Not questioning if he is healthy enough, I wonder if the OL can open any holes and also if Peterson has anything left in the tank. He looked slow in the games before his injury

The behavior of the players directly involved in the Sept. 1st incident was disgusting, immoral and revolting. Blame hip-hop culture, a sense of athletic entitlement amongst other things. That said what is reasonable punishment for these transgressions is debatable. The evidence was not enough for the county attorney to bring charges and the involved woman's recollection was sketchy to say the least. The police interpretation of the available video was that she was a willing participant.She also pled the 5th during a court hearing involving the restraining order. The EOAA findings included much interpretation and inference. The composition of the EOAA was 5 women and 1 man- what was their mindset going into the process-militant feminist? 4 players were suspended for 3 games . What the "last 5" did is not at all clear. Expulsion under the circumstances seems excessive. Suspension for the bowl game is reasonable IMO for all involved in part because there is not enough time to get clarity. The public humiliation and bowl game suspension seems more than enough for the "last 5" unless some new damning evidence is presented.

The story sucked me into replying and debating this event! I decided to boycott all forums on this topic.

I think repeating, or sharing thoughts on it just perpetuates a negative. It happened, the people directly involved now need to deal with their situation, and I'm moving on from it.

The Sun will rise tomorrow, and this University will also.

He runs good, catches extremely well, and has a good after the catch roll to him...hope he signs with us.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to talk to his current quarterback - throws well!

80-page report's details broke Gophers football team's walkout
The move to play in the Holiday Bowl came after most players learned for the first time what was in the university report. The dramatic reversal kept the Gophers from becoming the first team to back out of a bowl in protest.

By Joe Christensen Star Tribune

DECEMBER 17, 2016 — 10:31PM
Video (05:56) : University of Minnesota football players ended their boycott of the team Saturday and "will immediately begin preparations" to play in the Holiday Bowl.



STAR TRIBUNE, JOE CHRISTENSEN
Drew Wolitarsky read a statement on behalf of the Gophers football team Saturday morning, calling off the boycott and announcing plans to begin preparation for the Holiday Bowl.


Just the night before, most players had left the football facility along snow-clogged 15th Avenue defiant and convinced the bowl boycott would stand.

After some volatile meetings with Kaler, the players knew he wouldn’t accede to their demand to lift the suspensions of 10 players that stemmed from the alleged sexual assault. They were staring down a Saturday deadline to decide if they would back out of the Dec. 27 Holiday Bowl in San Diego against Washington State.

But Wolitarsky, Gaelin Elmore, Mitch Leidner and the rest of the seniors remained cloistered inside the football facility, contemplating alternatives in the face of the “game-changing” investigative report on the incident that most players had just read.

‘Narrative’ changes


The university’s Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action report came into wide public view Friday afternoon when it was first obtained and published by KSTP-TV.

The EOAA report, the result of the school’s federally mandated investigation of the alleged sexual assault, described in deep detail how a female student and more than 10 men were involved in an incident in the early morning of Sept. 2, hours after the Gophers’ first game of the season.

Sources said the release of the report and the players getting a chance to read the results of the investigation were the biggest factors in the decision to end the boycott. “Once they read the report,” one source said, the “narrative” of the boycott changed.

Facing heavy national criticism, the Gophers players knew they were losing negotiating leverage.

When the players launched their boycott, they signaled their anger at Kaler and athletic director Mark Coyle for not being more forthcoming with the reasons all 10 players had been suspended.


The EOAA recommended expulsion for five players who did have sexual contact with the victim — Ray Buford, Carlton Djam, KiAnte Hardin, Dior Johnson and Tamarion Johnson; one-year suspensions from the university for Seth Green, Kobe McCrary, Mark Williams and Antoine Winfield Jr., and probation for Antonio Shenault.

Lee Hutton, the attorney for all 10 players, has already filed their appeals.

According to sources, the seniors tried getting Kaler to lift the penalties for Green, McCrary, Williams, Winfield and Shenault.

Late Friday night, the seniors felt like they were getting close to a compromise on that issue, but it was shot down in a vote before the whole team, sources said.

