STrib: Big wins haven't yet lured elite recruits to Gophers

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per the STrib;

Nothing sells a football program better than marquee victories, and the Gophers have had three of them — knocking off Nebraska, Penn State and Michigan — within the past 12 months.

In Jerry Kill’s fourth year, Minnesota’s program keeps gaining momentum, but that success has yet to translate into big national recruiting splashes.

The Gophers have another chance next Wednesday, when East Ridge quarterback Seth Green announces his college choice. Ranked as the nation’s No. 8 dual-threat quarterback in the 2016 class by Rivals.com, Green would be a perfect fit for Minnesota’s offense.

He narrowed his list to the Gophers, Oregon and Michigan State, but all signs point to him breaking Minnesota’s heart and picking the Ducks.

Last summer, Cretin-Derham Hall defensive end Jashon Cornell — once ranked as the nation’s No. 1 recruit in the 2015 class by ESPN — announced he’s heading to Ohio State.

It’s hard to fault the Gophers for losing recruits to Oregon and Ohio State, even in-state kids. Those are elite programs, steeped in recent success and featuring practice and training facilities that put Minnesota’s to shame.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/278737921.html

Go Gophers!!
 

Gee, thanks for the help, Strib.

What a sucky paper.
 

GH: BS articles haven't yet lured educated readers to Strib.

GH: BS articles haven't yet lured educated readers to Strib.
 

BleedGopher said:
per the STrib;
-------------------
The Gophers have another chance next Wednesday, when East Ridge quarterback Seth Green announces his college choice. Ranked as the nation’s No. 8 dual-threat quarterback in the 2016 class by Rivals.com, Green would be a perfect fit for Minnesota’s offense.

He narrowed his list to the Gophers, Oregon and Michigan State, but all signs point to him breaking Minnesota’s heart and picking the Ducks.

Last summer, Cretin-Derham Hall defensive end Jashon Cornell — once ranked as the nation’s No. 1 recruit in the 2015 class by ESPN — announced he’s heading to Ohio State.

It’s hard to fault the Gophers for losing recruits to Oregon and Ohio State, even in-state kids. Those are elite programs, steeped in recent success and featuring practice and training facilities that put Minnesota’s to shame.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/278737921.html

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

How very true.
 

You guys did read the whole article right. Yeah they say we don't have those recruits but they credit kill for getting those under the radar type guys and having them be big role players. If we keep winning we will get more of those higher rated guys but yes we most likely will never compete with the Ohio state's and Oregon's of the world.
 


CycloneGopher said:
You guys did read the whole article right. Yeah they say we don't have those recruits but they credit kill for getting those under the radar type guys and having them be big role players. If we keep winning we will get more of those higher rated guys but yes we most likely will never compete with the Ohio state's and Oregon's of the world.
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Who wants to read the star and sickle? Since Green is a strong lean to Oregon it's basically a straw man to say the Gophers have another chance.
 

highwayman said:
Gee, thanks for the help, Strib.

What a sucky paper.
Click to expand...

I kind of liked the tone of the article. Mentions our big wins, our continued momentum, that Green would be perfect for our system, but that our facilities suck. Hint hint...get this practice facility done.
 

Sorry, Jeff Jones. I guess you're not elite.
 






That was sarcasm btw. As I know that often goes over many heads on this site.
 

The title of the article is most annoying. It's like pointing to the guy next to you and yelling to the crowd, "this guy is a total loser!!!", but then leaning in and whispering in his year, "I know you're really not a loser".
 



I disagree with one of the author's original points which is that marquee wins are a major factor for recruits. At the end of the day, lots of really bad teams end up with one or two big upsets or rivalry victories, and I don't think that is what sways recruits (I have trouble imagining anyone looking at the 2010 Gophers and saying "hey, I had written them off when they were 2-9, but that marquee Iowa upset, I better give them a second look"). Furthermore, of the three "marquee" wins he mentions, only one came against a team with a winning B1G record that year (I am assuming Michigan does not go 5-1 the rest of the way this season). At the end of the day, we need sustained success and improvement. So far we have seen improvement, but at the end of the day, our best season so far has still been only .500 in conference. If we can post winning B1G seasons this year and next, I think that is when we start to turn some more heads our way. Especially if the B1G can stop wetting the bed in out of conference play.
 

Agree with the complaint on the title of the article. As Costa Rican (bronco) said, there is some decent information in the article. One of my pet peeves however, is when the media uses rivals team rankings without context for the average fan. The article mentions that the Gophers are currently ranked 13th in the Big for 2014 recruit rankings. However, those rankings are so dependent on number of commits that taking snapshots long before signing day doesn't mean a whole lot. In fact, the day the article came out, Shenault commits, a low 3 star, and yet the gophers moved up two spots to 11th in the conference. I expect they will move up 2-3 more spots as the class fills out. Also, other than the top few classes (top 10-15), there are marginal differences between the teams so the difference between being ranked 11th and 5th, might be the subjective evaluation of 2-3 recruits ranked between 300-1000 in the nation. Michigan demonstrates you don't just win with high-ranked classes. Ok, I got off an a tangent.
 

