Ryan Burns on Kaden Johnson

Don’t forget the axe!

Active member
Joined
Dec 6, 2018
Messages
104
Reaction score
35
Points
28
A new episode of Ryan Burns’ Gopher Gridiron Radio came out today focusing on the new recruiting class. At one point, about 27:00 mins, Burns talks about Kaden Johnson’s recruiting and Wisconsin. It was brief, but he alludes to something fishy that happened within 48 hours of the signing day and media reports. He mentions as well that Johnson had a drop in 247’s rankings just before signing day.

Anyone know anything more about this? I’d guess that Wisconsin was toying Johnson and their offer.
 

I just listened to that. I don’t know what to make of it either, but he’s not very high on Kaden, and he did drop quite a bit on the 247 composite for some reason.
 

If you believe the recruitniks, the story is that a week before signing day Johnson basically had 2 commitable offers - Nebraska and Oregon St. Wisky had basically stopped recruiting Johnson as they were full at LB as had we after Jaqondis Burns committed. Kaden called up the Wisky staff 2 days before signing day, and they accepted his commitment primarily to spite the Gophers and get the top-rated player in MN.
 

gotta defend the staff at all costs if they lose a local recruit. it can't be as simple as a local kid wanting to play for a different team over mn.
 

If you believe the recruitniks, the story is that a week before signing day Johnson basically had 2 commitable offers - Nebraska and Oregon St. Wisky had basically stopped recruiting Johnson as they were full at LB as had we after Jaqondis Burns committed. Kaden called up the Wisky staff 2 days before signing day, and they accepted his commitment primarily to spite the Gophers and get the top-rated player in MN.
They can have him.
 


I just listened today and don't know quite what it means. According to 247 he is still a 4 star at 190 nationally. If he dropped, not by much (162 to 190-still very highly rated). I'd be interested to hear more inside scoop.
As Rickman55 said, they can have him. I'm just curious what Ryan was talking about.
 

I’m curious why he waited until 2 days before signing day to make up his mind. At what point did the Wisconsin offer dry up?

Anyway...I’d rather take the mid 3-star MN kid, with potential, and who wants to be here over the one who clearly thinks he’s too good for the program. I hope he rides the bench for 4 years.
 

gotta defend the staff at all costs if they lose a local recruit. it can't be as simple as a local kid wanting to play for a different team over mn.

I was directed towards a Husker board by another Husker fan after Miami or someone picked up one of their recruits.

Oh man the conspiracy theories and "low educational requirements" claims were flying.

Happens all the time it seems.... but you never hear about it until their team misses on a recruit.
 

gotta defend the staff at all costs if they lose a local recruit. it can't be as simple as a local kid wanting to play for a different team over mn.
Honestly, even if he wanted to play here I don't think he was a great fit for us anyway since we run a 4-3/4-2-5 type defense. He really needed to go to a 3-4 system which both Wisconsin and Nebraska run.
 



gotta defend the staff at all costs if they lose a local recruit. it can't be as simple as a local kid wanting to play for a different team over mn.
I don't see a whole being said about guys like Lockett or Black.
 

Always want to get the top local players, always—but only if they truly want to be here and buy in. I am very happy with our 2020 LB haul: Itayvion Brown, Jaqwondis Burns, Cody Lindenberg and Lucas Finnessey. Brown and Burns are highly rated, and Lindenberg and Finnessey are gifted, multi-sport athletes. Finnessey at 6’3, 225 played corner; add 15-20 pounds to him and he has the potential to be a very effective OLB who handles coverage well. Would like to have gotten Kaden, but don’t really miss him given what Fleck got to sign.
 
Last edited:

I don't see a whole being said about guys like Lockett or Black.

I’m kind of sad we missed on Black. He has a lot of potential. But, again, our 2020 class ended up with four very good, athletic DEs. I read one article that said Iowa might might move Black to OL, given his big frame. Interesting to watch how he develops. Wish him well.
 
Last edited:

Mahlman bumped up to #59 (from a 92 to a 95) on the 247 list today.
 
