VOTE O’BRIEN FOR UPLIFTING ATHLETES AWARD



Dec. 11, 2017

Vote for Casey Here!

The only thing better than beating cancer once, is beating it twice. Gophers walk-on holder Casey O’Briendid just that and is one of four finalists for the Rare Disease Champion Award given by Uplifting Athletes, a nonprofit organization that inspires the rare disease community through sports.

The Rare Disease Champion is determined by college football fans and the rare disease community through online voting. Gopher fans are encouraged to vote for O’Brien here.

The award is given annually to a leader in college football who has realized his or her potential to make a positive and lasting impact on the rare disease community. O’Brien was a high school freshman quarterback for Cretin-Derham Hall when he began having knee pain. He was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, and had to get a knee transplant. The cancer returned in his lungs and he has underwent 10 surgeries and more than 30 rounds of chemotherapy.

The award is presented to the winner at the Maxwell Football Club Awards Gala in Atlantic City, N.J., and celebrated at Uplifting Athletes’ Gridiron Gala in Harrisburg, Pa.

Along with teammate (safety).
https://www.freep.com/story/sports/...1/michigan-football-shea-patterson/941190001/

SKI-U-MAH WEEKLY: EPISODE 14

Dec. 11, 2017

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Former Gopher Basketball player (and current Gopher Radio Network color commentator) Spencer Tollackson joined Justin Gaard on Ski-U-Mah Weekly Dec. 11 to talk Minnesota Basketball and more!

Rashod Bateman said when I asked him about UT, “they are wayyyyyy too late.”

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Our Gophers have a fairly easy home match vs. Fresno State University at 1 pm on Sunday afternoon at Maturi Pavilion. The Fresno State program has just been reinstated this year, so they are very young and new. And, being one of very few D1 Wrestling programs in California (where there are a large # of high level high school recruits), in the future they will probably be a lot better. Still, this will be a fun event so come on down and show your support!

I see the match as going around 36-6 MN over FSU, and the probable line-ups and my predictions are after the following article from Gophersports.com.


'U' Welcomes Fresno State on Sunday

The No. 10-ranked University of Minnesota wrestling team will host Fresno State on Sunday Dec. 10 at the Maturi Pavilion in their fourth dual of the 2017-18 season.



Gophersports.com
Dec. 7, 2017

No. 10 Minnesota vs Fresno State
Date/Time Sunday, Dec. 10, 2017 | 1:00 p.m. CT
Location Maturi Pavilion
Live Video BTN Plus
Tickets Buy Now
Live Updates Click Here
Match
Notes
Match Notes vs Fresno State
Social Media @GopherWrestling | Facebook | Instagram

Dec. 5 Coach's Corner // Match of the Week // Ski-U-Mah Weekly with Eggum/Schlatter

The No. 10-ranked University of Minnesota wrestling team will host Fresno State on Sunday Dec. 10 at the Maturi Pavilion in their fourth dual of the 2017-18 season. This will be the final dual before the Gophers take off for the end of the semester and finals week.

Ness vs Abidin and More
During the halftime of the dual, Jayson Ness, a four-time All-American, will wrestle Anthony Abidin, in his preparation for his run at making an Olympic team. The team will also be honoring the current freestyle and greco senior level wrestlers who have come through the University of Minnesota. On top of all of that, the Gophers will also honor past Olympians in the area that have wrestled for the Minnesota Storm.

Backpack Lizak
No. 5 Ethan Lizak may have been tripped up in Las Vegas with his first loss of the season to eventually Cliff Keen Champion, Taylor LaMont, but he still was impressive in his five victories. Lizak was 3-1 against ranked opponents in Vegas. In those four matches, Lizak outscored his opponents 28-4, and that did not include the 8-0 score before Lizak pinned No. 19 Jay Schwarm of Northern Iowa in the consolation semifinals. In total, Lizak outscored his six opponents 49-9 at the Cliff Keen Invitational.

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Ski-U-Mah Life: Jake Short
It may be a well known fact on the Minnesota wrestling team that Jake Short can dance, but GopherSports.com sat down with the senior to discuss his family dancing history. You can find the full story here.

