What grade would you give the Gophers Fall 2020 recruiting class?

[John Galt]

Wow....if this class is a C in your mind I don't honestly know what any coach at Minnesota could do to get an A.

Dickerson and Townley didn't sign anywhere else so both could still end up at Minnesota. And the team rankings are not nearly as bad as they look as this class is extremely competitive with the rest of the West and really only trails Ohio State and Michigan by any significant margin. The classes ranked 3-8 in the conference are not separated by much at all.

This was easily one of the most talented classes on paper that the University of Minnesota has signed in the past 20 years. We can all hope for more and honestly I think Fleck will find a way to keep improving on the recruiting front but this was a really strong class top to bottom.

And who knows, we could easily add some more talented players to this mix between now and the late signing day in a few months.

We’re done recruiting Townley- he’s not coming here. And he probably burned bridges with ASU as well. Dickerson is a long shot at this point imo.

What would have been an A? The short answer is 4 o-linemen, a bona fide big time WR recruit, another DE, Ratzlaff or Hood at LB, and Dickerson to sign. We desperately needed 4 o-linemen this class and got two. And we had 3 in-state o-linemen who went elsewhere. The WR class doesn’t impress me. Not only is there not a Bateman in the group, there isn’t even a Daniel Jackson.

At the end of the day we finished 8th in the B1G and 4th in the west. That’s a C.There are 4 ingredients to becoming a winning football team- talent, player retention, player development and coaching. Are we better than Wisconsin or Iowa at retention, development or coaching? If not, we need to at least be more talented to have a chance to compete and win the west. Yet again, both of our rivals had better classes despite having ‘boring’ coaches. Even Nebraska, the laughingstock program, had a better class. That’s why it’s a C in my book.

 

[hungan1]

Daniel Jackson played against Nebraska. You mean the wishy-washy Sam Jackson.

The Gophers have the best recruiting class in the history of the program. The progress is showing some positive results. The program is the most stable it has been in years.

We just have to be patient. It has only been four years. Heck, I have been watching the Gophers for a long time. I remembered the 1983 84-13 drubbing of the Gophers at the hands of the Cornhuskers. Every victory against them is sweet.

 

[btowngopher]

We’re done recruiting Townley- he’s not coming here. And he probably burned bridges with ASU as well. Dickerson is a long shot at this point imo.

What would have been an A? The short answer is 4 o-linemen, a bona fide big time WR recruit, another DE, Ratzlaff or Hood at LB, and Dickerson to sign. We desperately needed 4 o-linemen this class and got two. And we had 3 in-state o-linemen who went elsewhere. The WR class doesn’t impress me. Not only is there not a Bateman in the group, there isn’t even a Daniel Jackson.

At the end of the day we finished 8th in the B1G and 4th in the west. That’s a C.There are 4 ingredients to becoming a winning football team- talent, player retention, player development and coaching. Are we better than Wisconsin or Iowa at retention, development or coaching? If not, we need to at least be more talented to have a chance to compete and win the west. Yet again, both of our rivals had better classes despite having ‘boring’ coaches. Even Nebraska, the laughingstock program, had a better class. That’s why it’s a C in my book.

Why do we desperately need four o linemen? The staff would have desperately added four if they felt the same. We can’t control how well Iowa and Wisconsin recruit. We upped our recruiting, they also upped their recruiting this year. By the way the teams ahead of us in the west have marginally better recruits on paper. I don’t think anyone knows what we have in many of our young WRs. I trust Fleck to identify and develop good ones at this point.

 

[GopherGuy8]

We’re done recruiting Townley- he’s not coming here. And he probably burned bridges with ASU as well. Dickerson is a long shot at this point imo.

What would have been an A? The short answer is 4 o-linemen, a bona fide big time WR recruit, another DE, Ratzlaff or Hood at LB, and Dickerson to sign. We desperately needed 4 o-linemen this class and got two. And we had 3 in-state o-linemen who went elsewhere. The WR class doesn’t impress me. Not only is there not a Bateman in the group, there isn’t even a Daniel Jackson.

