Rallis, Williams, & Williams all 3 Stars on Rivals

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hendo59

hendo59

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Rodrick Williams, Maxx Williams, and Nick Rallis all receive 3 stars on Rivals. I know many have been worried about some of Kill's unheralded signees (i.e. Rodrick Williams, Jack Lynn, Hinojosa, etc.), but this should validate the staff's hard work on the recruiting trail. They appear to be very adept at identifying under the radar prospects and securing commitments before they get on other teams' radar. Great job Killer!
 

I agree, I just want to point out that Nick Rallis committed a couple years ago. I remember seeing it on rivals and scout when i was looking at future classes (after I heard Barkely committed in 7th grade I wanted to see if the gophers had anyone like that)
 

Yipee!

That puts us at #10 in the BT and last in average star ratings @2.63.
 

Yes, I realize that, although Rallis has been on quite a recruiting roller coaster with the Gophs since the coaching change. But thanks for pointing it out. My comment was actually meant to be more focused on Rodrick Williams, Lynn, and others who some, but not all, on this board and Rivals have been concerned about as unrated prospects. I'm excited to see a coaching staff who actually does their own recruiting homework as opposed to relying on the recruiting services. This approach should land us some good under the radar types who will develop into solid players for us. GO Gophs!
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
Yipee!

That puts us at #10 in the BT and last in average star ratings @2.63.
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That actually does nothing of the sort. It raises the average star rating since they were all unrated prospects before. But way to find the positive...lol!!!:D
 


hendo59 said:
Yes, I realize that, although Rallis has been on quite a recruiting roller coaster with the Gophs since the coaching change. But thanks for pointing it out. My comment was actually meant to be more focused on Rodrick Williams, Lynn, and others who some, but not all, on this board and Rivals have been concerned about as unrated prospects. I'm excited to see a coaching staff who actually does their own recruiting homework as opposed to relying on the recruiting services. This approach should land us some good under the radar types who will develop into solid players for us. GO Gophs!
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I assumed someone would make that point, so I did. Lol.
 


I have no doubt they are #10 in stars rating. I've seen the rankings too. But my comment is that the 3 star ratings given to these three players does not put us at 10. We were already at 10 or 11. The ratings for these players raises the star average, even if we are still at #10. But there was really no need for a negative response from you on a comment noting good star ratings for three of our previously unrated recruits. Why does our recruiting ranking matter to you so much when we are at the beginning of a re-building project? We are not going to get many top rated prospects until we start winning. My original point is that Kill and staff seem to be adept at assessing unheralded prospects, offering them, and securing some commitments before they hit the radar of some of the other BCS programs out there. This will upgrade our talent base regardless of how many highly rated prospects they bring in, and also shows their ability and work ethic. That's all I was saying. SMH...
 

Will everyone cool their jets for a while, Rivals will do several rounds of reevaluations during the year, the under the radar commits will get a lot more scrutiny over the next few months. I think that there will be many other upgrades, and that by the end of the H.S. season, we will be mid pack in the conference.
 



I pay more attention to Scout who actually grades a little bit harder. Rivals has pretty much everyone at 3 stars if they have an offer or two...
 

nsmike said:
Will everyone cool their jets for a while, Rivals will do several rounds of reevaluations during the year, the under the radar commits will get a lot more scrutiny over the next few months. I think that there will be many other upgrades, and that by the end of the H.S. season, we will be mid pack in the conference.
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Recruits of other teams will likely get upgraded as well though....I'm not trying to be negative at all, the reality is that this is a rebuilding project and our recruiting classes likely wont be highly ranked for a couple years
 

Middle of the road is high hopes for this class I think.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
Yipee!

That puts us at #10 in the BT and last in average star ratings @2.63.
Click to expand...

Yeah, and I'm sure when it's all said and done, Nebraska will really end at 8 like they are now. Not to mention, the 6th ranked B1G team, Indiana, has almost similar stars and avg. rating, with the exception of one player that they landed. There isn't much separating the 6th-12th teams in the conference. Kill has found the players he wants, and the ones that he feels fit the system he is implementing here
 



And we should care about Rivals' opinion...why? We should be excited if in 3-4 years these players are starring on the field and not screwing up off the field, not if they have 3* now.
 

Bayfield - Are you now auditioning to take over wren's job?

Bayfieldgopher said:
Yipee!

That puts us at #10 in the BT and last in average star ratings @2.63.
Click to expand...

LOL - I have noticed that wren has been relatively calm lately so I assume from your post that you are just bored. Don't worry, wren remembered how to spell maturi again so he is back in business. I hope you are feeling better soon.
 


Gopherocious said:
Yeah, and I'm sure when it's all said and done, Nebraska will really end at 8 like they are now. Not to mention, the 6th ranked B1G team, Indiana, has almost similar stars and avg. rating, with the exception of one player that they landed. There isn't much separating the 6th-12th teams in the conference. Kill has found the players he wants, and the ones that he feels fit the system he is implementing here
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You forgot to add the guys he can get also. I am sure he would much rather have a class full of 4 and 5 stars if possible but that isn't what he can get. So these are the guys he wants out of what he can get.
 

Do you guys realize the vast majority of the talent evaluators at Rivals have never coached at the High School level let alone the college level? If a Rivals evaluator and a college coach watch the same kid in person, I'm gonna trust the coach's view more than the Rivals guy 10/10 times.

Quick someone give me an objective difference between a 3 star and a 4 star. There is no objective answer. Its subject to a layman's opinion.
I'll stick to trusting the coach's opinion.
 

