The Forum: Slight by Gophers still sticks with standout Billy Turner

[BleedGopher]

per The Forum:

Even though he had an uncle who played at Minnesota, Turner watched as the Gophers passed on his older brother Maurice, who ended up playing wide receiver at Northern Iowa. He hoped he wouldn’t meet the same fate, but during the recruiting process, the Gophers were in on Twin Cities blue-chip recruit Seantrel Henderson, and according to Turner, they told him he could gray-shirt – meaning they would have him delay his enrollment or have him walk on until a scholarship came available. Then, if Henderson went elsewhere, their position on him might change.

Henderson, who played at Cretin-Durham Hall and was in the same conference as Turner, ultimately chose Miami (Fla.). And when Gophers coach Tim Brewster reached out to Turner again, he wasn’t interested.

“The University of Minnesota being 5-10 minutes from my house, I got overlooked,” said Turner, whose father Maurice was drafted by and played for the Minnesota Vikings. “They told me they were looking at me, might have a scholarship.

“They called me (after Henderson went to Miami) and I said, ‘You guys missed the boat.’ I ended up choosing North Dakota State because I liked the coaching staff up there and everything going on."

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/427375/

Go Gophers!!

 

[Saluki07]

I always play the 'what if' game about kids who play for an FCS or D-II/D-III school for their entire career and then head straight to the NFL. Are they better served playing at that level due to the fact they can play the majority of their career there as opposed to just two years or even sitting on the bench at a D-I school? As for Billy, would he have had similar results if he came to the U? I think so. Best of luck to Billy in his pursuit of a career in the NFL.

 

[Ole]

I always play the 'what if' game about kids who play for an FCS or D-II/D-III school for their entire career and then head straight to the NFL. Are they better served playing at that level due to the fact they can play the majority of their career there as opposed to just two years or even sitting on the bench at a D-I school? As for Billy, would he have had similar results if he came to the U? I think so. Best of luck to Billy in his pursuit of a career in the NFL.

He had the same exact offer that Ben Lauer, Duke Anyanwu, and Joe Bjorkland had.
Greyshirt up front, full offer if we end up with openings for the fall.
I think the "respect" card was overplayed here, and even though Brewster make plenty of mistakes, it's hard to argue with keeping an offer open for Henderson. Keep in mind we still had Gjere locked up too.

A manufactured chip on his shoulder if you ask me, he had an (eventual) offer from the U, he just didn't get his ego pampered to his liking.

 

[kramer]

This was the perfect article for the rag that calls itself the Fargo Forum

 

[Iceland12]

Wonder how many other BCS offers he turned down..

 

[dpodoll68]

Wonder how many other BCS offers he turned down..

Exactly. "Slight"ed by the Gophers...and every other Division I-A school. This garbage gets so tiresome.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Wow. What a strange article.

Billy Turner is absolutely full of nonsense. If he was offered a gray shirt opportunity, why didn't anyone report that offer? They are covered like any other offer (there was talk that we were going to have Lauer gray shirt before we had some attrition). We also didn't offer him after Seantrel went elsewhere. He was completely off the radar, he didn't get an offer from anywhere. You can blame coaches for not offering guys like Olson (From EP this year went to Oregon State) or Jack Cottrell (from EP last year went to BC) for not getting offers, but you can't blame a staff for not offering a guy that NO ONE has offered.

Billy Turner had such a wonderful time at NDSU that he had to make sure to bring up the Gophers in this interview. He is a good football and he definitely would have helped the program, but recruiting misses are going to happen.

 

[FargoBison]

Based on everything I've heard it is true but he was offered it after he had committed to NDSU and I don't think he really considered it that much.

Maybe Kill would have landed Billy. He is doing a better job on guys like this, can't say enough about that guy.

 

[Mvgopher]

Turner was the best OL int the state that year. He hand 3 BCS grey shirt offers late. He did an excellent job through process of determining what was best for him. It would have been different under Kill.

 

[highwayman]

Turner was the best OL int the state that year. He hand 3 BCS grey shirt offers late. He did an excellent job through process of determining what was best for him. It would have been different under Kill.

...and 119 FBS schools passed. There's likely very little in this story that is close to the "truth". He got his 4 years of college football, maybe a degree. He may play in the NFL. Next.

 

[Winnipegopher]

It is getting wearying. The Gophers are damned if you do, damned if you don't. The best Minnesota players look down on the program and go elsewhere, the marginal ones hold a grudge.

