Official 2019 Recruiting Updates Thread: Links, Tweets, Videos, Stories, Rumors, etc.

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CentralGopher said:
I tend to agree. The stars aren't really higher but it looks to me the commits have much better offer lists than in the past.


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I find it hard to tell, but it certainly is possible.

The range of performance of 3*s is hella wide.
 

CentralGopher said:
I tend to agree. The stars aren't really higher but it looks to me the commits have much better offer lists than in the past.


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Totally agree with your post. The offer lists of our recruits seem to be much better than they were in the past. Also, comparded to past coaches we tend to get in early on recruits. We're one of the first to offer and then, if the recruit remains uncommitted, other P5s follow suite. That's a lot better position to be in rather than being the last one to dance. As for "stars", when a recruit takes an early offer from us (e.g., Kramer and Williamson), that shuts down offers coming from other P5s and that does impact star ratings -- the more offers a crut get from high-end P5s the higher the rating goes (yes, I know Scout and such to out of their way to claim that isn't true, but what do you expect them to say...). And finally, the quality of our walk ons is significantly better than it has been in the past. Having walk-ons that make the field can be a big deal in overall team success. It's the way you get decent depth across all the positions, including of course QB for this year. Just my ramble, back to work...
 

Livingat45north said:
Totally agree with your post. The offer lists of our recruits seem to be much better than they were in the past. Also, comparded to past coaches we tend to get in early on recruits. We're one of the first to offer and then, if the recruit remains uncommitted, other P5s follow suite. That's a lot better position to be in rather than being the last one to dance. As for "stars", when a recruit takes an early offer from us (e.g., Kramer and Williamson), that shuts down offers coming from other P5s and that does impact star ratings -- the more offers a crut get from high-end P5s the higher the rating goes (yes, I know Scout and such to out of their way to claim that isn't true, but what do you expect them to say...). And finally, the quality of our walk ons is significantly better than it has been in the past. Having walk-ons that make the field can be a big deal in overall team success. It's the way you get decent depth across all the positions, including of course QB for this year. Just my ramble, back to work...
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We were quite frequently the first to offer under Kill, leading to losing players later when they had other "better" offers come in; players like Nate Andrews come to mind.
 

If you identify a player that you like, see his film, see him in a camp, talk to him in person ... why would you wait to offer? There must be some benefit, if bigger schools do it. Or are they just not finding these guys first? Maybe they wait for lower schools to do the "dirty work" and then swoop in with a "bigger offer" afterward.
 

dpodoll68 said:
We were quite frequently the first to offer under Kill, leading to losing players later when they had other "better" offers come in; players like Nate Andrews come to mind.
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Jerry Kill is a gentleman and usually allows recruits to go home and think about it based from what I hear.

PJ Fleck on the other hand is a closer. He didn't mess around with Logan Richter. The only waiting Logan had was PJ Fleck had someone else in his office.

He offered him and Jason Williamson right away. This means a lot to all the small town HS teams in MN that PJ Fleck will cast a wider net out of the TC metro area.

Not knowing where Carroll and Benhart will commit may have hurt their chances on two or three MN OL who signed with schools in the Dakotas thinking they would not get a Gophers offer.
 
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hungan1 said:
Jerry Kill is a gentleman and usually allows recruits to go home and think about it based from what I hear.

PJ Fleck on the other hand is a closer. He didn't mess around with Logan Richter. The only waiting Logan had was PJ Fleck had someone else in his office.

He offered him and Jason Williamson right away. This means a lot to all the small town HS teams in MN that PJ Fleck will cast a wider net out of the TC metro area.

Not knowing where Carroll and Benhart will commit may have hurt their chances on two or three MN OL who signed with schools in the Dakotas thinking they would not get a Gophers offer.
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I mean that's a bit unfair as Kill and co took Hmielewski (Marshall), Connor Olson (Monticello), Johanessen (Fargo), Connely (Red Wing), and Stelter (Owatonna) to name a couple. So it's not like they didn't start that trend back after Brewster fried a lot of bridges with his high flash style
 

CentralGopher said:
I tend to agree. The stars aren't really higher but it looks to me the commits have much better offer lists than in the past.


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Fleck has already added several 4 stars from out of state. I don't know that Kill/Claeys ever got one.
 