Last Time Out - Cliff Keen
The University of Minnesota only brought about half of their regular starting lineup to one of the most competitive regular season tournaments last week. The Gophers had three wrestlers that finished on the podium, including No. 5 Ethan Lizak who finished third after ripping off four straight wins after his first loss of the season. Along with LIzak, Nick Wanzek and Tommy Thorn stood on the podium on the second day of action. The Gophers also had some strong performances from some young guys. Dylan Anderson picked up three wins, while Jose Champagne reached the round of 16 before losing his first match.

Back into the Fray
Fresno State has returned to Division I wrestling after 11 years in the dark. The Bulldogs competed in Division II for seven seasons before making the move to Division I in 1969 where they competed for 38 seasons. Fresno State holds an all-time dual meet record of 445-339-7 and have won 11 conference titles and finished in the Top 25 of the NCAA Tournament 14 times.

Thorn in the Side
Tommy Thorn did not have the tournament he would have liked to have in Las Vegas, but the junior did perform at a high level in his victories. Combined he pinned four opponents in seven matches, and added an 18-2 tech fall for his highest scoring match of the young season. His final match impressed the Gophers coaching staff enough to also award him the Match of the Week honor. You can watch and hear about Thorn's match as well as past Matches of the Week here.

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Through the Fire
Nick Wanzek may have had the toughest road during the Cliff Keen Invite last weekend. The senior ended the tournament with an injury which put him down to sixth place, but while healthy Wanzek picked up two ranked victories, including an overtime win over No. 17 Jake Wentzel of Pittsburgh. He also rode out Anthony Valencia, the No. 8 ranked wrestler at 165, in the final period to earn the quarterfinal victory.

Extra Wrestling
Open Tournaments are in full swing, and the Gophers will send a combined 20 wrestlers to participate in two different tournaments on Dec. 9. Faris Karaborni and Tijani Karaborni along with Miles Patton will head to St. Cloud to wrestle in the St. Cloud Open. The other 17 wrestlers will head to Northern Iowa to wrestle in the UNI Open. Six of the 17 will wrestle attached including Dylan Anderson, Ben Brancale, Carson Brolsma, Jose Champagne, Brandon Krone and Skyler Petry. You can follow updates on the Twitter page throughout the day for both Open Tournaments.

A Breather, Sort Of
Minnesota will be able to take some time off to focus on finals that will take place after Fresno State. The Gophers will not wrestle for 19 days after their Dec. 10 dual at Maturi Pavilion. The next test will come in the form of the South Beach Duals in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. where they will take on North Carolina and Cornell.


Probable Line-ups:

125
#5 Ethan Lizak Schnecksville, Pa. / Junior / 12-1 overall / 3-0 duals / 2 pins / 2 tech falls / NCAA Finalist (‘17) wins by tech fall over Sean Williams Tulare, Calif. / Senior / 0-4 overall
(MN 5 - FSU 0)

133
#8 Mitch McKee Hanover, Minn. / Sophomore / 5-2 overall / 1-2 duals / 4 pins / NCAA Qualifier (‘17) wins by fall over Trevor Williams Oakdale, Calif. / Freshman / 3-6 overall
(11-0)

141
#10 Tommy Thorn St. Michael, Minn. / Junior / 9-4 overall / 1-1 duals / 5 pins / 1 tech fall / All-American (‘17) wins by fall over Chris De Loza Fresno, Calif. / Freshman/ 5-5 overall
(17-0)

149
Hunter Marko Amery, Wis. / Sophomore / 5-6 overall / 2-1 duals / 2 pins / 1 tech fall loses by decision to Khristian Olivas Clovis, Calif. / Freshman / 7-1 overall
(17-3)

157
#13 Jake Short Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / Senior / 4-3 overall / 1-2 duals NCAA Qualifier (‘16, ‘17) wins by major decision over Greg Gaxiola Clovis, Calif. / Freshman / 8-2 overall
(21-3)

