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

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We need the next two weeks to go in our favor for this class to be considered good.

Jones needs to stick, Ragnow & Holland need to commit; need that Craig James pocket commit to be real and stick and then we need to flip one or two kids we are chasing that are soft verbals...hopefully at WR & CB.

This is asking a lot. I love our coaching staff but they have to show more off the field in the battle for better players like they have shown on the field in building this team.

Not usually one to fret like this but I sense that we are on the edge of turning the corner and what is holding us back is the quality of incoming recruits.
 

GopherinPhilly said:
We need the next two weeks to go in our favor for this class to be considered good.

Jones needs to stick, Ragnow & Holland need to commit; need that Craig James pocket commit to be real and stick and then we need to flip one or two kids we are chasing that are soft verbals...hopefully at WR & CB.

This is asking a lot. I love our coaching staff but they have to show more off the field in the battle for better players like they have shown on the field in building this team.

Not usually one to fret like this but I sense that we are on the edge of turning the corner and what is holding us back is the quality of incoming recruits.
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I get where you are coming from, but this staff has gotten a lot out of 2 and 3 star recruits. Just look at Cockran (2nd in the B1G in sacks), Murray and Wells when healthy among others . A few years ago nobody was saying "OMG we just landed this Murray kid out of Wisconsin and he's going to be a stud." The staff just simply knows how to find players.

As far as signing day, last year we had a few surprises i.e. the Jones flip late and the Campbell scenario, so we can probably expect more of that.

Ultimately, whoever we bring in, I am really confident that the staff will get the most out of their talent! We really need to upgrade the practice facility as I think that may be one thing that is holding us back. Hopefully Louie can convince some whales to pony up :)
 

Trusting the staff to get the most out of the talent they bring in is one thing. Plenty of staffs can do that within the conference. Difference is Minnesota is working with the lower ranked players while the others are working with higher ranked players. Seems pretty clear this staff has to recruit better.

After 3 full years and more than likely another recruiting class ranked last within the conference the question still remains whether or not this staff can recruit.
 

scools12 said:
Trusting the staff to get the most out of the talent they bring in is one thing. Plenty of staffs can do that within the conference. Difference is Minnesota is working with the lower ranked players while the others are working with higher ranked players. Seems pretty clear this staff has to recruit better.

After 3 full years and more than likely another recruiting class ranked last within the conference the question still remains whether or not this staff can recruit.
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But has having lower ranked classes resulted in more losses?!? NOPE, in fact just the opposite has occurred! We have become more competitive and have WON more games each year. So, clearly they CAN recruit if wins and losses is what your judging on (like I do) or if your definition of recruiting is having more stars than another program on rivals, 247 or Scout than you're right we suck at recruiting. But don't we judge a team on progression, wins/losses, and player development?
 

Wouldn't You like to Know said:
But has having lower ranked classes resulted in more losses?!? NOPE, in fact just the opposite has occurred! We have become more competitive and have WON more games each year.
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They have but you think the team can make the jump to be a legit conference contender annually by continuing to recruit at the bottom of the conference every year?

Highly unlikely. More likely is this past season the ceiling has been reached.
 


scools12 said:
They have but you think the team can make the jump to be a legit conference contender annually by continuing to recruit at the bottom of the conference every year?

Highly unlikely. More likely is this past season the ceiling has been reached.
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I don't see why not because they haven't proven otherwise. Apart from the Iowa and Michigan games Minnesota was extremely competitive in every game, and guess what, we're playing with 2 star players like Eric Murray, Cockran, Wells, Lauer etc... and under-recruited guys like Antonio Johnson and Demarius Travis not to mention walk-on's like Engel etc... Shoot Eric Murray might be the best player out of his class! So please tell me, did any of these players look like they were way out of their league? If no, then please tell me how you think it is going to change going forward if recruiting stays the way it is.

Until we regress and our players look like they don't belong on the same field with our competition than that's when I would start to get worried. But from what I've seen we are progressing and bringing in kids that can certainly play at this level.
 

Same old chicken-and-egg argument.
Do you have to win more games to bring in 'better' players, or do you have to bring in 'better' players to win more games?

Put me down as "concerned, but not worried" about recruiting.
1st - nobody can predict - with absolute certainty - which recruits will pan out and which ones won't make it. Yes, star ratings are an indicator - but they're not perfect.

Kill and his staff have a track record of building programs and winning games - so they should know what type of recruits the program needs to fit their schemes. Through 3 seasons, the win total has gone up every year. Now next year, if the Gophs drop back to 6 or 5 wins, that would be a sign to worry.