Using 247 AVG stat, the statistical difference of a class AVG of .835 and .86 is less than 3%. Last year, that range included around 40 programs.
 

upnorthkid said:
I mean that's a bit unfair as Kill and co took Hmielewski (Marshall), Connor Olson (Monticello), Johanessen (Fargo), Connely (Red Wing), and Stelter (Owatonna) to name a couple. So it's not like they didn't start that trend back after Brewster fried a lot of bridges with his high flash style
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Brewster and his assistants were actually the ones who started to build better relationships with the HS coaches in MN, after Mason did a terrible job of that. Kill/Claeys continued that and PJ has been doing the same thing.
PJ being a closer is also aided by the upgrade in facilities that none of the previous coaches could use to sell recruits on. He does do a good job of bringing in players and closing the deal, but I would bet it is a whole lot easier with the Athletes Village complex and all it has to offer over what Brewster, Kill and Cleays had to show recruits. A dedicated to athletes dining hall is a light years better than having the team eat in the lobby of the football facility.
 



hungan1 said:
Is PJ Fleck's 2019 Recruiting Class done?

He has 24 recruits so far (2 Grey Shirts included).
In 2018 and 2017 he had 25 in each recruiting class with Logan Richter the sole Grey Shirt which counts against the 2019 class.

At WMU, here iare the recruiting numbers:
2016 - 26 (Tim Lester took over)
2015 - 21
2014 - 27
2013 - 19
2012 - 27

It seems like he likes maxing out on recruits. But does that mean some kids will have to transfer, quit, or grad transfer each season?
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If by "maxing out" you mean taking 25/season then he's absolutely planning on significant attrition each year. If you wanted even size classes and wanted to redshirt every freshman and had no attrition you could take 17 kids/year. If you didn't believe in redshirting anyone then you could take 21 kids/yr (22 once every 4 years). The only way he could take as many as he did yearly at WMU would be expecting significant attrition.


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GFBfan said:
Brewster and his assistants were actually the ones who started to build better relationships with the HS coaches in MN, after Mason did a terrible job of that. Kill/Claeys continued that and PJ has been doing the same thing.
PJ being a closer is also aided by the upgrade in facilities that none of the previous coaches could use to sell recruits on. He does do a good job of bringing in players and closing the deal, but I would bet it is a whole lot easier with the Athletes Village complex and all it has to offer over what Brewster, Kill and Cleays had to show recruits. A dedicated to athletes dining hall is a light years better than having the team eat in the lobby of the football facility.
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I just remember hearing stories (Beau Allen for example) about people feeling rubbed the wrong way by his tactics and deeming him as over the top for people. That's all
 

Goph33 said:
I’m not as high on this class as the previous but I do think that our average rating will go up. I was looking at some of our players offers and a lot of these guys are underrated in my mind. I think the ones who’s rating will go up are MJ Anderson for sure, Cameron Wiley, Trayson Potts, Michael brown Stephens a little bit, I think Cole Kramer is better than rated just doesn’t have ability to showcase it, and Chris Daniels. I expect class to finish somewhere around 40-45 in the country
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Doesn't every team have players whose ratings go up? I don't think one can count on that phenomena bettering our ranking compared to every other team.


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CentralGopher said:
I tend to agree. The stars aren't really higher but it looks to me the commits have much better offer lists than in the past.


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I agree the offer lists indeed look much more impressive than prior years- not even close. Does anyone know if teams, especially helmet and higher rated schools, are offering more kids early this year after many of them complained about being behind in recruiting last year due to the earlier signing day? A cynic may also question whether all of these offers are committable.


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Oregon Gopher said:
Doesn't every team have players whose ratings go up? I don't think one can count on that phenomena bettering our ranking compared to every other team.


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Yeah, but Fleck fills his classes earlier than most so in theory more of his players would stand a good chance of being re-evaluated. I kind of doubt the services are taking second looks at the lower 3 star guys who commit later in the process.
 

