Official 2018 Recruiting Updates Thread: Links, Tweets, Videos, Stories, Rumors, etc.

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Spoofin said:
This makes sense and explains why we have been so stingy about extending offers.


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Looks worse when the kid is in your backyard. My comment was directed toward the Alston kid. He isn't coming here.
 


leadpipegopher said:
Because he's not coming to Minnesota, coaches know this, doesn't look as bad if you don't offer them.
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We've offered more players this year than ever. and I'm fairly certain that quite a few of those offered are not coming to the U. Looks worse to not even offer an in state D1 player.
 

GFBfan said:
We've offered more players this year than ever. and I'm fairly certain that quite a few of those offered are not coming to the U. Looks worse to not even offer an in state D1 player.
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So by this logic we should extend players we know we either don't want or don't want to come here for good PR.

Why don't we instead let the staff manage their perception through the product they put on the field?


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"With Minnesota, they think physically I have the tools, but they just want to see progress forward as far as my size goes and I don't blame them. That's their only concern though, other than that, they think I have all the tools I need. A Minnesota offer would be a lot as it's the in-state school and my mom's Alma Mater, so it would definitely be a really big deal if Minnesota were to offer me"
 




He's listed at 225 but according to a Woodbury coach on another board, after the basketball season he only weighed 205 and the gophers staff wants to see him get to his original size before they offer.
 

In 16 years of tracking Minnesota high school football, I have never seen a situation like this where Minnesota preps were picking up quality BCS offers and Minnesota passed on them. For Alston to pick up offers from Wisconsin, Nebraska, Utah, and Iowa State, I would think that is more than enough evidence of his potential. As others have pointed out, Minnesota probably will not offer now as it hard to close the borders when an offer is not extended. Plus extending an offer at this point would make it appear they are coming to the party a little late.

I can understand Minnesota holding out on an offer from Iowa State or like Nico Bolden last year picking up offers from Syracuse, Vanderbilt, and Washington State, who ultimately ended up at New Mexico State. In 2016, Park Center Ath Amani Hooker picked up an offer from Iowa late in the recruiting process and Minnesota did not offer, but I think that had more to do with Minnesota having a full slate of DBs already in class. Although I believe I hear Hooker is in the two deep and a player that could be seeing playing time as a RS freshman.

And to top it off, St. Cloud Tech WR/TE Brevyn Spann-Ford picked up an offer from Missouri to go along with his BCS offers of West Virginia and Iowa State. Another player that Minnesota will most likely miss the boat on!
 

vames said:
In 16 years of tracking Minnesota high school football, I have never seen a situation like this where Minnesota preps were picking up quality BCS offers and Minnesota passed on them. For Alston to pick up offers from Wisconsin, Nebraska, Utah, and Iowa State, I would think that is more than enough evidence of his potential. As others have pointed out, Minnesota probably will not offer now as it hard to close the borders when an offer is not extended. Plus extending an offer at this point would make it appear they are coming to the party a little late.

I can understand Minnesota holding out on an offer from Iowa State or like Nico Bolden last year picking up offers from Syracuse, Vanderbilt, and Washington State, who ultimately ended up at New Mexico State. In 2016, Park Center Ath Amani Hooker picked up an offer from Iowa late in the recruiting process and Minnesota did not offer, but I think that had more to do with Minnesota having a full slate of DBs already in class. Although I believe I hear Hooker is in the two deep and a player that could be seeing playing time as a RS freshman.

And to top it off, St. Cloud Tech WR/TE Brevyn Spann-Ford picked up an offer from Missouri to go along with his BCS offers of West Virginia and Iowa State. Another player that Minnesota will most likely miss the boat on!
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Disagree. Still think it's more likely than not they they both end up gophers. We are just waiting to see them in camp first and when we offer which I'm sure we will, i'd be surprised if we weren't the favorite for both.
 



die hard gopher said:
Disagree. Still think it's more likely than not they they both end up gophers. We are just waiting to see them in camp first.
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I hope you are right! Like I said before, to wait on offering the top players in the state when other BCS programs are making offers is rare.
 

die hard gopher said:
Disagree. Still think it's more likely than not they they both end up gophers. We are just waiting to see them in camp first and when we offer which I'm sure we will, i'd be surprised if we weren't the favorite for both.
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Well, they must have fallen off their chairs when they saw Logan Richter in person. DTs don't grow on trees, but once in a while you find one out state MN where they are relatively undiscovered.

