Preferred Walk Ons

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Bayfieldgopher

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Coach Kill is pushing hard to get MN kids to be PW)'s. Antonio Ford, Brett Pierce, Kendrick Brewster are strong possibilities as well as Larson, Michealson and Leuer.
 

It sucks, because there are only so many spots you have to give out, and yet any (or all) of these kids would be worthy of a scholarship offer in most years. There were just so many quality players in MN this year that we couldn't offer them all full rides. I hope at least a few of them take the chance of being a contributor to a Big Ten team. They'll almost certainly be scholarship players at some point if they stick around long enough and work hard to earn one.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
Coach Kill is pushing hard to get MN kids to be PW)'s. Antonio Ford, Brett Pierce, Kendrick Brewster are strong possibilities as well as Larson, Michealson and Leuer.
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Larson just said in the article on this site that if he wasn't offered a scholarship from us he would end up in the Ivy Leagues.

Pierce and Michaelson have FBS scholarship offers as well, and it's unlikely either of them would give that up to walk on. The coaching staff has been in touch with them as backup scholarship options.
 

Based on the film I saw I do not see how the last 2 FL TX offers/commitments are better suited to be offered than these MN athletes but over the next 4 -5 years we will all know
 

Pierce and Michaelson are possibilities. You will occasionally see a kid with a FBS offer walk on (Rallis had a Wyoming offer). For these kids, it's going to come down to whether they think they can eventually get an offer.

I think Larson is either a scholarship or bust player.
I don't think Brewster is a preferred walk-on candidate.
I think the names to look at are:

Michaelson
Pierce
Dikke
Tavaughn Blair
Bungum
Lauer (who I think very well could be land a grayshirt)
Roullier
 


smp said:
Based on the film I saw I do not see how the last 2 FL TX offers/commitments are better suited to be offered than these MN athletes but over the next 4 -5 years we will all know
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I only saw the film too, but I think this S from Texas is quite a bit better athlete than anyone in that list. He is about Michaelson's size and as fast (probably faster) than anyone on that list.

With Peirce, you would need to compare him against the kid from Texas. Pierce seems to be bigger but the kid from Texas a better athlete.

Larson and Ford...well, you'd have to compare them against Rodrick Williams. I am a MN rube, but I think Williams looks better than Larson or Ford.
 

I only saw them in the semis and the finals, but Ford has a nice burst, but doesn't seem to have breakaway speed or elusiveness. Larson appears to be a bit of the opposite in that he's a good "read" runner, but it looks like it takes him awhile to hit full speed.

Good luck to both these kids wherever they end up. If that's at Minnesota, I'm all for it.
 

Hopefully Kill leaves no stone unturned, no phonecall unmade.
There are alot of talented kids in the state this year, I'm sure Kill wishes he could have a few more scholarships available for them.

Pierce in the video i saw looked a bit slow and didn't change direction very well, a very similar player IMO to Brandon Hoey from Moundsview that went to wisky. Big strong kid that could be a tall DT, or an OT, or a big blocking TE.

Larson seems like a great kid with alot to offer, but I worry about his size somewhat.
His style is a power runner, but his frame is not very huge.

Michealson looks like a nice player, he flashed alot in Grayson Levine's highlights last year.

The OL are good prospects, if they see Roullier as a true center he could be pushing for PT early on.

It'd be nice to bring in 10-12 guys on top of the signing class, especially at the TE position where I expect Kill will find good numbers of tall, big framed, somewhat athletic Minnesotans that can fill that role.
 

smp said:
Based on the film I saw I do not see how the last 2 FL TX offers/commitments are better suited to be offered than these MN athletes but over the next 4 -5 years we will all know
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You ought to go back and look at the Plsek video again. If you don't think he is going to be a player, you have really high standards, way higher than any of the walk on candidates can meet. I think he is about the same size and just as athletic as Matt Lacosse from Illinois that we lost in the coaching switch last season who was one fo my favorite recruits and played for Illinois this year against us. If you get a kid who is 6'5" and runs anything like a 4.6, and has good direction change (he does), he has the opportunity to be a real player. He has the possibility to play De,Dt, OT,TE. I think he has the chance to be one of the best recruits in the class and he is a good kid and a good student.
 



What about Dunbar?

He was hyped last year as a top prospect, he still has the size and pedigree to be worth a PWO.
 

Maybe you are right –That I have high standards, but if these athletes are going to take the scholarships over MN athletes in my opinion it should be obvious.
I do not mean to pick on the last 2 commits but the film I watched on the QB/DB from FL did not jump out at me- especially if he is going to play safety. I saw him catch a couple air balls and make some tackles that a safety should make but did not see an abundance of explosive play.
But when the dust settles, these MN athletes will be playing somewhere and we wish them the best!
 

THE Chitown Gopher said:
What about Dunbar?