But, until signing day arrives and we can make a fair apples-to-apples comparison of the Gophs recruiting class to other B1G schools, let's try not to panic.
 

scools12 said:
They have but you think the team can make the jump to be a legit conference contender annually by continuing to recruit at the bottom of the conference every year?

Highly unlikely. More likely is this past season the ceiling has been reached.
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no way. we won 8 games with a lot of underclassmen that will be back for next year and we only had 5 redshirts on O this year and only 4 on D. were not even close to having 9-10 starters that have redshirted on both sides of the ball like Wisconsin this year. next year we should be once again one of if not the most improved team in the big ten
 

I like our class. There are a couple of question marks in there, but Kill and crew have earned a lot of respect with their lower ranked recruits who have panned out. It's a very shallow class of seniors here in Minnesota which makes it tougher right off the bat. No issues here, but let's close strong again this year!
 



die hard gopher said:
no way. we won 8 games with a lot of underclassmen that will be back for next year and we only had 5 redshirts on O this year and only 4 on D. were not even close to having 9-10 starters that have redshirted on both sides of the ball like Wisconsin this year. next year we should be once again one of if not the most improved team in the big ten
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Don't worry about him. schools isn't happy unless he's taking a big dump in the punchbowl.
 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>2014 <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Rivals100&src=hash">#Rivals100</a> Commits - <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23B1G&src=hash">#B1G</a>
<a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23OhioState&src=hash">#OhioState</a> 8
<a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Michigan&src=hash">#Michigan</a> 2
<a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Minnesota&src=hash">#Minnesota</a> 1
<a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Nebraska&src=hash">#Nebraska</a> 1

Full Ranks: <a href="http://t.co/PHRdEECOw3">http://t.co/PHRdEECOw3</a></p>— Rivals.com (@Rivals) <a href="https://twitter.com/Rivals/statuses/425320272409812992">January 20, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


For what it's worth.

And I know the Eeyore's of the board will argue that Jones goes elsewhere so we fall to zero but I live my life without a dark cloud over my head.
 

die hard gopher said:
even with Jeff Jones this class still ranks last in the big ten by some and we already lost out on Scales
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look at avg star ranking rather than overall ranking since overall just assigns points to each recruit on the basis that a 5 star is worth (and this is not the exact numbers but just used for effect) 100 pts, a 4 star 75 pts, a 3 star 50 pts, a 2 star 25 pts and the rest none. This would put a team with 20 3 star players better than a class of 5 5 stars and 6 4 stars that may have better impact. So look at our avg ranking rather than just overall spot in the class.

If you use that metric, we rank ahead of Purdue and Iowa on Rivals, Ill and Purdue on Scout, and ahead of Ill, Purdue, Iowa, and Indiana on 247. It's not as if the sky is falling. And if we land Holland, Ragnow, and Jones sticks, we should be looking pretty solid
 

Here's kind of a cool thing to look at on 247 if you haven't found it and find class rankings cool. You can add whatever recruits you want and remove those currently committed and look at how it changes our class ranking.

Adding Ragnow, Holland and James (which will hopefully happen) our class goes up to a 169.43 from a 143.86 which moves us from last (14th) in overall to 9th. So there's a lot of jumping left to be done just based on a few guys so don't get all worked up at this point. Here's a link to that calculator as well:
http://minnesota.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Commits/Preview
 



Spoofin said:
Worst take ever. It may not be everyone's dream to play in the B1G and some kids may find other things (location, family, school, friends, certain girls, weather, PT, etc., etc.) than the prestige of a conference important.
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True.

While both Minnesota and SCSU played in the WCHA at the time, a guy I know chose to play for SCSU because his girlfriend went there to play basketball. I don't think anyone would argue that Minnesota isn't a much more attractive destination for hockey......especially a few years back.
 

mkAz said:
Slow? Based upon what? I didn't see anyone chasing him down from behind. Besides that, I'd happily take a guy who can get open and catch the ball over someone who can outrun opponents but not be able to hold onto the ball (DCT?).

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/o/843122/rashad-canty
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Holland and Gentry looked faster to me. I guess slow is the wrong word, but I don't watch his tape and say "that guy has nice speed". You can't really judge hands based on highlight tapes, they aren't going to show any drops. Good speed in h.s. is out running guys who have angles, not just being able to not get caught from behind.
 


upnorthkid said:
Here's kind of a cool thing to look at on 247 if you haven't found it and find class rankings cool. You can add whatever recruits you want and remove those currently committed and look at how it changes our class ranking.

Adding Ragnow, Holland and James (which will hopefully happen) our class goes up to a 169.43 from a 143.86 which moves us from last (14th) in overall to 9th. So there's a lot of jumping left to be done just based on a few guys so don't get all worked up at this point. Here's a link to that calculator as well:
http://minnesota.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Commits/Preview
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Thanks - I wanted to do that but I was too lazy to do it. Until national signing day it is very likely that most schools score will change. It is also clear that our score will be effective negatively because we will have fewer recruits than all the other schools.

