Official 2022 Gophers Football Recruiting Thread: Links, Tweets, Videos, Rumors

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DanvilleGopher said:
I'm going to throw this out there and more than likely get attacked, but, I'm not seeing the love from highly sought after players like I thought we'd be seeing. From what I recall, we had much higher rated players the last 2 years 'Warm' for the Gophers than I'm seeing at this point this year. How many 4 stars are warm? Yes, we have one committed, but others?

I know we want the players that want to be hear etc., and we can coach up the lower rated guys, but as has been discussed over and over again, the higher rated players are the higher skilled guys. I'm not seeing interest with the 'highly skilled guys' at the level I thought it would be, to date.

What I'm trying to say, and I hate to type it (I want these guys to be good sooo bad!!), I'm getting worried recruiting might be taking a step (and it seems like a big step?) back?

Convince me I'm wrong please, because what is happening on the Basketball side, I really need football to be successful this year, AND I'd like to see recruiting stay on the upswing, but I just don't see it so far!?

Do you?
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All I look at is who the players have other offers from. From what I've seen, our recruits, for the most part, have other Power 5 offers, so I'm fine. Lot of the ratings on these guys are way behind because of the pandemic shutdowns. In Fleck I trust.
 

^^ to add ... it's not necessarily even a bad thing if we're the only P5 offer .... if we just happened to find this guy first.

Other (bigger program) schools might come calling at the recruit's door later, if they don't get the guys they initially wanted.
 

DanvilleGopher said:
I'm going to throw this out there and more than likely get attacked, but, I'm not seeing the love from highly sought after players like I thought we'd be seeing. From what I recall, we had much higher rated players the last 2 years 'Warm' for the Gophers than I'm seeing at this point this year. How many 4 stars are warm? Yes, we have one committed, but others?

I know we want the players that want to be hear etc., and we can coach up the lower rated guys, but as has been discussed over and over again, the higher rated players are the higher skilled guys. I'm not seeing interest with the 'highly skilled guys' at the level I thought it would be, to date.

What I'm trying to say, and I hate to type it (I want these guys to be good sooo bad!!), I'm getting worried recruiting might be taking a step (and it seems like a big step?) back?

Convince me I'm wrong please, because what is happening on the Basketball side, I really need football to be successful this year, AND I'd like to see recruiting stay on the upswing, but I just don't see it so far!?

Do you?
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The recruiting sites have their work cut out for them if they want to be accurate with ratings this year due to COVID shutting down a lot of football activities. Like take a guy like Nick Cull who we offered back in February. He’s rated a three star but Alabama, Florida, and LSU among others have all offered after we did.
 

btowngopher said:
The recruiting sites have their work cut out for them if they want to be accurate with ratings this year due to COVID shutting down a lot of football activities. Like take a guy like Nick Cull who we offered back in February. He’s rated a three star but Alabama, Florida, and LSU among others have all offered after we did.
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Also a QB from Harrisburg, SD. A wr from Alexandria. An olineman from Tracy, MN. A rb coming off a knee injury. A tight end from MN coming off a knee injury that seems to profile as more of a blocking tight end. These are hard to evaluate players. Also a guy like Alvarez could be awesome in the role he will play, but is a blocking tight end ever going to be highly rated, I doubt it. Or a rb that has a profile like Mo? I doubt a guy like that, which Evans fits, would ever be rated super high, doesn’t have the physical tools that wow you, but could still be an awesome college rb. Just a lot of nuance to the ratings. I think that if you stay in the ballpark of your conference foes as far as ratings you’ll be in good shape. But also a year or two here and there of being a bit behind shouldn’t be a death sentence or even a worry if there is a track record of finding good players, that just as importantly fit the roster needs, despite rankings.
 

DanvilleGopher said:
I'm going to throw this out there and more than likely get attacked, but, I'm not seeing the love from highly sought after players like I thought we'd be seeing. From what I recall, we had much higher rated players the last 2 years 'Warm' for the Gophers than I'm seeing at this point this year. How many 4 stars are warm? Yes, we have one committed, but others?

I know we want the players that want to be hear etc., and we can coach up the lower rated guys, but as has been discussed over and over again, the higher rated players are the higher skilled guys. I'm not seeing interest with the 'highly skilled guys' at the level I thought it would be, to date.

What I'm trying to say, and I hate to type it (I want these guys to be good sooo bad!!), I'm getting worried recruiting might be taking a step (and it seems like a big step?) back?

Convince me I'm wrong please, because what is happening on the Basketball side, I really need football to be successful this year, AND I'd like to see recruiting stay on the upswing, but I just don't see it so far!?

