Official 2014 Recruiting Updates Thread: Links, Tweets, Videos, Stories, Rumors, etc.

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Tim Riggins said:
Oh no, another father that wants to be part of the process. I don't know anything on Jeff's past but this reminds me of another high profile, local recruit.
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Jenkins is Jeff's coach at Washburn, not father. Jenkins is certainly a Gophers fan - he attends every home game, traveled to Madison for the Gophers-Badgers game, and watches all the away games on TV.
 

The Gopher Report said:
Jenkins is Jeff's coach at Washburn, not father. Jenkins is certainly a Gophers fan - he attends every home game, traveled to Madison for the Gophers-Badgers game, and watches all the away games on TV.
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I think the comment was in reference to his father getting out of prison and wanting to play a role in the recruitment process.
 

@gopherhole: Tampa CB Tajee Fullwood gets #Gophers offer! RT @Tajee_TTM2: - Another Offer! #Minnesota

Go Gophers!!
 

@darrenwolfson: Spoke w/ Washburn RB Jeff Jones. He was very complimentary of how Jerry Kill took the news of him switching to a soft verbal. #gophers

Go Gophers!!
 




@jeffgreer: Joker Phillips is here watching Dwyer-Vero for the #Gators ... #Bama #WVU #Gophers #FSU #PennState #IowaState #NCState #AveMaria also here

Go Gophers!!
 


Killjoy said:
Things have gone well for him, haven't they?:rolleyes:
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They actually have gone pretty well for him in Miami. He might have not lived up to expectations yet, but he has put together a pretty good career. He has essentially been a 2.5 year starter, he was off during his SO season due to injury. He was Freshman All American in 2010, All ACC Hon mention last year, and every single NFL draft forecasting site that I've seen has him listed at about the 3-6th best OT in next year's draft (1st or 2nd round pick).

His expectations were higher, but if he finishes his career as a 1st or 2nd round pick, it's hard to say that he didn't live up to those expectations. He'll have a career similar to that of Rashede Hageman (stumbled a bit early), he just never RS.
 



The Gopher Report said:
Jenkins is Jeff's coach at Washburn, not father. Jenkins is certainly a Gophers fan - he attends every home game, traveled to Madison for the Gophers-Badgers game, and watches all the away games on TV.
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Jenkins is a great guy. I own a home right next to Washburn HS and he is really a guy who is vocal and positive in the community. However, the article specifically mentioned that Jones has a father getting out of jail who wants to be involved in the process. I wish for Jeff Jones sake, Jenkins was the one who helped Jeff Jones with his recruiting.
 

Bob_Loblaw

Bob_Loblaw said:
They actually have gone pretty well for him in Miami. He might have not lived up to expectations yet, but he has put together a pretty good career. He has essentially been a 2.5 year starter, he was off during his SO season due to injury. He was Freshman All American in 2010, All ACC Hon mention last year, and every single NFL draft forecasting site that I've seen has him listed at about the 3-6th best OT in next year's draft (1st or 2nd round pick).

His expectations were higher, but if he finishes his career as a 1st or 2nd round pick, it's hard to say that he didn't live up to those expectations. He'll have a career similar to that of Rashede Hageman (stumbled a bit early), he just never RS.
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Thanks Bob for the update. It was very interesting and appreciated. I guess in his case, the old adage that no news is good news hold true. It is always nice when somebody turns things around.
 

Steven Richardson finally got rated by Rivals, 2 stars.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/minnesota/football/recruiting/player-Steven-Richardson-147971

Nice write up about him:
DT Steven Richardson (5-foot-11, 280 pounds) Chicago Mount Carmel- Minnesota verbal commit. Speaking of star rankings he currently has none per Rivals and that's just wrong. Richardson is a perfect NG type who will battle all shapes and sizes. Terrific mix of brute force and quickness and Richardson has a chance on Saturday to establish himself in a big way from a rankings/stars standpoint. I see Richardson easily as a mid three star kid to start. If Richardson was three inches taller he would have 30 offers and be a potential four star already just based off of his tape.

http://minnesota.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1502280
 

Sid Hartman: Gophers football coaches seek recruits to fill out young roster

Football coach Jerry Kill has limited scholarships to give next year, so his staff must make good choices.

“We’re a young football team,” Kill said. “In our situation, we may start one or two seniors on offense and then on defense probably just about three.”

“The next recruiting class will be a very small one, so [we can’t] afford to make any mistakes,” Kill said. “Scholarshipwise it’s always hard to tell exactly what you’ll have, but it won’t be a big class. It will be a class that we certainly need to bring some difference-makers in. That part of recruiting is going good right now and I think the recruits we’re talking to feel good about the direction we’re headed.

“We still have guys on the road and we will have — you get a certain amount of days to get your recruiting in, and we still have a couple more days. We’ll have everyone off the road and in the office on Thursday.”