 

[gopherdiehard]

if jerry was there turner would have been a gopher

 

[corcoran1]

if jerry was there turner would have been a gopher

Maybe, but I dispute the basic premise that a team could recognize every kid in their state who can play D1 ball well. Why do people here get excited that we can't identify every MN kid who out-achieves their apparent ability in High School?
1) OSU never offered Borland, neither did Mich. and he ha been a reat player since we was a freshman.
2) Worry about kids we recruit who can't play. Darrel Royal the old Texas coach used to say"it's not the kids you don't get who get you beat, it's the ones you do get." That is probably more true at Texas than it is here, but there is still a lot of truth in it. If we were getting kids who could play, what Billy Turner thinks would not matter.
3) If we have to take two or three marginal kids to find every Billy Turner out there we still lose. A team can not knowingly take that many chances on development talent and succeed. It is hard enough when you take all kids you do believe in.

 

[RodentRampage]

It does get tiring to hear the same inane bleating every time a player from Minnesota signs with NDSU after being not being offered a scholarship by ANY FBS schools. If Minnesota snubbed him, then so did every other FBS school. He didn't want to be here badly enough to grayshirt. Nothing wrong with that, it's his choice to make. But it is a better offer than a PWO offer. There's just no point spending your life resenting the fact that Minnesota didn't give you the offer you thought you deserved.

 

[oleboy41]

Hey if that's what motivates the kid then great but he's mad that the school recruited the #1 player in the country over him. Plus he still had the opportunity to come here if that's what he really wanted. We see it every year with kids that flip last minute or late in the game when the school they really wanted offers. probably 70% of the kids playing D1 ball can claim to have been snubbed by their local school. How many Bama kids don't get offered by UA or AU? Same for kids in FL, Cali, Ohio, etc.

 

[e.bigelow]

It does get tiring to hear the same inane bleating every time a player from Minnesota signs with NDSU after being not being offered a scholarship by ANY FBS schools. If Minnesota snubbed him, then so did every other FBS school. He didn't want to be here badly enough to grayshirt. Nothing wrong with that, it's his choice to make. But it is a better offer than a PWO offer. There's just no point spending your life resenting the fact that Minnesota didn't give you the offer you thought you deserved.

Unless you play at NDSU....

 

[imthewalrus]

Now people, what the heck do you expect when the foolish college football fans make such a big deal out of this "fantasy high football recruiting ranking..." junk? No wonder some of these kids take shots at the coaches and the schools (especially their home state schools) that don 't kiss their pampered butts enough with the "love" that they seem to crave so much.

IF people would quit making such a big deal out of these high school fantasy recruiting rankings and quit twittering/blogging/abnormally following the young high school kids who have never played a down of Division I football, maybe nobody would ever follow any of them around to see how they feel four or five years after their career at NDSU or some other school has ended. The bottom line is that there are only so many scholarships for each school to offer. That number is probably entirely too high. It's most likely time for the scholarship limit to be lowered again. Take it down to 60 scholarships...or fifty...or maybe even forty. Maybe take the scholarship offers off the table and just pay the players, let them unionize and let it be what it is destined to become.

Hey, the kid did pretty damn well at NDSU and won some national championships at the level he played at during his college career: "...hat's off to him..." But, IF he carries an attitude about being "slighted" by Minnesota, maybe that helped drive him. The truth of the matter is that he probably could have had a chance to be a pretty darn good player for the U of M, but no one will ever really know. Maybe his greatest reason for excelling at NDSU was the kick in the butt he got by not being offered the "respect" that he thought Minnesota should have been offering him when he was playing in the "fantasy high school football recruiting sweepstakes..."

I have to laugh at all the "fantasy high school football recruiting freaked out fans" who spend all their time worrying about the fantasy football recruiting rankings. It is those fans who give the young high school punks too much attention. Never blame the young high school ego-maniacs for being the way they are. It is the college football fans who make such a big deal out of all the fantasy high school football rankings who deserve all the criticism for paying too much attention to kids who have never even played a down of college-level football.

College football recruiting is a crap-shoot...nothing more: nothing less.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

Let's not be bitter. Just congratulate Billy Turner on the JV championships he won at college and move on.

 

[dpodoll68]

Can you answer a question like a normal human being? Why do you erroneously insist on calling it "fantasy" football recruiting? Do you even know the definition of the word "fantasy"? Do you have any understanding whatsoever of statistics and probabilities? And why are you even posting this garbage here, of all places? Who the hell even brought up recruiting rankings?

 

[Iceland12]

If you're from here and get offers to play elsewhere Minnesotans will applaud you and most of the local media will mock the fans who think you should have stayed and played at the U for being homers. If you're from Minnesota and don't get offers from anywhere but the Dakotas or the U, many Minnesotans will rip the coaching staff and most of the local media will wonder how the kid "got away" from the U.

Oh, and the comments section from the Strib will be full of people ripping the U either way.

 

[Mvgopher]

Congrats to Billy. I would have loved to have cheered for him as a Gopher but the timing wasn't right. He excelled at the level in which he played and will in the NFL. No sour grapes.

 

[GophersInIowa]

Sometimes you miss on guys both ways. Moses Alipate has several BCS offers besides the Gophers. Matt Garin had a ton of offers.

