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

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Ratzlaff would be crazy to play football. He has a very good shot at making the NHL. If he chose football it would just be for the love of the sport.
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I've heard it's Gophers if he plays hockey, and WI is the front runner for football. If that's the case I hope like hell he picks hockey. As long as he's in maroon and gold, I'm happy with whichever one he chooses!

That said the smart move if he wants his best shot at going pro is hockey, but maybe he just loves football that much.
 

Tommyboy said:
Why does everyone get so excited about guys that never practice football? He is another Suggs, he is a 6'1" 205 pound hockey player that sounds like he has the ability to go Pro in hockey. While there are kids that work on their skill set in football all year and no one talks about them. Everyone follows the hype train.
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Read the part that says "I don't know anything about his situation," bud
 

Gophers1992 said:
I've heard it's Gophers if he plays hockey, and WI is the front runner for football. If that's the case I hope like hell he picks hockey. As long as he's in maroon and gold, I'm happy with whichever one he chooses!

That said the smart move if he wants his best shot at going pro is hockey, but maybe he just loves football that much.
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Thank you for the insight, I could get down with a commitment to the U and Motzko
 

Tommyboy said:
Why does everyone get so excited about guys that never practice football? He is another Suggs, he is a 6'1" 205 pound hockey player that sounds like he has the ability to go Pro in hockey. While there are kids that work on their skill set in football all year and no one talks about them. Everyone follows the hype train.
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Dude, before you go on a rant it might be a good idea to check your facts a little first. Ratzlaff is a very skilled football player. He may project as a future pro in hockey but that doesn't change the fact that he works at football as well and is a very good player with definite potential should he choose to go that route instead.

He is far more then just a hockey player playing football.
 

Tommyboy said:
Why does everyone get so excited about guys that never practice football? He is another Suggs, he is a 6'1" 205 pound hockey player that sounds like he has the ability to go Pro in hockey. While there are kids that work on their skill set in football all year and no one talks about them. Everyone follows the hype train.
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Never practice football? What do you mean by that he plays football he even has a highlight tape. I'm sure to be on a football team you need to practice it.
 



Tommyboy said:
Why does everyone get so excited about guys that never practice football? He is another Suggs, he is a 6'1" 205 pound hockey player that sounds like he has the ability to go Pro in hockey. While there are kids that work on their skill set in football all year and no one talks about them. Everyone follows the hype train.
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Reminds me of Paul Martin. The moral of the story is if the kid is a true athlete he will play at a high level, whatever sport he chooses. Coaches are looking for multi sport athletes these days.
 

per Shama:

Worth Noting

Indianapolis defensive end Kyran Montgomery, considered a rising recruit, has narrowed his college possibilities to the Gophers, Florida State and Missouri. Rivals.com ranks him a four-star, while 247Sports labels Montgomery a three-star.

With a couple of recent de-commits, and the success of other programs, the Gophers’ 2021 recruiting class has dropped to No. 20 in the national team rankings by 247Sports. In the spring Minnesota was No. 5 and second in the Big Ten only to Ohio State. With the guess that Gophers coach P.J. Fleck will line up another five to seven verbal commitments before signing days in December and February, the Gophers could improve their No. 20 ranking.


Go Gophers!!
 




SixBySix said:
He's already committed to the U for hockey. The question is if he will decomit (likely to play LB for the badgers).
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My High School son hit the shot of his life on hole #3 at Valley Wood Golf Course this weekend (just past 250 yards). While we were waiting in the middle of the fairway for the group ahead of us to get off the Green, a young guy who could have passed for a recent college grad., drove up to us in his cart and deeply apologized for hitting a ball just near us. To his defense we were downhill, so he couldn't see us when he Tee'd Off. Golf Course was really busy thus very slow going, so a few holes later I ended up talking to an older guy who was with him. Turns out I was talking to Mr Ratzlaff. He made no bones about it, that his son is playing Hockey at the U of M. Mr Ratzlaff seemed like a very genuine down-to earth-nice guy who you could sit by and have a beer with and by the looks of it his son could hold his own in Golf. One thing that was funny was Mr Ratzlaff was wearing a Wisconsin Hat and Wisconsin Shirt and he made a comment about probably not a good outfit for Fleck to see him in. By the way he seemed to have the utmost respect for Mr Fleck and what they are doing at the U. Him and his son were both in attendance at the Penn State game and Mr Ratzlaff commented on how awesome that game was to see. To me his Dad seemed to very upbeat about Minnesota. My impressions of his boy is that he is very mature for his age and very humble. I commented on how my son should get his autograph now, and his Dad just chuckled and said something like, "Ah, come on now" while his son just simply said "Thanks". I wish the best for this kid and his family.
 

