BleedGopher
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2008
- Messages
- 62,293
- Reaction score
- 18,972
- Points
- 113
per Sid:
One of the biggest challenges the Gophers football team will have to navigate this season is how it handles success. Gophers coach P.J. Fleck said that extends off the football field to recruiting as well.
So far, Fleck and his coaching staff have gotten verbal commitments from five four-star players for the Class of 2021, according to 247Sports.com, which also has the Gophers' class ranked ninth in the country. That equals the number of four-star recruits the team signed from 2018-20.
Fleck said the biggest goal in recruiting is not to ignore the right kind of players with high character and values, just because other prospects might appear more talented.
"We said all along we're not going to sacrifice the type of person that we bring into the program," Fleck said. "But any time you can continue to elevate the skill of the program, you want to be able to do that. I feel like that's what we're continually doing."
What makes the Gophers' 2021 class even more impressive is several of the 18 commitments weren't able to visit campus because of the shutdown of in-person recruiting.
"Recruiting is going really well," Fleck said. "The one thing that is unique about this time is everything is done virtually. But when you look at it, over half of our kids who have committed to us haven't even visited campus yet, which is a credit to the University of Minnesota, our state, our recruiting department, our coaches. And it has been unique in the fact that we get everybody in the room at one point and one time — whether it's mom, dad, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, plus the recruit.
"Usually you have to schedule those accordingly and there may be [a family meeting] once every few weeks. These are almost daily we're able to talk to parents live on FaceTime, and I think that has been really beneficial to our staff."
www.startribune.com
Go Gophers!!
One of the biggest challenges the Gophers football team will have to navigate this season is how it handles success. Gophers coach P.J. Fleck said that extends off the football field to recruiting as well.
So far, Fleck and his coaching staff have gotten verbal commitments from five four-star players for the Class of 2021, according to 247Sports.com, which also has the Gophers' class ranked ninth in the country. That equals the number of four-star recruits the team signed from 2018-20.
Fleck said the biggest goal in recruiting is not to ignore the right kind of players with high character and values, just because other prospects might appear more talented.
"We said all along we're not going to sacrifice the type of person that we bring into the program," Fleck said. "But any time you can continue to elevate the skill of the program, you want to be able to do that. I feel like that's what we're continually doing."
What makes the Gophers' 2021 class even more impressive is several of the 18 commitments weren't able to visit campus because of the shutdown of in-person recruiting.
"Recruiting is going really well," Fleck said. "The one thing that is unique about this time is everything is done virtually. But when you look at it, over half of our kids who have committed to us haven't even visited campus yet, which is a credit to the University of Minnesota, our state, our recruiting department, our coaches. And it has been unique in the fact that we get everybody in the room at one point and one time — whether it's mom, dad, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, plus the recruit.
"Usually you have to schedule those accordingly and there may be [a family meeting] once every few weeks. These are almost daily we're able to talk to parents live on FaceTime, and I think that has been really beneficial to our staff."
Gophers football team doesn't sacrifice values while recruiting top talent
The football team's five four-star recruits stand out, but Fleck also looks for high character.
www.startribune.com
Go Gophers!!