A couple responses to points made in this thread about the Gophers current class. The "average rating" is going to be hurt by taking two specialists. We can agree or disagree about whether it is a wise use of scholarships, but it's just factual that these guys are going to be rated low (in this case two .7781's). The average rating is also hurt by the two early local commits from Kramer and Williamson. Kramer is basically right at our average (and below it removing the two specialists) while Williamson is one of our lower rated recruits at .8316. For what it's worth the state of Iowa has SEVEN kids rated higher than Kramer (listed as 4th highest in Minnesota, but he's really 3rd as the list includes Richter who is not in high school) and EIGHT rated higher than Williamson (listed 5th in Minnesota actually 4th). So this is either a really down year for Minnesota kids or these kids are likely underrated or it's a crazy good year for Iowa kids or Iowa/Iowa State are getting the benefit of some overrated kids for whatever reason. Whatever the explanation, I thought that example points out a little bit of the difficulty in getting to our desired average rating this year. It's still a disappointment that it looks like Fleck/the Gophers will miss out on the top 2 instate kids who would have had quite an impact on that average rating, no sugarcoating that.

As for ratings bumps, the Gophers have 3 candidates for significant ratings bumps (or declines) in MJ Anderson, Trey Pots, and Cameron Wiley. All 3 missed their Junior years, so they've been evaluated based on their play as Sophomores. In the case of both Anderson and Wiley, they were still able to get offers from big time schools. Potts put up monster numbers as a Sophomore. I think it's a risky strategy to take 3 guys coming off such significant injuries, but it could pay off in a big way.

For me, I love what the staff has one on the defensive line in this class and what they have done on the recruiting trail in Illinois as a whole. As for negatives, the two that really stand out to me are not landing Duggan or a similarly regarded 4* level QB and and not landing either Carroll or Benhart. Big picture, I am concerned that recruiting will start to taper off in the 2020 class(could certainly argue it already did this year) if the Fleck brand doesn't get a boost from something this Fall. Maybe it's something that would just make people feel good locally (ending the losing streak to Iowa) or maybe it's something that would be a lead Sportscenter type shocker (knocking off Wisconsin or Ohio State).
 

btowngopher said:
Yeah, but Fleck fills his classes earlier than most so in theory more of his players would stand a good chance of being re-evaluated. I kind of doubt the services are taking second looks at the lower 3 star guys who commit later in the process.
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So they just ignore these players senior years?
 

It's funny to read comments about past coaches and the debates about whether they established or ruined relationships with the local high school teams.

I'm sure some angered local coaches because they didn't recruit MN enough.
Others angered other local coaches because they were too high pressure or used unusual tactics.
In the end, I'm guessing every coach has a mix of each.

But since Mason beat WI, no one played WI tougher than Brewster did.
 

I am more interested in how our class ranks compared to other B1G schools instead if past Gopher coach's classes. We are not going to play those past Gopher teams. We are playing current B1G teams. In any case this is fun as the season quickly approaches.
 

EG#9 said:
A couple responses to points made in this thread about the Gophers current class. The "average rating" is going to be hurt by taking two specialists. We can agree or disagree about whether it is a wise use of scholarships, but it's just factual that these guys are going to be rated low (in this case two .7781's). The average rating is also hurt by the two early local commits from Kramer and Williamson. Kramer is basically right at our average (and below it removing the two specialists) while Williamson is one of our lower rated recruits at .8316. For what it's worth the state of Iowa has SEVEN kids rated higher than Kramer (listed as 4th highest in Minnesota, but he's really 3rd as the list includes Richter who is not in high school) and EIGHT rated higher than Williamson (listed 5th in Minnesota actually 4th). So this is either a really down year for Minnesota kids or these kids are likely underrated or it's a crazy good year for Iowa kids or Iowa/Iowa State are getting the benefit of some overrated kids for whatever reason. Whatever the explanation, I thought that example points out a little bit of the difficulty in getting to our desired average rating this year. It's still a disappointment that it looks like Fleck/the Gophers will miss out on the top 2 instate kids who would have had quite an impact on that average rating, no sugarcoating that.

As for ratings bumps, the Gophers have 3 candidates for significant ratings bumps (or declines) in MJ Anderson, Trey Pots, and Cameron Wiley. All 3 missed their Junior years, so they've been evaluated based on their play as Sophomores. In the case of both Anderson and Wiley, they were still able to get offers from big time schools. Potts put up monster numbers as a Sophomore. I think it's a risky strategy to take 3 guys coming off such significant injuries, but it could pay off in a big way.