Some of the people who say they knew Billy Turner would be a good college player also probably thought a guy like Garin would be successful as well.

 

[Mvgopher]

Sometimes you miss on guys both ways. Moses Alipate has several BCS offers besides the Gophers. Matt Garin had a ton of offers.

Some of the people who say they knew Billy Turner would be a good college player also probably thought a guy like Garin would be successful as well.

Totally agree.

 

[CWCWCW]

Sometimes you miss on guys both ways. Moses Alipate has several BCS offers besides the Gophers. Matt Garin had a ton of offers.

Some of the people who say they knew Billy Turner would be a good college player also probably thought a guy like Garin would be successful as well.

Youre right on Garin. I saw him play several times in high school and had high hopes for him as a defensive stalwart. It never came close to happening. I didn't know Turner out of high school, but it worked out well for him.
I've been wrong on others too. Remember Jarrod Posthumus? He was a quarterback from Becker that I thought would be outstanding. It didn't take long and the staff moved him to tight end. He was productive, but never in the mix at quarterback. Brylee Callendar, a runningback from Lakeville is another kid who I thought would be surefire. Nope. Leidner? I saw him play a handful of times in high school and thought he was kind of a statue. I thought he'd be a tight end by now. Wrong.
The one where I wish I was wrong was with Alipate. I saw him play three or four times in high school. I never thought he'd be a Big 10 quarterback.

 

[Indi1006]

Sometimes you miss on guys both ways. Moses Alipate has several BCS offers besides the Gophers. Matt Garin had a ton of offers.

Some of the people who say they knew Billy Turner would be a good college player also probably thought a guy like Garin would be successful as well.

True, I saw them both play and thought Garin would be a stud at the U.

 

[Section 100]

Sounds like Bill Turnner had a great college career. Good for him. This is the first I've heard of him. Regardless, I hope he's successful in whatever he does in the future.

 

[Herd]

...and 119 FBS schools passed. There's likely very little in this story that is close to the "truth". He got his 4 years of college football, maybe a degree. He may play in the NFL. Next.

I'm sure Billy was questioned at length why he chose NDSU and FCS football while at the combine. I'm sure going FCS is hard to understand for some writers, who discount that level of FB. So it's not like Billy's going around looking for some to tell a sob story to, those are questions you get a the combine.

Both Billy and I saw your offensive line 2010-12 (much better in 2013), and he could have walked into a starting spot at MN, no doubt, assuming the coaching he received was on par (and I'm not sure you can assume that with Brew. U of MN was a few minutes from his house, and his first choice on where he wanted to play. The combination of Brewster thinking that in-state guys can't play, Henderson maybe coming, and a general under recruitment of Turner are in play here.

In 2010, I remember the NDSU beat writer (Jeff Kolpak) saying he was the best looking OL-man to ever step on the field for the Bison. That was the first week of Fall Practice as a Freshman. You'd think there must have been some recruiting red flags, academics, trouble, etc. No, Nothing, great kid, great to coach, smart, articulate, great leader. Sure worked out well for Turner, he's proved himself over and over.

 

[50PoundHead]

if jerry was there turner would have been a gopher

The same way that Ragnow became a Gopher? Hey, I love Kill, but you can't prove the negative, so why try?

 

[DLguy]

I'm sure Billy was questioned at length why he chose NDSU and FCS football while at the combine. I'm sure going FCS is hard to understand for some writers, who discount that level of FB. So it's not like Billy's going around looking for some to tell a sob story to, those are questions you get a the combine.

Both Billy and I saw your offensive line 2010-12 (much better in 2013), and he could have walked into a starting spot at MN, no doubt, assuming the coaching he received was on par (and I'm not sure you can assume that with Brew. U of MN was a few minutes from his house, and his first choice on where he wanted to play. The combination of Brewster thinking that in-state guys can't play, Henderson maybe coming, and a general under recruitment of Turner are in play here.

In 2010, I remember the NDSU beat writer (Jeff Kolpak) saying he was the best looking OL-man to ever step on the field for the Bison. That was the first week of Fall Practice as a Freshman. You'd think there must have been some recruiting red flags, academics, trouble, etc. No, Nothing, great kid, great to coach, smart, articulate, great leader. Sure worked out well for Turner, he's proved himself over and over.

So, the entire MAC forgot to recruit the cities that year? He clearly did not show enough in high school to be recruited by any FBS schools. No need to hold a grudge against the Gophers when not a single school in a league a few steps down didnt even offer him. And I will never listen to an opinion from Jeff Kolpack. That guy has proved for years why he is stuck at the Forum. They guy is a complete idiot.

 

[dpodoll68]

his first choice on where he wanted to play

Which is why he turned down an offer to play here, right?

Brewster thinking that in-state guys can't play

Complete and utter BS.

Sure worked out well for Turner, he's proved himself over and over.

We're happy for him. Congrats on the JV championships.