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/209020381.html?refer=y

Go Gophers!!
 



I'm starting to get a little PO'd about the whole "we're a young/inexperienced football team." It's like Jerry is just reserving the right to use this as a fallback option if things don't pan out. Yes, I agree we need more time. I guess I just hate how polarizing Kill and Brewster have been with expectations.
 

BieberHole69 said:
I'm starting to get a little PO'd about the whole "we're a young/inexperienced football team." It's like Jerry is just reserving the right to use this as a fallback option if things don't pan out. Yes, I agree we need more time. I guess I just hate how polarizing Kill and Brewster have been with expectations.
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If you look at the two deaps, the youth shows up. Because of a disastrous 2009 class, the depth chart is full of underclassmen and juniors who didn't redshirt. On the other hand, the argument goes out the door next year.
 

BieberHole69 said:
I'm starting to get a little PO'd about the whole "we're a young/inexperienced football team." It's like Jerry is just reserving the right to use this as a fallback option if things don't pan out. Yes, I agree we need more time. I guess I just hate how polarizing Kill and Brewster have been with expectations.
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I think most of us follow it closely enough to build our own expectations. All of that talk about expectations is more for the casual fan. We know who we have and who we have returning and can make a decent estimation on how we might perform. I think sometimes people want to read more into "coach speak" than is really being laid out there. We are still a very young team, just like we were a young team in 2011. However, our expectations should be higher for next year than they were for Kill's first year.

As far as how long Kill can talk about us being young. . .well, as long as it's true. Unfortunately, because of attrition, it will take/has taken us a few years to be an experienced/mature team. We are young, so when Kill is being asked about our performance next year, it'd be weird or him not to mention it.

We have a true SO QB, youth all over our receiving/TE corp, most of our reserves at every position are extremely young. It's simply true, we're young.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I think most of us follow it closely enough to build our own expectations. All of that talk about expectations is more for the casual fan. We know who we have and who we have returning and can make a decent estimation on how we might perform. I think sometimes people want to read more into "coach speak" than is really being laid out there. We are still a very young team, just like we were a young team in 2011. However, our expectations should be higher for next year than they were for Kill's first year.

As far as how long Kill can talk about us being young. . .well, as long as it's true. Unfortunately, because of attrition, it will take/has taken us a few years to be an experienced/mature team. We are young, so when Kill is being asked about our performance next year, it'd be weird or him not to mention it.

We have a true SO QB, youth all over our receiving/TE corp, most of our reserves at every position are extremely young. It's simply true, we're young.
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Thanks Bob for pointing out what for many of us seems to be so obvious. But for some reason the age of this team and Kill talking about it seems to be a bone of contention or an excuse. Hopefully, and I am sure it will happen, this discussion will die a natural death of old age. There are far more important and meaningful things to be concerned about than this.:rolleyes:
 


BieberHole69 said:
I'm starting to get a little PO'd about the whole "we're a young/inexperienced football team." It's like Jerry is just reserving the right to use this as a fallback option if things don't pan out. Yes, I agree we need more time. I guess I just hate how polarizing Kill and Brewster have been with expectations.
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Look at it this way:
4th and 5th year players should be your 2 deeps with a handful of 2nd-3rd.
That would be 2009 redshirted recruits(Brew redshirted very few in that class) and 2010 recruits.
2009:
Joey Searcy DT-never made it on campus
Hasan Lipscomb RB-never made it on campus

Brent Singleton LB-left school
Kenneth Watkins S-left school
Nick Rengel TE-left school
Kerry Lewis DB-left school
Bryant Allen WR- left school

Hayo Carpenter WR- Graduated/nonfactor
Matt Garin DE- Graduated/nonfactor

Eric Jacques DT-Graduated/Rotational
Jeff Wills OT-Graduated/JUCO

Kendall Gregory-McGhee TE- Injured/nonfactor
Brooks Michel OL-Injured

Michael Carter DB-Gone

Dan Orseske K-lost job/nonfactor since 09'
Moses Alipate QB/TE- Non factor
Victor Keise WR-nonfactor
Ed Olson OL-STARTER
Josh Campion OL- Current Soph after long road back to football- STARTER
Ra'shede Hageman DT-STARTER

So 3 starters from that class and 1 is actually a Soph. No rotational(2 deep)

2010:
Marquise Hill ATH-Never made it to campus
Herschel Thornton DB-Never made it on campus
Dwight Tillman DB-Never made it on campus

Matt Eggen OL-Left School
Tyrone Bouie DB-Left School
Dwayne Mitchell LB-Left School
Tom Parish QB-Left School
Sean Ferguson DT-Left School
J.D. Pride QB-Left School
Johnathan Ragoo OL-Left Scool
Willie Tatum LB-Left School
Josh Tauaefa DT-Left School
Tiree Eure TE-Left/JUCO

