STrib: Kill seeks recruits whose hearts are with the Gophers, says he wont beg others

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BleedGopher

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per Joe:

Later in his speech, Kill said, “We’re not going to beg people to come to the University of Minnesota. We didn’t do it at Northern [Illinois]. We didn’t do it at Southern [Illinois]. I want kids to want to come here.

“You start begging and doing all that stuff everybody else does to get them, it’s going to get you in trouble, number one. And second of all, if they don’t have their heart in it, you’re not going to win.

“And right now, we’ve developed a bunch of kids, and they want to win. They’re working hard.”

I’m not sure which recruits those comments could have been directed at. But I do know Kill’s staff is determined not to go through another Frank Ragnow situation, where they offer a local kid a scholarship and spend close to two years waiting on a decision, only to see him head elsewhere at the last moment.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/260298971.html

Go Gophers!!
 



That's a fine position to take but it should go both ways. If Kill doesn't like getting strung along by kids like Ragnow then he shouldn't string along kids like Alex Hart. Hart is projected a top 5 recruit for MN coming out of Prior Lake next year. He's a 6'3" 225lb linebacker with good speed who btw also dropped weight and won the state wrestling title at 220. Hart has stated that he wants to go to the U, would accept an offer if tendered, his older brother Nick is a current walk on, his dad played there, and given all of that all I've heard is crickets about the U getting him locked up. So when he goes to a few camps this summer and visits next fall and someone else puts an offer with an expiration on it and he ends up going someplace else it won't be because he didn't want to go Minnesota.

My guess is that Kill is leaning on the fact that he knows how bad the kid wants to go to the UofM and will wait as long as possible to offer hoping an even bigger billy goat will cross the bridge, that's his perogative but don't criticize some players for treating you the same way your treating others.
 

LakerFan said:
That's a fine position to take but it should go both ways. If Kill doesn't like getting strung along by kids like Ragnow then he shouldn't string along kids like Alex Hart. Hart is projected a top 5 recruit for MN coming out of Prior Lake next year. He's a 6'3" 225lb linebacker with good speed who btw also dropped weight and won the state wrestling title at 220. Hart has stated that he wants to go to the U, would accept an offer if tendered, his older brother Nick is a current walk on, his dad played there, and given all of that all I've heard is crickets about the U getting him locked up. So when he goes to a few camps this summer and visits next fall and someone else puts an offer with an expiration on it and he ends up going someplace else it won't be because he didn't want to go Minnesota.

My guess is that Kill is leaning on the fact that he knows how bad the kid wants to go to the UofM and will wait as long as possible to offer hoping an even bigger billy goat will cross the bridge, that's his perogative but don't criticize some players for treating you the same way your treating others.
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Keep in mind that there are zero quotes from Kill in this article about "deadlines" or "expiration dates" before you worry about your son not getting an offer, Mr. Hart.
 


Kill will offer at camp if they think he's worth an offer.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

dpodoll68 said:
Keep in mind that there are zero quotes from Kill in this article about "deadlines" or "expiration dates" before you worry about your son not getting an offer, Mr. Hart.
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Lol, Oh, I see what you did there.
 

LakerFan said:
That's a fine position to take but it should go both ways. If Kill doesn't like getting strung along by kids like Ragnow then he shouldn't string along kids like Alex Hart. Hart is projected a top 5 recruit for MN coming out of Prior Lake next year. He's a 6'3" 225lb linebacker with good speed who btw also dropped weight and won the state wrestling title at 220. Hart has stated that he wants to go to the U, would accept an offer if tendered, his older brother Nick is a current walk on, his dad played there, and given all of that all I've heard is crickets about the U getting him locked up. So when he goes to a few camps this summer and visits next fall and someone else puts an offer with an expiration on it and he ends up going someplace else it won't be because he didn't want to go Minnesota.

My guess is that Kill is leaning on the fact that he knows how bad the kid wants to go to the UofM and will wait as long as possible to offer hoping an even bigger billy goat will cross the bridge, that's his perogative but don't criticize some players for treating you the same way your treating others.
Click to expand...

Don't think it's the same thing. Kill and staff has shown that if they're sure a kid is a B10 player they'll offer and offer early despite lack of other offers to the kid (Lingen, Leidner, Murray, Lauer, etc). If an instate kid doesn't have an offer yet it just means they're not sure. Thousands of kids really want to play for their big state school but some are on the fringe of being talented enough to play in a major conference and have to play the waiting game while other kids that are perceived to be more talented make their choices. Happens around the country every year. I'm sure you're sold on the kid's talent but the staff isn't yet.
 

