Minnesota’s football recruiting target list has shrunk a a bit over the past week as six players who were receiving Golden Gopher interest committed to other schools, including three players to Louisville.
Chance Sorrell, a 6-foot-6, 263-pound tight end from Middletown (OH) High, committed to Vanderbilt.
Tommy Mister, a 6-foot, 198-pound running back from Chicago (IL) St. Rita, picked Iowa State after planning on committing to Michigan State.
Cameron Polk, a 6-foot-1, 186-pound wide receiver from Fischers (IN) Hamilton Southeastern, decided to play college football at Louisville.
Rashawn Shaw, a 6-foot-3, 234-pound defensive end from Fort Pierce (FL) Central, also committed to Louisville this week, picking the Cardinals.
L.J. Scott, a 6-foot, 215-pound running back from Marion (OH) Harding, also picked Louisville.
Keegan Render, a 6-foot-3, 310-pound guard from Indianola (IA) High, picked homestate Iowa.
Three players who had received early Gopher interest told Gopher Hole that they or the Gophers have moved on with their recruitment. Schools typically sign 15 to 25 players, so they are often recruiting 200 to 300 players. This means that if a player blows up too much, a school might likely move on to another players with whom they have a better chance.
Tori Millender, a running back from Belleville (IL) West, has offers from Purdue, Arkansas State and Eastern Michigan. He is also hearing from Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Northwestern, Indiana, Michigan State, Iowa State, Califorina and Stanford.
Matt Morrisey, a 6-foot-3, 185-pound safety from Lincolnshire (IL) Adlai Stevenson, told Gopher Hole that he is not hearing much from Minnesota. He has offers from Boston College, Illinois, Central Michigan, Michigan State, Toledo and Western Michigan.
Amani Oruwariye, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound defensive back from Tampa (FL) Gaither, recently picked up an offer from Nebraska to go along with previous offers from Boston College, Georgia Tech, Iowa State, Louisville, Minnesota, Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse, UCF, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Wake Forest
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The Minnesota Gophers could be headed to their best recruiting class under head coach Jerry Kill. They have five commitments through the end of June, which includes one four-star and three three–star athletes.
The number of commitment to date is surprisingly on par for the number of verbals they typically have after the end of their main camps. The 2013 signing class had three players commit before July 1. The 2012 signing class had 6, 2011 had four, 2010 had five, 2009 had eight, 2008 had four, 2007 had nine, 2006 had zero, 2005 had three and 2004 had zero.
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Despite the strong to the Gopher’s recruiting season, they rank last in commitments in the Big Ten as the other 11 have gotten off to a great start on the recruiting trails. The 11 teams have a combined 112 commitments. Northwestern, which normally waits until later in the year for its commitments due to its high academic standards, is tied for the most in the conference with 14 along with Ohio State. Penn State has 13 verbals, Michigan State and Nebraska have 12 each, Wisconsin has 10, Iowa has nine, Illinois has seven and Indiana and Purdue have six each.
Future Big Ten teams are doing their best to “Keep up with the Jones” as Rutgers has an amazing 20 commitment to date and Maryland has eight.
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The Minnesota Gopher had several camps in June, but they will also host two big events in July. They have a Coach Kill’s Senior One Day Camp July 19th and Coach Kill’s Junior Elite One Day Camp July 21st.
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Former Gopher and current Denver Bronco wide receiver Eric Decker married country music signer Jessie James last Saturday. Decker had a breakthrough season as he caught 85 passes for 1064 yards and 13 touchdowns from standout quarterback Peyton Manning.
The couple is expected to be featured in the E! Network series “Love and Other Contact Sports.
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Vegas set the line on over/under wins this past week over the 12-game season. Minnesota, which finished 6-7 this past season, is expected to win 5.5 games, according to the wise guys in Nevada. The other Big Ten teams over/under totals are Iowa (5.5), Michigan State (8.5), Ohio State (11.5), Northwestern (8.5), Wisconsin (8.5), Purdue (5.5), Michigan (9.5), Nebraska (9.5), Illinois (3.5), Indiana (5.5) and Penn State (8.5). Vegas uses the half game to avoid pushes (ties). A bettor would have to bet $120 to win $100 on the totals for the Gophers.
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The Big Ten added two new bowl games on the West Coast and will face Pac-12 teams in both postseason events beginning in 2014. Teams from the two conferences will meet in the Holiday Bowl and the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. The Holiday Bowl is held in San Diego and the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, which had been played in San Francisco, will be moved to the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara for 2014.