Do you?
Click to expand...
Winning cures everything.
Fleck still has to convince kids that 2019 wasn't a fluke.

That's why the Gophs have to win the West this year.
 



DanvilleGopher said:
I'm going to throw this out there and more than likely get attacked, but, I'm not seeing the love from highly sought after players like I thought we'd be seeing. From what I recall, we had much higher rated players the last 2 years 'Warm' for the Gophers than I'm seeing at this point this year. How many 4 stars are warm? Yes, we have one committed, but others?

I know we want the players that want to be hear etc., and we can coach up the lower rated guys, but as has been discussed over and over again, the higher rated players are the higher skilled guys. I'm not seeing interest with the 'highly skilled guys' at the level I thought it would be, to date.

What I'm trying to say, and I hate to type it (I want these guys to be good sooo bad!!), I'm getting worried recruiting might be taking a step (and it seems like a big step?) back?

Convince me I'm wrong please, because what is happening on the Basketball side, I really need football to be successful this year, AND I'd like to see recruiting stay on the upswing, but I just don't see it so far!?

Do you?
Click to expand...
Others have hit on a lot of the key points in response to your fears but in the end it really comes down to who do you trust? Do you trust the evaluation of the coaching staff or do you live and die with the ratings of the recruiting sites?

This is going to be a tough cycle for those that tie their value of recruits to what the sites say as those sites are way behind in their evaluations due to the cancelled or shortened seasons and the lack of an entire summer camp circuit. My guess is that we will see a ton of late recruiting bumps for players, way more than we do in a typical year.

As others have pointed out, the main thing I watch for in recruiting is who else is recruiting the players we are after. The biggest change in recruiting since Fleck got here is that we have gone from being far and away the best offer most guys have to competing with and winning battles for players against other Power 5 and especially Big Ten teams.

We still have a ways to go to reach the elite recruiting levels but we are bringing in talent that has legit Power 5 interest and is at the very least on par with what the majority of the conference is bringing in. From there it is just a matter of how well the staff can evaluate talent and find those guys that are going to develop into star players while avoid the misses as much as possible.
 







Who cares about what the ratings say. Football is a team sport that relies on nine other people to do their job right or adequately to execute on Offense. The likes of Ko Keith, Bryce Witham, etc... will not be in the glory potlight, but we know that they are there doing their part.

Likewise for the Defense.

There will be people looking at the success of Tyler Johnson, Antoine Winfield, Jr., Rashod Bateman, Benjamin St. Juste,etc... and would want to come to play for the U.

We hope to add OL and RBs to the ones that are going to the pros and imbuing the spirit of success with Gopher Football as a program that sends plyers to the NFL.
 

hungan1 said:
Who cares about what the ratings say. Football is a team sport that relies on nine other people to do their job right or adequately to execute on Offense. The likes of Ko Keith, Bryce Witham, etc... will not be in the glory potlight, but we know that they are there doing their part.

Likewise for the Defense.

There will be people looking at the success of Tyler Johnson, Antoine Winfield, Jr., Rashod Bateman, Benjamin St. Juste,etc... and would want to come to play for the U.

We hope to add OL and RBs to the ones that are going to the pros and imbuing the spirit of success with Gopher Football as a program that sends plyers to the NFL.
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It is the yearly discussion that takes place in regards to the ratings. Some only value a recruit if the services say they are good, others discount the services completely. Most fall somewhere in the middle and realize that there is value in the ratings but they are not the end all be all when it comes to evaluating a recruit and it is silly to treat them like they are 100% accurate in their assessment of players.
 



MNVCGUY said:
It is the yearly discussion that takes place in regards to the ratings. Some only value a recruit if the services say they are good, others discount the services completely. Most fall somewhere in the middle and realize that there is value in the ratings but they are not the end all be all when it comes to evaluating a recruit and it is silly to treat them like they are 100% accurate in their assessment of players.
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I'd like to think I keep rankings in perspective and I try not to value their rankings too much and I do look at all recruits offers just to see who we beat out for that recruit. I definitely have noted over the years with Fleck that we are getting players that have offers from other P5 programs, and in the past that really was not the case.

At the same time you can't ignore the sites either. I only put this out there as to me it seems like we just don't have the interest level that we've had at this time in the past. We had many players in the past at this time that I was really excited about our chances with them and really was hoping to see them on the field for the good guys.

I don't want to be Debbie Downer here but at the same time this is a discussion board and I really have noticed what I feel is a different class of prospects so far this year. Who knows how things will turn out and who knows IF the players we have committed will be upgraded, obviously that would be great if they were. I also realize the coaching staff knows a hell of allot more than I do and more than the recruiting services as well so you have to keep that in the equation as well.

