Official 2021 Gophers Football Recruiting Updates Thread: Links, Tweets, Videos etc

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Gotta love kids who are the reverse of what usually happens (didn't grow up Gopher fans and want out of the state). Otherwise, he'd be gone.
 

Took a look and Wisconsin is killing it for 2021

They have the top 6 instate kids
#1 from PA, MN
#2 from IA.

Interesting that NE #1 is committed to MN
Iowa #1 is committed NE (Iowa missed on top 3)

Top players in WI, IA, MN, NE are staying with these teams. No wonder the recruiting trail is a bit tense.

WI - 6 of 6 staying in WI
IA- 12 of 15 picking one of these teams
NE- 7 of 7 picking one of these teams
MN- 6 of 8 picking one of these teams
 

For those who want to see those lists (I like to show them sorted by 247's own rankings, but you can switch to composite at the top on each screen):

https://247sports.com/Season/2021-Football/RecruitRankings/?InstitutionGroup=highschool&State=WI
https://247sports.com/Season/2021-Football/RecruitRankings/?InstitutionGroup=highschool&State=IA
https://247sports.com/Season/2021-Football/RecruitRankings/?InstitutionGroup=highschool&State=NE
https://247sports.com/Season/2021-Football/RecruitRankings/?InstitutionGroup=highschool&State=MN

As Max Jr said, it's only three guys in Iowa and two in Minn who aren't picking one of those four schools:

Iowa: #6, #15 going to Iowa State and #10 going to K-State (coach is from NDSU and previously was a big Northern Iowa guy)

Minn: #2 Joe Alt going to Notre Dame :rolleyes: and #7 Bastian Swinney going to Cal :sneaky: . There is also #9 Tyler Magnuson (Wayzata OT) going to Syracuse.


(IMO, neither Alt nor Mahlman at Wisc will ever be starters. Yeah I'm bitter guy for saying that, and yeah you gotta follow your dreams, but I still think they were stupid decisions, even if they didn't come to the U instead)
 


Headed to WI. Another big miss from Fleck.. was hoping he would play hockey for Minnesota.
 

Gophers need players like Ratzlaff to stay home if we are going to do well (see Coughlin, Martin, Barber). Makes it so much worse to lose him to Wisco when we are absolutely desperate for LB talent. Frustrating.
 

gopherguy06 said:
Headed to WI. Another big miss from Fleck.. was hoping he would play hockey for Minnesota.
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Just a question in calling it a miss but would we say the same if they chose to go to Bama or a similar place? I'd have to imagine Fleck would've loved for him to stay home and I'm sure they'll continue to work at him to do so until signing day
 

gopherguy06 said:
Headed to WI. Another big miss from Fleck.. was hoping he would play hockey for Minnesota.
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This is a tough loss but expected. To lose Mahlman, Sulivan, and Ratzlaff to rivals really hurts. Pj isn't for everyone and other programs push the negativity. This class will still look great by signing day. Townley has NFL potential and I feel good about Gophers landing him.
 



GoldenRowpher said:
This is a tough loss but expected. To lose Mahlman, Sulivan, and Ratzlaff to rivals really hurts. Pj isn't for everyone and other programs push the negativity. This class will still look great by signing day. Townley has NFL potential and I feel good about Gophers landing him.
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Right now the
Top 3 IA kids leaving,
Top NE kid is going to MN,
Top IL kid going to IA,
Top IN to Notre Dame,
Top MI kid going to Alabama,
Top 2 MD kids leaving,
Top 2 MN kids leaving,
Top 5 PA kids leaving
Top 3 NJ kids leaving

Ohio State getting top 4 Ohio kids
Wisconsin getting its top 6 kids
 

There seems to be an Anti Minnesota theme among some players and coaches. It has nothing to do with Fleck as it was going on prior to him arriving. Fleck I believe will turn it around eventually. We do seem to have many past Wisconsin folks living in Minnesota. Didn't they like it there?
 

#2Gopher said:
There seems to be an Anti Minnesota theme among some players and coaches. It has nothing to do with Fleck as it was going on prior to him arriving. Fleck I believe will turn it around eventually. We do seem to have many past Wisconsin folks living in Minnesota. Didn't they like it there?
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Some of it is just that Wisconsin is now a helmet school. It also is part of the last 60 years of Gopher football where people feel the grass is greener elsewhere. Also it's as simple as not everyone wants to be close to home or have to pressure of playing for the home team.
 

Saw that a Nebraska DB de-committed and in the article it states that they are still in communication with Dickerson our top recruit. Will be an interesting last couple weeks of recruiting.
 



MaxyJR1 said:
Saw that a Nebraska DB de-committed and in the article it states that they are still in communication with Dickerson our top recruit. Will be an interesting last couple weeks of recruiting.
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When is national signing day. I think it's in December. I'm sure we might loose and add others.
 


SPEGOPHER said:
Gophers need players like Ratzlaff to stay home if we are going to do well (see Coughlin, Martin, Barber). Makes it so much worse to lose him to Wisco when we are absolutely desperate for LB talent. Frustrating.
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Sucks that he is headed to Wisconsin for obvious reasons but I am not 100% sure we are desperate for LB talent. For this year we obviously are but there are a number of promising guys in the pipeline at LB that could pop in the next year or two. Ratzlaff is going to have to bulk up to play LB at the college level so it is going to take him some time.