165
#9 Nick Wanzek Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / Senior / 10-2 overall / 2-1 duals / 1 pin / 1 tech fall / NCAA Qualifier (‘16, ‘17) wins by tech fall over Isaiah Hokit Clovis, Calif. / Freshman / 6-3 overall
(26-3)

174
Chris Pfarr Le Sueur, Minn. / Senior / 5-5 overall / 1-1 duals NCAA Qualifier (‘17) wins by decision over Dominic Kincaid Clovis, Calif. / Sophomore / 6-5 overall
(29-3)

184
Owen Webster Shakopee, Minn. / Sophomore / 5-2 overall / 2-1 duals / 1 pin wins by major decision over Angel Solis Lemoore, Calif. / Freshman / 5-5 overall
(33-3)

197
Bobby Steveson Apple Valley, Minn. / Sophomore / 0-5 overall / 0-3 duals NCAA Qualifier (‘17) wins by decision over Richie Brandt Madera, Calif. / Junior / 5-6 overall
(36-3)

285
Rylee Streifel Prior Lake, Minn. / Sophomore / 5-2 overall / 2-1 duals / 1 tech fall loses by decision to AJ Nevills Clovis, Calif. / Freshman / 9-2 overall
(36-6)

In the thread entitled Army & Navy game I mentioned that I once heard Bobby Knight in an interview
say that the best player he ever coached was a West Point player. Couldn’t remember his name and did some research and here is what I found....Some like Vifan like a little history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Silliman

I just reviewed the current Rivals B1G team recruiting rankings. I know these aren't final, but still interesting to compare.

Summary info:
1. MN has the most recruits - 26. Next are PU and MD with 21. Lowest is NE with 8.
2. Only one team, tOSU, has ANY
5-star recruits (3).
3. PSU leads in 4-stars with 14; tOSU next with 13. Big drop from there to MI (7), MD (6), MSU (5), MN and NE (3), IA (2), WI, NU, IL (1), and IND, PU, RUT (0).
4. Average star rankings: tOSU (4),
PSU (3.65), MI (3.44), NE (3.38), MSU (3.2), MD (3.14), IA and NU (3.07), WI (3.05), MN (3.04), IN (2.89), PU (2.86), RUT (2.8), and IL (2.71).

We're right there in star average with border rivals IA and WI, better than 4 teams, and, not surprisingly, still lag well behind leaders tOSU and PSU.

In total points (average stars times number of recruits), we rank first in the West and 6th overall (1515), next after MI (1604), and ahead of WI (1473).

Great progress in Fleck's first full year of recruiting, and hopefully, just a taste of better things to come.

And yes, Wren, I am aware Fleck has only 2 B1G wins to date.

Gophers are down 0-1 to the Buckeyes after the first...

(BTN)

Jason Dickson


Strengths:

· Active feet. Consistently keeps his feet driving throughout run blocks and has a stable base in pass protection
· Excellent reach blocker. Tape shows him more than a few times have the feet/athleticism to get outside of DE’s/LB’s and get the edge
· Former basketball player. His athleticism shows on tape with his pass protection, reach blocking, and zone blocking

Weaknesses:

· Strength. Since he is a former basketball player with not a big football background, he will need to get stronger. Film saw him give ground at times
· Didn’t have the mean streak that Dunlap showed on film. More important for guards/centers to have that in my opinion, but it is something I noticed

Dickson is a great athlete that can make all sorts of blocks and is sound in pass protection. Strength will come with S&C program, and the mean streak thing I wouldn’t buy too much into. He’ll compete from Day One to be a starter in my opinion. Projects as an offensive tackle. He follows suit of the players Fleck likes to recruit: very good athletes that will add strength and be coached up when they get to Minnesota.

Not sure Dickson is a take with Dunlap and Fa'alele committing last night. Would love Sqwirl or Brown, but both have some great options. Or do we keep the last schollie open for a QB or someone that gets squeezed out elsewhere?

Frost's pitch/strategy regarding high-end recruits: top recruits are already going all over the country. There's no reason they won't come to Lincoln if they'll go to Columbus, Ann Arbor, and Eugene.