At the end of the day we finished 8th in the B1G and 4th in the west. That’s a C.There are 4 ingredients to becoming a winning football team- talent, player retention, player development and coaching. Are we better than Wisconsin or Iowa at retention, development or coaching? If not, we need to at least be more talented to have a chance to compete and win the west. Yet again, both of our rivals had better classes despite having ‘boring’ coaches. Even Nebraska, the laughingstock program, had a better class. That’s why it’s a C in my book.

This is the best class MN has ever had in the internet rankings era. Anyone who says this class should be lower than a B is delusional. We don't like to give a ton of credit to Wisconsin and Iowa but they've had sustained sucess for decades and we've had 1 great year. The fact that PJ has been able to recruit toe to toe with Iowa and within arms reach of Wisconsin is outstanding in my book.

 

[Stan]

Solid B.

 

[gophernut1]

What I love about this class is that every recruit had a good to great offer list of other colleges wanting them. Even Brewster's great classes had high ranking recruits that other programs would not touch.

What I did not like about this class is we missed a lot of instate talent at key positions. These are recruits that PJ has been able to nurture relationship with for 4 years in his own back yard and somehow did not connect with them in a way that made them say they wanted to be Gophers. I hope this changes in the classes to come.

Overall excited by what PJ is bringing to MN and hope to see continued success on the recruiting trail. Beat WI this year and next years class will be even better.

 

[skiumah1]

We’re done recruiting Townley- he’s not coming here. And he probably burned bridges with ASU as well. Dickerson is a long shot at this point imo.

Curious why you think this. I assume PJ is still on both of these kids. I think we've got 2 scholarships available for guys at their level.

 

[Gold Rush]

Some of you are very tough graders - I think I had a few of you as professors at the U!!!

- I would like to see more Minnesota kids come here too, but I do not think that is a prerequisite for a good grade. If we get a kid from Chicago or Georgia who is as good or better than the Minnesota kid, that works for me.

- There are two ways to look at or grade this class. How does it stack up against what we have done in the past or what have we done compared to other schools in the Big Ten or the rest of the country. Also, it is very subjective because much of these kids will get better, some will become superstars and some will drop out after a year or two and do nothing. The best way of course is to judge everything when their careers are complete.

- If you are judging how this class is compared to other Minnesota classes it would be a solid A. There is quality from top to bottom. Take a look at the other offers these kids had and they are from the top schools in the country. Usually in the past at least several and sometimes more only had offers from a MAC school (OR WORSE.) This is about as good as we have seen around here for some time.

- If you are looking at this class compared to the rest of the country and we come in at 25-30, then you would have to go with a B if you are grading on a strict curve. Keep in mind though, the Gophers handled an Auburn team stacked with higher recruiting classes so it does not necessarily mean we have a bad class.

I would say far from it. This is an excellent class and I look forward to seeing them in action very soon!!

 

[John Galt]

Why do we desperately need four o linemen? The staff would have desperately added four if they felt the same. We can’t control how well Iowa and Wisconsin recruit. We upped our recruiting, they also upped their recruiting this year. By the way the teams ahead of us in the west have marginally better recruits on paper. I don’t think anyone knows what we have in many of our young WRs. I trust Fleck to identify and develop good ones at this point.

The staff desperately tried to sign 4 o-linemen but struck out with all of their plan B and C guys in the last month. 5 or 6 of our top o-linemen likely won’t be on the team for the 2022 season. Schlueter and Olson will have used their eligibility up. Andries, Faalele and JMS will all have been here for a while and may test the NFL waters or move on, and Dunlap is coming off a serious injury. That means our starting o-line in a year and a half needs to consist of the underclassmen we have right now plus whoever we get in the transfer market. So our o-line could consist of Ersery, Cooper, Boe, Lawrence and Lewis. With back-ups of Purcell and James and ??? Color me skeptical that that o-line would be able to perform at the level we have now.
Another poster said it well- who cares how this recruiting class compares against our other classes because we won’t be playing those other classes on the field. We’ll be playing Wisconsin and Iowa. So if our goal is to win the west at least once every 3-4 years, our two biggest rivals just outrecruited us. And Nebraska.

