??s for Recruiting Gurus

[DL65]

Is this a down year for recruits in the state of Minnesota? Thus far, I believe Minnesota has offered tenders to only two players in the Gopher state: Tom Olson (a commit to the Gophers) and Peter Westerhaus. Last year, the Gophers signed three from Minnesota: Lamonte Edwards, Jimmy Gjere and J.D. Pride. (Minnesota also offered three other players.) I suspect there may be another one or two state players offered after summer camps and next season play. Any thoughts of who might be additional Gopher targets in Minnesota?

The Gophers signed three players from Wisconsin in February, and now they have four tenders out in the Badger state: Melvin Gordon, rb; Sam Rohr, te; Jake Keefer, olb; and Marcus Aprahamian, ot. Seems to be more interest or effort in attracting players from Wisconsin, now that there are three coaches that coached in Madison previously. Are there other players that Minnesota may be targeting in Wisconsin?

Just a couple of questions during the slow period before spring practice.

Go Gophers!!

 

[Calgoph]

I'm not a recruiting guru but I do have recruiting opinions from a macro point of view.

It the talent on the roster is in fact getting better it is logical that the recruiting targets should be elevated. That would tend to lower the number of Minnesota targets unless the Minnesota talent base is also getting better.

Also, as the talent base on the team gets better, the recruiting would focus relatively more on team/position need. This would lessen the likelihood that our state would have the player we need at the talent level we need. In other words, we might be passing on in-state talent that we would have taken as recently as last year.

Nonetheless, the Gophers staff owes it to our fans and our high school coaches to make sure we are not missing home grown talent that will make us better. And we as fans must remember that recruiting decisions are based on probabilities. The probability of landing the player and the probability of that player's success.

In a near ideal situation the Gophers staff would land 7 out of the top 10 in-state players and get the next 10 to walk on. But that won't happen and 1 or 2 of those second 10 guys will likely turn out much better than anyone expected. The problem is that no one really knew which of those players would excel and they were longshots the Gophers couldn't afford to give scholarships. String together 3-4 recruiting classes and you can see why some fans may think the staff is missing Minnesota talent when they were really all longshots we couldn't afford to take.

 

[WAGopher]

In a near ideal situation the Gophers staff would land 7 out of the top 10 in-state players and get the next 10 to walk on. But that won't happen and 1 or 2 of those second 10 guys will likely turn out much better than anyone expected. The problem is that no one really knew which of those players would excel and they were longshots the Gophers couldn't afford to give scholarships. String together 3-4 recruiting classes and you can see why some fans may think the staff is missing Minnesota talent when they were really all longshots we couldn't afford to take.

I'd like to see the Gophers reserve 5 scholarships per year for Minnesota players and take the top five they can get. If it's numbers 1 - 5, awesome, if they're ranked lower than 5, we're still adding Minnesota guys to the team, which should pay future dividends for recruiting and fan support. Of course, the more we win the easier it will be to get the top 5 instate players, reducing the criticism of using a scholarship on a marginal player.

 

[josh087]

Fans care about winning, not where recruits are from.

Most people know on the board that Ed Olson is from Minnesota, for example. But we're not the typical fan. I would guess that at least 75% of the people at TCF Bank next fall will have no idea where he is from unless they look into it. They care much more about whether he makes his blocks. Fans were just fine with Maroney being from St. Louis, and not St. Cloud.

Reserving a set # of scholarships for MN kids is laughable. You'd potentially be sacrificing talent just to get a kid from MN. That doesn't make any sense - especially for a school that has a hard time attracting enough talent to begin with.

 

[littlebigboy]

Now that SDSU NDSU,UND and USD are D-I IT MAKES IT HARDER TO GET A KID TO WALK ON.

 

[thestl]

Now that SDSU NDSU,UND and USD are D-I IT MAKES IT HARDER TO GET A KID TO WALK ON.

Soulja boy tell 'em.

 

[btowngopher]

I think it's fairly common to not jump the gun with the instate kids when it is so easy to wait and evaluate them. Most early offers are saved for talented out of state kids and only the most talented of the instate ones.

 

[grunkiejr]

Yes this isn't a very good class for the state. It lacks depth of DI level players and the only elite level player is Tommy Olson. It wouldn't surprise me to see Olson ranked higher than Gjere was last year and I'd be surprised if he doesn't end up as a Rivals 250 member (he is currently on the watch list). IMO Farrow is the second best player in the state followed by Westerhaus. After that it gets a little more hazy and everybody has question marks.