My take - but, MINNEAPOLIS.

Meanwhile, he'll pursue jucos to fill immediate needs.
http://journalstar.com/sports/huske...cle_39fc9ad7-8afb-58c3-b376-60962991a358.html

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@Chad Simmons

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The weekend is almost here, and that means it is time for Minnesota to host their eLiT18 Palooza, two weeks before the early national signing day. We’ve been keeping you updated with Coaches on the Road November, and early December, now it’s time for official visits to take place.

This official visit weekend may be the largest in NCAA history. Minnesota will receive visits from 22 of the 23 commits, the only one that will not be in attendance is Vic Viramontes, who committed on his official visit November 26.

Also included in the official visit will be a group of uncommitted players. The Gophers are hoping to sign 25 players -- so two additional commitments -- and it’s fairly likely they’ll come this weekend.

Minnesota is planning on taking another lineman, and the Gophers have three solid options in recent Florida decommit Curtis Dunlap, four-star tackle Daniel Faalele, and Diablo Valley C.C (Ca.) three-star tackle Jason Dickson. Dickson, as a JUCO, has half a dozen P5 offers, and would most likely come in and compete for a starting job from day one. Dunlap has earned 19 Power 5 offers and been a major target of the Gophers down the stretch. His trip to Minneapolis this weekend is the only visit he has scheduled. Faalele, his teammate, is 6’9” and 390 pounds and has received offers from Florida State, LSU, Miami, and Michigan. The four-star may have flown under the radar but the Gophers have quietly worked hard for him and are the only visit he has scheduled at the moment.

Craig “Sqwirl” Williams is a major target as a RB/WR/slot athlete. Despite his commitment to Baylor, he’s been a longtime Gopher target and received in-home visits recently from Minnesota. Williams would have early impact potential as a Gopher.

Do we have a couple of commitments!!!!

The more I think about it the more I feel the idea of bringing ALL commitments and remaining recruits in at one time is absolutely brilliant. If you preach family like Fleck does what a better way to promote that idea than to bring the recruits and their own families in all together at one time. I can’t even imagine how much work the recruiting staff had to put in to pull this off but I’m sure every single minute was planned. Also, from the coaches perspective not having to host official visitors every weekend through December and January really takes some burden off them and their own families. You get it all taken care of in one weekend.

Not to mention that the energy and buzz that is created with his format must make it awfully hard for any uncommitted recruit to say no.

PJ’s outside the box thinking and attention to detail are creating some waves in recruiting. Fun thing is that I think we all feel it will just keep getting better!

Steve Bleise and Nate Rose both looked very good winning titles yesterday at the UNI Open and the Huskies Open, respectively. Bleise, who transferred to MN this year from Northern Illinois University, has had to sit out until January. Bleise is a really good wrestler (he willed be ranked #8 when he joins the team), and he will be a HUGE HELP TO OUR TEAM!! Steve is a hard-nosed guy, with lots of moves and throws, and after a Round of 12 finish at the Nattys last year, he is a likely AA for us in 2018!!

Nate Rose wrestled his best ever in winning at SCSU yesterday...very, very solid!! And our back-up 125 pounder Skyler Petry lost his first match this year...to 2017 #1 overall ranked Spencer Lee of Iowa, who is redshirting this season and who wrestled his first Open tournament matches yesterday. Lee looks very, very good!

Here is the article on both Open tournaments from Gophersports.com:


Bleise, Rose Capture Titles at Open Tournaments

The University of Minnesota wrestling team took part in two separate open tournaments on Saturday in two different state, picking up two champions along the way.



Gophersports.com
Dec. 10, 2017

Tickets for Fresno State on Dec. 10 // Fresno State Preview // Jake Short: Ski-U-Mah Life

The University of Minnesota wrestling team took part in two separate open tournaments on Saturday in two different states, picking up two champions along the way.

Nate Rose at the St. Cloud State Open along with Steve Bleise at the UNI Open both finished their days with unblemished records. Minnesota also had four other wrestlers finish in the top-three in their respective weights.