 

[Otis]

And we were 11 and 2 last year. We have 4 guys rated 300 to 400...the rest are lower.
But, we are rated 27th in the country, so that is really good for us.
It would be easier to be excited if we had a freshman or even any redshirt freshmen or sophomores that were a WOW! But since Bateman, not sure we have had an impact recruit?
Tough to know what we got here until next season gets underway.

Ersery seems to be an impact freshman.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Another poster said it well- who cares how this recruiting class compares against our other classes because we won’t be playing those other classes on the field. We’ll be playing Wisconsin and Iowa. So if our goal is to win the west at least once every 3-4 years, our two biggest rivals just outrecruited us. And Nebraska.

I will give that Wisconsin's class is better on paper but not by a ton, and certainly not to a point where our guys would be at a competitive disadvantage against theirs. Their top 3 recruits are all offensive linemen and while that probably improves the odds that they will be ready to play quicker, O-Line is one spot where I honestly don't think the ratings mean all that much as you can develop guys along the offensive line. Heck I looked at the Vikings O-Line for fun. Of the 9 guys listed only 5 of them went to power 5 schools and of those 5 (Bradbury, Cleveland, Samia, O'Neill, Reiff) only Reiff .86 and Samia .89 were ranked highly at all. The other three were in the .81 range. So high rated O-Line players out of high school might not be worth a ton as high school O-Line is probably one of the toughest spots to evaluate since those guys are almost always significantly bigger and stronger then the kids they are going up against.

I strongly disagree with the idea that Iowa and Nebraska outrecruited us. If you stack those 3 classes up against each other they are very very similar in terms of player talent on paper.

We are recruiting at a level right now that should give us a chance to compete in the West on a yearly basis. Needs to keep trending up if we want to reach a point of being in the CFP picture on a regular basis but by Minnesota and Big Ten West standards this was a very good class.

And there is still time to add more, not sure why many are acting like the early signing day ended the 2021 recruiting class.

 

[btowngopher]

The staff desperately tried to sign 4 o-linemen but struck out with all of their plan B and C guys in the last month. 5 or 6 of our top o-linemen likely won’t be on the team for the 2022 season. Schlueter and Olson will have used their eligibility up. Andries, Faalele and JMS will all have been here for a while and may test the NFL waters or move on, and Dunlap is coming off a serious injury. That means our starting o-line in a year and a half needs to consist of the underclassmen we have right now plus whoever we get in the transfer market. So our o-line could consist of Ersery, Cooper, Boe, Lawrence and Lewis. With back-ups of Purcell and James and ??? Color me skeptical that that o-line would be able to perform at the level we have now.
Another poster said it well- who cares how this recruiting class compares against our other classes because we won’t be playing those other classes on the field. We’ll be playing Wisconsin and Iowa. So if our goal is to win the west at least once every 3-4 years, our two biggest rivals just outrecruited us. And Nebraska.

Highly unlikely that every single olineman that has an option to move on actually does. If the staff was desperate they would’ve been targeting some guys with less competitive suitors or jucos. Pretty much every single olineman listed in 247 as having an offer signed with a P5 program.

 

[btowngopher]

I will give that Wisconsin's class is better on paper but not by a ton, and certainly not to a point where our guys would be at a competitive disadvantage against theirs. Their top 3 recruits are all offensive linemen and while that probably improves the odds that they will be ready to play quicker, O-Line is one spot where I honestly don't think the ratings mean all that much as you can develop guys along the offensive line. Heck I looked at the Vikings O-Line for fun. Of the 9 guys listed only 5 of them went to power 5 schools and of those 5 (Bradbury, Cleveland, Samia, O'Neill, Reiff) only Reiff .86 and Samia .89 were ranked highly at all. The other three were in the .81 range. So high rated O-Line players out of high school might not be worth a ton as high school O-Line is probably one of the toughest spots to evaluate since those guys are almost always significantly bigger and stronger then the kids they are going up against.