Not trying to take away from the awesome Raztlaff golf story at all. On a flight from Minneapolis to some other city traveling for work I ended up seated next to a man taking extensive notes on something. I looked over and politely as I could asked what he was working on. By chance he was an NHL scout for a team I can't recall but he was in the Twin Cities to scout Paul Martin play hockey at Elk River. This was January and must have been before he was drafted so I am guessing it was in Martin's sophomore year in high school. The scout told me Martin was the best high school hockey player he had seen in many years and for sure would be a great NHL player and could play D1 football if he wanted to do so. This is the opinion of an NHL scout after seeing Martin play a few times as a sophomore and was probably going to the next town to see NHL prospects and report back to the NHL team that would try to draft Martin. The point is that these elite athletes show it early. A player like Ratzlaff is going to be a star either way no matter what sport he chooses but it sounds like he sees his best chance as a hockey player and why not play for the Gophers?! I think it would be great if that happens.
 

BleedGopher said:
per Shama:

Worth Noting

Indianapolis defensive end Kyran Montgomery, considered a rising recruit, has narrowed his college possibilities to the Gophers, Florida State and Missouri. Rivals.com ranks him a four-star, while 247Sports labels Montgomery a three-star.

With a couple of recent de-commits, and the success of other programs, the Gophers’ 2021 recruiting class has dropped to No. 20 in the national team rankings by 247Sports. In the spring Minnesota was No. 5 and second in the Big Ten only to Ohio State. With the guess that Gophers coach P.J. Fleck will line up another five to seven verbal commitments before signing days in December and February, the Gophers could improve their No. 20 ranking.


Go Gophers!!
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Does he actually mean improve from #20 when finished? It's a great class for the Gophs but there are a half dozen teams behind them who are perennial top 20 and have the same or fewer recruits right now compared to the Gophs. Certainly have a chance to finish in the top 30.
 

Have you ever noticed that hockey players do not have good verticals? From all of the lateral muscle development, it works against the muscle used for an athletes vertical. Just the opposite of a basketball player.
 





Tommyboy said:
Have you ever noticed that hockey players do not have good verticals? From all of the lateral muscle development, it works against the muscle used for an athletes vertical. Just the opposite of a basketball player.
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Can honestly say I have never given that particular topic a moments of thought up until right now. :)
 

Michael Olowo of Rogers and Dorian Singer from Tartan both transferring to Pinnacle High School in Phoenix to finish their high school careers. Both announced today. Interesting.
 

NorthernLakesGopher said:
Michael Olowo of Rogers and Dorian Singer from Tartan both transferring to Pinnacle High School in Phoenix to finish their high school careers. Both announced today. Interesting.
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Probably worried that MSHSL will pull the plug on football this fall.

STrib blurb said Singer had developed a friendship with the brother of a former Champlin player, and that the brother had also transferred to Pinnacle.
 


per SI:

Minnesota celebrated its first 10-win season since 2003 with a thrilling Outback Bowl victory over Auburn on New Year's Day, sending a nationwide statement about the program's ongoing ascent under coach P.J. Fleck. Not even eight months later, it's abundantly clear recruits across the country have begun to take notice of the Golden Gophers.

Fifteen Minnesota commits and nine rising high school seniors considering UMN are candidates for the 2020 Sports Illustrated All-America team. Headlining the group is Athan Kaliakmanis, a dual-threat quarterback from Antioch Community High School in northern Illinois whose twin brother, Dino, is also bound for Minneapolis.

