True Hometown Hero-who started it under Kill?

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So Kill is starting to lock down the borders (funny how that happens with winning) and keeping our homegrown athletes home. Let's say Kill and staff continue to climb and brings back the glory days (I haven't been around long enough to even know what those were).

But just for conversation, who will be credited during the Kill era to start the trend of 'staying home' and 'help rebuild the tradition' with homegrown talent?
 

Good question.

I think it has to be Jeff Jones. He was a true national recruit, and even though he committed early, then had the re-commitment press conference, his recruitment was pretty high profile after he exploded at the all-star game. I think he gets credit for getting the ball rolling locally.

Go Gophers!!
 

phillip nelson. just kidding. i'll go with jeff jones.
 


I would say Jonah Pirsig. Remember what a big deal it was when he committed? He had offers from Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan St, Ohio St, Indiana, Iowa St, Illinois and Auburn. Something tells me Jeff Jones would be somewhere else if he would have had chance of qualifying. Coach Kill stuck his neck out to get Jeff in school.
 


You could make the case for Maxx - Minnesota kid comes to the program, gets accolades and gets drafted pretty highly to the league. He wasn't highly recruited but the impact he had in raising the profile of the program to kids in the state was big. The year he is drafted, Minnesota is amassing their best in-state recruiting class ... ever?
 

gophmeister said:
I would say Jonah Pirsig. Remember what a big deal it was when he committed? He had offers from Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan St, Ohio St, Indiana, Iowa St, Illinois and Auburn. Something tells me Jeff Jones would be somewhere else if he would have had chance of qualifying. Coach Kill stuck his neck out to get Jeff in school.
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This. Pirsig was pretty much considered a lock to go to Iowa City. When he committed his family were all over the papers saying that Kill sold them that he knew what he was doing and was going to turn this baby around. Pirsig = first brick
 

If Mitch leads us to the promised land it will be him.
 

In talking with Maxx's extended family, Kill sold Maxx on coming to Minnesota to be part of helping to turn this program around. I would guess he probably did the same with Nelson and Pirsig.
 



Coolew01 said:
In talking with Maxx's extended family, Kill sold Maxx on coming to Minnesota to be part of helping to turn this program around. I would guess he probably did the same with Nelson and Pirsig.
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It's strange to say, but Nelson and Andre McDonald probably as much of an impact on the perception of things as anyone for Kill.
Maxx for all he was here didn't stay to finish the job(I don't blame him, but still)
Leidner could end up being the most winning QB in modern history here at the U and should hold multiple records when he's done.
That 2012 class turned it around, but I think this 2016 one could be the group that helps Kill win it all.
 

gophmeister said:
I would say Jonah Pirsig. Remember what a big deal it was when he committed? He had offers from Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Michigan St, Ohio St, Indiana, Iowa St, Illinois and Auburn. Something tells me Jeff Jones would be somewhere else if he would have had chance of qualifying. Coach Kill stuck his neck out to get Jeff in school.
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Agree 100% (along with Darren said).

I was just thinking about this a couple of days ago. Jonah signed in July 2011 before JK coached his first game here. Most people assumed he would be gone with his offer list and coming off the seasons we had just suffered through. It was a massive "get" in my eyes. Hoping he finishes his career as the best tackle we can remember. Still has a higher ceiling than what we've witnessed.
 

I'm not sure Carter or JoJo cared about any other Minnesotans from previous years that committed. The team is getting better and they wanted to play in front of more of their friends and family.
 

It's tough to say which one. I would say between Pirsig, Nelson Andre McDonald and Maxx in 2012. Maxx, if I remember correctly played qb in high school and I think flew under the radar, but you could see the athletic ability. Nelson, McDonald and Pirsig all had other BCS offers. Those four and then ML7 who flew under the radar have set the tone for instate recruiting. We've lost a few since and for the class of 16 Coughlin has to get alot of credit, I feel like a lot of dominoes have fallen into place since
 



I'm pretty sure Maxx committed really early and told all schools to stop recruiting him. He was going to the U and didn't want to hear from anyone else.
 

Pirsig and Maxx in a dead heat for me.
 

Nelson was a big deal as well. Andre's commitment, de-commitment and re-commitment really hurts his status as a hometown hero. Even though things didn't turn out like we wanted, Nelson never wavered in his intent to come here. Maxx wasn't as hotly pursued as Jonah, amazing seeing as how he was such a tremendous athlete, but still everyone around here knew he would be pretty darn good.
 

This narrative (that I started hearing last year from the national media) that Maxx was some middling recruit that shocked the world by becoming good is just false. Most of us that followed MN recruiting were extremely high on Maxx and thought he would be really good. I remember how excited I was to finally see the guy play. He wasn't an Eric Murray type that truly came out of nowhere.

But back to the point, Nelson, Pirsig and McDonald were all HUGE gets for us. All 3 could have went to other major programs and stayed home. Maxx has had the biggest impact so far. However the truth is that Leidner will be the face of the 'turnaround' if that's what we want to call it. He will be at least a 2 year starter who also played a ton in his first year. If he holds onto his job next year he'll be the face in an even bigger since.