With the team at an impasse, one of the 10 suspended players spoke up in a meeting. According to one source, the suspended player said, “We appreciate all of you for standing up for us, and we still feel like we’ve been wronged [by the university]. But we don’t want 102 [players] to take the fall for us five.”


The motivation to end the boycott grew. Clarity had come for many in the form of the EOAA report, and some players’ parents had just read those Sept. 2 details, too.

A number of parents texted and called, making sure their sons understood what following through on their boycott could mean.



AARON LAVINSKY, STAR TRIBUNE
"I'm grateful the student athletes ended the boycott," said University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler on Saturday morning.


One of the players’ mothers wrote on Facebook: “I hope all of you are talking to your sons. … This cannot continue. They are giving up way too much. The wheels of justice can continue to turn without a boycott.”

By morning, the teamwide vote to lift the boycott passed overwhelmingly.

Man in the middle


At the announcement, Wolitarsky again found himself at center stage.

Before the players launched their boycott, they elected Wolitarsky as their spokesman. Besides being their leading receiver, he’s also wrapping up his English degree.

“You will have to bear with us,” Wolitarsky said. “We’ve been up for 30-plus hours — lot of caffeine.”

Wolitarsky also read the team’s original boycott announcement Thursday, and he drew much of the national criticism from those who felt the players’ stance was tone-deaf toward sexual violence.

According to people close to the situation, Wolitarsky was shaken by the criticism, stressed and crying at times. He was especially torn after reading the investigation report.



RENEE JONES SCHNEIDER, STAR TRIBUNE
Gophers football players, none that have been suspended from the team, walked out of a lawyer's office in downtown Minneapolis on Friday morning.



“I learned a lot from these past couple days,” Wolitarsky said. “There are no right choices. There are no decisions that do not affect somebody else. This process has been extremely difficult, and I’m sure you all know how stressful this has been for everybody involved.”

By Saturday, in words shaped by Wolitarsky’s writing touch, he made clear how the players feel about sexual violence.

“Let me first state so there is no misperception: sexual harassment and violence against women have no place on this campus, on our team, in our society and at no time is it ever condoned,” he said. “There is only one acceptable way to treat all women and all men, and that is with the utmost respect at all times.”

Gophers coach Tracy Claeys will address the boycott lift when he meets the media after Sunday’s practice, a team spokesman said.

Claeys tweeted his feelings on the original boycott Thursday: “Have never been more proud of our kids. I respect their rights & support their effort to make a better world!”


Other Gophers coaches voiced their support for the players, too. Since that stance ran contrary to Kaler and Coyle’s, they were asked if those gestures might impact their future at the university.

“Coaches are in a challenging position,” Kaler said. “They need to support their players. At the same time, they need to be responsible for their actions, and there are times in which those two demands put coaches in very difficult positions. We’ll talk about that with them and try to improve both their understanding and our understanding.”

Coyle added: “This is an educational moment. The great thing about college campuses is you can have different opinions and can express those opinions. But you have to be respectful during that process. This was a learning experience for all of us.”

Login to view embedded media
Springfield (Mo.) Kickapoo tight end Travis Vokolek pick up an offer today. He has other offers from Missouri State, Northern Iowa, South Dakota, and Wyoming.Good to see another offer out with Cannella signing with Auburn and Paulson wanting to take his time and liking Illinois.

Remember last year, Minnesota was one of the first FBS offers for Chase Allen, and Allen ended up blowing up as a recruit. Reeves has a good eye for tight end talent.

Login to view embedded media

University identified players
"The university said in a statement that 10 players were suspended indefinitely Tuesday."

"The university named the 10 players, but CNN is not naming them because they were not charged with any crimes and it's not clear why they were suspended."

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/17/us/minnesota-gophers-end-football-boycott/

Link: Claeys talks boycott, reports, Coyle, and more

Had you seen all the information when you tweeted out support for your guys?
"I hadn't read the report. I knew, you know, what was going on.

"Before I address the tweet, let me address this. I was on the radio this morning and the story about me saying there's a good chance I would be fired was last Thursday when I talked to the kids for the very first time when I got back off the plane, then got back, sat down, and we had the very first team meeting about this, and they expressed their concern. That was not recently; that was Thursday.