Bleise was able to run through the 149-pound bracket at the UNI Open, including a victory over teammate, freshman Jakob Bergeland. Bleise won five matches along the way, including two bonus point victories in the opening round and the semifinals. Bleise scored double-digit points in three of his five matches, and combined to outscore his opponents 43-16.

Then in St. Cloud, Minn., Nate Rose made an impressive run to his heavyweight title. He won four matches, three coming by pin. Rose began the day with a 47-second pin, his second fastest pin as a Gopher, just behind his 22-second pin that came earlier this season. Rose now has five pins this season, all coming in open tournaments.

Also making a final was Skyler Petry. At 125 pounds, Petry did not suffer his first defeat of the season until the finals of the UNI Open. After dominating his opponents in his first three matches, outscoring them 30-7, the junior came up just short in the finals and had to settle for second place.

Back in Minnesota, Miles Patton reached the finals at 157-pounds and was able to finish in second place in his second open tournament of the season. Patton had two bonus point victories with a fall at 2:45 in the opening round, and then a major decision, 11-3, in the quarterfinals. Patton squeaked by teammate James Berg to reach the finals where he dropped a 9-5 decision.

In the same bracket, Berg bounced back after his loss to Patton and won his next two matches to claim third place in St. Cloud. Berg’s highlight of the day though came in his first match where he pinned Kyle Green in 52-seconds.

Dylan Anderson was the final Gopher to finish in the top-three. Anderson responded phenomenally after a close defeat in the first round, 5-4. Anderson’s next four matches he won by two falls, a major decision and a 6-3 decision in the third place match. Anderson still leads the Gophers in wins this season with 17.

Two others were able to finish in the top-six of their respective weights. Faris Karaborni won two matches and finished in fourth place at 184-pounds at St. Cloud. Colin Carr wrestled five matches and was able to get on the podium with a sixth place finish in Northern Iowa.

Minnesota will wrestle against Fresno State on Dec. 10 at 1:00 p.m. at the Maturi Pavilion before taking time off for finals. The next time you will see the Gophers in action will be on Dec. 29 and 30 when Minnesota heads down to Florida for the first ever South Beach Duals.

Whether you are searching for the latest open results, dual results or any Gopher wrestling news, GopherSports.com is the place to find it. Be sure to follow the Gophers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram so you do not miss any content during the 2017-18 season.

Match-By-Match Results:

UNI Open

125:
Skyler Petry (3-1, 2nd Place)
Champ Rnd 1: Skyler Petry tech fall Joshua Contreras (Unattached), 15-0
Quarters: Skyler Petry dec Tanner Rohweder (Northern Iowa), 10-4
Semis: Skyler Petry dec Aaron Assad (Missouri), 5-3
Finals: Spencer Lee (Unattached) fall (2:53) Skyler Petry

141:
Brent Jones (1-1)
Champ Rnd 1: Bye
Champ Rnd 2: Brent Jones dec Dylan Thurston (Illinois), 5-2
Quarters: Cole Martin (Wisconsin) tech fall Brent Jones, 18-3

149:
Steve Bleise (5-0, 1st Place)
Champ Rnd 1: Steve Bleise maj dec Jaden VanMaanen (Unattached), 11-2
Champ Rnd 2: Steve Bleise dec Gabe Grahek (Wisconsin), 3-1
Quarters: Steve Bleise dec Jakob Bergeland (Minnesota), 7-3
Semis: Steve Bleise maj dec Brandon Murray (Unattached), 11-2
Finals: Steve Bleise dec Dante Rodriguez (Iowa State), 11-8

Jakob Bergeland (2-1)
Champ Rnd 1: Jakob Bergeland fall (1:13) Anthony Wesley (Iowa State)
Champ Rnd 2: Jakob Bergeland tech fall Stephen Alvarez (Iowa), 18-3
Quarters: Steve Bleise (Minnesota) dec Jakob Bergeland, 7-3