Just noting what seemed to me to be fairly obvious... for whatever reason.
 


MNVCGUY said:
Others have hit on a lot of the key points in response to your fears but in the end it really comes down to who do you trust? Do you trust the evaluation of the coaching staff or do you live and die with the ratings of the recruiting sites?

This is going to be a tough cycle for those that tie their value of recruits to what the sites say as those sites are way behind in their evaluations due to the cancelled or shortened seasons and the lack of an entire summer camp circuit. My guess is that we will see a ton of late recruiting bumps for players, way more than we do in a typical year.

As others have pointed out, the main thing I watch for in recruiting is who else is recruiting the players we are after. The biggest change in recruiting since Fleck got here is that we have gone from being far and away the best offer most guys have to competing with and winning battles for players against other Power 5 and especially Big Ten teams.

We still have a ways to go to reach the elite recruiting levels but we are bringing in talent that has legit Power 5 interest and is at the very least on par with what the majority of the conference is bringing in. From there it is just a matter of how well the staff can evaluate talent and find those guys that are going to develop into star players while avoid the misses as much as possible.
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The final judgement for each recruiting class regardless of HS ratings, is how many of them are still around in two or three years short of declaring and getting drafted into the Pros.
 


DanvilleGopher said:
I'd like to think I keep rankings in perspective and I try not to value their rankings too much and I do look at all recruits offers just to see who we beat out for that recruit. I definitely have noted over the years with Fleck that we are getting players that have offers from other P5 programs, and in the past that really was not the case.

At the same time you can't ignore the sites either. I only put this out there as to me it seems like we just don't have the interest level that we've had at this time in the past. We had many players in the past at this time that I was really excited about our chances with them and really was hoping to see them on the field for the good guys.

I don't want to be Debbie Downer here but at the same time this is a discussion board and I really have noticed what I feel is a different class of prospects so far this year. Who knows how things will turn out and who knows IF the players we have committed will be upgraded, obviously that would be great if they were. I also realize the coaching staff knows a hell of allot more than I do and more than the recruiting services as well so you have to keep that in the equation as well.

Just noting what seemed to me to be fairly obvious... for whatever reason.
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This class is light on the WOW factor at this point. I just think we all have to be careful how much we lean on the rankings for this particular class because I just don't see any way that Covid didn't have a huge impact on what these sites are able to do in their evaluations of players.

Someone else broke it down in a post about how we have a number of commits at this point that are going to be unlikely to garner high rankings due to coming off of injury or being in small towns outside of recruiting hot beds.

Will be interesting to see how the rest of the class fills out and what happens over the next few months as the recruiting sites play catchup with their evaluations.
 

Boomtime said:
But is it not accurate?

You guys know I liked GM. Until Fleck blows past Mason in his winning percentage, I'm still on the fence.

Doesn't make me any less of fan.
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I liked Mason and really respect what he accomplished, but Fleck has blown past him already in terms of where the program is at perception wise. We were are viewed as contenders in the West, have been in the CFP discussion and seem to be trending in a great direction outside of the messed up 2020 season.

Mason did an awesome job taking a downtrodden program and making it respectable again. Fleck is working to push this program to heights the previous coaching staffs could never seem to reach.

We don't have to win the West in 2021 to prove that 2019 wasn't a fluke but we do need to contend and have a legit shot to win the division. Gotta look at the big picture. This program is in a different place right now than it has been at any point in the past 50+ years.
 

Boomtime said:
But is it not accurate?

You guys know I liked GM. Until Fleck blows past Mason in his winning percentage, I'm still on the fence.

Doesn't make me any less of fan.
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Not sure how Glen Mason would be doing if he somehow were still the coach today. He had a tendency to burn bridges with players and coaches. By now I'm not sure how many coaches would be still listening to him. Mason dug his own grave as a coach.
 

DanvilleGopher said:
I'd like to think I keep rankings in perspective and I try not to value their rankings too much and I do look at all recruits offers just to see who we beat out for that recruit. I definitely have noted over the years with Fleck that we are getting players that have offers from other P5 programs, and in the past that really was not the case.

At the same time you can't ignore the sites either. I only put this out there as to me it seems like we just don't have the interest level that we've had at this time in the past. We had many players in the past at this time that I was really excited about our chances with them and really was hoping to see them on the field for the good guys.

