Link: By the Numbers: Brad Davison and McKinley Wright

The investigations on the Gopher Wrestling Xanax scandal have been going on for quite a long time now (way too long!!). And the last news was that Hennepin County will not charge the 4 wrestlers who sold drugs with any crimes because of "lack of evidence". The U of M internal investigation is still ongoing.

The U investigation has been very methodical, as all of the wrestlers in question and JRob have been "lawyered up" and I'm sure the U is taking extra time to make sure that whatever decision is made, that in every way...they get it right. Also, if JRob is fired or forced to resign, he is very likely to sue for wrongful termination, so the U is aiming to get all their information in order, to help justify whatever decision is made.

It's been incredibly quiet lately while everyone waits to see what the resolution of this mess will be. And the U's pace is what it is and can't be rushed. But, most Wrestling fans are hoping for a quick resolution so we can (finally!) take stock of where we are...and then move on. We're coming into mid-July and too much is still up-in-the air. Can you imagine:

- being on the team with all of the rumors and anxiety;
- being one of the 4 drug sellers wondering what their future will be;
- being one of the (10-14) wrestlers (I forget the exact #) who bought and took Xanax;
- being JRob...who is fighting for his kids and his legacy;
- being one of the current assistant coaches, who may or may not have a job very soon;
- being a parent, family member, girlfriend, or friend, of the wrestling team members;
- being a Gopher Wrestling fan who has to wait to see how badly this turns out!!!

And, as we are in the early commit period for 2017 recruiting, the sooner this situation gets resolved, the better!! I have heard on various wrestling blogs that 2 major 2017 recruits have our Gophers among their final choices:

- #8 182 lb. Jacob Warner (Washington, IL) had MN in his final 5 list, and now today I hear that we may be in the final 2!!
- # 9 160 lb. Brady Berge has MN in his final 2 or 3 (depending on who you read);
- #17 120 lb. Justin Mejia (3x state champ from Clovis, CA...which has only one huge tournament for the whole state!!) and #39 120 lb. Jason Renteria (Oak Park River Forest, IL) both decommitted from Iowa on Weds this week and are now in discussions with other elite wrestling schools. While Mejia may end up going to Fresno State (right near where he grew up), which just restarted its D1 wrestling program, MN is rumored to be in his final 2 along with Illinois!! IA wanted these guys, but probably let them go to free up scholarship money to chase Warner and Berge (above), after IA recently signed 2017 #1 120 lb. Spencer Lee and #3 2018 120 lb. Gavin Teasdale.

So I and everyone else who follows Gopher Wrestling is hoping for a very quick resolution to this Xanax mess!!!

While, I have no new information on when the U's decision will be coming down, I am getting a strong feeling that it's going to happen next week. Many have debated on this board what they think should happen to the drug sellers, the drug takers, JRob and his assistant coaches. So, I am going to offer my opinion on this and ask the rest of you to weigh in.

JRob and the Coaches:
Unless there is some compelling lack of evidence that JRob did anything wrong, I think he will be fired, or forced to resign. Then it becomes a question as to how much did Brandon Eggum, Luke Becker and his other assistants know, and whether they should go too. If Eggum/Becker are completely cleared and they are somehow given the jobs of new HC and new Head Asst. Coach, it would not be the worst thing in the world. These guys have mostly been running the program lately and, at least, we could move forward and get back to the business at hand. However, I would prefer a new Head Coach...and I feel strongly that this should be former 2x Natty Champ Gopher (and 10 year assistant coach at Cornell) Damion Hahn. Then Damion could keep whatever assistants he wanted (for continuity/recruiting purposes) and also bring in some new blood (for better national recruiting!!) like Kyle Dake or David Taylor!!

Drug takers and sellers:
I think the 10-14 wrestlers who took Xanax last year (I forget the exact #) should be suspended for 1 month next fall and the 4 wrestlers who sold drugs should be suspended for 2-3 months. I'm tempted to say that if need be, that the drug sellers could lose a full year of eligibility...but, I think that's too much!!

Yes, I know that many of you think that the 4 drug sellers should be expelled. With what these 4 drug sellers have been through lately, and what they put their families through, they have suffered enough that I doubt any of them will ever do anything wrong again! There's no need to force them away from home and screw up their whole life/career!!

And remember, these are 18-20 year old first time offenders, who otherwise are pretty much "model citizens". The drugs sold was supposed to have been somewhere between 1400-2500 pills, and this # seems to have been reduced lately, according to the police reports. So if you have 4 wrestlers selling 1200-1400 pills (for $5-8 per pill) that's still only an average of about 350 pills per wrestler. Is this really enough to warrant expulsion from the U (where all of them really, really want to be!) and then all they will do is transfer to some other D1 wrestling power and continue their career? One leading wrestler has already been rumored to be considering transferring to OK State. Do we really need to kick out a first time offender just so OK State Coach John Smith can improve his team at our expense??

I personally don't think so!!

So have at it.