We need to reign in the top players in the State bottom line.

I do think both Alston and Spann-Ford will get Gopher offers when they camp.
 

It's the same complaints you see on the basketball board about Pitino passing on some of the in state kids for out of state ones. So far it appears he's made the right decisions.

Much like Pitino, Fleck knows what he's looking for. If he see's it, he'll offer. If he doesn't, it's likely because he feels he can get a better player elsewhere. Not every Minnesota kid leaves and becomes a star.
 

vames said:
I hope you are right! Like I said before, to wait on offering the top players in the state when other BCS programs are making offers is rare.
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It's rare for the gophers, but not some other teams. I think this happens fairly often with Wisconsin.
 


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Go Gophers!!
 

btowngopher said:
It's rare for the gophers, but not some other teams. I think this happens fairly often with Wisconsin.
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I think Wisconsin does a fairly good job of offering top players in the state. They currently have 5 players committed from the state and an offer out to at least one more. Out of the 223 offers out from Minnesota, only two Minnesota players from this year have picked up an offer. If you count, JC OL Malik Besseck, then we have 3 from state with offer.

Other top players with offers at this point:

Cooper Ath Phoenix Sproles - Offers from Air Force, Navy, Wyoming, Northern Illinois, NDSU, SDSU, UNI, Montana State, Princeton, South Dakota, Illinois State, Yale, Brown, and Columbia.

Marshall QB/Ath Trey Lance - Offers from Air Force, Northern Illinois, NDSU, SDSU, Northern Iowa, Brown, Columbia, and Cornell.

Eden Prairie LB Antonio Montero and Holy Angels RB Jack Anderson - Offers from Air Force.

Highland Park Ath Josh Aune - Offers from NDSU, SDSU, North Dakota, UNI, and Montana State.

St. Michael Albertville Ath Mitchell Kartes - Offers from NDSU, South Dakota, Montana State, and Columbia.

We have a few more players from lower D1 schools, which will be interesting to see who their recruiting goes after camps and combines.

http://www.gopherhole.com/page/show/2385568-class-of-2018-minnesota-hs-football-recruits
 

die hard gopher said:
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The camp is critical to getting a Gophers offer. How does he compare to the other tight ends the Gophers are looking at? Can he block and knock down defenders to open up running lanes? Does he have soft hands? Can he change the LOS at point of attack? How explosive is he? How strong is he? Can he stretch the zone and separate from man coverage, break tackles and gain yards after catch? Strength and conditioning can bulk him up to 245 lbs.

One would think TEs figure prominently in Ciarrocca's offense. As much as we want to offer top in state players, there is not enough of them. So, they have to cast a wider net regionally in B1G country to make up the deficit in home grown talent. PJ Fleck wants kids who can play in the colder climates while still relying on pipelines like Georgia. Getting young talented recruiters on the staff like Simon and Linguist only helps the cause.

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2016/11/19/13577022/pj-fleck-coach-western-michigan-wmu

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2017/2/20/14612068/pj-fleck-minnesota-head-coach
 

I heard a lot about keeping top MN kids here. A LOT. I'd like to see it happen. I'm not asking to take every MN kid, but I do think the U has some obligation (not the right word, but you get the point) to offer the top ones. Especially if the coach pounds his chest about how he will. Hopefully we are just late to the party and still will, and they choose to stay home.


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I hope they continue to foster the good working relationships with state HS coaches that were cultivated under Jerry Kill.

They need to keep the pulse on all the top in state players not just the Twin Cities metro area. You need to rely on trusting relationships with HS coaches. Kids need to be evaluated to gauge their progress.