"You know with the tweet, I could have used better words on the thing. But it still comes back to wanting to be in support of their cause, and this due process thing, part of the reason is their cause. If we can get this due process thing to come to light and come to get people to talk about it, it will be better for all the students on all the universities. This is a little bit of an issue, as I said this morning, on all universities: the Title IX law and then the constitutional rights of it. Yeah, I could have been more specific or whatever, but that was the meeting behind the tweet and in support of the players."

When you're deciding to discipline players, how hard is it to walk the line between illegal, unjust, and proper?
"Well there's no question -- you try and be a parent. And that's what I'm saying, it's hard sometimes. When we recruit kids here, we do -- I'm their parent, the staff's their parent, and so a lot of times that's how you try and make the decision. How would we handle this, but at the same time I also realize I'm a University of Minnesota employee, so it is a tough line to walk. All the decisions are made with as many people possible to make the best decision you can at that time."

Have you talked to Mark (Coyle) in the last day or so? How's that conversation been?
"Oh yeah, good. It's been very good. It's been good."

Tracy, where do you think the team is at in getting the focus back to football? Does it seem like it's hard to get them back into that frame right now?
"Well, it wasn't today. We practiced today and went through meetings and all that. You know we'll meet each day. When you're dealing with 110 kids, it's that there are little things here and little things there that came up. We'll make sure we communicate and make sure everyone's focused on the goal and what we're trying to do, so they're doing good."

Do you wish you read the report before you made the decision to boycott?
"That was not my decision; that was the kids' decision. When we talked and all that, that's why I stayed in the background. I was a sounding board for them, and it was their decision. I made sure to make sure everybody knew what the possible fallouts could be, and we went through all those things. So it was not my decision to do that; it was the players' decision to do that. I was there to make sure they were doing it for all the right reasons and to make sure they knew what the consequences could be."

Is it clear in your mind that there are some players involved in this who deserve discipline while there may be others that don't?
"I can't talk about the report. I don't, you know, have the process on that. That's out of my control."

Coach, what went into your decision to give $50,000 to survivors? Do you have a cause in mind or donation in mind?
"It will be $50,000. I don't know who yet and all that, but we'll get that figured out. And here's why: you don't think it bothers me and my family to get messages that we support rape? I would never do that. I mean I got four beautiful nieces, a sister and mom. And even the cause, it was never about that. Fortunately, I'm in a situation where I'm in a situation and can do something like that and reach out to the people who have been affected by sexual assault. I feel good about doing that."

Do you agree with the players that they weren't getting the due process that they deserved? Is that what you meant in the tweet?
"Yes. In the players' mind and I support there is a due process thing that needs to be addressed. I think as the players really said, President Kaler agreed to look at that."

Do you regret that tweet on Thursday night in any way?
"No, no. I mean it's important also -- if you just show support for the players behind close doors, you're going to have a group of them that don't believe you. You need to do that in a public way. I tried to do it as short as possible. And like I say, there were probably different ways to word it and different media types to make it more specific and that, but it was all about me supporting their actions to try and improve the due process not just on this campus but on other campuses too."

Do you still worry about your job, or has Mark assured you that it's there to stay?
"Yeah, I don't worry about my job. You know what I'm saying, on a day to day basis; I never have. You know what I'm saying it's that I work hard, our coaches work hard, we do the best each day we can. I don't want to work for somebody who doesn't want to be working for them either. Life's miserable when you're do that. I try to do my best every day and whoever makes those decisions, makes those decisions."

Tracy, there seemed to be a question about the suspensions with Mark Coyle initially. Were you on board with the suspensions, and the decision to suspend?
"I, just like Mark, he released a report saying he made the decision, and he brought me down and consulted with me and talked to me about them. And just like I say, Mark's a good boss, I'm telling ya.

"It's one of those things where I understand why the decision was made when I read the report, but I also, at the same time, is that I also knew the players, their argument on the other side of the due process, okay. So I understand why it was made, but for the players, the due process was the part I did agree on with how that came about."

So the consultation wasn't so much consulting with you about the decision but consulting with you to let the know the decision had been made?
"You know, I guess you could define consulting however the hell you want to define it. The bottom line is I was in the meeting involved in it, and I respect the decision that the University made."