What do you think will happen??
And, what do you think should happen...to all involved??

Hopefully we will all know the resolution to this next week. Or, very soon.

So, we can continue our climb...back to THE VERY TOP!!
GO GOPHER WRESTLING!!!

For the first time in 4 years we are without the services of Eric Murray. Dude developed into one of my personal top 5 all-time favorite Gophers.

The consensus is that our DBs are gonna fall off hard. Listen to this passage complete with an anonymous quote from an opposing Big 10 Offensive Coordinator:

Secondary takes a step back: With so much of the spotlight last season on Iowa’s Desmond King and Michigan’s Jourdan Lewis, it was easy to lose sight of the Gophers’ talented pair of corners (Eric Murray and Briean Boddy-Calhoun). But they were some of the best in the nation, as evidenced by Minnesota’s No. 13 national ranking in pass defense. With their departures – along with safetyAntonio Johnson -- it’s not going to be easy for the Gophers to move on.

Said one B1G offensive coordinator: “Now that those players are gone, I think it’s going to be a challenge. Especially at corner, I’ll be surprised if the next group is quite as talented.”

I disagree. If we have better health than last year (I know I'm a broken record on that), I think our secondary will be just as effective this season as the past 3 have been. Eric Murray was unbelievable the past 3 years, but if healthy Myrick is nearly as good as Murray, and faster to boot.
1) Last year Murray and Myrick were incredible while BBC was still effective at times but he was a shell of his 2014 self. So the past 2 years we've had 2 great CBs each year--Murray/BBC in '14, Murray/Myrick in 15. Myrick is as close to Eric Murray as we could hope for, and I believe Sawvel will find one or two guys who can be effective across from JM.

2)If Damarius Travis is healthy, our Safety play will be better than it was in '15. Travis and Myrick could both be day 2 picks in next year's NFL draft.

3) As I said in another thread, I would bet my last dollar that Sawvel and Claeys have spent every spare waking moment since the end of the Wisconsin game trying to figure out how to finally develop an effective pass rush. We saw the beginnings of that in the Bowl Game and spring ball. It's July, I'm drunk on Kool-Aid, and I'm saying this is the year Minnesota finds a way to consistently get pressure on the QB.

So what say you, TGR? How good/bad will the Gopher secondary be in 2016?

Folks, since my sub is up on Tuesday, I'm throwing one last drunk thread over here.

Let it last as long as my body does....we'll get er good and going in a couple hours

Link: Adidas Gauntlet Finale: D1 Minnesota goes 2-1 on Friday

TGR hired Jack Legwin, who runs Prep Hoops Florida and helps Adam Zagoria with his website, to cover D1 Minnesota at the Adidas Finale. Here are his notes from today.

http://www.startribune.com/aftermat...shooting-captured-on-phone-video/385789251/#1

This makes me so sad. Philando Castile was a longtime public servant, a beloved guy whom kids and adults referred to as 'Mr. Rogers with dreadlocks'.

Philando got pulled over, calmly told the police officer that he had a permit for his gun, and then told him he was reaching for his ID as directed. Yet, the officer shot him anyway. My sister has a good friend on the force. She said that after it happened, the officer was sobbing and just kept saying, 'what did I do? How did this happen?' etc.

This is a tragedy for everyone involved. Police Officers need to focus more efforts on de-escalation rather than 'shoot first ask questions later'.

This year alone, police officers have killed nearly 600 Americans. I'm not here to blame anybody, but the system needs to be reformed. This won't make any sense to some of the more rigid members of this board, but perhaps it's time for fewer police officers to carry guns? In Britain, very few police officers carry guns, and they seem to do just fine.

Of course, that move would need to come in conjunction with real gun control---the kind that has been so effective in other western democracies like Australia, Great Britain, most of Europe, etc.

#PhilandoCastile
#Nomoreviolence

he has the Goohs at 5th. I don't see a lot of difference between 2-5. Only reason I will agree with Sconnie at 1 is Vince Biegel, kid is a stud. Sconnie loses a lot at DT this year and I think that will hurt their LB production. On the flip side, with us playing more 3-4 I think you will see our LBs be recognized more, especially the OLBs.

http://btn.com/2016/07/05/dienhart-big-ten-west-linebacker-unit-rankings/

Link: Peach Jam: Pulley trounce Team Takeover, fall in OT to MOKAN on Friday

I watched Pulley's first game of the day, and EJ and Connor watched the second. The article contains our notes on the games.

Not good. 4 dead. 7 additional shot. 1 bystander also shot.

The running back was going to be in the mix for a lot of carries. The lineman never played a down for OSU, but was on the first team in spring ball.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/oregon-state-rb-lineman-medically-retire-153315693.html

Link: AAU Day in Review: July 8

Posts of beautiful women and Wren moderating politics, hells bells what took me so long to get here!