Last edited:



Mahlman bumped up to #59 on the 247 list today.

I'm sure these two events are totally unrelated, but the timing is interesting. Mahlman committed to the Badgers on September 22nd. The next day, the Lakeville South coach resigned for cheating.

Former Lakeville South football coach Tyler Krebs charged with misdemeanor
Tyler Krebs accused of unauthorized use of computer.
By Paul Klauda Star Tribune

DECEMBER 27, 2019 — 7:00AM
KREBS.JPG


BRIAN PETERSON – STAR TRIBUNE
Former Lakeville South football coach Tyler Krebs has been charged with a misdemeanor for unauthorized computer access in connection with allegations that he accessed the account of the Eastview football coach with whom he once worked. Krebs resigned as coach on Sept. 23.

TEXT SIZE





EMAIL


PRINT
MORE
Ousted high school football coach Tyler Krebs has been charged with a misdemeanor for unauthorized computer access in connection with allegations that he accessed the account of the Eastview football coach with whom he once worked.
Krebs, 45, resigned as Lakeville South head coach Sept. 23, three days after Apple Valley police received a complaint about suspicious activity on the Eastview computer system. Lakeville South played Eastview, located in Apple Valley, on the night the complaint was received and Krebs was not on the sidelines.
According to a complaint filed earlier this month in Dakota County District Court, a message sent on the Eastview coach’s online Hudl account notified his players and coaching staff about a change in practice plans Sept. 19, the day before the Eastview-Lakeville South game.

The Eastview coach, Kelly Sherwin, told police that he suspected someone from the Lakeville School District “may have accessed his account and sent the message to confuse the team,’’ the complaint said.
Sherwin checked the schedule for Lakeville South and verified that “the posted practice times were consistent with what the suspicious message stated,’’ the complaint said.
Subsequent investigation linked an Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with Lakeville schools to the Eastview coach’s Hudl account, the complaint said. Records revealed that the suspect IP address had been used to access K.S.’s Hudl account as early as March 4, 2019.
Lakeville South Head Coach Ben Burk encourages Lakeville South LB Logan Rasmussen (51) before game against Lakeville North. [ Special to Star Tribune,
After losing football coach, resilient Lakeville South just kept winning


A review of the data from Krebs’ internet history from his school computer revealed that a school email account for K.S. was frequently accessed by Krebs. Data also revealed that Krebs had used the internet to search “6 Times the New England Patriots Allegedly Cheated in Big Games” and “bill belichick cheater.”

When police contacted Lakeville South’s activities director Tom Dasovich, they learned that Krebs had admitted accessing the Eastview coach’s e-mail account after obtaining login information when Krebs coached with Sherwin, the complaint said.
Krebs also left voice and text messages for Sherwin in which he apologized and ‘’acknowledged causing damage to both football programs,’’ the complaint said.
The complaint, electronically signed Dec. 16, indicates that Krebs is expected to appear in court on March 12.
Krebs spent 14 years as a teacher and assistant football coach at Eastview before moving on to Burnsville in 2011 and then to Lakeville South in 2017. He has been on paid administrative leave from his position as an English and business education teacher at Lakeville South while the investigation was ongoing.
Stephanie Kass, Communications and Public Relations Director for Lakeville Area Schools, wrote in an e-mail that Krebs “is still on paid administrative leave. The District will determine [the] appropriate course of action in the coming weeks.”

Staff writer Joel Rippel contributed to this report.
 


If you believe the recruitniks, the story is that a week before signing day Johnson basically had 2 commitable offers - Nebraska and Oregon St. Wisky had basically stopped recruiting Johnson as they were full at LB as had we after Jaqondis Burns committed. Kaden called up the Wisky staff 2 days before signing day, and they accepted his commitment primarily to spite the Gophers and get the top-rated player in MN.

Wow.... The drama of recruiting. I appreciate you sharing! Speaking of drama, I’m surprised we hadn’t already heard about this from Tyrone Carter as he was working with those SMB kids.
 