I strongly disagree with the idea that Iowa and Nebraska outrecruited us. If you stack those 3 classes up against each other they are very very similar in terms of player talent on paper.

We are recruiting at a level right now that should give us a chance to compete in the West on a yearly basis. Needs to keep trending up if we want to reach a point of being in the CFP picture on a regular basis but by Minnesota and Big Ten West standards this was a very good class.

And there is still time to add more, not sure why many are acting like the early signing day ended the 2021 recruiting class.

Also yeah they add high end olinemen, nothing new there. Wisconsin and Iowa will have good olines as always, but if they aren’t infusing talent everywhere do they really improve their teams that much?

 

[short ornery norwegian]

As others have noted - Yes, on paper, this recruiting class is better than MN has done in recent history.

But - 8th in the B1G and 4th in the West.

The Goal - presumably - is to become a team that contends for division titles and hopefully conference titles. If the teams you are fighting for position get better recruits (on paper), then the Gophers have to rely on development and coaching.

At the risk of starting a fight, that was the Kill-Claeys approach - "We'll Coach 'em up."

Fleck - or so we were told - was supposed to be the guy who could bring in better talent and put the Gophers on an even footing with other teams.

But, apparently, "We'll Coach 'em Up" is still part of the plan.

 

[MNVCGUY]

As others have noted - Yes, on paper, this recruiting class is better than MN has done in recent history.

But - 8th in the B1G and 4th in the West.

The Goal - presumably - is to become a team that contends for division titles and hopefully conference titles. If the teams you are fighting for position get better recruits (on paper), then the Gophers have to rely on development and coaching.

At the risk of starting a fight, that was the Kill-Claeys approach - "We'll Coach 'em up."

Fleck - or so we were told - was supposed to be the guy who could bring in better talent and put the Gophers on an even footing with other teams.

But, apparently, "We'll Coach 'em Up" is still part of the plan.

Those team rankings are so flawed, how is it that people can't see that? If you actually look at the team rankings you would see that #5 Penn State and #8 Minnesota are separated by a couple of points. Maryland at #4 is mostly there because they have 22 commits and Wisconsin while a pretty clear #3 is also aided by having 21 commits.

The ONLY 2 classes in the Big Ten that truly stand out above the one the U signed are Ohio State and Michigan. This class has us 100% on an even footing recruiting wise with the teams in the West. This is not a low rated "coach em up" kind of class. There is absolutely room for improvement but this is a comparable class to the one that our chief rivals are bringing in.

Recruiting under Fleck has taken a massive step forward. Gone are the days of filling classes with guys that had to pick between a MAC offer or us. We are bringing in players with legit power 5 interest now and the lowest rated guys in the class would have been top half guys not too many years ago.

In the West this class is maybe slightly below Wisconsin, dead even with Iowa and Nebraska, and a cut above Purdue, Illinois, and Northwestern. People need to stop looking at the 4/8 rankings and actually compare the classes. We can absolutely compete in the West and the Big Ten with players of the caliber that we are bringing in.

 

[John Galt]

I will give that Wisconsin's class is better on paper but not by a ton, and certainly not to a point where our guys would be at a competitive disadvantage against theirs. Their top 3 recruits are all offensive linemen and while that probably improves the odds that they will be ready to play quicker, O-Line is one spot where I honestly don't think the ratings mean all that much as you can develop guys along the offensive line. Heck I looked at the Vikings O-Line for fun. Of the 9 guys listed only 5 of them went to power 5 schools and of those 5 (Bradbury, Cleveland, Samia, O'Neill, Reiff) only Reiff .86 and Samia .89 were ranked highly at all. The other three were in the .81 range. So high rated O-Line players out of high school might not be worth a ton as high school O-Line is probably one of the toughest spots to evaluate since those guys are almost always significantly bigger and stronger then the kids they are going up against.

I strongly disagree with the idea that Iowa and Nebraska outrecruited us. If you stack those 3 classes up against each other they are very very similar in terms of player talent on paper.

