star guys Kill has brought in have had a pretty decent impact. His first class he got Cockran, Jones, Rabe, Wells, Thompson, and Foreman. 5 for 6 there. His second class he had Baltazar, Ekpe, Fruechte, Keith, Lauer, Leidner, Murray, and Timms. Baltazar, Ekpe, Fruechte, and Keith have already contributed. I expect Timms and Murray to contribute more in the future and people seem to be pretty high on Lauer and Leidner is probably QB 2. This class has Myrick, Santoso (kicker, whatever they don't get many stars even when they're good.), Wipson, and Wilson. I expect Wilson to be a big contributor this year if not a starter.
 

btowngopher said:
For what it's worth the 2 star guys Kill has brought in have had a pretty decent impact. His first class he got Cockran, Jones, Rabe, Wells, Thompson, and Foreman. 5 for 6 there. His second class he had Baltazar, Ekpe, Fruechte, Keith, Lauer, Leidner, Murray, and Timms. Baltazar, Ekpe, Fruechte, and Keith have already contributed. I expect Timms and Murray to contribute more in the future and people seem to be pretty high on Lauer and Leidner is probably QB 2. This class has Myrick, Santoso (kicker, whatever they don't get many stars even when they're good.), Wipson, and Wilson. I expect Wilson to be a big contributor this year if not a starter.
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What have those guys contributed to? A lot of big ten losses? Sure, they have been on the field some but the team has lost most of the big ten games they have played in. None of those guys have shown me anything that makes me think they make a difference in the big ten. They are bodies.
 

Recruiting has been pushed so far forward that this years record will impact the 2014 class far more than this years class. I really expect recruiting to vastly improve next year. So far, every commitment we have is considered a three star by either Rivals or ESPN, that by itself is an improvement.
 

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