I'll trust the coaches opinions as well especially those opinions of multiple coaches at successful BCS programs that chose not to offer some of these kids.
 

It is obviously not an exact science and it is obviously subject to people's opinions. However, there is certainly objective data results to show that they are a decent indicator (not 100% accurate or anything).

That said, nothing changes to me about Maxx Williams or Nick Rallis. I knew who these kids were prior to their rankings and rivals could have given them a 1/2 star and i'd be pumped about them (similarily to like the Olson brothers and Isaac Hayes).

The way I look at these rankings is pretty simple. I will definitely give Coach Kill the benefit of the doubt with recruiting classes for a couple of reasons. First, he has won everywhere he has gone and has seemed to be able to find athletes that fit his system and make them into good football players. Second, he is recruiting a lot of MN kids (so far), and I am of the belief that is a great thing (for sustaining success) regardless of what their ranking is.

Now, if Kill is going to be offering kids who don't have a lot of other offers and aren't ranked high (especially early in the process (like June or July)), then he is essentially saying that he knows best and he is going out on a limb. Which, right now, like I said, I am giving him the benefit of the doubt and supporting him because he knows more than me and has won everywhere. However, if that method proves to not bring Big 10 quality talent, he deserves more blame (like 3 years from now) because he did go out on that limb. Whenever you try a new approach and that approach fails (not saying it is, I am confident it won't)...you deserve all of that blame.

That said, recruiting rankings only seem to matter a lot to us fans for a couple months. Who was mostly excited about Derrick Wells, Marcus Jones and Cobb when the class was signed? Those guys have shined in practices thus far.
 

GopherGod said:
I'll trust the coaches opinions as well especially those opinions of multiple coaches at successful BCS programs that chose not to offer some of these kids.
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Sometimes though since they committed so early when the other coach comes calling they say they won't change their mind (Philip Nelson is an example)
 

Killjoy said:
LOL - I have noticed that wren has been relatively calm lately so I assume from your post that you are just bored. Don't worry, wren remembered how to spell maturi again so he is back in business. I hope you are feeling better soon.
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That's about it Killer!

About the only good thing about a Rivals ranking is it probably makes the player feel good to see some stars after his name.
 

In 4 years if we have a bunch of 3 star recruits that are 10 RS Sr and 15 RS Jr and 18 RS So on our squad...we will be better that we are today by a huge margin. I believe and Kill believes in his S & C program, his Coaching staff and his system...that is what we need. Mason did it the same way and we went to bowl games...we just couldn't get Mase to believe in MN as much as I believe Kill does and will.
 

My sarcasm meter wasn't working properly

Bayfieldgopher said:
That's about it Killer!

About the only good thing about a Rivals ranking is it probably makes the player feel good to see some stars after his name.
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I knew your comment wasn’t something that you would normally say but I didn’t get the full extent of your sarcasm. It was your yippee that fooled me. I definitely knew it was sarcasm but wasn’t sure for what reason.
 

If there was anything the Brewster era taught me, it is that recruiting stars mean little if the players aren't properly coached, properly trained, AND stay in school and actually help your program for at least four years. I don't think recruiting good enough players is gonna be an issue for Kill going forward. I think this class is about acquiring some depth and getting a solid class in to start off his tenure. If this class stays in tact and five years from now a guy like Eric Murray is our starting corner, I don't think that necessarily will be a bad thing for us.

However (and this is just my opinion here), I don't think Kill will be able to achieve the goals he's has for this program if he is recruiting at this same level even two years from now. And by his goals, I'm talking a B1G title. We may be able to make bowl games repeatedly, but for him to do what he wants to do, he can't sit at the low end of the recruiting pool year after year, I just don't see it.
 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. It has become obvious (to me, at least) what Kill's short-term recruiting strategy is. At this point,
he is getting players that he feels are likely to contribute, be good citizens, and stay through the duration of their careers. Of course he wants guys who are good football players (that goes without saying), but he is putting more emphasis on the aforementioned traits as secondary characteristics. It is a low-risk, low-reward strategy. He is taking the sure thing at the expense of potentially getting better recruits as the season progresses. Our rivals are at the point where they can afford to swing and miss on recruits who they have to battle for, but Minnesota is not. As the years progress and our depth chart is where Kill and Co. feel comfortable with the number of contributors they have, they will feel more comfortable sticking their necks out for players they will have to battle for.

Best-case scenario of this strategy? A number of these players work out and are in contention for all-conference type status, and the classes will be balanced with a number of players ready to play at each position.

Worst-case scenario of this strategy? A number of these players level out at "marginal starter" status, but will still be reliable if called upon to play, and will not complain if they are passed over by the more highly-recruited players coming up behind them, and the classes will be balanced with a number of players ready to play at each position.

Watch this strategy unfold over the next few years.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
That's about it Killer!

About the only good thing about a Rivals ranking is it probably makes the player feel good to see some stars after his name.
Click to expand...

Ah...I get your post now. Sorry I missed your sarcasm. :)
 

Quick question regarding recruiting RBs:

How many more do you think we will recruit for this year? Makes me wonder if one of the local guys, Ford or Larson, have a shot at getting an offer. I know there had been talk of Ford possibly getting an offer earlier this summer, but it appears that didnt happen.
 

Makes me laugh even harder

RoyalGopher said:
I pay more attention to Scout who actually grades a little bit harder. Rivals has pretty much everyone at 3 stars if they have an offer or two...
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Rivals will give a recruit even if the only school that offered was Minnesota. Go figure that one out.
 

Scout gives lower ratings to players of schools that have low subscription numbers.
 

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