What was your favorite Andre McDonald moment?

Donate To GopherHole
vames said:
Interesting. Patherhawk decided to post this thread on McDonald's FB site, which I am guessing Andre and his family/friends are having more than enough chance to review the type of "passionate" Minnesota fans that like to rip on recruits. If Andre does commit elsewhere, I will be sure to follow up with the request on the impact of this thread.
Click to expand...

Who cares about that kind of stuff?

There is a couple somewhat critical postings on a Gopher football message board about the kid. I haven't read anyone say anything personal or berating and the worse thing that was said is that they should pull his offer. While I don't agree with that at all, if Andre is the kind of guy who does something a tad controversial (which he knew would disappoint some people) and this tiny bit of backlash freaks him out, I don't think his psyche is really cut out for playing division 1 college football.

I don't think that is the case. I'm sure he has the mental toughness to take a small handful of people who respectfully chastised him. If things on this thread were nasty and personal, yeah, you'd have a point. When people are saying that they are sort of annoyed with the kids actions and think the U should move on. I think Andre can handle it.
 

Pantherhawk is an idiot, and Andre is old enough where he should make up his mind by himself. He shouldn't be swayed by what people are saying on this thread. Like we all really matter in the grand scheme of things that is Gopher football??
 

Badger2010 said:
You guys are really advocating pulling the offer to the top recruit in state, a kid that could still very well end up a Gopher, just because he wants to reaffirm his decision by looking around? I understand bringing in kids that truly want to be a part of the program and that it is a very important part of running a successful program. Who's to say that won't end up being the case with McDonald? It sounds like the kid still favors Minnesota...I think it is crazy to pull his offer considering he will likely be the best player the Gophers land all year.

Don't hold a spot for him, but do not pull the offer. The kid is a very good player, I wish he was considering Wisconsin.
Click to expand...


I completely agree. I cannot understand why people are getting so butthurt that he wants to look around. I think he will still end up a Gopher in the end, and it's ridiculous to get this upset at him and completely cut him off.
 

I agree that Pantherhawk is an idiot.

Thank you Bob_Loblaw for clarifying this thread is a "respectful chastise" of Andre. I am not sure we would all agree, but we shall see.
 

ruppertflywheel said:
If I was his mom/pop I would sit him down and say: "Son, you told Coach Kill you were 100 % committed. This is not the way we do things as a family. Get on the phone right now and reafirm with Coach Kill your committment" This would be the conversation had if said family had core values. In this day and age family core values are a dying breed, especially in the United States.
Click to expand...

If McDonald signs an LOI and the day he gets to campus Kill switches his position or recruits over him will you write a post about Kill's core values? A commitment goes both ways and, from the kid and his family's perspective, extends four to five years beyond the day that he signs the LOI. Therefore, he better be damn sure that Kill is as fine a person as he appears to be in the well edited webisodes. A D1 coach has 20-25 kids coming in each year. For McDonald, this may not be his only chance, but it is his best chance. He has an obligation to himself to make sure that this is the best situation and Coach Kill is the best pathway to his dreams.
 


Wow. People need to seriously relax and step back from the ledge. Pull his offer? The top recruit in the state...the one who loves the U and may still end up coming? Laughable. The only thing you get by taking a hard line like that is a future filled with kids who won't commit early because they're scared they might have a change of heart. In the end, that changes nothing for the program--besides giving fans less to talk about in the off-season! As always, the kids who want to come will come...the ones who don't, won't.

As for Andre, I know for a fact that his family, coaches, and mentors are ALL pushing the U extremely hard. IMHO, I'd say the odds are high that he signs with the U when it's all said and done. That being said, this is a kid who has gone from not getting much attention to suddenly getting a TON of attention almost overnight. It's hard to ignore that, and the coaches for these other teams are brilliant recruiters--they'd be out a job if they weren't. All of you can talk as high and mighty as you want about staying true to your hometown team, or about ignoring tOSU because of the violations, but let's face the facts: when you're a 17-year old kid with the perennial powers of the B10 knocking on your door, all of them whispering NFL, All-American, and B10 championship in your ear (and they've got the history to back all of that up), you at least take a peek. I wish that wasn't the case, but it is...
 

Rosemountian said:
My favorite moment was when he signed is LOI in early spring 2012 and this thread gets bumped

:this is sarcastic or not sarcastic depending on where he ends up signing:




I think the biggest problem with recruiting today is that fans follow it so closely. Everyone is ripping him apart for committing and then changing his mind to look elsewhere. If you don't want him to change his mind, don't ask him to commit before signing day. He is going to answer the question if he thinks he is ready, but he has every right to, and in my opinion SHOULD, look at all his options.