We are recruiting at a level right now that should give us a chance to compete in the West on a yearly basis. Needs to keep trending up if we want to reach a point of being in the CFP picture on a regular basis but by Minnesota and Big Ten West standards this was a very good class.

And there is still time to add more, not sure why many are acting like the early signing day ended the 2021 recruiting class.

Wisconsin signed 6 recruits that have higher composite averages than Athan, our highest rated recruited. We aren’t in the same league. We are closer to Iowa, but they pulled in 3 4-star o-linemen. PJ is 1-7 against Wisconsin and Iowa, and most of the games haven’t been close. The last two vs Iowa this year and Wisconsin last year were embarrassing. How
much pain can Gopher fans take and when can we realize we aren’t nearly as talented as our rivals on the o-line, d-line and LB? We didn’t make as much progress as we needed to especially coming off a season where we were #10 in the country.

 

[John Galt]

Those team rankings are so flawed, how is it that people can't see that? If you actually look at the team rankings you would see that #5 Penn State and #8 Minnesota are separated by a couple of points. Maryland at #4 is mostly there because they have 22 commits and Wisconsin while a pretty clear #3 is also aided by having 21 commits.

The ONLY 2 classes in the Big Ten that truly stand out above the one the U signed are Ohio State and Michigan. This class has us 100% on an even footing recruiting wise with the teams in the West. This is not a low rated "coach em up" kind of class. There is absolutely room for improvement but this is a comparable class to the one that our chief rivals are bringing in.

Recruiting under Fleck has taken a massive step forward. Gone are the days of filling classes with guys that had to pick between a MAC offer or us. We are bringing in players with legit power 5 interest now and the lowest rated guys in the class would have been top half guys not too many years ago.

In the West this class is maybe slightly below Wisconsin, dead even with Iowa and Nebraska, and a cut above Purdue, Illinois, and Northwestern. People need to stop looking at the 4/8 rankings and actually compare the classes. We can absolutely compete in the West and the Big Ten with players of the caliber that we are bringing in.

You’re going with the recruiting rankings are flawed approach? Would they be flawed if we finished #3? And who really cares how it compares to a Jerry Kill class, he’s long gone and PJ is in his 4th year. That’s about as relevant as comparing it to a Tim Brewster or Glen Mason class.

At the end of the day we finished 8th in the conference. But this is a board full of opinions so go ahead and call it an “A” because it’s better than what Kill could do.

 

[btowngopher]

As others have noted - Yes, on paper, this recruiting class is better than MN has done in recent history.

But - 8th in the B1G and 4th in the West.

The Goal - presumably - is to become a team that contends for division titles and hopefully conference titles. If the teams you are fighting for position get better recruits (on paper), then the Gophers have to rely on development and coaching.

At the risk of starting a fight, that was the Kill-Claeys approach - "We'll Coach 'em up."

Fleck - or so we were told - was supposed to be the guy who could bring in better talent and put the Gophers on an even footing with other teams.

But, apparently, "We'll Coach 'em Up" is still part of the plan.

Fleck is bringing in better talent and has put us on much more even footing with the best of the WEST.

 

[btowngopher]

You’re going with the recruiting rankings are flawed approach? Would they be flawed if we finished #3? And who really cares how it compares to a Jerry Kill class, he’s long gone and PJ is in his 4th year. That’s about as relevant as comparing it to a Tim Brewster or Glen Mason class.

At the end of the day we finished 8th in the conference. But this is a board full of opinions so go ahead and call it an “A” because it’s better than what Kill could do.

Well we’d probably jump all the way to fourth if just Dickerson signs. The fact that some other teams in the conference signed very good classes does not mean we should devalue ours, 28th in the nation does not deserve a C. If I said we could have the 28th ranked class for the next four years would anyone not take that?

 

[MNVCGUY]

You’re going with the recruiting rankings are flawed approach? Would they be flawed if we finished #3? And who really cares how it compares to a Jerry Kill class, he’s long gone and PJ is in his 4th year. That’s about as relevant as comparing it to a Tim Brewster or Glen Mason class.