If you believe the recruitniks, the story is that a week before signing day Johnson basically had 2 commitable offers - Nebraska and Oregon St. Wisky had basically stopped recruiting Johnson as they were full at LB as had we after Jaqondis Burns committed. Kaden called up the Wisky staff 2 days before signing day, and they accepted his commitment primarily to spite the Gophers and get the top-rated player in MN.

Thank you for sharing and I know it's not your story, but that makes zero sense.

WI took a player they didn't want to spite us? That seems strange.

To me, this feels like Burns BS. I don't think it's to save the staff, it's because he was the one spouting nonsense about him not having a commitable offer from the Badgers. What changed? It would have been spiteful towards us regardless of when he committed. What changed two days before signing day?

Could you imagine the exchange?

Paul Chryst: "Hey everyone, I know we didn't really want to allocate additional spots for a LBer, even one of the best in the country, but let's sign Kaden Johnson."
LBer Coach: "I'm ecstatic, he's one of the best LB recruits in the country, but I have to ask, what changed?"
Paul Chryst: "Well, he's from MN and this will tick them off."
LBer Coach: "Hasn't he always been from MN?"
Paul Chryst: "Yeah . . . "
 

So we cooled on him and most fans wouldn’t even want him. Seems about right.
 


His commit and the MN players committing to UW B-Ball were all at a similar time. It was a quite a gate rush but likely a coincidence.
 

I have zero inside sources with Johnson or the Gophers. I don't follow recruiting that close compared to a lot of others, but definitely follow it closer than the average fan. His recruitment was really weird from the beginning. He was the top ranked player in Minnesota but it seemed we never really were hard after him.
 

I have zero inside sources with Johnson or the Gophers. I don't follow recruiting that close compared to a lot of others, but definitely follow it closer than the average fan. His recruitment was really weird from the beginning. He was the top ranked player in Minnesota but it seemed we never really were hard after him.

My guess is that it became apparent he wanted to go away for school or didn't vibe with PJ.

Either way, those things happen and we have a great group of LBers coming in so we're good and it is what it is.
 

My guess is that it became apparent he wanted to go away for school or didn't vibe with PJ.

Either way, those things happen and we have a great group of LBers coming in so we're good and it is what it is.

That would be my guess as well. Was probably pretty clear he wasn't interested in coming here and Fleck doesn't strike me as the type who is going to waste a ton of time trying to persuade someone that doesn't want to be here. He would rather focus his efforts on guys that do.
 

That would be my guess as well. Was probably pretty clear he wasn't interested in coming here and Fleck doesn't strike me as the type who is going to waste a ton of time trying to persuade someone that doesn't want to be here. He would rather focus his efforts on guys that do.


You often see some guys show up in some news story about

Oh man they just didn't show enough interest in me.

Yeah, sometimes that's a two way street....

Crooting is hard but using your time wisely / deciding who to put time into is not easy / it's not as simple as "Hey why didn't they recruit this guy?" when the coach has to decide who NOT to spend time recruting to go after whomever.

In the meantime we get to spend the coach's time like it's infinite.... ;)


As for any of the guys mentioned here, best of luck to them, I don't have any inside info.
 

I think it's more due to fit than anything, similar to Alston last year. He projects as a stand up OLB in a 3-4. Both Nebraska and Wisconsin run a 3-4.

I know a few people close to Nebraska that said Alston told them he was going to sign with them. Then he took everyone by surprise and flipped to Wisconsin at the last minute. I don't believe Wisconsin would take anyone out of spite, but I do believe that it was a last minute deal, for some reason.
 

Does anyone have any actual inside info to refute Burns?
 

I think it's more due to fit than anything, similar to Alston last year. He projects as a stand up OLB in a 3-4. Both Nebraska and Wisconsin run a 3-4.

I know a few people close to Nebraska that said Alston told them he was going to sign with them. Then he took everyone by surprise and flipped to Wisconsin at the last minute. I don't believe Wisconsin would take anyone out of spite, but I do believe that it was a last minute deal, for some reason.

It would seem weird to take a dude "out of spite" ... spots are valuable. Just doesn't seem like that would be the whole story.
 





Top Bottom