I would not go to Minnesota automatically if I had gotten a football scholarship from them. Back when I was being recruited (to play non-D1 football) there was more than just going where people think you are supposed to end up. You have to look at where you fit culturally, academically, schematically, how you get along with the coaching staff, whether or not you want to live close to home, ect....there are countless things to take into consideration.

Would you get mad at a regular college junior for changing his mind about his top school choice 12 months before he graduates high school? No? Then leave this guy alone. He is going to look around, good for him.
Click to expand...

Absolutely correct.

It's almost sickening to me how involved some fans get in recruiting. They take it personally when a 17 year old boy (not yet a man) changes his mind about going to their school and go into super internet message board a**hole mode. And all these entertainment websites that market themselves as providing a service to fans - rivals, scout, etc. The whole thing strikes me as a self-perpetuating scam. They wouldn't exist if people didn't pay for it.


Fans should not be allowed to comment on recruits until signing day.
 

ruppertflywheel said:
If I was his mom/pop I would sit him down and say: "Son, you told Coach Kill you were 100 % committed. This is not the way we do things as a family. Get on the phone right now and reafirm with Coach Kill your committment" This would be the conversation had if said family had core values. In this day and age family core values are a dying breed, especially in the United States.
Click to expand...

I would assume then you would be in favor of Kill not continuing to recruit a kid that has verbally committed to another program. You wouldn't want Kill to be contributing to the corruption of a kids core values would you? Or does it only apply when convenient?
 

I don't think they should pull his offer at this point. I'm just disappointed that McDonald, with all of his offers, appears to now be considering, of all places, OSU (coaching staff should ALL be fired at the end of the year, with heavy sanctions, provided the NCAA has any sack whatsoever)

Oh - and apparently also Iowa (players running drug houses, 14 (or how ever many there was) kids hospitalized due to strength coach monitored workouts).

That said, for those of you playing the pity card for the poor 17 year old kid, keep in mind that MANY of these kids use/monitor the recruiting services as much as anybody to leverage themselves for additional and/or perceived "better" offers (scholarships and perhaps other "incentives" as well) all of the time. Why? Because they know college coaches and/or recruiting coordinators/minions all read these things, whether they admit it or not. As the former relative of a college football coach, I can tell you - somebody on every one of these college staffs is monitoring all of this stuff, and they share what they are hearing/reading with those on the staff that need to know, and the h.s. kids know it.

I'm not saying this was the case with McDonald, but please, the pity shouldn't be blanketed on all of these kids -they are very savvy with this stuff and use the youth card as a cop-out.

Anyway, I'm disappointed in McDonald (I'm sure he cares!), but he can very easily make ammends with me by signing his LOI to UMN come February. If he goes to OSU or Iowa, with all of the other offers he has/will have, then I just think he's seriously lacking common sense.
 



MGGopher said:
Wow. People need to seriously relax and step back from the ledge. Pull his offer? The top recruit in the state...the one who loves the U and may still end up coming? Laughable. The only thing you get by taking a hard line like that is a future filled with kids who won't commit early because they're scared they might have a change of heart. In the end, that changes nothing for the program--besides giving fans less to talk about in the off-season! As always, the kids who want to come will come...the ones who don't, won't.

As for Andre, I know for a fact that his family, coaches, and mentors are ALL pushing the U extremely hard. IMHO, I'd say the odds are high that he signs with the U when it's all said and done. That being said, this is a kid who has gone from not getting much attention to suddenly getting a TON of attention almost overnight. It's hard to ignore that, and the coaches for these other teams are brilliant recruiters--they'd be out a job if they weren't. All of you can talk as high and mighty as you want about staying true to your hometown team, or about ignoring tOSU because of the violations, but let's face the facts: when you're a 17-year old kid with the perennial powers of the B10 knocking on your door, all of them whispering NFL, All-American, and B10 championship in your ear (and they've got the history to back all of that up), you at least take a peek. I wish that wasn't the case, but it is...
Click to expand...

QFT. One of the best posts in this thread.
 

vames said:
Interesting. Patherhawk decided to post this thread on McDonald's FB site, which I am guessing Andre and his family/friends are having more than enough chance to review the type of "passionate" Minnesota fans that like to rip on recruits. If Andre does commit elsewhere, I will be sure to follow up with the request on the impact of this thread.
Click to expand...


If fans weren't pissed off that the guy we all thought was going to be the poster-boy of the Gopher Football resurgence (hometown stud stays home and starts the turn-around) then what kind of fans would we be? I'll answer that: apathetic fans. You're damn right we're pissed that we bought into the kid for the last 5 months, listened to him say the things that have already been quoted in this thread, then the fan base gets kicked in the nuts by decommitment. I mean really, on all the MN boards people had rallied around the McDonald verbal, so it's really no surprise people get pissed about it.

If he pulled something like that on the Iowa or OSU fan base he'd probably be getting death threats via social media, so some people saying that his scholarship should be pulled is pretty small potatoes. Those fan bases are the two biggest nut-job fan bases in America, there is nothing that gets said on here that isn't 10x's worse on those boards.