He was hyped last year as a top prospect, he still has the size and pedigree to be worth a PWO.
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I wondered about him as well. He got a lot of hype before the season started, but he's not making much of a dent with the scouting services.
 

smp said:
Based on the film I saw I do not see how the last 2 FL TX offers/commitments are better suited to be offered than these MN athletes but over the next 4 -5 years we will all know
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I can't answer your question but I do have a question for you. On what basis should I believe that are better suited to make this conclusion than the coaches? I don't me to pick on you in particular but I am always amazed how so many people here believe that they have better knowledge than the coaches. Sure, that the nature of fans but it puzzles me.
 



dpodoll68 said:
It sucks, because there are only so many spots you have to give out, and yet any (or all) of these kids would be worthy of a scholarship offer in most years. There were just so many quality players in MN this year that we couldn't offer them all full rides. I hope at least a few of them take the chance of being a contributor to a Big Ten team. They'll almost certainly be scholarship players at some point if they stick around long enough and work hard to earn one.
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i find this to be a very homeristic view.. first off, if they are deserving of a scolly, they would of gotten an offer... as far as quality players go, there are many dakota school quality players... not b10 quality... if they were once again they would have gotten offers..
 

I don't think it's a homeristic view at all. He isn't saying that MN always has a ton of B10 quality players, he is saying that this season there are more kids than other seasons who deserve a scholarship (or are borderline).

Anybody who follows MN HS football knows this is an exceptionally talented year for the state of MN. Last I checked there are about 20 guys from the state with FBS offers....(10 of them BCS). That is pretty high for MN. I'd imagine that number will be closer 23-24 FBS level football players from MN in one season is pretty high.

In most years, a guy out of a group like Harden, Webb, Lauer (who is probably about as good as Bjorklund), Larson, Michaelson, Anyanwu, and Bungum...1/2 of them would have Gopher offers.

I'm not upset with Kill for not offering, he knows more than me, but there are a lot of players in this class who could play in the Big 10.
 


stuck_in_scony_go4_fan said:
agree to disagree
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Absolutely. Any reason why you believe the way you do?

I really wasn't even saying that your opinion is wrong, i'm just saying that to say this isn't a much better class for the state of MN is flat out naive. Whether those kids deserve offers or not, i'll leave that to the coaching staff. However, there are certainly a much higher rate of BCS quality football players in this class.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I don't think it's a homeristic view at all. He isn't saying that MN always has a ton of B10 quality players, he is saying that this season there are more kids than other seasons who deserve a scholarship (or are borderline).

Anybody who follows MN HS football knows this is an exceptionally talented year for the state of MN. Last I checked there are about 20 guys from the state with FBS offers....(10 of them BCS). That is pretty high for MN. I'd imagine that number will be closer 23-24 FBS level football players from MN in one season is pretty high.

In most years, a guy out of a group like Harden, Webb, Lauer (who is probably about as good as Bjorklund), Larson, Michaelson, Anyanwu, and Bungum...1/2 of them would have Gopher offers.

I'm not upset with Kill for not offering, he knows more than me, but there are a lot of players in this class who could play in the Big 10.
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I agree. This was a very deep class this year. We have had top talent (Floyd, Henderson) in years past but this year we dont have as high level talent but deeper level of talent.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
In most years, a guy out of a group like Harden, Webb, Lauer (who is probably about as good as Bjorklund), Larson, Michaelson, Anyanwu, and Bungum...1/2 of them would have Gopher offers.
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Oh Webb. How I wish he would have the Gopher offer that I want him to have. I think he was considered probably the 2nd or 3rd best prospect in MN for this class last year at this time behind McDonald. I know there have been rumors that his grades are preventing him from getting an offer but I hope that gets them improved here as kids are getting ready for Christmas break. Then, maybe then, he gets that offer.

Kid has perhaps one of the most entertaining and spectacular youtube highlight reels I've ever seen.
 

while i admit to not watching as much high school football the past 3 years, i do look at as much film as i possibly can. while i do agree that this years class may have more tallented players that mn classes in the past, i believe that it is more tallented twards the fcs calliber not the bcs... also i have absolutley no problem with offering prefered walk ons to these kids. however i do not want to burn a scolly on any of them, as they DO NOT have the skills or ability to play at the B10 level... if they did they would be getting offers.. and they are NOT!

i love how people complain about 2* and 3* recruits but yet want us to load our roster with mn tallent that isnt good enough to get MAC level offers... I am born and raised in MN, and would love to see as many of these kids as possible participate on the squad, however they need to gifted enough to deserve that spot.
 

stuck_in_scony_go4_fan said:
i love how people complain about 2* and 3* recruits but yet want us to load our roster with mn tallent that isnt good enough to get MAC level offers... I am born and raised in MN, and would love to see as many of these kids as possible participate on the squad, however they need to gifted enough to deserve that spot.
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Webb has an offer from Toledo.

Harden has an offer from Western Michigan.

Kyle Hughes has an offer from Eastern Michigan.

Chase Roullier has an offer from Akron, Toledo, and Western Michigan.

Brett Pierce and Drake Michaelson have offers from Wyoming (Mtn West is better than MAC) Michaelson also has an Akron offer.

So those are at least 6 players with non-service academy FBS offers. If that's your criteria, we aren't offering enough.
 

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