What grade would you give the Gophers 2016 recruiting class?

What grade would you give the Gophers 2016 recruiting class?

  • A

    Votes: 27 18.0%

  • B

    Votes: 79 52.7%

  • C

    Votes: 36 24.0%

  • D

    Votes: 7 4.7%

  • F

    Votes: 1 0.7%
  • Total voters
    150
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Gave the class a C grade. From what I saw consensus had it ranked as a bottom half of the conference class. They did well keeping the instate talent.
 



A c?
This is one of the best classes since Cal Stoll was here and it is a c?
On an Alabama scale maybe, but there are a lot of good players in this class including the JC guys.
 


I gave an A because if the Hogeyes can win the West with an easy schedule...we will win it the next 2 years with these new recruits contributing quite a bit!
I love Kool-Aide
 


corcoran1 said:
A c?
This is one of the best classes since Cal Stoll was here and it is a c?
On an Alabama scale maybe, but there are a lot of good players in this class including the JC guys.
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By ranking, it's an extremely average Minnesota class. Using Rivals' rankings, we finished 50th in the country. Over the last 15 years of Rivals rankings, our average class ranking is 53, our median class ranking is 52. If we remove the outliers (2008: 17, 2004: 84), it's still 53 and 52, respectively.

When it comes to comparison against other conference schools using these rankings, again, pretty average for the Gophers. Using the 2016 conference teams historically, Minnesota has finished on average 10th (median: 11) out of the 14 teams in Rivals rankings. The 2016 team ranks 10th in the conference.

One can debate the validity of the rankings - they are one group's way of trying to objectively compare football players that have never (typically) played a down of FBS football, certainly not perfect, and certainly not ironclad - but if we assume that they provide some valid comparison, the 2016 class is pretty status quo for the Gophers.
 

B - To be fair, I am grading this class in comparison to the previous Gopher classes since Kill/Claeys took over.

On paper, it looks good. We can't control injuries or how players develop, but they seem to have a good system of developing players.

What would have the Gophers recruiting class been like had they not have all those injuries? That was really unfortunate since the season started with very high optimism only to come crashing down with devastating loses (many of them by a TD or less). Then, the lost of Jerry Kill probably cause us a few decommitments.

I can understand why Jerry Kill was miffed at Mega Tongue when he scheduled a home and home with TCU with out consulting with him first. This after paying off SC $800K not to play them. The TCU game took something out of the Gophers in nonconference.

There is optimism for a fresh start under Claeys. It seems like he is pulling all the stops to put the GOphers in a better position to win more games.
 



Gopher07 said:
By ranking, it's an extremely average Minnesota class. Using Rivals' rankings, we finished 50th in the country. Over the last 15 years of Rivals rankings, our average class ranking is 53, our median class ranking is 52. If we remove the outliers (2008: 17, 2004: 84), it's still 53 and 52, respectively.

When it comes to comparison against other conference schools using these rankings, again, pretty average for the Gophers. Using the 2016 conference teams historically, Minnesota has finished on average 10th (median: 11) out of the 14 teams in Rivals rankings. The 2016 team ranks 10th in the conference.

One can debate the validity of the rankings - they are one group's way of trying to objectively compare football players that have never (typically) played a down of FBS football, certainly not perfect, and certainly not ironclad - but if we assume that they provide some valid comparison, the 2016 class is pretty status quo for the Gophers.
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Thanks for the data. Interesting.
 

The class has some bright spots but considering we have signed just 1 interior high school D lineman in the past two recruiting cycles leaves me scratching my head a little bit. Most coaches say this is the most difficult position to recruit but the last couple of years we have whiffed on our plan "A" guys and seemingly had no capable backup plan "B" guys who the staff could sign either. I don't believe in signing players just to fill scholorships but leaving a position as important as the D-line as thin as they have over the past two years is a telling recruiting problem this staff is struggling to overcome. Now, when I hear we have somewhere between 5-7 scholorships unfilled this year it leaves me very worried knowing we signed 0 high school interior d-lineman this cycle. As someone stated above, compare our d-line recruits to our most hated competitors and it is not pretty. If you are going to win in the BIG it all starts up front, right?
 

GopherSOB said:
The class has some bright spots but considering we have signed just 1 interior high school D lineman in the past two recruiting cycles leaves me scratching my head a little bit. Most coaches say this is the most difficult position to recruit but the last couple of years we have whiffed on our plan "A" guys and seemingly had no capable backup plan "B" guys who the staff could sign either. I don't believe in signing players just to fill scholorships but leaving a position as important as the D-line as thin as they have over the past two years is a telling recruiting problem this staff is struggling to overcome. Now, when I hear we have somewhere between 5-7 scholorships unfilled this year it leaves me very worried knowing we signed 0 high school interior d-lineman this cycle. As someone stated above, compare our d-line recruits to our most hated competitors and it is not pretty. If you are going to win in the BIG it all starts up front, right?
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You are right on the DL topic. Hard to disagree. We were torched up the middle last year when we didn't have other position groups (S and especially LB) focusing on helping that. We also won't have the luxury of leaving EM31 on an island this year which means our safeties won't be able to sell out on the run as much to help that situation. Therefore, I suspect we will continue to have to sell out our LBs if we want to stop runs up the middle - leaving other things open. It is the #1 concern for me on this team as well.
 

Can't they look for other position players with size like Tes and OLs who may be under rated playing these positions, but can be converted and developed into a good DT?

Isn't that what Jerry Kill did with Rasheed Hageman?
 



hungan1 said:
Can't they look for other position players with size like Tes and OLs who may be under rated playing these positions, but can be converted and developed into a good DT?

Isn't that what Jerry Kill did with Rasheed Hageman?
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Rasheed was almost a four star recruit who I think if he only had a gopher offer was probably because he committed early. He was also kind of a freak of nature with size and athleticism, something that's not too easy to find. Guys like this are few and far between.
 

Also worth noting that if Martin keeps growing at his rate, he would likely become a DE instead of LB.
 

It seems like D-lineman are one of the hardest positions to project coming out of HS - what is this player going to look like, physically, in 2 or 3 years?

If the Gophs are having trouble finding DT's at the HS level, then maybe that is one area where they could go to the JUCO ranks to fill out the roster. Admittedly, not an ideal solution. But, with a JUCO player, you're getting someone that is a year or 2 older and more physically developed.

If you think about recent history, it seems like a lot of the DT's have been the slightly undersized, "over-achiever" types - Schlect, Botticelli, etc. The Gophs really haven't had a big-time DT in a while, other than Hageman and another DT that went to the NFL - blanking on the name (Anthony Montgomery?).
 



C plus. But after being coached by a special head coach he turned them into a B plus.
 

love looking at this thread a few years later.
 


Go4 said:
love looking at this thread a few years later.
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BleedGopher said:
@A_Slab_of_Bacon, per your request, it's been a few years, what grade would you give?! ?

I'd say given everything this class dealt with, and the core leaving with an 11 win season, co-BTW champs and a dominating win over Auburn, it is a strong A.

Go Gophers!!
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I now certify this class as elite.


Would have done it sooner but paperwork got held up, wasn't notorized.
 

It would almost have to be at least a B+ or A for me based on the results now. A bunch of good defensive players and one of the top, if not the top WRs in program history
 

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