And if his family is reading this that is perfect, I'd like to say 2 things:

1) How many Hawkeye WRs are in the NFL??? ----> ZERO, they run the ball and do slant plays.

2) How many bowl games will you get to play in at OSU???----> ZERO, they are cheats who won't be eligible to play in bowl games by that point.
 

If you were that focused on a verbal for five months...

have just been PUNKED...

What an easy dude or dudette you must be to fall for "the early verbal" from a 17 y.o. kid.

Good luck to this young man. I hope he goes through a good, honest process and makes up his mind. I hope he will be a Gopher, but, if he makes a different choice Coach Kill and the Gophers will need to move on as well. In the end, I am sure all will work out well for everyone involved.

Except for maybe this sonny person...sonny is really bummed and really put out by having poured five months of life into this fantasy recruiting downer of a trip.

Man, it is ONLY fantasy high school footballl recruiting...

; 0 )
 

Didn't you have a mental breakdown over the Mason firing and get kicked off the board??? Oh that's right, how is Glen these days?
 



sonnygarcia said:
Didn't you have a mental breakdown over the Mason firing and get kicked off the board??? Oh that's right, how is Glen these days?
Click to expand...
Do you mean the Glen that was the best coach Minnesota has had in the last 40 years. Hows your boy Brewster doing.
 



MV at FBT has a well written article on this. Basically, he is a kid, he screwed up in Feb by committing too soon. He still seems like a good kid, and I hop we eventaully get him, but if not, get somebody else who will make plays. I am glad he straightened it out now rather than in December.
 


Killjoy said:
This should be required reading here. As I said earlier, I thought wren's opinion on this topic was worthwhile. I blamed it on global warming. As usual, MV's musings are cerebral with a math underpinning. They are definitely thought provoking.
Click to expand...

MV's take is good.
As one of the "hardball offer pullers" I'll say this, he shouldn't have committed and certainly shouldn't have been a mouthpiece for in state recruits, he set himself up to be a local beacon of proud Minnesotans staying home and building something special.

Now, he's looking around, so be it. Coach Kill is obviously better suited at handling things like this than anyone on a silly message board, myself very much included.

If this is about OSU offering, go check it out, visit, get a read on the situation, fine.
I'd be careful in believing anything the coaches tell you about the NCAA situation "not being as bad as everyone thinks it is" and the like. If OSU was his favorite team growing up, and a dream offer, fine.

It still irks me that anyone can "commit" and then back out, a person's word and promise should count for something, EVEN for a 17 year old.

I'd love to see him in Maroon and Gold, heck I'd love it if he could play this year, but the whole situation is tough to stomach. I'm hopeful that this is a unique situation and the Pirsig, Johnson, and Hayes recruitments are more clearly resolved.
 

Badger2010 said:
You guys are really advocating pulling the offer to the top recruit in state, a kid that could still very well end up a Gopher, just because he wants to reaffirm his decision by looking around? I understand bringing in kids that truly want to be a part of the program and that it is a very important part of running a successful program. Who's to say that won't end up being the case with McDonald? It sounds like the kid still favors Minnesota...I think it is crazy to pull his offer considering he will likely be the best player the Gophers land all year.

Don't hold a spot for him, but do not pull the offer. The kid is a very good player, I wish he was considering Wisconsin.
Click to expand...

How is it that the Badger fan here is the voice of reason? You people should be ashamed of yourselves. First off he is just a kid that wants to make sure of his decision. You would all be bitching if he never committed and was looking at other schools BEGGING him to consider us. Get lives people. It is just football...a game...played by young men!!
 

sonnygarcia said:
If fans weren't pissed off that the guy we all thought was going to be the poster-boy of the Gopher Football resurgence (hometown stud stays home and starts the turn-around) then what kind of fans would we be? I'll answer that: apathetic fans. You're damn right we're pissed that we bought into the kid for the last 5 months, listened to him say the things that have already been quoted in this thread, then the fan base gets kicked in the nuts by decommitment. I mean really, on all the MN boards people had rallied around the McDonald verbal, so it's really no surprise people get pissed about it.

If he pulled something like that on the Iowa or OSU fan base he'd probably be getting death threats via social media, so some people saying that his scholarship should be pulled is pretty small potatoes. Those fan bases are the two biggest nut-job fan bases in America, there is nothing that gets said on here that isn't 10x's worse on those boards.

And if his family is reading this that is perfect, I'd like to say 2 things:

1) How many Hawkeye WRs are in the NFL??? ----> ZERO, they run the ball and do slant plays.

2) How many bowl games will you get to play in at OSU???----> ZERO, they are cheats who won't be eligible to play in bowl games by that point.
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure there are more Hawkeye WRs in JAIL than there are in the NFL! :cool02:
 

Unregistered User said:
And surrender my first amendment rights to free speech? No thank you.
Click to expand...