Listed below is the full breakdown of UMN verbals and prime targets on the SI All-American watch list.

www.si.com

SI All-American Watch List: 16 Minnesota commits and 9 key Gophers targets named

Top 10 position rankings start this week; preseason SI99 out in August
www.si.com www.si.com

Go Gophers!!
 

MplsGopher said:
Probably worried that MSHSL will pull the plug on football this fall.

STrib blurb said Singer had developed a friendship with the brother of a former Champlin player, and that the brother had also transferred to Pinnacle.
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Arizona is in a tougher position than what we are. Article stated that he is disappointed that he isn't getting more offers. Iowa State is the only school of significance offering him.
 

MplsGopher said:
You only get a max of 5 in-person visits. Why bother naming anything above a top 5?

Well anyway
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Narrow the focus of schools that are recruiting you and that you are seriously looking at. Tweet says he cut the list from 30 to 10 so makes sense from that standpoint.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Narrow the focus of schools that are recruiting you and that you are seriously looking at. Tweet says he cut the list from 30 to 10 so makes sense from that standpoint.
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They are enjoying the attention and adulation. And why not? Once they signed the LOI, all these hype will go away for the most part.
 

MplsGopher said:
Probably worried that MSHSL will pull the plug on football this fall.

STrib blurb said Singer had developed a friendship with the brother of a former Champlin player, and that the brother had also transferred to Pinnacle.
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No one believed me when I stated the Minnesota kids do not believe they get any love from their home team. Both are talented athletes that probably with get bigger offers by heading to an area that will highlight their top athletes. High school coaches in our state make a dollar a day coaching. It is a shame when our top athletes are leaving the state to get the yards and reps needed to gain attention at bigger schools.
 

NorthernLakesGopher said:
Michael Olowo of Rogers and Dorian Singer from Tartan both transferring to Pinnacle High School in Phoenix to finish their high school careers. Both announced today. Interesting.
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I think its all about getting a bigger look. The school they're transferring to is high profile with lots of D1 players. Both guys have been very under recruited locally. Prediction.... both end up playing in the Pac-12 at U of A. Great decision for both if we play high school football this season.
 


GoldenRowpher said:
I think its all about getting a bigger look. The school they're transferring to is high profile with lots of D1 players. Both guys have been very under recruited locally. Prediction.... both end up playing in the Pac-12 at U of A. Great decision for both if we play high school football this season.
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I'm sure they'd prefer the top db in zona, but he's going to be a gopher. Amazingly only one instate player has committed to Arizona, and none to ASU. The top 11 have committed elsewhere already. Singer is actually now ranked as the number 13 player in arizona.
 

Tommyboy said:
No one believed me when I stated the Minnesota kids do not believe they get any love from their home team. Both are talented athletes that probably with get bigger offers by heading to an area that will highlight their top athletes. High school coaches in our state make a dollar a day coaching. It is a shame when our top athletes are leaving the state to get the yards and reps needed to gain attention at bigger schools.
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Plenty of Minnesota kids get love from their home team. Please plant your flag and say which current verbals are not as good as these two players.
 

Why uis there so much angst about kids from the state ! All i care about is getting kids that form a tean that wins, i could care less where they are from.
 

Tommyboy said:
No one believed me when I stated the Minnesota kids do not believe they get any love from their home team. Both are talented athletes that probably with get bigger offers by heading to an area that will highlight their top athletes. High school coaches in our state make a dollar a day coaching. It is a shame when our top athletes are leaving the state to get the yards and reps needed to gain attention at bigger schools.
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You actually make a somewhat valid point at the end but you can't fault the Gophers for not taking a flyer on home state guys who may or may not be able to handle facing better competition when they can go out and find guys in other states that are playing against much tougher competition on a week in week out basis.

Minnesota high school football is simply not very good when compared to the football hot beds around the country. That isn't to say there are not some talented players in this state but the high end is very very limited.

The U recruits a lot of guys from Minnesota and many of them end up walking on. You may not feel that is good enough but the reality is that the state of high school football in Minnesota is not great and that isn't the Universities fault.
 

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