Lewis DB-Graduated
Jimmy Gjere OL-Injured

Logan Hutton WR-nonfactor
Cameron Wilson WR-Nonfactor
Devon Wright RB-Nonfactor
Harold Legania DT-Nonfactor

Lamonte Edwards LB- Rotational
Marek Lenkiewicz OT-Rotational
Ben Perry DE-Rotational

Zac Epping OL-STARTER
Donnell Kirkwood RB-STARTER
James Manuel LB-STARTER
Brock Vereen DB-STARTER

So:
5 never made it on campus
14 left early
9 Left after 4 years or 2 for JUCOs
7 are on the team but haven't played
7 starters and 3 more in 2 deeps.
10/47 have impacted the program even a little bit on the field. (21.2%)
oof
 

Great Summary Ole

Ole said:
So:
5 never made it on campus
14 left early
9 Left after 4 years or 2 for JUCOs
7 are on the team but haven't played
7 starters and 3 more in 2 deeps.
10/47 have impacted the program even a little bit on the field. (21.2%)
oof
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Your posting says it all in explaining why this team is young. But it also rebukes the myth that Brewster was a great recruiter and Jerry isn't. I am to lazy to do the analysis but I am quite sure the facts will show that Jerry's recruits stay and have contributed a great deal more than Brewster's.

The fact is that Jerry has ever right to say his team is young because it is. Some of the people here have as much patience and understanding as a two year old. The reality is that having older linemen and defensive players is a critical factor in a teams success. Unfortunately Jerry can only age them one year at a time. If he really wanted to whine he would point out each time what Brewster did to this team, but he doesn't.
 

Killjoy, you beat me to it. I especially like the part about the Brewster recruiting myth. Lipscomb was rated higher by Rivals than Montee Ball... so what? He didn't make it here!
 

EE_Gopher said:
Killjoy, you beat me to it. I especially like the part about the Brewster recruiting myth. Lipscomb was rated higher by Rivals than Montee Ball... so what? He didn't make it here!
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When Kill references "not making and mistakes" recruitingwise this is what he is referring to.
 

Ole said:
When Kill references "not making and mistakes" recruitingwise this is what he is referring to.
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+1 Kill understands Recruiting and Brewster understands recruiting. Recruiting with a capital R is the whole process used to recruit and retain those players that have the skill set/character to be successful in your system while recruiting with a small r is the salesmanship part. The latter is an important but is a small part of an overall successful recruiting program/system.
 

Killjoy said:
+1 Kill understands Recruiting and Brewster understands recruiting. Recruiting with a capital R is the whole process used to recruit and retain those players that have the skill set/character to be successful in your system while recruiting with a small r is the salesmanship part. The latter is an important but is a small part of an overall successful recruiting program/system.
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No matter how many times you praise Kill as the Savior he has yet to prove he can recruit well enough at Minnesota to be successful long term.

Granted he needs more time and Kill claims he needs difference makers in this next class. So far there is no proof based on where his Minnesota classes have been ranked that he can do that.
 

scools12 said:
No matter how many times you praise Kill as the Savior he has yet to prove he can recruit well enough at Minnesota to be successful long term.

Granted he needs more time and Kill claims he needs difference makers in this next class. So far there is no proof based on where his Minnesota classes have been ranked that he can do that.
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I think you're sort of missing Killjoy's point about recruiting. None of us know if Kill will bring in enough difference makers to put us consistently in the top of the Big 10. However, Killjoy's point was more of pointing at the alarming rate of attrition that Kill inherited. This entire discussion revolves around the notion of us STILL being young and trying to explain why we are still young. We are so young because of the massive amount of attrition with Brew's later classes.

So far, Kill seems to have a better grasp of recruiting players who stay in school. We have far fewer players "never make it to campus (see Searcy, Hill, Lipscomb). We've still had a few instances of players who either never make it to campus or left pretty quick with Kill, but that number has drastically shrunk. In this instance, that's what Killjoy and Ole are referencing. . .merely keeping experienced players on your depth chart.

You're point, about questioning whether or not Kill can recruit enough, it remains to be seen. However, don't look for your "proof" in the class rankings, look for your proof with wins and losses. I'm not a "stars don't matter" guy at all, in fact, I'm firmly on the "stars matter" side of that war. However, you're not going to find your proof for anything during class rankings.
 