I mean the information should not be available about which schools different recruits are thinking about. It should be confidential to coaches and family of players until signing day.

After that comment all you want.
 

I'm not going to get down on McDonald. This is a big decision and he probably got caught up in the "new coach in town" excitement with Kill. I hope he takes his time and makes the right decision for himself and I hope that decision is that he comes to the University of Minnesota.
 


After reading everyone's responses, I think that my values just do not work in college football. This is not meant to be a "holier-than-thou" stance, but I also agreed that the offer should be pulled. I don't mind someone waiting to make a decision, but once you do, it is a commitment. And a commitment should be honored. I would counsel my own children to wait until they were sure; but if they verballed, it would be done.

As to the point of would I want Kill to stop recruiting a kid who committed elsewhere? I would. Same deal. Honor people at their word. Respect those that keep their word and don't get fooled again by those that don't.

Reality is that this probably doesn't work in the real world of big-time college sports. I don't know that a coach or a team can put this in play. You're dealing with a mixture of kids who are on both ends of the spectrum from direct/truthful/honest to prima donna/pampered/stars. And you probably can't get by with just the stand-up guys.
 

mom8pop said:
After reading everyone's responses, I think that my values just do not work in college football. This is not meant to be a "holier-than-thou" stance, but I also agreed that the offer should be pulled. I don't mind someone waiting to make a decision, but once you do, it is a commitment. And a commitment should be honored. I would counsel my own children to wait until they were sure; but if they verballed, it would be done.

As to the point of would I want Kill to stop recruiting a kid who committed elsewhere? I would. Same deal. Honor people at their word. Respect those that keep their word and don't get fooled again by those that don't.

Reality is that this probably doesn't work in the real world of big-time college sports. I don't know that a coach or a team can put this in play. You're dealing with a mixture of kids who are on both ends of the spectrum from direct/truthful/honest to prima donna/pampered/stars. And you probably can't get by with just the stand-up guys.
Click to expand...

I feel very much the same way. In this case, it's entirely possible that Andre thought he was sure and then realized he wasn't. I don't know. Whatever his motivations are, two things appear to be true: 1. He doesn't love the U (at least not nearly as much as he led everyone to believe), and 2. He's looking for a better deal. Nothing wrong with either one of those stances imo. He should just keep his mouth shut for awhile.
 

Stop be *&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#s. You guys are worse than a scorn lover that was cheated on.

Andre is a 17 year old kid that wants to make sure he is making the best decision for himself. If he realize the turmoil at OSU and the fact their early commits that grew up Buckeye fans are changing their commitments (Pittman to MSU last weekend, Kalis decommitting today and Brionte Dunn rumored to decommit later this week) he'll figure out it is a sinking ship but there is nothing wrong with him making sure he is comfortable with his decision. If it was your son you'd want him to do the same.
 

I'll be honest, if I committed to a school early I would still take every official visit I could. Free trips to go to college campuses and party? Sign me up.
 

sonnygarcia said:
Please provide me one instance where I ripped the kid. Just bringing up ACTUAL comments out of his mouth and compared them to his actions. Didn't say one thing about the kid. But hey, you live in the run-down sh!t hole some refer to as Duluth, I'll cut you a break on this one.....
Click to expand...

dude, you're just a joke in all of the meaning of the word. If you could just flat stop commenting on this board and disappear all together... many people would appreciate a jack-wagon like yourself with all your criticism, objections and mouthy attitude to just vanish.. so long!

I do agree with this though.... only smart thing i've read from you-

And if his family is reading this that is perfect, I'd like to say 2 things:

1) How many Hawkeye WRs are in the NFL??? ----> ZERO, they run the ball and do slant plays.

2) How many bowl games will you get to play in at OSU???----> ZERO, they are cheats who won't be eligible to play in bowl games by that point.
 

Ski U Master said:
I'll be honest, if I committed to a school early I would still take every official visit I could. Free trips to go to college campuses and party? Sign me up.
Click to expand...

PRESACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!

The kid wants to take advantage of the freebies that Seantrel took from schools like the U (the REAL U). The likely hood that he signs as a Gopher is still probably as high as ever. He has been 'looking into' Iowa, tO$U and Mich. State.... Iowa nearly kills their players and is a direct rival to Mn, no way he goes there... tO$U is in such hot water that he'll never be successful there, and what's the point with their sanctions?! MSU will also be playing Mn every year no matter what with the Legends div. and isn't that far and away a good football program for him to want to play us every single year... He's staying here. Everyone smile, have a sip of the maroon kool-aid and stop pressing that we pull his offer :drink:


p.s. let's all remind ourselves that HE HAS NOT DE-COMMITTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thank you
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom