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

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GFBfan said:
What I find ironic is everyone on here ripping Claeys for going after JUCO's to fill holes, PJ does it and now it is ok, even after he said he didn't want to recruit them and would rather have HS players.
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No one ripped Claeys for taking Jucos.

I questioned how an o-line could have 3 Jucos on it in year 6 of Kill/Claeys. 3 Jucos that are average football players. In fairness to Claeys, he was so upset about having to do it that he fired Limegrover.
 

John Galt said:
No one ripped Claeys for taking Jucos.

I questioned how an o-line could have 3 Jucos on it in year 6 of Kill/Claeys. 3 Jucos that are average football players. In fairness to Claeys, he was so upset about having to do it that he fired Limegrover.
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Incorrect. You folks ripped tc for anything you could. Including some who did it for the jc
 

per Randy:

From Whittier, Calif., on Saturday night, to Dinkytown on Sunday and back to Riverside, Calif., on Monday night, Vic Viramontes had a whirlwind 56 hours.

“Busy day, busy week,’’ he said Tuesday, sounding not tired but excited.

Viramontes, a junior college quarterback from Riverside City College, verbally committed to the Gophers and coach P.J. Fleck on Monday. He has shut down his recruiting, will enroll at Minnesota in January and will compete for the starting quarterback job beginning in spring practice.

“I wanted a school where I could come in and compete for the job, get to show the coaching staff what I could do, and just a fair opportunity,’’ said Viramontes, who is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 1 dual-threat QB at the junior college level in the 2018 recruiting class. “That’s all I want.’’

“I just love playing football,’’ he said. “Whatever the defense gives me, I take.’’

Sunday’s arrival in Minneapolis was Viramontes’ first time in Minnesota. He spent time with Fleck and offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca, and met a handful of players, including running back Rodney Smith and defensive end Carter Coughlin. He liked what he saw, especially from Fleck.

“I love the energy. I love how he’s a young coach,’’ Viramontes said. “How demanding he is, I kind of like that in a coach. … They keep you on your toes and keep you a better man on and off the field.’’

http://m.startribune.com/new-gopher...nse-gives-me-i-take/460653973/?section=sports

Go Gophers!!
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I think we offered three high end IMG guys from Florida.

Daniel Faalele - 6'8" 400 lbs OT (was leaning towards Tennessee)
Curtis Dunlap - 4 star OG (Florida commit) - visiting here in a couple weeks
Josh Walker - DT

Maybe one of those?
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Gotta really like the Annexstad boys for starting and pumping up the pipeline from IMG. Hope it grows.
 



Livingat45north said:
Here's a nice article on IMG Academy, that's quite the football schedule for a high school team.
http://usatodayhss.com/2017/img-wil...games-next-season-yes-you-read-that-correctly
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How good is IMG Academy football? With any luck, the Ascenders could win 21 varsity games next season.

A little explanation: IMG (Bradenton, Fla.), which only played nine games two seasons ago, will have two varsity football teams this fall.

One team will play a ridiculously tough 11-game national schedule that opens with a Kickoff Classic exhibition game with Florida 6A champion Carol City (Miami) and includes regular-season road games with Arizona 6A state champion Chandler, CIF Southern Section Open Division semifinalist Centennial (Corona), Utah 4A champion East (Salt Lake City) and Alabama 7A champion Hoover.

The other varsity squad will play 10 Florida 4A and 3A opponents, including 4A state semifinalist Berkeley Prep (Tampa). It will be coached on game days by IMG running backs coach Kenneth Stills.

Annexstad plays for the IMG Blue team, which plays vs national opponents.
 


WinLoseOrTy said:
How good is IMG Academy football? With any luck, the Ascenders could win 21 varsity games next season.

A little explanation: IMG (Bradenton, Fla.), which only played nine games two seasons ago, will have two varsity football teams this fall.

One team will play a ridiculously tough 11-game national schedule that opens with a Kickoff Classic exhibition game with Florida 6A champion Carol City (Miami) and includes regular-season road games with Arizona 6A state champion Chandler, CIF Southern Section Open Division semifinalist Centennial (Corona), Utah 4A champion East (Salt Lake City) and Alabama 7A champion Hoover.

The other varsity squad will play 10 Florida 4A and 3A opponents, including 4A state semifinalist Berkeley Prep (Tampa). It will be coached on game days by IMG running backs coach Kenneth Stills.

Annexstad plays for the IMG Blue team, which plays vs national opponents.
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And, just FYI, they went undefeated for the season.
 




WinLoseOrTy said:
How good is IMG Academy football? With any luck, the Ascenders could win 21 varsity games next season.

A little explanation: IMG (Bradenton, Fla.), which only played nine games two seasons ago, will have two varsity football teams this fall.

One team will play a ridiculously tough 11-game national schedule that opens with a Kickoff Classic exhibition game with Florida 6A champion Carol City (Miami) and includes regular-season road games with Arizona 6A state champion Chandler, CIF Southern Section Open Division semifinalist Centennial (Corona), Utah 4A champion East (Salt Lake City) and Alabama 7A champion Hoover.

The other varsity squad will play 10 Florida 4A and 3A opponents, including 4A state semifinalist Berkeley Prep (Tampa). It will be coached on game days by IMG running backs coach Kenneth Stills.

Annexstad plays for the IMG Blue team, which plays vs national opponents.
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Good Lord that's ridiculous. Just wow. Our society has really gone off the rails with sports. I'm guilty of perpetuating it...

I remember how small the IMG football thing was when it started. Chris Wienke was the coach, if I'm not mistaken. He came to the Twin Cities to recruit around the holidays the year before they fielded a team, and I happened to coach at a school where he zeroed in on a couple of our players. I thought it was the craziest scam I'd ever heard of: pay BIG money to play high school football out of state and get yourself a scholarship for college. I was so skeptical. Silly me...
 