Killjoy said:
+1 Kill understands Recruiting and Brewster understands recruiting. Recruiting with a capital R is the whole process used to recruit and retain those players that have the skill set/character to be successful in your system while recruiting with a small r is the salesmanship part. The latter is an important but is a small part of an overall successful recruiting program/system.
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Recruiting (capital letter or not) is the salesmanship part. The other parts are called scouting, maybe roster management (deciding which recruits to go after based on your scouting, risk of them getting into school, fitting system, etc.), and player development. For instance, does an Army recruiter decide on what type of person the army will accept? No, the guidelines are set for them. They are also not the drill instructor, strategist, etc. Their only job is to get people, that meet army requirements, to join the army. That is why the only way to judge recruiting is by looking at an offer list and seeing who you beat out. If you are an excellent "scout-er" you may find some great players that you don't need to recruit that hard because nobody else know about them. Imo.
 

FreakyDeke said:
Recruiting (capital letter or not) is the salesmanship part. The other parts are called scouting, maybe roster management (deciding which recruits to go after based on your scouting, risk of them getting into school, fitting system, etc.), and player development. For instance, does an Army recruiter decide on what type of person the army will accept? No, the guidelines are set for them. They are also not the drill instructor, strategist, etc. Their only job is to get people, that meet army requirements, to join the army. That is why the only way to judge recruiting is by looking at an offer list and seeing who you beat out. If you are an excellent "scout-er" you may find some great players that you don't need to recruit that hard because nobody else know about them. Imo.
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This is all semantics. It doesn't matter whether you put it under a larger umbrella of recruiting or whether you consider it recruiting and player development. However, any way you slice it, the kid's ability to get in and stay in school play a huge part of the recruiting process. We see players all of the time who HAD great offers, something came up (appears academic) and they end up at Ball State or Boise State. Those schools stopped recruiting the player because of those red flags.

I don't know much about Army recruiters, but I know job recruiters look into "fit" and ability to "get the job done". They look at candidates resumes and if they see the candidate switches jobs every two weeks, they are usually much less interested (because of attrition).

It's part of the entire process. Killjoy puts it all under the umbrella of recruiting and you prefer to break it off into seperate categories. But it all is an attempt to get the same goal. . .having a more talented roster.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I think you're sort of missing Killjoy's point about recruiting. None of us know if Kill will bring in enough difference makers to put us consistently in the top of the Big 10. However, Killjoy's point was more of pointing at the alarming rate of attrition that Kill inherited. This entire discussion revolves around the notion of us STILL being young and trying to explain why we are still young. We are so young because of the massive amount of attrition with Brew's later classes.

So far, Kill seems to have a better grasp of recruiting players who stay in school. We have far fewer players "never make it to campus (see Searcy, Hill, Lipscomb). We've still had a few instances of players who either never make it to campus or left pretty quick with Kill, but that number has drastically shrunk. In this instance, that's what Killjoy and Ole are referencing. . .merely keeping experienced players on your depth chart.

You're point, about questioning whether or not Kill can recruit enough, it remains to be seen. However, don't look for your "proof" in the class rankings, look for your proof with wins and losses. I'm not a "stars don't matter" guy at all, in fact, I'm firmly on the "stars matter" side of that war. However, you're not going to find your proof for anything during class rankings.
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Not trying to say the class rankings are the end all but I as you do fall on the "stars matter" side.

As far as wins and losses I look at the conference record and see a 4-12 record. I understand that is only after 2 years and Kill's tenure cannot be judge after 2 years. It appears though some have already declared after 2 years Kill has it all figured out and if you don't share that point of view you just don't get it.
 

scools12 said:
No matter how many times you praise Kill as the Savior he has yet to prove he can recruit well enough at Minnesota to be successful long term.

Granted he needs more time and Kill claims he needs difference makers in this next class. So far there is no proof based on where his Minnesota classes have been ranked that he can do that.
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LOL - Do you know how to read? What I stated was that Kill understands recruiting and Brewster doesn't, i.e. how it works. No more, no less. Where did I say that Kill was the Savior?:rolleyes:
 

I think good ol' country Jerr gets recruiting and is doing a fine job of achieving better success through incremental steps across the board. The team is well managed. They are into the whole conditioning, make no mistakes, learn the playbook, stay in class, and graduate routine. They are also beginning to understand the culture of winning. Jerry is doing one thing that I believe is fundamental to football: recruit the lines and all else will improve with time. He has a dearth of nose tackles like this team has never seen before in the modern era. He recruits for both sides of the ball, which makes it tougher. I think he really is building on a long term vision and that takes more than 2 recruiting cycles to carry out. I like what I see already on his offer sheet and his acceptance tally. I would like to him to land another candidate or two for PR purposes that have merit in the next week or two.

Kill and staff are working. Let's just let them work and see what shakes out in the next 2 to 3 years. I'm all in for patience. From my seat, I think we will see more victories sooner than people realize or expect. When the national press corps start noticing individual Minnesota players for early kudos, like RH, well, they must see something going on at Minnesota or they wouldn't even dig that deeply at the roster.

Of course, I'm usually wrong, so I'll end my rant here.
 

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