When did you read the report and what effect did it have on you?
"I don't remember the exact timeline, but it was after I got back from the press conference. This all came down after the boycott. I was filled in when I met with Mark on the consultation, and he did fill me in on the details that I had not read in full at that time."

You've talked to their players. I mean do they wish they would have had the report? Have they talked to you about the decision to now play and what role the report would have had to play in that decision?
"That's up to them. I don't know that the report being released, I'm not saying it had some effect, but if it did it was a very minimal effect on ending the boycott. You know it's that they're going to have another communication here and be able to explain that more, and since I've stayed in the background on a lot of other stuff, I'll leave that to them to answer that.

And what's that going to be?
"It will be soon here; it will be soon. Next couple days I would assume is when we'll do that. You know their statement is a tremendous statement, shows what they're committed to and what they stand for. That's what their going to live by."

Are you confident they all knew the full picture when they decided to boycott?
"Oh I have no idea, I mean you're talking about 110 people, so I don't know. Again, I want people to understand, the boycott was around the due process, period. How it all happened, that operation -- that's what the boycott was about.

Coach, you're familiar with University procedure and code of conduct. Why did you feel like they weren't going to get due process?
"You're assuming something that I don't know is correct. I think we've all learned about it. You know you take how many kids in the University and students and how many sign their application to accept it and do all that and come to school -- how many do you think read all that about how that works and that?

"So one thing I would, as we get through this and get moving on, is as a a staff, we have to do a lot better. I have to do a lot better of being trained on all those processes and study it. I think not just student athletes, but I think all students need to be prepared on just how those processes works, and the differences between criminal law and University student conduct processes. I said to our kids, we have no problem being held to a higher standard than the University requires and should require. This is all about the due process."

How much do you do and how much can you do to talk to your kids about what they can and can't do, not specific to this case, but just in general when they're away from you guys?
"Well you know, they're 17 to 22 years old. You know this happens on campuses all the time, with different protests, all different areas and all types of students, you know. I think everybody, again, I think it's going to happen all the time. It's going to happen more on campuses.

"It all comes down to they're citizens first, so they do have constitutional rights, and they're students second. A distant third is they're being an athlete. You know Commissioner Delaney has stressed that all along to us, so this is their right, making sure, like I say, that it's for the right cause and for the right cause. I think it is, I think they're committed."

I think you're referencing the protest, and I think what he was getting to was how much you talk to them about their conduct off the field and you know, how they should behave.
"As much as possible. You ask anybody who attends our practices, and at the end of practices, there's a common saying: the 'M' never comes off, make good decisions.

"Just as any of you who have sons, daughters, whatever, you can preach and preach and preach, and they get out on their own for the first time without parents out there, there are going to be some mistakes that are going to be made, and that you're going to have to deal with. That's one thing that we've done; we've always dealt with it."

I talked to Antoine Winfield Sr. He said that he was upset about that he didn't know about it until his son called in. How have you done, or what have you done to talk with players' parents behind the scenes?
"Yeah I'm not going to get into that. I don't think that's public information."

Coach, do you think that a lot of people focused on being more about the suspensions than the due processes?
"Again, not without talking about the investigation, I think that the players, you know, they're kind of tied. The players are focusing on the fact that there wasn't due processes leading up to the suspensions. It truly is about the due processes, so, like I said, the players are very clear about that in the statement they released."

Tracy, what's just the state of mind of your team right now? Kind of an emotional period here -- are they fired up still?
"We practiced well today. It's one of those things by no means, do we know the circumstances around it, but I also think that you do your job, everybody has things happen to them at different times. When you're at work, you got to focus on your work and do the best you can. And when you're not, you got to make sure you're taking the time during the day to deal with those issues or those problems. It was good to get out here and practice again. Our kids, as I said, will represent the University in a great manner and make our alums and former players proud. They really did concentrate and did a good job again today. But it's an everyday battle now, you know? We'll stay in there and keep fighting."

Are you concerned at all that you may have lost support of fans or alumni who may have been frustrated or unhappy with the way you guys went about it?
"There's always going to be people that are unhappy about it. You know I just want to make sure I reiterate, the boycott was about the due process. And in no way, in no way, that anybody supports supports the sexual assault or assault of women at any time."