Ragnow didn't "string us along." He was legitmately interested but ultimately chose to go elsewhere. I don't know why whenever we lose out on a top in state recruit the minute he commits elsehwhere everybody is all "he was never going to come here."
 



LakerFan said:
That's a fine position to take but it should go both ways. If Kill doesn't like getting strung along by kids like Ragnow then he shouldn't string along kids like Alex Hart. Hart is projected a top 5 recruit for MN coming out of Prior Lake next year. He's a 6'3" 225lb linebacker with good speed who btw also dropped weight and won the state wrestling title at 220. Hart has stated that he wants to go to the U, would accept an offer if tendered, his older brother Nick is a current walk on, his dad played there, and given all of that all I've heard is crickets about the U getting him locked up. So when he goes to a few camps this summer and visits next fall and someone else puts an offer with an expiration on it and he ends up going someplace else it won't be because he didn't want to go Minnesota.

My guess is that Kill is leaning on the fact that he knows how bad the kid wants to go to the UofM and will wait as long as possible to offer hoping an even bigger billy goat will cross the bridge, that's his perogative but don't criticize some players for treating you the same way your treating others.
Click to expand...

butt hurt much? Kill's job is to win, if you're gonna cry about it go watch the MIAC
 

die hard gopher said:
Ragnow didn't "string us along." He was legitmately interested but ultimately chose to go elsewhere. I don't know why whenever we lose out on a top in state recruit the minute he commits elsehwhere everybody is all "he was never going to come here."
Click to expand...
You are in a small minority if you believe that Ragnow was ever going to come here.
As far as Hart goes, if he does well in camp he will have an offer. This staff does not want to offer a local kid and make a mistake, and it would be especially bad if it was a kid who really wanted to come here.
These guys only trust themselves to evaluate kids fitting our system and a few coaches they have known for many years.
I hope Hart is exactly what we need, seems like a great kid.
It drives me nuts there are not more kids ready to play B1G football in the state, but it is what it is.
 

Just wait till Ragweed wants transfer from Butthead's Razorbacks to the Gophers. I can hear Coach Kill's refusal already!!!
 

die hard gopher said:
Ragnow didn't "string us along." He was legitmately interested but ultimately chose to go elsewhere. I don't know why whenever we lose out on a top in state recruit the minute he commits elsehwhere everybody is all "he was never going to come here."
Click to expand...

Everyone knew Ragnow probably wasn't coming here, coaching staff included.
 



It has been reported that Coach Kill's staff wants to know if Carlberg and Schmidt are in or not? Don't know if that's how you want to define "deadline" or "expiration date," but they do want some sort of answer soon. Good luck to your son, LakerFan.
 

GoldenGopher88 said:
It has been reported that Coach Kill's staff wants to know if Carlberg and Schmidt are in or not? Don't know if that's how you want to define "deadline" or "expiration date," but they do want some sort of answer soon. Good luck to your son, LakerFan.
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Where has that been reported? Just curious. Schmidt has actually called us his leader so at this point he is definitely in and Carlberg from what i remember from reading his very first GH Q&A seemed to have legitimate interest. Edit: He actually said that his family wants him to play for the gophers. That was before he had OSU an Oregon offers though.
 

centerofmn said:
Everyone knew Ragnow probably wasn't coming here, coaching staff included.
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Where is this coming from? Just because he didn't commit to MN doesn't mean he wasn't seriously considering it.
 

I guess this sounds nice in a soundbite to a segment of the fan base. It seems like a convenient excuse to me that can be used to explain away missing on a recruit who chooses to go elsewhere. If "everyone else" begs recruits, then how is Minnesota going to compete for players without doing the same thing? And what constitutes "begging"? Does Minnesota sending out those puzzles/posters to recruits constitute begging? What about telling a kid how great he'd fit in and how badly we "need" a player with his skill set? How about travelling X number of miles by private jet (or first class commercial) to have dinner at that player's home? There's so much that is done to impress recruits, that it's really hard to define what constitutes "begging". If Minnesota doesn't "beg" why are we sending kids to Fogo de Chao on their visits? Clearly kids that just want to be Gophers wouldn't need to be courted with such an expensive meal. Why do we have offers out to players like Jacques Patrick or Equanimeous St. Brown? These guys (and many other with Gopher offers) can choose any school in the nation, why waste even 20 minutes on these kids who won't be Gophers without a whole lot of convincing.