At the end of the day we finished 8th in the conference. But this is a board full of opinions so go ahead and call it an “A” because it’s better than what Kill could do.

The team rankings absolutely are flawed in that they put a lot of weight on the total number of recruits signed in a given class. You are fixated on them showing us 8th my point is that there is a razor slim margin between 5th and 8th and 4th (Maryland) is really only there because of their 22 recruits.

Individual recruiting rankings themselves are not flawed but they also shouldn't be taken as the gospel either. They are extremely subjective and not a guarantee of anything. Have said it many times, I personally put way more stock in offers then I do in the number next to a kids name. If a player is being pursued by other Big Ten and power 5 programs that is good sign that they are going to be able to help us compete in the Big Ten.

Take a kid like Luther McCoy, his .8485 doesn't leap off the page but then you look at his offer list and you see it is full of power 5 schools so clearly coaches are seeing something they really like in the kid which bodes well for his chances to help us once he gets here.

 

[John Galt]

Well we’d probably jump all the way to fourth if just Dickerson signs. The fact that some other teams in the conference signed very good classes does not mean we should devalue ours, 28th in the nation does not deserve a C. If I said we could have the 28th ranked class for the next four years would anyone not take that?

I would never take that. What’s your expectation for the team? My expectation, or hope, is that we win the west once every 3 or 4 years, and once a decade win the B1G championship game. Finishing 28th in the country every year in recruiting rankings probably won’t do it if your expectations are similar.

 

[John Galt]

The team rankings absolutely are flawed in that they put a lot of weight on the total number of recruits signed in a given class. You are fixated on them showing us 8th my point is that there is a razor slim margin between 5th and 8th and 4th (Maryland) is really only there because of their 22 recruits.

Individual recruiting rankings themselves are not flawed but they also shouldn't be taken as the gospel either. They are extremely subjective and not a guarantee of anything. Have said it many times, I personally put way more stock in offers then I do in the number next to a kids name. If a player is being pursued by other Big Ten and power 5 programs that is good sign that they are going to be able to help us compete in the Big Ten.

Take a kid like Luther McCoy, his .8485 doesn't leap off the page but then you look at his offer list and you see it is full of power 5 schools so clearly coaches are seeing something they really like in the kid which bodes well for his chances to help us once he gets here.

I remember some people pointing out that in past years our team ranking was inflated by the number of recruits we signed.

 

[btowngopher]

I would never take that. What’s your expectation for the team? My expectation, or hope, is that we win the west once every 3 or 4 years, and once a decade win the B1G championship game. Finishing 28th in the country every year in recruiting rankings probably won’t do it if your expectations are similar.

Since 2010 Wisconsin and Iowa have only finished 28th or better twice. Some of those years 28th was the best class in the west. There has been a big uptick in recruiting among B1G teams in the past couple years. I guess if you think that trend holds and Iowa and Wisconsin keep recruiting at this level that makes sense, but historically 28th is around what Nebraska would recruit and is better than Wisconsin and Iowa have. 28th should put you in the ball park of anyone in the west as far as talent. I don’t see anyone consistently finishing in the top 20 over the next four or five years.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

Assuming the Gophers finish with the #28 class in the nation:

The Gophers are not directly competing against 27 teams. they are directly competing against the teams in the B1G West. If you want to win the Conference title, you have to win the West Division.

to beat WI, IA, NW etc. you have to either 1. out-recruit them or 2. out-coach them.

If you are not able to out-recruit them, then you have to out-coach them.

This is NOT an anti-Fleck rant - just pointing out the obvious. doesn't matter who the coach is. it's still the same issue.

at the end of the day, people look at the record, and where the team finished in the conference standings. If MN finishes 3rd or 4th in the division, no one is going to give a sh*t what the recruiting rankings were.

 

[MZBKA1]

Talk about grade inflation!

