BleedGopher
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per Sid:
Cornerback Cedric Thompson and linebacker Damien Wilson didn’t have any three-star football ratings when they were recruited by Gophers secondary coach Jay Sawvel. Now they are candidates for All-Big Ten teams and are on NFL draft watch lists.
Jerry Kill and his coaching staff have proved they can recruit players who aren’t ranked high by rating services and win with them. Sawvel said if Thompson hadn’t come to Minnesota, he would have attended Portland State.
Sawvel talked about what he saw in Thompson — who is tied for third on the team in tackles (34) and tied for the team lead with two interceptions — when he recruited him.
“We thought he had a chance to be a really good athlete for us and really good player,” Sawvel said. “But when we recruited him, it was at a time when we really didn’t have a lot of size or talent in our secondary. So we took a chance on a guy who really had played a little bit more on offense, had done some things on defense, but he was a nice-sized young man [now 6-0, 208] with a really good body to him, physically, that looked like he ran well. That was our first recruiting class and it was one that you’re putting together on a short term after Coach [Kill] took the job here. You didn’t have all the time to research everything out, but we took a gamble on him and it has played out really well.”
http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/280265282.html
Go Gophers!!
Cornerback Cedric Thompson and linebacker Damien Wilson didn’t have any three-star football ratings when they were recruited by Gophers secondary coach Jay Sawvel. Now they are candidates for All-Big Ten teams and are on NFL draft watch lists.
Jerry Kill and his coaching staff have proved they can recruit players who aren’t ranked high by rating services and win with them. Sawvel said if Thompson hadn’t come to Minnesota, he would have attended Portland State.
Sawvel talked about what he saw in Thompson — who is tied for third on the team in tackles (34) and tied for the team lead with two interceptions — when he recruited him.
“We thought he had a chance to be a really good athlete for us and really good player,” Sawvel said. “But when we recruited him, it was at a time when we really didn’t have a lot of size or talent in our secondary. So we took a chance on a guy who really had played a little bit more on offense, had done some things on defense, but he was a nice-sized young man [now 6-0, 208] with a really good body to him, physically, that looked like he ran well. That was our first recruiting class and it was one that you’re putting together on a short term after Coach [Kill] took the job here. You didn’t have all the time to research everything out, but we took a gamble on him and it has played out really well.”
http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/280265282.html
Go Gophers!!