And had surgery this weekend. Definitely a bad all around weekends.

PS - I still firmly believe he's immortal. Or at least until he runs out of other people's blood.

#NLMB (never leave my brothers) has been what many of the players have been tweeting and rallying around. #WeHadEnough is the hashtag the players were using before.

Login to view embedded media Login to view embedded media Login to view embedded media Login to view embedded media Login to view embedded media
On WCCO, Tracy Claeys told players there's a great chance he could lose his job over the boycott. Claeys said he will be donating $50,000 personally to assist victims of sexual assault. He said it was "pretty easy" to support the boycott. Claeys said the boycott was not to overthrow University leadership.

Kaler at the presser acknowledged that Claeys was being in a tough spot wanting to support his players but also having to align with the University and understand their decision. Kaler also said the accused players will get a "very fair" hearing and that an appeals process would be available after it. The hearing would probably be in January.

Kaler also made it clear that the players were clear they did not condone sexual assault and that their boycott was in support of their teammates.

Nick Rallis told WCCO that the boycott brought some light to the lack of due process.

Tyrone Carter has been very vocal about his displeasure with how the administration handled the situation. I can only embed five tweets per post, so I can't embed them but will copy-paste them. Here are some of them:

• "I'm standing with Y'all Lil brothers"
• "This is all these young men was asking for & U jumped the gun Posted these young men pic, and now leaked a 80 page report something wrong!!"
• "MN the U conducted this report & of course reading all that's in this is very heartbreaking to see happened! Why u think they leaked this!!"

Carter also told the Star Tribune that he's "done with the University of Minnesota, unless President [Eric Kaler] and the [athletic director Mark Coyle] get fired." Carter's cousin, four-star 2018 DB Marquis Williams who's visited Minnesota also tweeted that he was upset about it.

Derrick Wells and Brian Smith are other former players that have been very vocal about it. Isaac Fruechte and Damien Wilson have also tweeted both their frustration and #NLMB.

Many players have tweeted out screenshots of quotes or newspaper articles saying that the players said the sex was consensual and that the 90-second video showed consent.

Rashad Still has been maybe the most active tweeter about the topic. Here are a few of his tweets:

• "Im so hurt that our own fans, people thinks of us like this... the worst feeling in the world is being blamed for something you didnt do."
• "She is a liar ... so is our president.. so is our ad...."
• "Lives are being ruined... names are being tarnished.... justice will be served when she is in handcuffs"
• "Its us against the whole world... #justicesoon #wehadenough #NLMB"
• "Why hasnt the other 100 pages havent been released"

Still also had a tweet that was deleted that appeared to upset some people.

Ace Rogers has been one of the others more active players on Twitter:

• "I'm a firm believer in my Values and my Morals, and I will not comprise to appease the athletic administration. The process was wrong."
• "The reports of Kaler stating "The gopher football team read THE report, and decided to end the Boycott" is false. It's ridiculous."

For what it's worth, I've been told that the players and coaches hadn't read the EOAA report before it came out and that the report changed the view of some in the program. They didn't have access to the EOAA report until everyone else did, when it became public.

De'Mornay Pierson-El and Tre Bryant of Nebraska botch voiced their support for the Gopher players. Bryant was a part of the big visit group last year so he knows a lot of the players.

Cavonte Johnson's post on the "We Stand with Survivors Rally" Facebook page: "Hello everyone, My name is Cavonte Johnson and a lot of my friends were here and participated in this stand. They have told me some disturbing things that happened. I was invited but had plans to study for a final with a friend. I have been unable to focus after this very disturbing week. I am a former gopher football player and bleed maroon and gold more than anyone ever has. However I do no stand for the behavior that was said to occur outside of the apartment that I live in (The Radius). If any details of the name, apartment, and description of the players involved is given to me, I will do with what little power I have to have justice served. Which would be holding them accountable for this statements, or whatever it is I can do because I am a man that has vowed to make sure all women are treated with respect. The people who represent this damn university as well as the members of the Minnesota Football do not support rapist or sexist students or staff. Thanks"

Here is Wolitarsky's statement yesterday, as transcribed by Mike Hendrickson of the Minnesota Daily:

"Wolitarsky: Before I begin here, again, you will have to bear with us, we’ve been up for 30-plus hours — lot of caffeine. So again, I learned a lot from these past couple days. There are no right choices, there are no decisions that do not affect somebody else. This process has been extremely difficult and I’m sure as you all know how stressful this has been for everybody involved.

