Significance in recruiting

It's been a few weeks since I've posted anything, and clearly I haven't been keeping up with what has been going on in recruiting.

The good news is that for those of us that are Gopher Football fans, the days of having to scour the internet for information about recruiting are behind us. If there is new information about recruiting, you can be sure that you will find it somewhere in one of the local papers or their websites.

This is significant, and it tells us two things. First of all, it tells us that all of the lip-service that Coach Brewster has been giving to the importance of recruiting is starting to pay off. But secondly, and more importantly, they are reporting about it for a reason, and that reason is because what Coach Brewster is doing in the area of recruiting is incredibly significant.

For those, like me, living in the Twin Cities, when was the last time, prior to this year, when you can remember Gopher Football recruiting being discussed on the 10 o'clock news? In the papers? On local radio?

People who are much smarter, and much more plugged into recruiting than I am, have pointed out that if the Gophers are able to land all of the 4-star recruits that have verbally commited to the program at this point, they will have more 4-star recruits in this single season than the previous coaching regime was able to land in 10 years of recruiting. 10 YEARS!!! Two of those 4-star recruits, David Pittman and Traye Simmons, have already signed letters of intent and will enroll at the U next month.

As of today Minnesota is ranked by Rivals as having the 24th best recruiting class in all of college football, and the 4th best recruiting class in the Big10. Obviously these numbers are going to change, and probably significantly before National Signing Day on February 6th, 2008. But think back to the last few years, and could you even imagine the Gophers being mentioned in the Top 25 recruiting classes? Suddenly it's a possibility.

Two things happened on November 17th, 2007. First, I turned 30. But second, the 2007 Gopher Football season was finally put out of its misery. It was a painful season on the field, but we've got a lot to look forward to in the future.