Strack: PJ Fleck Has Changed The Recruiting Game at Minnesota

[BleedGopher]

per Strack:

Fleck vs Kill on Recruiting Trail​

Before PJ Fleck arrived on campus at the University of Minnesota, the Golden Gophers football team was in a recruiting tier below their Big Ten West Rivals, Wisconsin, Iowa and Nebraska. Those three teams have battled it out for the division recruiting title since the Huskers joined the conference in 2011.

Fleck has methodically closed that gap during his time in Dinkytown. While under Jerry Kill, Minnesota scraped the bottom of the Big Ten barrel on the recruiting trail, finishing last (14th) in the 247Sports composite rankings in 2013 and only finishing as high as 11th in 2012. Back then, the Gophers recruiting classes were lucky to break a rating of 80/100 overall.

Tracy Claeys had a pretty good 2016 class (ranked 8th in Big Ten). That’s the year all of the top Minnesota kids fell in his lap. The class included Carter Coughlin, Thomas Barber, Antoine Winfield and Tyler Johnson, the same kids that led the 2019 Gopher team that went 11-2 and won the Outback Bowl under Fleck.

New Recruiting Game Under Fleck​

Since 2018, the Gophers’ recruiting classes have always finished in the top-10 of the Big Ten and the average class rating has climbed to 86.5/100. That rise in class ratings has parked Minnesota’s recruiting classes right next to Iowa, Wisconsin and Nebraska’s.

PJ Fleck Has Changed The Recruiting Game at Minnesota

Wednesday was National Signing Day and the Minnesota Gophers held their own vs the rest of the Big Ten West, which is a picture of parity.

www.minnesotasportsfan.com

Go Gophers!!