Brenn Olson (0-1)
Champ Rnd 1: Mitchell Bengtson (NDSU) fall (2:44) Brenn Olson

Tyler Waterson (2-1)
Champ Rnd 1: Tyler Waterson fall (2:55) Darin McGrone (Iowa Central CC)
Champ Rnd 2: Tyler Waterson dec Peyton Smith (SDSU), 4-3
Quarters: Dante Rodriguez (Iowa State) fall (1:58) Tyler Waterson

Ben Brancale (1-1)
Champ Rnd 1: Bye
Champ Rnd 2: Ben Brancale dec Gavin Sutton (NDSU), 8-4
Quarters: Gavin DeWit (Iowa State) dec Ben Brancale, 8-7

157:
Jose Champagne (0-1)
Champ Rnd 1: Markus Scheidel (Unattached) dec Jose Champagne, 11-4

Alex Crowe (0-1)
Champ Rnd 1: Paden Moore (Northern Iowa) dec Alex Crowe, 8-5

Carson Brolsma (0-1)
Champ Rnd 1: Bye
Champ Rnd 2: Devin Bahr (Unattached) dec Carson Brolsma, 4-3

165:
Colin Carr (2-3, 6th Place)
Champ Rnd 1: Colin Carr dec Daniel Kelly (Northern Iowa), 11-7
Quarters: Colin Carr dec Garrett Jordan (SDSU), 9-7
Semis: Isaiah Patton (Northern Iowa) maj dec Colin Carr, 12-3
Cons Semis: Daniel Kelly (Northern Iowa) fall (2:16) Colin Carr
5th Place: Logan McQuillen (Iowa) dec Colin Carr, 8-3

174:
Bailee O'Reilly (2-2)
Champ Rnd 1: Bailee O'Reilly dec Elias Vaoifi (SDSU), 11-8
Champ Rnd 2: Colton Clingenpeel (NDSU) dec Bailee O'Reilly, 3-2
Cons Rnd 2: Bailee O'Reilly maj dec Austin Lamm (Iowa Central CC), 17-8
Cons Quarters: Brady Vogel (Iowa Central CC) dec Bailee O'Reilly, 6-5

184:
Dylan Anderson (4-1, 3rd Place)
Champ Rnd 1: Myles Wilson (Iowa) dec Dylan Anderson, 5-4
Cons Rnd 1: Bye
Cons Rnd 2: Dylan Anderson fall (2:09) Justin Guilliams (Northern Iowa)
Cons Quarters: Dylan Anderson fall (2:23) Reece Westphal (Ellsworth)
Cons Semis: Dylan Anderson maj dec Jonathan Morales (Purdue), 16-4
3rd Place: Dylan Anderson dec Samuel Grove (SDSU), 6-3

197:
Chase O'Connor (1-2)
Champ Rnd 1: Jacob Boyd (Unattached) dec Chase O'Connor, 5-1
Cons Rnd 1: Bye
Cons Rnd 2: Chase O'Connor dec Timothy Young (Ellsworth), 3-2
Cons Quarters: Connor Corbin (Unattached) dec Chase O'Connor, 3-1


Huskies Open

157:
James Berg (3-1, 3rd Place)
Champ Rnd 1: Bye
Quarters: James Berg fall (0:52) Kyle Green (Southwest Minnesota State)
Semis: Miles Patton (Minnesota) dec James Berg, 3-2
Cons Semis: James Berg dec Jerod Novak (St. John's), 4-3
3rd Place: James Berg dec Bryce Zdanovec (Augsburg), 5-2

Miles Patton (3-1, 2nd Place)
Champ Rnd 1: Miles Patton fall (2:45) Augustus Siaway (Unattached)
Quarters: Miles Patton maj dec Theodore Pierce (Unattached), 11-3
Semis: Miles Patton dec James Berg (Minnesota), 3-2
Finals: Larry Bomstad (st. Cloud State) dec Miles Patton, 9-5

184:
Faris Karaborni (2-2, 4th Place)
Champ Rnd 1: Faris Karaborni fall (1:54) Jonathan Zarnke (Augsburg)
Semis: Jackson Graham (Augsburg) dec Faris Karaborni, 9-3
Cons Semis: Faris Karaborni dec Lorenzo Hernandez (Augsburg), 3-2
3rd Place: Riley Vanik (Unattached) dec Faris Karaborni, 9-7