This recruiting class is AVERAGE for the Big 10. It’s a C. People giving this class an A is a sign of how low my fellow Gophers fans’ expectations for the team really are. Do you want to beat teams like Wisconsin and Iowa consistently? You need to recruit better than they do.

Further, Our #1 and #2 in-state players went to our rivals. How in the world is that an A recruiting class?

 

[builtbadgers]

Daniel Jackson played against Nebraska. You mean the wishy-washy Sam Jackson.

The Gophers have the best recruiting class in the history of the program. The progress is showing some positive results. The program is the most stable it has been in years.

We just have to be patient. It has only been four years. Heck, I have been watching the Gophers for a long time. I remembered the 1983 84-13 drubbing of the Gophers at the hands of the Cornhuskers. Every victory against them is sweet.

Only the best on paper and since the internet ranking sites began. In Program history we had far better classes. For me you can not give a recruiting grade of A to 25 programs. The goal is not to be better than we were, the goal is to be the best. True grades are handed out by wins and losses records.

 

[hungan1]

Only the best on paper and since the internet ranking sites began. In Program history we had far better classes. For me you can not give a recruiting grade of A to 25 programs. The goal is not to be better than we were, the goal is to be the best. True grades are handed out by wins and losses records.

Recruiting is part PR, part talent hype. It is part of the recruiting gamesmanship.

On paper, the GOphers have four or six 4-Stars depending on whether you look at composite ratings or the 247 Sports exclusive rating.

The Gophers being a developmental program relies on good scouting and talent evaluation. They cannot ignore the ratings hype. This is what drives getting more higher end impact players to pay attention. They need to build up their recruiting to get more impact players that are game changers. When that day arrives, the Gophers will be in the title games.

 

[Some guy]

Talk about grade inflation!

This recruiting class is AVERAGE for the Big 10. It’s a C. People giving this class an A is a sign of how low my fellow Gophers fans’ expectations for the team really are. Do you want to beat teams like Wisconsin and Iowa consistently? You need to recruit better than they do.

Further, Our #1 and #2 in-state players went to our rivals. How in the world is that an A recruiting class?

If a top 30 class is a C....how many of the 130 classes get Fs?
In your opinion?

 

[PMWinSTP]

Those team rankings are so flawed, how is it that people can't see that? If you actually look at the team rankings you would see that #5 Penn State and #8 Minnesota are separated by a couple of points. Maryland at #4 is mostly there because they have 22 commits and Wisconsin while a pretty clear #3 is also aided by having 21 commits.

The ONLY 2 classes in the Big Ten that truly stand out above the one the U signed are Ohio State and Michigan. This class has us 100% on an even footing recruiting wise with the teams in the West. This is not a low rated "coach em up" kind of class. There is absolutely room for improvement but this is a comparable class to the one that our chief rivals are bringing in.

Recruiting under Fleck has taken a massive step forward. Gone are the days of filling classes with guys that had to pick between a MAC offer or us. We are bringing in players with legit power 5 interest now and the lowest rated guys in the class would have been top half guys not too many years ago.

In the West this class is maybe slightly below Wisconsin, dead even with Iowa and Nebraska, and a cut above Purdue, Illinois, and Northwestern. People need to stop looking at the 4/8 rankings and actually compare the classes. We can absolutely compete in the West and the Big Ten with players of the caliber that we are bringing in.

I'll give you Nebby, but Iowa and Wisc clearly out-recruited Fleck and Co. Same with PSU, it has four rated higher than Gophs top recruit and class has 3 fewer recruits.

 

[John Galt]

Talk about grade inflation!

This recruiting class is AVERAGE for the Big 10. It’s a C. People giving this class an A is a sign of how low my fellow Gophers fans’ expectations for the team really are. Do you want to beat teams like Wisconsin and Iowa consistently? You need to recruit better than they do.

Further, Our #1 and #2 in-state players went to our rivals. How in the world is that an A recruiting class?

But, but, but, but WE IMPROVED! We aren’t signing 2-stars with no Power 5 offers like in the Jerry Kill days! There isn’t much difference in the rankings! The rankings are flawed!