In my opinion, if he is the hockey prospect I have heard he is, he is making a big mistake going with football. He is a very good football player but I don't know that he will be an impact player at the college level and if his pro prospects were high in hockey he is passing up on a long term pro career for a long shot pro career in football.

Maybe he has a change of heart before signing day and decides to stick around.
 

I’m not so sure it’s an anti Minnesota thing or was. Some kids just want to go away to school. Happens in lots of places. Wisconsin just happens to be on a roll.

Whether they are Minnesota kids or not isn’t the bottom line. Can you evaluate and develop talent? Does not matter what the rankings say. Does matter how they fit your program and if you can develop them. Speed would seem to be prerequisite number one. PJ has not clearly shown that ability yet.

Bateman, yes. Who else has PJ recruited that you see play and go Oh my gosh, he’s going to be amazing? Mo is good, Tanner was, but last year. Callahan does a great job with the O-line. There is consistency there but hardly any where else.
Hopefully, next year looks very different.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Saw that a Nebraska DB de-committed and in the article it states that they are still in communication with Dickerson our top recruit. Will be an interesting last couple weeks of recruiting.
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I've always thought getting Dickerson would be a bonus in this class. The number 1 player in Nebraska going to Minnesota is wild to me. Also I'm not sure he's ever visited MN. Time will tell I guess. Ortiz looks like a player! Green and Walley are two under the guys that have star potential. Green is a great tackler and Walley is starting to fill out and looked the part his senior year. If offers go out at DB in the next two weeks we know there is a problem.
 


I read in the NE newspapers that Frost's alleged excellent 2020 class is shedding players.
Frost does not look like a fun guy to have as HC.
He lives in the Osborne past and seems to think every recruit should feel the same way.
 


Plato said:
I read in the NE newspapers that Frost's alleged excellent 2020 class is shedding players.
Frost does not look like a fun guy to have as HC.
He lives in the Osborne past and seems to think every recruit should feel the same way.
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He recruited a number of highly ranked recruits from south Florida, makes sense considering his time in FL.

It's now a meme among Nebraska fans that all south Florida recruits are dead on arrival / will commit or transfer.


It's not good when your fans adopt the meme....
 
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Isn't Ratzlaff pretty clearly a 3-4 OLB? Schematically we never were a good fit to begin with.
 


there is always some sort of shake down the final two weeks prior to signing. I like the position we are in versus Michigan or Nebraska. It would be great to pick off a LB or OL from one of their classes.

It sucks losing a strong MN kid to Wisco, but we have survived these matters before in Football, Hoops and Hockey.
 

60's Guy said:
I’m not so sure it’s an anti Minnesota thing or was. Some kids just want to go away to school. Happens in lots of places. Wisconsin just happens to be on a roll.

Whether they are Minnesota kids or not isn’t the bottom line. Can you evaluate and develop talent? Does not matter what the rankings say. Does matter how they fit your program and if you can develop them. Speed would seem to be prerequisite number one. PJ has not clearly shown that ability yet.

Bateman, yes. Who else has PJ recruited that you see play and go Oh my gosh, he’s going to be amazing? Mo is good, Tanner was, but last year. Callahan does a great job with the O-line. There is consistency there but hardly any where else.
Hopefully, next year looks very different.
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This has nothing to do with a kid wanting to get away. Ratzlaff was committed to the U for hockey for the past 2 years. If he had been drafted in the NHL, he would be playing hockey for the Gophers next year. Since he wasn’t, he’ll be playing football for the Badgers. This is clearly a case of a recruit liking 2 schools, and feeling that one was a better fit for hockey and the other was a better fit for football.
 

The problem is these kids were watching Brewster's teams when they were at their most impressionable age (7, 8, 9 years old?). At least that's when I started forming my sports loyalty.
 

gopherguy06 said:
Headed to WI. Another big miss from Fleck.. was hoping he would play hockey for Minnesota.
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What?????

What happened to the guy on here who played golf with his pop, who said the dad said it was all but guaranteed he was going to play hockey???

Badger bag men got to the family. Wonder how much $$$ that cost them. Sheesh
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Right now the
Top 3 IA kids leaving,
Top NE kid is going to MN,
Top IL kid going to IA,
Top IN to Notre Dame,
Top MI kid going to Alabama,
Top 2 MD kids leaving,
Top 2 MN kids leaving,
Top 5 PA kids leaving
Top 3 NJ kids leaving

Ohio State getting top 4 Ohio kids
Wisconsin getting its top 6 kids
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Players in any state that leave to go to a solid top 5 program, makes perfect sense. Those PA kids are going to Clemson, LSU, Ohio State .......... but wait, what?? The top PA kid is going to .... Wisconsin??

That's absurd.

Badger bag men. They are really revving it up, doing it like the dirty south. Wisconsin is an awful conservative state anyway, that probably wishes it was in the SEC.
 

Tough loss, but expected. Based on his film, he could be a great Will in the 4-3 too. The kid is quick twitch, has an attitude and is athletic!!! Bucky will love him!
 

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