Was anyone really expecting 3 "big" wins to all of a sudden start bringing in elite recruits? And I put big in quotations because let's face it, the Penn State and Michigan teams we beat were not that good. It's going to take at least a few years of consistent success in the big ten before our big wins start to really matter. Personally, I really like the way Kill and his staff recruit, # of stars be damned. They've only been here 4 years and there is all sorts of evidence throughout the roster that they find good players despite what the rankings say.
 

Jones was an elite recruit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
I disagree with one of the author's original points which is that marquee wins are a major factor for recruits. At the end of the day, lots of really bad teams end up with one or two big upsets or rivalry victories, and I don't think that is what sways recruits (I have trouble imagining anyone looking at the 2010 Gophers and saying "hey, I had written them off when they were 2-9, but that marquee Iowa upset, I better give them a second look"). Furthermore, of the three "marquee" wins he mentions, only one came against a team with a winning B1G record that year (I am assuming Michigan does not go 5-1 the rest of the way this season). At the end of the day, we need sustained success and improvement. So far we have seen improvement, but at the end of the day, our best season so far has still been only .500 in conference. If we can post winning B1G seasons this year and next, I think that is when we start to turn some more heads our way. Especially if the B1G can stop wetting the bed in out of conference play.
Click to expand...

You should really read the article.
 

We got Jones and we are going to get Garcia. Both are elite. As much as I don't care about stars, we have classes with greater average star ratings every year. Our classes are better every year which is probably a little bit why we can put some true freshmen in and have them contribute…they simply are more athletic than some of the experienced seniors.
 

SJUgopher said:
You should really read the article.
Click to expand...

I did. The fact that he starts to make sense at the bottom of the page doesn't change my disagreements with the way it was titled, started, and the way the author outlined his premises.
 

jaymil said:
Was anyone really expecting 3 "big" wins to all of a sudden start bringing in elite recruits? And I put big in quotations because let's face it, the Penn State and Michigan teams we beat were not that good. It's going to take at least a few years of consistent success in the big ten before our big wins start to really matter. Personally, I really like the way Kill and his staff recruit, # of stars be damned. They've only been here 4 years and there is all sorts of evidence throughout the roster that they find good players despite what the rankings say.
Click to expand...

Penn St. wasn't competing for the conference title or anything, but they were .500 in conference. In the last few seasons, we haven't beaten very many Big Ten teams who finished the conference season .500 or better.
 

2013: 1 - 4 (#24 ranked NE)
2012: 0 - 1
2011: 0 - 5

2013: 1 - 3 (NE)
2012: 0 - 4
2011: 1 - 3 (IA)

Above are the records of games vs ranked opponents followed by the records for rivalry games (NE,WI, MI, & IA). I feel truly there are two levels of recruiting successfully that can be mashed into one incorrectly. The more quality ranked teams that we can defeat increase the national profile for the top level elite recruits, and if we want to beat the top tier programs for recruits we have to beat them on the field. I doubt though beating an underwhelming Michigan team has much significance to any non-local talent, beyond maybe some MI targets being currently recruited by MN. However in terms of the best in state talent, beating MI and coming home with the Jug is considered a SIGNIFICANT victory. The day will come with this staff but we will know its coming once we can knock off some of the top programs and hopefully this year can be a start to some positive trend setting.
 

Michigan happened two weeks ago...I wouldn't even look at that win when considering recruiting lol.

But yeah, we had a nice year last year, but it's not gonna resonate until it's a pattern, not just a nice win here and there. Also, when the facilities get put in place. But even with all that, we're not likely to be a program that snags multiple 4 star kids in a class. The infamous '08 class had seven, and that was a top 20 class. We are just not going to produce that with any kind of regularity. Outside of that year, I don't believe we've nabbed more than 2 in a class. And even then, you look at Wisconsin, with their Rose Bowl appearances and crap, and they don't get more than probably 2 or 3 a class. So no, winning on its own doesn't just create a windfall of elite kids to your roster.

Keep locking in these "under the radar" kids, and hope you can get a few 4-star, high 3-star guys who can help elevate your program (preferably at QB), and we'll be alright.
 


It's going to take more than a good season or two and a few solid wins to sway the top recruits throughout the nation.
 

Maybe we should start a thread titled Ghole: Mocking local sports teams not helping Strib reverse downward trend in subscription. Company likely headed towards bankruptcy.

I basically only read strib stories that get reposted here so I won't miss them when they go the way of the village blacksmith.
 

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