That was in another thread. This is the response I typed up, but I thought I'd create a thread for it because I really believe the staff does a lot of homework on in-state prospects.
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Under Brewster, yes, we passed over Minnesota kids. Under Kill and presumably Claeys, no way. The staff does their due diligence with in-state kids. Believe me. Even if they're not the first power five offer, they're almost always the first power five to recognize or start talk talking to a kid they're seriously interested in.
Let's look at 2016...
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Under Brewster, yes, we passed over Minnesota kids. Under Kill and presumably Claeys, no way. The staff does their due diligence with in-state kids. Believe me. Even if they're not the first power five offer, they're almost always the first power five to recognize or start talk talking to a kid they're seriously interested in.
Let's look at 2016...
- Carter Coughlin - Minnesota was in on him early.
- JD Spielman - Minnesota was not the first power five to offer, and they started to talk to him around the same time as others. It did seem like they were a little late to join the party, but maybe Spielman's recruitment just came off that way because he was never truly interested.
- Tyler Johnson - Iowa offered but Minnesota was the first one talking to him and laying the groundwork.
- Patrick Kasl - Minnesota was talking to him before any other power fives. We filled up early so he ended up camping at Wisconsin, and we all know the story from there.
- Sam Schlueter - Minnesota was in on him early. Honestly I don't remember the details.
- Amani Hooker - Again, Minnesota was talking to him before any power fives, even though he ended up at Iowa.
- Kamal Martin - Minnesota was visiting him early in his junior year if I remember correctly. The Minnesota interest was way, way before anyone else.
- Phillip Howard - Minnesota scouted out Howard very early, and I don't think he was even hearing from other P5s when he was offered or committed. Wisconsin ended up putting in a small effort to flip him, but he was solid because how much early work Minnesota put in.
- Thomas Barber - Minnesota was obviously here first, inherently.
- Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman - Minnesota's offer came before Northwestern's and I think the Gophers were talking to him before Northwestern, too. I seem to remember NU not really knowing about him/talking about him whatsoever until he camped there.
- Conner Olson - Minnesota was in on Conner so early that his recruitment was over before it really began, just like Martin, Howard, Barber, and Hmielewski.
- Matt Kegel - Minnesota was by far the first P5 talking to him, largely thanks to the Gophers' relationship with Chaska and the fact that they were already recruiting Bronson Dovich.
- Drew Hmielewski - Minnesota was able to identify him very early and get him locked up. He's a type that probably would have gone to an NDSU and starred in the past. Because he's a multi-sport athlete and never really focused on football, didn't attend many camps, and missed games in both his junior and senior year because of injuries, Drew's exactly the type that would have gone to a small school and done extremely well there.
- Jamahl Johnson - Minnesota was aware of him probably a year before any other P5s but never decided to show much interest.
- Sean Engel - Because of his brother, Minnesota knew about him and was talking to him before anyone else. They decided not to offer because he's not that fast. Sean has great hands, size, and can really high point and come down with the ball, but he's not on the same level as Howard, Johnson, or Hmielewski. I saw Howard and Engel side-by-side in camp and Howard was far better. Johnson was making plays and starting in the Semper Fi game. I've never seen Hmielewski so I can't make a comparison there.
- Moses Nyangacha - Minnesota was talking to him very early. He received attention even before Junior Day, if I remember correctly. He was very much on Minnesota's radar but wasn't able to earn an offer at camp. He was somewhat close and probably would have been an offer for the staff if they were still at Northern Illinois. Side note: Minnesota liked Moses at safety, but NDSU likes him as a weakside outside linebacker. He's no bigger than 5'11 or 5'10.5 so we'll see how that goes.
- Dillon Radunz - Radunz camped at Minnesota, and the Gophers decided not to offer. Some say Missouri offered the night before Signing Day, and some say they called but didn't offer. Regardless, there was Missouri interest at the last second, but one contact I talked to seems pretty adamant he's not a power five-level guy.
- Henry Van Dellen - Henry I'm pretty sure camped at Minnesota, and he camped elsewhere and never drew up a ton of FBS interest. Minnesota was aware and didn't really have a reason to talk to him.
- Beau Pauly - This kid I hadn't heard of until I pulled up NDSU's commit list. It's likely that he camped at Minnesota, though, and I'm sure Minnesota was aware of him even if I wasn't. Not going to lose sleep over it.