I also know that our last statement was misinterpreted and I hope to bring some light to that today, with this current statement.

Below is Wolitarsky's reading of the prepared statement:

Wolitarsky: Going off of that, I just want to first state that sexual harassment and violence against women — they have no place on this campus, on our team, in society and at no time should it ever be condoned. We recognize that there is a legal threshold and there is a normal threshold and a standard of values set forward by this university. There is only one acceptable way to treat all women and that is with the utmost respect at all times.

On Tuesday, along with everyone else that you are seeing here, I learned of the suspension of 10 of our teammates. Five of them had been previously suspended for an incident where they were not charged for any crime. We are not here to judge nor defend their actions — that is for the authorities. We also learned that five additional teammates were (indefinitely) suspended. We also learned that the consequences could not be vetted without proper due process.

We are disappointed at the lack of communication from the administration and their unwillingness to share information about the decision, under the cover of student privacy. We also understand that they have requirements that they need to follow about sharing information. Yet, at the same time, we observed how our teammates names and pictures were shared with the world and their reputations were ruined.

We stated that we were going to boycott all team activities until the 10 teammates had their suspensions lifted. We also had a larger goal and that was to have an open discussion about the lack of due process that occurs when an accusation is made against anyone.

After many many hours of discussion within our team, and after speaking with president Kaler, it became clear that our original request of having 10 suspensions overturned was not going to happen.

Our senior group had a meeting meeting with President Kaler and AD Mark Coyle last night, Friday the 16th, where they agreed to the following requests: That all 10 of these players have a fair hearing, which includes a diverse review panel. Number two, a showing of support for our team and the character shown by the great majority of our players. And finally, that we as a team, will use our status as public figures to bring more exposure to the issue of sexual harassment and violence against women. We will have more details on our plan for that in later time.

Therefore, we would like to announce that we are ending our boycott and will immediately begin preparations for playing in the Holiday Bowl. As a team, we understand that what has occurred has happened these past few days, and playing football for the University of Minnesota, is much larger than us. So many people before us have given so much here, this football team, so many coaches, staff, administrators, professors, alumni, fans, and our community have invested heavily in the success of our program. We will not, and we recognize that we must not, let those people down.

We ask that you now, the members of the media, our fans, and the general public hold all of us accountable for ensuring that our teammates are treated fairly, along with any and all victims of sexual assault. We also ask that the public dialogue related to the apparent lack of due process in a university system and evaluated.

As football players, we know that we represent this University and this state, and that we are held to a higher standard. We want to express our deepest gratitude to our coaching staff, so many others for supporting during this difficult time, and we hope that our fans and our community understand why we took the actions we did.

Our thoughts and prayers are out for the well being of the woman involved in the original incident, and for our 10 teammates to ensure that they are treated fairly. We look forward to representing the University of Minnesota and the state of Minnesota in the Holiday Bowl in a way that makes all of you proud."

Doogie has a tweet about Kill being at Rutgers interviewing for the OC job. Anyone else hear anything?

Tracy will be on wcco at 10:30.

Paulson visited this past weekend, and is scheduled to visit LSU and Illinois before making his decision.

Link: Paulson talks visit, breaks down recrutiment

Link: Annexstad hopes to make a decision soon

recently have had interesting dialogue on twitter with a UM Frat guy (assume he is at least an adult so i wont call him "boy") that the survivors rally yesterday was in no way a protest. wonder how that will jive with the events planned for January, that coincide with the hearings.

I kind of get it, especially if it is one of those really impactful peaceful ones, vigil etc. however I don't buy that a rally is not a protest. maybe it is just a connotation, semantics differentiated only by a thesaurus? maybe it is tomatoe, tomato, etc.?