Tijani Karaborni (0-2)
Champ Rnd 1: Jackson Graham (Augsburg) dec Tijani Karaborni, 6-1
Cons Rnd 1: Jonathan Zarnke (Augsburg) dec Tijani Karaborni, 9-7

HWT:
Nate Rose (4-0, 1st Place)
Champ Rnd 1: Nate Rose fall (0:47) Dominic Skawiniak (St. John's)
Quarters: Nate Rose fall (4:24) Tim Mandyck (Augsburg)
Semis: Nate Rose fall (2:47) Tanner Welsh (Rochester CC)
Finals: Nate Rose dec Mike Hobbs (Unattached), 8-4

Ed Warriner is here to stay for a while. I can only imagine how much a coach of his caliber would love to teach Dunlap and a raw imposing physical specimen such as Faalele. That kid has such enormous potential it’s crazy. I just can’t see Warriner bailing on that opportunity.

I have a good feeling we a building something great!

NSIAP, but here’s the article by Andy Staples about Faalele. It’s a GREAT read...

http://amp.si.com/college-football/...-academy-recruiting?__twitter_impression=true

Curtis Dunlap


Strengths:

· Size. Is a massive person: listed at 6’5” 362 pounds with a lot of strength
· Blocks through the whistle. Continually keeps searching for work and blocks through the whistle
· Good first step for a guy his size. Showed surprising first step and footwork on different types of pulls and played center a bit for IMG.
· Active hands. Resets his hands in pass protection when defensive ends try to slap his hands down.


Weaknesses:

· Has some bad weight to lose. Rivals has him listed at 362 pounds, I’m guessing they’re going to want him around 320 if not less.
· Tends to get too high and lose leverage. It is difficult for a person his size to get low, but he will need to in order to utilize his natural strength.

Dunlap projects as a guard at the collegiate level, especially with the addition of Grant Norton and Daniel Fa’alele. He’s quite gifted naturally with his size, strength, and speed. Of all the offensive line commits, he (and now new commit Jason Dickson) have the best chance of seeing playing time early in my opinion. Athletically he is everything you are looking for; however, he’ll need to shed some weight to get the most out of his ability and gain some more speed back. If he loses some weight and with Ed Warinner’s coaching, he’s going to be a very good player that will be a starter for us for multiple years.

Welp. We have no business getting blown out in Lincoln with the Starting 5 we have. Nebraska is trash, Miles is trash. He will be canned by year end.

I thought our bench was serviceable, but it clearly isn’t. The Starting 5 is great, but we can’t play scared when fouls are dumped on us by shitty refs or we make stupid contact. I’m gonna have to recalibrate my thoughts and hope for a Sweet 16 run and be happy with that. I figured we were a good draw from potentially being a Final 4 squad, but nope.

Sad thing is, I don’t think we have a prayer of being better next year.

The plight of a Gopher fan sucks.

I have updated this thread to be a bowl pick'em. Post your picks in this thread.

Ground rules

• You will get 1 point for each correct bowl winner pick
• For the championship game, you will get 1 point for each team you correctly identify being in the championship and another point for selecting the correct national champion - include the score of the championship game for the tiebreaker
• You have until midnight Friday night to make your picks (any edited picks after midnight will invalidate your picks)

Bowl games are listed below. Good luck.

Saturday, December 16

• Celebration Bowl, 12 p.m on ABC: Grambling vs. North Carolina A&T
• New Orleans Bowl, 1 p.m. on ESPN: Troy vs. North Texas
• Cure Bowl, 2:30 p.m. on CBSSN: Georgia State vs. Western Kentucky
• Las Vegas Bowl, 3:30 p.m. on ABC: Boise State vs. Oregon
• New Mexico Bowl, 4:30 p.m. on ESPN: Marshall vs. Colorado State
• Camellia Bowl, 8 p.m. on ESPN: Arkansas State vs. Middle Tennessee