MinnesotaNice said:
Rob Smith was in to see this kid today. DB from Florida. As much as I want o-lineman, this would be a really nice steal from UCLA based on his composite score.

https://247sports.com/player/ken-montgomery-jr-87162

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Wow, that would be a HUGE get.

On another note, I guess the 247 talent evaluators are really smart. This kid has offers from like 30 FBS schools including Alabama, Wisconsin, USC, etc., but he's only a 3 star. I mean, a "high" 3 star, but still...that strikes me as odd.
 



MGGopher said:
Good Lord that's ridiculous. Just wow. Our society has really gone off the rails with sports. I'm guilty of perpetuating it...

I remember how small the IMG football thing was when it started. Chris Wienke was the coach, if I'm not mistaken. He came to the Twin Cities to recruit around the holidays the year before they fielded a team, and I happened to coach at a school where he zeroed in on a couple of our players. I thought it was the craziest scam I'd ever heard of: pay BIG money to play high school football out of state and get yourself a scholarship for college. I was so skeptical. Silly me...
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We're just not used to it here. It's exactly what has been happening in other sports for a really long time.

The really good players are not paying that tuition to be there. It's probably good for them (similar to Shattuck in hockey). It's great competition, I'm sure it makes you a better player, I don't see what the big deal really is.
 

John Galt said:
No one ripped Claeys for taking Jucos.

I questioned how an o-line could have 3 Jucos on it in year 6 of Kill/Claeys. 3 Jucos that are average football players. In fairness to Claeys, he was so upset about having to do it that he fired Limegrover.
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I don't think the staff thought "let's recruit some average players". I know you're a recruitnik guy, all of these guys were rated higher than Briean Boddy-Calhoun. I am sure you hated that he was a starting DB.


The issue is that Kill had several recruiting classes where he completely whiffed on OL. That was a huge problem. The JuCo argument is just weird. Had those three players turned out as good as Briean Boddy-Calhoun, we'd have been a much better football team. They were rated higher. My point? It has nothing to do with JuCo.
 

MGGopher said:
Good Lord that's ridiculous. Just wow. Our society has really gone off the rails with sports. I'm guilty of perpetuating it...

I remember how small the IMG football thing was when it started. Chris Wienke was the coach, if I'm not mistaken. He came to the Twin Cities to recruit around the holidays the year before they fielded a team, and I happened to coach at a school where he zeroed in on a couple of our players. I thought it was the craziest scam I'd ever heard of: pay BIG money to play high school football out of state and get yourself a scholarship for college. I was so skeptical. Silly me...
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Shattuck been doing this for years with hockey. They have something like 6 hockey teams, play a national schedule, and have a solid pipeline for their players to get a college scholly or pro contract. If you get a chance, head down to their rink sometime to watch some great hockey.
 

Regarding Juco linemen... I don’t have the tally but we have lost several to premature retirement for various medical reasons. Not sure it’s normally that common. Also, a couple transferred. Didn’t a couple also just get sick of being an o-linemen and retire? My point: circumstances I don’t think you could predict certainly contributed to the present sparse situation.
 

MGGopher said:
Good Lord that's ridiculous. Just wow. Our society has really gone off the rails with sports. I'm guilty of perpetuating it...

I remember how small the IMG football thing was when it started. Chris Wienke was the coach, if I'm not mistaken. He came to the Twin Cities to recruit around the holidays the year before they fielded a team, and I happened to coach at a school where he zeroed in on a couple of our players. I thought it was the craziest scam I'd ever heard of: pay BIG money to play high school football out of state and get yourself a scholarship for college. I was so skeptical. Silly me...
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It’s the old chicken and egg question that applies to university as well: does the school make the student or vice versa? To some extent it helps to be around other elite students/athletes and one hopes the faculty/coaches are equally elite. Does attending IMG (or Cornell) make one an elite prospect or were they already one?
 


Mods, can we create an “all things IMG academy” thread for anyone that cares...
 



MGGopher said:
Wow, that would be a HUGE get.

On another note, I guess the 247 talent evaluators are really smart. This kid has offers from like 30 FBS schools including Alabama, Wisconsin, USC, etc., but he's only a 3 star. I mean, a "high" 3 star, but still...that strikes me as odd.
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It's almost as if ratings aren't based on offers.
 




Didn't see it posted, but Antonio Montero (EP) is officially visiting on the 8th. He visits Iowa State the following week.

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AtTheLibrary said:
Looks like 4-Star OL Verdis Brown from IMG has Decommitted from FL ST.
Annexstad hopefully will try to push him to be a gopher. He is 6-3 and 295lbs

https://247sports.com/player/verdis-brown-92964

https://twitter.com/zackannexstad/status/936088135552954368


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That tweet from annexstad has me very hopeful. Sounds like he's been working his teammates, and probably knows more than any of these recruiting sites do about how his teammates are trending.
 

Taji34 said:
That tweet from annexstad has me very hopeful. Sounds like he's been working his teammates, and probably knows more than any of these recruiting sites do about how his teammates are trending.
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Agree. Fleck with the help of Annexstad grabbing Dunlap and Brown to round out the class would be HUUUUGE!


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In a world where we flip Curtis Dunlap, Verdis Brown, and Craig Williams; our class score according to the 247 class calculator would be 201.78. That would currently put us at 5th in the Big Ten (1st in the Big Ten West) and 26th nationally. I know its a pipe dream and that ratings will shift around when other teams get more commitments, but its a nice thought. If we can get one or even two of those guys, I'm gonna be excited for spring ball and the next few years!
 

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