If Minnesota doesn't "beg", then we likely end up with a roster of the following:

-Kids who grew up dreaming of becoming Gophers
-Kids who don't want to leave their home state/area
-Legacies
-Kids who don't have other offers of a similar stature

That last group is what interests me. Is a kid really "all in" on Minnesota if he chooses the Gophers "no begging" offer over the Western Michigan's, Northern Illinois, and Florida International's of the world? He might just be all in on playing at a bigger program on a bigger stage.

I feel like this is just coach speak, which I am completely ok with. I just hope most of our posters realize that we probably "beg" as much as most schools and that's not a bad thing...it's just how the game is played.
 

centerofmn said:
Everyone knew Ragnow probably wasn't coming here, coaching staff included.
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So which is it? Did everyone know he probably wasn't coming here? Or did he string us along? Those two don't seem to mesh very well.
 

I don't think it's a question of deadlines, the coaches are going to want a basic timetable, if a recruit wants to visit schools A, B & C and attend camps X,Y,&Z, they'll respect that. It's after that that they will be pushing for a decision.
 

I read Coach Kills quote as this

"We didn't get highly rated recruits at Northern Illinois, we didn't at Southern Illinois".

He's going to be "begging" recruits to come to the U at some point or another. His "the program is on the rise" good feelings will only last so long. At some point he will likely have to get some play/difference makers to win a bunch of conference games and have a shot at the rose bowl.

I think "Begging" is the wrong word, I hope he's not using it as the word is defined. I think what Kill is saying is that he isn't going to charm any of these kids into thinking he is something he isn't. He's going to recruit kids hard, and hopefully with his track record and continued success we get a couple kids that aren't all about going to the school that shows me the most love and goes to the school with the best opportunity to shine. He's a poker player that plays the game with his cards face up, and I like that about him.

Fact is, poker players who play with their cards up, unfortunately, don't win a lot!
 

The term "beg" may be poor choice. What Coach Kill needs to do is "sell" and lay out the "expectations".

What does he sell recruits? Playing in the BIG, a good education, a solid and committed coaching staff, a new stadium, the TC job market, etc. Coach Kill expects that the recruits will focus on academics, be good citizens, work very hard to improve, fit in with the culture and 100% want to be a Gopher. Recruits that have a problem with the sales pitch or feel they don't meet Coach Kills expectations can go elsewhere. I doubt that coach would take a recruit who will not assure him that he will be Gopher and represent the UM..
 

die hard gopher said:
Ragnow didn't "string us along." He was legitmately interested but ultimately chose to go elsewhere. I don't know why whenever we lose out on a top in state recruit the minute he commits elsehwhere everybody is all "he was never going to come here."
Click to expand...

Kids are either interested in playing for the hometown team or they aren't. The longer they drag their feet the more obvious it is they are looking for a reason to leave.
 

MadtownGopher said:
Kids are either interested in playing for the hometown team or they aren't. The longer they drag their feet the more obvious it is they are looking for a reason to leave.
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Peaked my interest and is likely an excellent point. I would love to know ho many kids waited until a national signing day to announce they were staying home. I would say the % is far less than those that left.

If you're staying home, you already committed
 


Kill's comments weren't directed at a certain recruit imo. It probably has more to do with explaining why there aren't any verbal commits at this stage when every other B1G program has at least one and most have multiple commits. People perceive this as lagging behind. I like that Kill wants to have as close to zero margin of error when it comes to landing quality recruits though I have to admit that seeing the goose egg in the commit column is somewhat frustrating. So far, the results seem to indicate this approach is working. I do agree, though, that eventually Kill needs to get a good number of blue chip recruits if the program is to compete with the elite of the B1G.
 


MadtownGopher said:
Kids are either interested in playing for the hometown team or they aren't. The longer they drag their feet the more obvious it is they are looking for a reason to leave.
Click to expand...

Most accurate and straightforward response I've read on this board in quite a long. We always try to over analyze things on here (me included) when there is usually a very simple answer staring us in the face.
 

Let's face it. The U of M is not a "destination" program for top recruits. Maybe that will change if Kill can string a few good seasons together. But, as things now stand, the top national recruits are not going to be flocking to the U. So, when MN does produce a legitimate D1 recruit, that player is going to be in the spotlight to a much greater degree than in a more talent-rich state.

I think Kill understands there is a certain amount of pressure to land the top MN kids. So, I take the "begging" comment as Kill's way of saying that he is only wiling to go so far to land a recruit, and he's not going to make an exception for a top MN kid.

I don't think Kill wants to be put in a situation where recruit X from MN goes out chasing offers from helmet schools, and keeps the U as a fall-back position. "If I don't get the offer from Helmet school, I can always play for the Gophs. They have to take me - I'm a top-10 rated player from MN."
 

The questions remains, when do you think we'll land our first verbal?
 


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