I have seen rallys that are clearly protests. I have seen protests that i would consider a rally.

i seem to recall some Vietnam peace rallies that were clearly, 100% protests, were not always even all that peaceful sometimes by the peace supporters.

interested in a wide response. this is one i am very willing to be wrong about, but also feel that people play the label game. you have a bunch of people placed strategically in front of an area that they feel is the sign of the angst, i guaranty you the people that are there will view it as a protest, especially if you impair their ability to go about their business. however i am willing to learn, understand why this should be considered a rally.

caveat - any time people don't like the way things are going, and they publically speak, i include that as a protest.

i am actually willing to learn. read into that what you wish, and maybe some targeted sarcasm to those that have attacked me this last week.

cheers

Today is the mid-year signing day for early enrollees. The targets that could potentially sign today are McLaurin, Fisher, and Landrews. All other JUCOs are spring grads.

Fisher I believe will still be a Gopher, but I'll continue to check on the last minute Texas interest.

Minnesota was 100% confident that Landrews would be a Gopher a week ago, but Mississippi State also thinks they're going to get him, so someone is going to be wrong here. I still think it's more likely he signs with Minnesota. UPDATE: Told Minnesota would be surprised if it's not Mississippi State.

The mystery visitor was also planning to be an early signee but I don't think he has the credits to follow through with that.

Don't want to sound insensitive but....here is a great debate. Did she violate any code of conduct? Nobody believes she was a total victim and didn't play a role in this escalated event. Even without a crime these kids did act in a disappointing way. But they all did, I'm sure her parents are VERY disappointed in her choices of even being in this situation in the first place.

Fact-she is an student-athlete too. With Title 9, women want everything equal. She should face some sort of discipline? I'll hang up and listen.

Setting aside for a moment serious concerns and questions about U Administrative and Athletic Department mismanagement of a disciplinary issue, violations of student due process, violations of student privacy and U management of consensual sexual conduct between and among adult student men and women, how does the board feel another Traingate episode can best be prevented in the future?

Yes, Gov Dayton was right in ordering all parties to a quick resolution of the boycott in order to avoid a huge national "black eye" for the University, the State and indeed the entire Big Ten Conference as the first P5 conference to ever sponsor a team boycotting a significant bowl game. That particular train wreck has been avoided for the time being.

But is the U Pres/AD giving serious thought to how to reduce the probability of another Traingate incident from happening in the future to as close to zero as possible? Has there been enough mentoring from the top...coaches included...to educate every athlete that certain personal behaviors will not be tolerated at the U and will result in suspension and/or expulsion if proven by factual evidence?

In that connection, during the season Claeys dismissed a productive WR from the team for violation of team rules and also agreed to game suspensions for certain players, so we know the coach does enforce U/team "rules and values".

What we don't know is how active the Coyle is leading and mentoring athletes from the top of the Department. Is he simply delegating that "problem" to all his coaches of the various teams? Or is he stressing compliance issues with all teams and individual athletes that there will be very adverse consequences for certain personal behaviors adverse to team rules and the university?

As the leader of the Athletic Department, Coyle is responsible for avoiding train wrecks in the department without micromanaging each team in the process. Make no doubt about it, Regents are going to evaluate Coyle on the PR/optics of the AD operation, leadership re athlete/team management issues as well as his ability to raise money for department projects and handle alumni/donor relations. Tough job, but that's why he's one of the highest paid public employees in the state.

What does the board think Coyle's highest priorities should be for the AD in order to move beyond this current fiasco on a timely basis and prevent future discipline disasters in the future?

We now know the 10 players are not playing in the Holiday Bowl. How many of the 10 will be on the Minnesota football team next year?

That's all. I will take every chance I can to be excited about them being pushed from the top of the record books.

Carry on.

who do we have left?

I have seen a couple of reports today in the Pioneer press saying there were ten to twenty players involved the night in question? Is there even more to this story? Media sensationalism?

http://www.twincities.com/2016/12/1...ball-situation-does-not-bode-well-for-claeys/

Massive Player Transfers and the Staff and TC letting other programs know they will leave! You can put it in the Bank!

Good Source from the SIU area!

They the Coaches are tired of the "Push Back" and how their Kids have been hurt by the "U's" culture! Now the Staff knows the U Admin will not stand by their recruits. A very important Parent is so pissed they are going to pull their Kid and Sue the school!

Great Source!!!