I am expecting that Big Ten schools will fall into one of three distinct groups. The first group, i.e the top group, which is not really a group, will be Ohio State. The next distinct group will be Michigan and Penn State. After that everybody else will be in the third group. The first two groups selects recruits while the last group has to recruit.

The difference in the rankings between the top and the bottom schools in third group will not be that great. What will separate these schools as far as the quality of their class (not their ranking) will be first their ability to recruit those players that best meets their program needs. Secondly will be their ability to identify and recruit undervalued players with high upside potential.

I am sure some people will make a big deal out of it if our class finishes low in the numerical rankings. First we really won't know how good a class we have until a few years later. Second, we need to remember that our is a small class which affects the numerical ranking significantly and third the differences between the schools in the third group are probably not that great.
 

I think we all look way to hard into how highly ranked players are coming out of high school, for example look at michigan they've had great classes from both Rodriquez and Hoke but that has not turned into very much success every year. Even with a highly touted group you still have to develop them no matter what. It would be interesting to see Kill get a really good class to see how good he could really make them, but until we have consecutive good seasons thats not going to happen one good season doesn't automatically make you a attractive school. As for holland i'm personally a little worried about the offer he just got from becky, and if ragnow chooses to go to Arkansas instead of hear that in my books is just as bad as him going to becky since that d-bag bilema is the coach.
 

EG#9 said:
I was hoping this staff would make a little more progress on the recruiting front by year 4 (3rd full class) than they appear to be. A lot of factors at play, but you can only find so many diamonds in the rough.
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This class has been considerably better than Kill's previous classes here in terms of landing more sought after recruits. The vast majority of our commitments have other BCS offers and the majority have multiple BCS offers. We also have commitments from players who have "helmet school" offers. So in terms of quality, it is quite the progression.
 

upnorthkid said:
Here's kind of a cool thing to look at on 247 if you haven't found it and find class rankings cool. You can add whatever recruits you want and remove those currently committed and look at how it changes our class ranking.

Adding Ragnow, Holland and James (which will hopefully happen) our class goes up to a 169.43 from a 143.86 which moves us from last (14th) in overall to 9th. So there's a lot of jumping left to be done just based on a few guys so don't get all worked up at this point. Here's a link to that calculator as well:
http://minnesota.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Commits/Preview
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I don't think anyone would complain about that class. Of course it also assumes that we're going to finish 4/4 on our biggest recruits (gotta throw Jones in there as well).
 


Got some bad news, my best friends' son goes to Chanhassen with Frank and he said that today at lunch Frank was eating pork rinds, was reading a 2-Point conversion chart and was wearing socks he bought at Walmart...all signs point to Arkansas!
 


Has anybody heard anything about QB Connor Wilke from Andover? I know he went to quite a few Gopher games and practices, but haven't heard his name mentioned at all lately. PWO?
 

GoldenGopher88 said:
Has anybody heard anything about QB Connor Wilke from Andover? I know he went to quite a few Gopher games and practices, but haven't heard his name mentioned at all lately. PWO?
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He committed to Southwest Minnesota State.

There was some "scout" on here really pushing his name, but even at the time his tape said DII or FCS prospect.
 

Christian Campbell officially offered by us and is no longer visiting Arkansas. Both good signs.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
This class has been considerably better than Kill's previous classes here in terms of landing more sought after recruits. The vast majority of our commitments have other BCS offers and the majority have multiple BCS offers. We also have commitments from players who have "helmet school" offers. So in terms of quality, it is quite the progression.
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Just to reiterate, the other BCS offers of our commitments:

Poock: TCU and Illinois
Blasingame: Northwestern
Elmore: Iowa St., Indiana, Michigan St., Nebraska, Wisconsin
Gibson: Iowa
Jones: Florida, Michigan St., Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and others
Kafo: Iowa, Pittsburgh, Nebraska, Purdue
Mayes: Baylor, Kansas St., Ole Miss, Oklahoma, TCU, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and others
McKinzy: Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska
Stetler: Iowa St.

That's 9 of our 13 commitments.
 

GopherinPhilly said:
Huh? Like we aren't now?
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Whoops that was a poorly written sentence. I was referring to MN being a more attractive destination for hockey players. I said that was especially true several years back, before SCSU stung together a few really good years.
 


Gentry i would think would excel in the 100 and 200 meters by looking at his film, he doesn't appear to have a good burst but he has good speed once he gets his legs going and is pretty similar to Crawford Tufts. still a dime a dozen if you ask me
 

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