One thing that is interesting is that O Prime (Hageman) is the only MN bred defender I can remember making an impact in the last few years unless I'm blanking on someone
 

oleboy41 said:
This narrative (that I started hearing last year from the national media) that Maxx was some middling recruit that shocked the world by becoming good is just false. Most of us that followed MN recruiting were extremely high on Maxx and thought he would be really good. I remember how excited I was to finally see the guy play. He wasn't an Eric Murray type that truly came out of nowhere.

But back to the point, Nelson, Pirsig and McDonald were all HUGE gets for us. All 3 could have went to other major programs and stayed home. Maxx has had the biggest impact so far. However the truth is that Leidner will be the face of the 'turnaround' if that's what we want to call it. He will be at least a 2 year starter who also played a ton in his first year. If he holds onto his job next year he'll be the face in an even bigger since.

One thing that is interesting is that O Prime (Hageman) is the only MN bred defender I can remember making an impact in the last few years unless I'm blanking on someone
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By impact, do you mean being a good college player or playing in the NFL? If the former, I would add Kim Royston, Mike Rallis, and Anthony Jacobs.
 

I can't recall anyone advocating the "Hometown" thing as much as Coughlin especially with his influence to get others in-state to follow suit.
 

dpodoll68 said:
By impact, do you mean being a good college player or playing in the NFL? If the former, I would add Kim Royston, Mike Rallis, and Anthony Jacobs.
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I mean being an impactful player. A guy that was an above average player at his position. Those guys are good examples though I don't know if I'd call any of them truly impactful. Royston is the only one that comes close
 

oleboy41 said:
I mean being an impactful player. A guy that was an above average player at his position. Those guys are good examples though I don't know if I'd call any of them truly impactful. Royston is the only one that comes close
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Dom Barber, if that is recent enough for you.

But you're right, the list is very sparse. Weird. I wish Sam Maresh, Peter Westerhaus, and Lamonte Edwards had contributed. A lot of potential from all three, and didn't happen for various reasons.
 

eker0016 said:
Dom Barber, if that is recent enough for you.

But you're right, the list is very sparse. Weird. I wish Sam Maresh, Peter Westerhaus, and Lamonte Edwards had contributed. A lot of potential from all three, and didn't happen for various reasons.
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+1 on Dom Barber. Prior to that, Sean Lumpkin.
 

dpodoll68 said:
By impact, do you mean being a good college player or playing in the NFL? If the former, I would add Kim Royston, Mike Rallis, and Anthony Jacobs.
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I would also add Triplett and I know I'll botch the spelling VandeSteeg, the kid from Glencoe Sherels had a nice career here as well
 

Ruggers said:
So Kill is starting to lock down the borders (funny how that happens with winning) and keeping our homegrown athletes home. Let's say Kill and staff continue to climb and brings back the glory days (I haven't been around long enough to even know what those were).

But just for conversation, who will be credited during the Kill era to start the trend of 'staying home' and 'help rebuild the tradition' with homegrown talent?
Click to expand...

Easy one! It was Kill. Without him it would have never happened.
 

Some great comments and insight into the answer to this question but I believe it's Kill as well. Without all the pomp and circumstance, he's rallied the homegrown boys through his diligence, loyal staff, proven model which has translated to wins. There will be ups and downs like with any program and here at UM, we are very used to seeing this in the past but Kill has brought a different mentality to this team and slowly to our fan base. We have a tough schedule this year but I'm sold on this recruiting class that it will take us to the next level in terms of notoriety and competition.
 

Ruggers said:
Some great comments and insight into the answer to this question but I believe it's Kill as well. Without all the pomp and circumstance, he's rallied the homegrown boys through his diligence, loyal staff, proven model which has translated to wins. There will be ups and downs like with any program and here at UM, we are very used to seeing this in the past but Kill has brought a different mentality to this team and slowly to our fan base. We have a tough schedule this year but I'm sold on this recruiting class that it will take us to the next level in terms of notoriety and competition.
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I could be wrong, but I thought your question was seeking opinions about Minnesota home-grown talent staying home, which has produced some interesting responses.
 

Ruggers said:
So Kill is starting to lock down the borders (funny how that happens with winning) and keeping our homegrown athletes home. Let's say Kill and staff continue to climb and brings back the glory days (I haven't been around long enough to even know what those were).

But just for conversation, who will be credited during the Kill era to start the trend of 'staying home' and 'help rebuild the tradition' with homegrown talent?
Click to expand...

Funny how that happens with winning? How about winning begins with recruiting loyal local team players.
 

If you are considering the first "big get" from a recruiting standpoint it would be hard to argue against Phil Nelson and Andre McDonald. That is sad to say, but both were considered great recruits. I would consider Persig another huge recruit in both size and star appeal. I don't remember being that excited that Maxx committed, the reports coming out of Waconia was that he played a little bit of everything if I recall. Maxx clearly is the 'best' Minnesota recruit that Kill and Co. have brought in.
 

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