I don't want to be Debbie Downer here but at the same time this is a discussion board and I really have noticed what I feel is a different class of prospects so far this year. Who knows how things will turn out and who knows IF the players we have committed will be upgraded, obviously that would be great if they were. I also realize the coaching staff knows a hell of allot more than I do and more than the recruiting services as well so you have to keep that in the equation as well.

Just noting what seemed to me to be fairly obvious... for whatever reason.
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Recruiting across the country has been slower than ever. Just saw 247 had an article on this. This class may end ranked lower than some past ones, but I don’t think their is an obvious wide chasm at this point between this class and some other Fleck classes as you are suggesting.
 

#2Gopher said:
Not sure how Glen Mason would be doing if he somehow were still the coach today. He had a tendency to burn bridges with players and coaches. By now I'm not sure how many coaches would be still listening to him. Mason dug his own grave as a coach.
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Glen's ceiling was pretty clear too.

And sometimes that ceiling dropped randomly ... sometimes mid game... for no apparent reason.

He did good getting the team to play better than in the past, but it was pretty clear what you were getting out of his teams and PJ has already surpassed that.
 

hungan1 said:
The final judgement for each recruiting class regardless of HS ratings, is how many of them are still around in two or three years short of declaring and getting drafted into the Pros.
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The final judgement for each recruiting class is how many wins they ultimately contribute to.
Sticking around for 3-4 years and winning nothing does not make a successful recruiting class.
 

#2Gopher said:
Not sure how Glen Mason would be doing if he somehow were still the coach today. He had a tendency to burn bridges with players and coaches. By now I'm not sure how many coaches would be still listening to him. Mason dug his own grave as a coach.
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Mason had super easy schedules too. 4 cupcakes every year plus his best seasons he caught some of the better big ten programs in down years.
 

For me, the ultimate test of a recruit is this:

how does he fit in your system?

Player X might be a really good player for one school, but he might not be as productive at a different school because of different schemes and philosophies.

I harp about this a lot on the basketball board.

To me, one of the measures of a good coach is this - they have a system, they have a philosophy, and they recruit kids who fit that system and fit with the philosophy.

that, to me, is more important than star ratings or dots or Hudl highlight film.

Don't try to shove a square peg in a round hole.

I think Mo is a perfect example of a player who is a perfect fit in Fleck's system. Coming out of HS, I don't know how much buzz he generated. now, he's a pre-season all-america player.
 

MplsGopher said:
Do they get to play for championships against CO public schools?
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Yes. There is no breakup of public vs private in Colorado. Unlike some metro areas, there really aren't as many private high schools in the Denver metro area - especially not big ones with a large sports focus. I can think of maybe 3 or 4 that have stood out: Valor (good at everything and they must have had a ton of money, but their facilities, coaches and kids they get are a cut above), Mullen (used to be a football powerhouse in the 90s and 00s, but I don't think the school has the same shine anymore; kinda remind me of CDH) and Regis (they had some good years in boys' basketball - JB Bickerstaff played there when my HS played against them - but mostly became a national girls' hoops powerhouse).

Faith Christian and Denver Christian had some dominant runs in some sports over the years at the 2A or 3A level (there are 6 classes here), but overall most of the metro area private schools are much smaller and more academic focused.

Valor is definitely an outlier and I know it's a sore spot in the metro area due the resources, facilities and coaches they have. All the McCaffrey kids played there, which really helped boost the football program to prominence in the early days of the school.

Pretty sure the school opened in the mid-late 00s and they already have won 8 state titles. For comparison's sake, Mullen also has 8 titles but opened in 1931.
 


3 CBs in now for Anthony Smith all for Minnesota. Would be a big pick up with PSU and Michigan offers among others.
 

WriterGoph said:
Pretty sure the school opened in the mid-late 00s and they already have won 8 state titles. For comparison's sake, Mullen also has 8 titles but opened in 1931.
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That grinds my gears. But won't be surprised if nothing is done about it, at least any time soon.
 

MNVCGUY said:
It is the yearly discussion that takes place in regards to the ratings. Some only value a recruit if the services say they are good, others discount the services completely. Most fall somewhere in the middle and realize that there is value in the ratings but they are not the end all be all when it comes to evaluating a recruit and it is silly to treat them like they are 100% accurate in their assessment of players.
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Another thing to remember is that the services only have a finite number of guys who can only do a finite number of reviews. I suspect if a recruit isn't getting major interest but is a borderline 3*, they may just do a quick "down and dirty" eval, but if he starts picking up some P5 offers they put one of the more experienced guys on him and realize "ah yes indeed, there is some potential there".

We all know, it's not uncommon for players to get rating bumps.
 

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