Some kids are late bloomers. Undoubtedly, they will miss out on a few players. The hope is that they find many of them who fit the Gophers scheme. The walk-on program seem to be the ticket for many kids like Blake Cashman who earned a scholarship.
 

I want the Gophers to go after the best MN players - IF they fit into what the coaches are trying to accomplish. Bottom line - let's say the Gophs have an average of 25 scholarships to give out in a year. If MN player X or Y deserves a scholarship, then by all means offer the kid. But, if the coaches rank their recruiting prospects, and MN kid Z is not projected as one of the top 25 recruits, then don't offer them just because they're a MN kid.

If it comes down to a MN kid vs a kid from GA, and the GA kid is better - or has a higher ceiling - then go after the GA kid.

At the risk of sounding cynical, if you don't get the GA kid, you might still have a shot at the MN kid as a fall-back option (assuming the kid really wants to play for the home-state team.)

It does nothing for me to say that they have so many MN kids on the roster - IF most of those kids are playing special teams, scout team, or not dressing for road trips.
 

Spoofin said:
I heard a lot about keeping top MN kids here. A LOT. I'd like to see it happen. I'm not asking to take every MN kid, but I do think the U has some obligation (not the right word, but you get the point) to offer the top ones. Especially if the coach pounds his chest about how he will. Hopefully we are just late to the party and still will, and they choose to stay home.


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Well stated spoof...agree 100%!
 

Spoofin said:
I heard a lot about keeping top MN kids here. A LOT. I'd like to see it happen. I'm not asking to take every MN kid, but I do think the U has some obligation (not the right word, but you get the point) to offer the top ones. Especially if the coach pounds his chest about how he will. Hopefully we are just late to the party and still will, and they choose to stay home.
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He did offer the top ones. Sapp and Richter.
 


vames said:
I think Wisconsin does a fairly good job of offering top players in the state. They currently have 5 players committed from the state and an offer out to at least one more. Out of the 223 offers out from Minnesota, only two Minnesota players from this year have picked up an offer. If you count, JC OL Malik Besseck, then we have 3 from state with offer.

Other top players with offers at this point:

Cooper Ath Phoenix Sproles - Offers from Air Force, Navy, Wyoming, Northern Illinois, NDSU, SDSU, UNI, Montana State, Princeton, South Dakota, Illinois State, Yale, Brown, and Columbia.

Marshall QB/Ath Trey Lance - Offers from Air Force, Northern Illinois, NDSU, SDSU, Northern Iowa, Brown, Columbia, and Cornell.

Eden Prairie LB Antonio Montero and Holy Angels RB Jack Anderson - Offers from Air Force.

Highland Park Ath Josh Aune - Offers from NDSU, SDSU, North Dakota, UNI, and Montana State.

St. Michael Albertville Ath Mitchell Kartes - Offers from NDSU, South Dakota, Montana State, and Columbia.

We have a few more players from lower D1 schools, which will be interesting to see who their recruiting goes after camps and combines.

http://www.gopherhole.com/page/show/2385568-class-of-2018-minnesota-hs-football-recruits
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I meant as far as waiting to offer the kids until camp. I don't know as much about the current UW staff, but in the past it seemed like they weren't afraid to wait until camp to offer instate guys.
 

joshvanklomp said:
He did offer the top ones. Sapp and Richter.
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He drew the line too high this year, IMO. Feel free to disagree. I consider getting MN kids a top priority. I don't expect everyone to agree. I worry PJF is just saying it and not committed to it. Hope I'm wrong.


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Johnnyboy18 said:
He knows that, he just wanted to take another shot at Fleck.
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Maybe I consider Spann-Ford and Alston part of that top group. Maybe I would be disappointed if we didn't get them. Maybe, IMO, not even offering them shows PJF isn't as committed to "closing the borders" as he says. Maybe taking any and all capable MN recruits is important to me. Maybe it is more important to me than to you. Maybe you should be OK if someone challenges something PJF does or doesn't do without taking it personal. Please let me know when any of this seems unreasonable.


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