Now that the dust has settled and National Signing Day is over (unless you are Seantrel Henderson, for whom yesterday was apparently National Announcing but NOT Signing Day, as The Daily Gopher pointed out), there are certain things we know.
We know...
...that this recruiting class was built to fill some needs. This class is heavy on RB's, offensive and defensive linemen, and defensive backs... all need areas for the Gophers.
...that this is Tim Brewster's lowest ranked (50th according to Rivals) recruiting class in the three years that he's had full control of the recruiting process.
...that the recruiting classes, according to Rivals rankings, have gone down in terms of national ranking, each year. The Gophers had the 39th ranked recruiting class last year, and the 17th ranked class in 2008.
...that Seantrel Henderson will not be a Gopher, and likely never really considered the Gophers a contender. The only good thing that Seantrel could muster up to say about the Gophers was "...hometown school"...
...that the Minnesota borders are not quite closed when it comes to football recruiting. While not landing Henderson isn't a huge shock, Brewster did manage to land the next two most highly rated prospects in the state in Jimmy Gjere (the best o-lineman in the state outside of Henderson) and Lamonte Edwards (the best RB in the state). Unfortunately the rest of the top 10 all went elsewhere... Standford, Wisconsin, Nebraska and... NDSU? Ouch. And many of those that went elsewhere play in the trenches, so their services would have been useful at Minnesota.
Overall the most important aspect of this class is that, despite how it is ranked nationally, we filled some needs.
We absolutely MUST find a running game in 2010, which means we need to find a primary running back, and a solid offensive line. This class helps in both of those areas.
Additionally, our defense was absolutely decimated by graduation, so finding players on the D-line and D-secondary was also imperative.
I think the Gophers met both of those need areas and hopefully these players will make an impact sooner, rather than later.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
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True - Brew did not entirely lock down the borders for 2010, and Wisconsin did nab Beau Allen, but we successfully counterpunched by picking up the #2 Wisconsin player, QB Tom Parish - which I feel was a big win. We've certainly substantially curbed the boarder raiding that Iowa and Wisconsin were doing in the Mason era.
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