Tuesday, December 19

• Boca Raton Bowl, 7 p.m. on ESPN: FAU vs. Akron

Wednesday, December 20

• Frisco Bowl, 8 p.m. on ESPN: SMU vs. Louisiana Tech

Thursday, December 21

• Gasparilla Bowl, 8 p.m. on ESPN: FIU vs. Temple

Friday, December 22

• Bahamas Bowl, 12:30 p.m. on ESPN: Ohio vs. UAB
• Potato Bowl, 4 p.m. on ESPN: CMU vs. Wyoming

Saturday, December 23

• Birmingham Bowl, 12 p.m. on ESPN: USF vs. Texas Tech
• Armed Forces Bowl, 3:30 p.m. on ESPN: Army vs. San Diego State
• Dollar General Bowl, 7 p.m. on ESPN: Appalachian State vs. Toledo

Sunday, December 24

• Hawaii Bowl, 8:30 p.m. on ESPN: Fresno State vs. Houston

Tuesday, December 26

• Heart of Dallas Bowl, 1:30 p.m on ESPN: Utah vs. West Virginia
• Quick Lane Bowl, 5:15 p.m. on ESPN: Duke vs. NIU
• Cactus Bowl, 9 p.m. on ESPN: Kansas State vs. UCLA

Wednesday, December 27

• Independence Bowl, 1:30 p.m. on ESPN: Florida State vs. Southern Miss
• Pinstripe Bowl, 5:15 p.m. on ESPN: Boston College vs. Iowa
• Foster Farms Bowl, 8:30 p.m. on FOX: Arizona vs. Purdue
• Texas Bowl, 9 p.m. on ESPN: Texas vs. Missouri

Thursday, December 28

• Military Bowl, 1:30 p.m. on ESPN: Virginia vs. Navy
• Camping World Bowl, 5:15 p.m. on ESPN: Oklahoma State vs. Virginia Tech
• Holiday Bowl, 9 p.m. on FS1: Michigan State vs. Washington State
• Alamo Bowl, 9 p.m. on ESPN: Stanford vs. TCU

Friday, December 29

• Belk Bowl, 1 p.m. on ESPN: Wake Forest vs. Texas A&M
• Sun Bowl, 3 p.m. on CBS: Arizona State vs. NC State
• Music City Bowl, 4:30 p.m. on ESPN: Kentucky vs. Northwestern
• Arizona Bowl, 5:30 p.m. on CBSSN: New Mexico State vs. Utah State
• Cotton Bowl, 8:30 p.m. on ESPN: Ohio State vs. USC

Saturday, December 30

• TaxSlayer Bowl, 12 p.m. on ESPN: Mississippi State vs. Louisville
• Liberty Bowl, 12:30 p.m. on ABC: Memphis vs. Iowa State
• Fiesta Bowl, 4 p.m. on ESPN: Penn State vs. Washington
• Orange Bowl, 8 p.m. on ESPN: Miami vs. Wisconsin

Monday, January 1

• Outback Bowl, 12 p.m. on ESPN2: Michigan vs. South Carolina
• Peach Bowl, 12:30 p.m. on ESPN: Auburn vs. UCF
• Citrus Bowl, 1 p.m. on ABC: Notre Dame vs. LSU
• Rose Bowl Playoff semifinal, 5 p.m. on ESPN: Oklahoma vs. Georgia
• Sugar Bowl Playoff semifinal, 8:45 p.m. on ESPN: Clemson vs. Alabama

Monday, January 8

• Playoff National Championship, 8 p.m. on ESPN: Rose winner vs. Sugar winner

Dusty Rychart, age 39, one of my all-time favorite "lunchpail" Gopher hoopsters, who played at MN 1998-2002, is in his 16th year of professional basketball in Australia, playing for the Brisbane Capitals. He's been his team's MVP 4 of the past 5 seasons.

As a Gopher, with less than elite skills and athleticism, he was one of the hardest-working rebounders ever to wear the maroon and gold. Originally a walk-on, from Grand Rapids, in 111 games over 4 years he averaged 11.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game, as an undersized (6'7", 210 lb.) power forward.

Go Army! Beat Navy!