For me, I love what the staff has one on the defensive line in this class and what they have done on the recruiting trail in Illinois as a whole. As for negatives, the two that really stand out to me are not landing Duggan or a similarly regarded 4* level QB and and not landing either Carroll or Benhart. Big picture, I am concerned that recruiting will start to taper off in the 2020 class(could certainly argue it already did this year) if the Fleck brand doesn't get a boost from something this Fall. Maybe it's something that would just make people feel good locally (ending the losing streak to Iowa) or maybe it's something that would be a lead Sportscenter type shocker (knocking off Wisconsin or Ohio State).
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I would take a bowl win. That always gets highlights on sportscenter, etc. no matter how low the bowl is. 6 wins + a bowl win, would be an excellent second season to build on for the Fleck brand and rebuilding job here.
 

PMWinSTP said:
So they just ignore these players senior years?
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I guess i dont really know, but i dont think the recruiting sites are monitoring every kid out there and carefully considering which ones to re-evaluate. Im guessing they are not carefully monitoring uncommitted low end three stars with few offers. I really dont think they are so thorough that they go theough and consider re evaluating everyone after their senior year.
 

btowngopher said:

I guess i dont really know, but i dont think the recruiting sites are monitoring every kid out there and carefully considering which ones to re-evaluate. Im guessing they are not carefully monitoring uncommitted low end three stars with few offers. I really dont think they are so thorough that they go theough and consider re evaluating everyone after their senior year.
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After reading into how these ratings are awarded, I am pretty convinced that the player rankings are only "slightly" more complex than a random computer nerd with an excel spreadsheet who makes up his own formula to award rankings and stars.

Is it scientific? Not really.
Is it accurate? Not really.
Is is prone to errors and biases? Absolutely.
Is it the best we currently have. Unfortunately, yes.
 

Pioneer Press: Cretin-Derham Hall’s Peter Udoibok jumped at chance to be a Gopher

All of the above led Udoibok to accept a scholarship offer from the Gophers on July 30. After his senior year at the St. Paul private school, Udoibok will be a member of the University of Minnesota’s 2019 recruiting class.

“I was pretty excited, same with my parents,” Udoibok said. “Who wouldn’t be excited to play for the hometown school? I grew up watching the Gophers.”

Bollinger, a former Wisconsin Badgers quarterback who spent two of his five NFL seasons with the Vikings, said he had frank conversations with Gophers wide receivers coach Matt Simon, the primary recruiter for the state of Minnesota.

“I’ve got to know Matt over the years, and I have a ton of respect for him,” Bollinger said. “I think basically it was good communication all the way across the board. … Matt just did a great job of building a relationship with Peter and gaining that trust and providing him with the information he needed of where that program is at and where he envisions them at … and how Peter would fit into it.”

https://www.twincities.com/2018/08/...eter-udoibok-jumped-at-chance-to-be-a-gopher/

Go Gophers!!
 

KSTP: St. Croix Falls OL Tyler Cooper on Committing to Gophers

Class of 2019 St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin offensive lineman Tyler Cooper recently committed to the Gophers.

KSTP Sports' Darren Wolfson went to St. Croix Falls to get to know Cooper.

Cooper, who is 6-foot-4, 295 pounds, also had offers from Wyoming, North Dakota St., South Dakota St., and others. The home state Badgers talked with him, but never offered.

He is the 23rd player in the Gophers' 2019 Class.

Cooper will transition from tackle to guard this year, and be used at the same position with the Gophers.

https://kstp.com/sports/st-croix-falls-high-school-tyler-cooper-commit-minnesota-gophers/5029205/

Go Gophers!!
 

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From 24/7 site
SPRINGFIELD WIDE RECEIVER MIKE BROWN-STEPHENS

Players can change dramatically over the course of one calendar year, and that is exactly what appears to have happened with Mike Brown-Stephens. Hampered by an injury as a junior, Brown-Stephens is fully healthy now and faster and stronger. What we saw in 7-on-7 was impressive, and we will be looking to see if that translates to game action. The Minnesota commit has been moved up almost 50 spots in the Ohio rankings, and could be going even higher.
 



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