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/134425/take-two-minnesotas-win-total-in-2016

Over/Under 6.5 wins for Minnesota
Brian Bennett=Over

BB has been covering this league for several years now. He's gotten better and better the past few years after a shaky start to his tenure. Bennett thinks the Gophers were crushed by injuries and a tough schedule last year (he's correct). BB believes the Gophers will ride the running game, D, and Mitch to late season contention for west division.

Moyer=Under

Moyer thinks Minnesota won't be as good due to a worse D and bad receivers. Dude is the ultimate Penn State homer. Guy has predicted that Penn State would win 9+ games for 3 years in a row. Moyer spent an entire year coming up with excuses for when the Gophers hammered Penn State in 2014.

I honestly cannot wait to see what he writes after Minnesota rides into Happy Valley & leaves with a 2 score victory. The funniest part is when Moyer writes off Mitch Leidner by saying the new offense is 'better suited to the backups'. I mean, why research Leidner when you can throw out something that sounds plausible?

full text below:

BB:
The Gophers are my sleeper pick in the Big Ten West. Remember that they went 5-7 in the regular season last year despite a rash of injuries and a brutal schedule that included games against TCU, Ohio State and Michigan, plus a road trip to Iowa. A little better fortune on the health front should help a great deal. Also helpful: a nonconference slate featuring Oregon State, Indiana State and Colorado State, all at home, and no crossovers against the Buckeyes, Wolverines or Michigan State. Minnesota enters the season with a fifth-year senior at quarterback (Mitch Leidner), a solid running game that should see a boost under new offensive coordinator Jay Johnson and another talented secondary led byJalen Myrick and Damarius Travis. They'll win at least seven games and should be a factor in the division race.

ESPN blogger and future 'To Catch a Predator' arrestee, Josh Moyer:

I'm not quite as bullish on the Gophers this season. Don't get me wrong; I still think they'll win six games and head to a bowl. But they're still a notch below the West's best. Leidner may return, but the new offense appears to be a better fit for his backups. And the lack of playmakers at receiver is a big issue moving forward; all the drops in the spring game only reinforced that. Minnesota's secondary is almost certainly going to take a step back, and the pass-rush (or lack thereof) is a real concern. On top of all that, Minnesota's third-down defense was atrocious last season and, even with the nation's No. 13 pass defense, it still allowed more passing first downs there than all but two B1G teams (Indiana, Nebraska). I think this team is likely to win between six and eight games but, because of those question marks, I'm sticking with the "under" for now.

I would love to see the Gophers recruit 'instate' kids for the next couple of years, Based on another post, there will be 5 schollies open in the 2018 season though I think one of the bigs may leave after this year and used in the 2017 class. I think a wing leaves also but not Fitzgerald after he transferred in unless injury or grades.

My 'ideal' 2017 and 2018 group

2017 - 4 schollies if a wing leaves and either Gaston or Lynch leave or cant play

John, Sims, Wright, and Davison

2018 - 4 schollies open instead of the scheduled 5, if one of the bigs leaves and is used in the 2017 group.

Oturu, Thompson, Kalscheur, and one out-of-state big

With Hurt and Coffey and maybe Sharp as a walkon, still, that would be 9 scholarship players out of 13 from the state of Minnesota... Ideal and maybe improbable, yes.. But I can still dream of a highly competitive team that wins a lot and is made up of a majority of players from instate!!

Link: Bowens III still hearing from Minnesota despite ISU commitment

Bowens was one of the very first 2017 targets and he showed strong interest back. In April he committed to Iowa State, but I'm not sure that's where he ends up as his commitment seemed a little premature and he still has a handful of schools talking to him.

Link: Milwaukee forward remains on radar for Purdue, others

Terrence Lewis spoke to GoldandBlack.com earlier this week. Some it was more slanted towards Purdue, but he also talked about what he's looking for in a program at the next level, the type of system he wants to play in, and more.

Link: AAU Day in Review: July 7

Take a look at how Gopher targets did yesterday in South Carolina, Georgia, and elsewhere above.

Today, I'm watching Howard Pulley online (yesterday's the live stream wasn't working), and I'm paying the lead Prep Hoops Florida writer Jack Legwin to watch and give me a report on D1 Minnesota.

I believe that 2016 will determine Claey's fate in Dinkytown.

TC is currently on a 3 year contract. We all know that's not enough for recruiting purposes. During/after this season either Tracy will get extended or get canned. If he gets extended he will probably have a couple years leeway.

This may be Claey's 1st full year as HC, but this is year 6 of the Kill regime. We will never again have a schedule where we miss both Michigan schools and league overlord Ohio State. Mitch is a 5th year senior, 4th year player, and 3rd year starter. He appears to finally be healthy (knocks on wood).

Also, last year we LITERALLY led the country in injuries. This year should regress towards the mean which means we should be better and deeper this season.
We will never have a better chance to win the division. If Tracy is going to succeed here, I think he needs to go a minimum of 9-3. Honestly, I won't feel good with 8 wins against this schedule.

Oregon State is in year 2 of a tough rebuild. They will be better than last year but we're in year 6 and they are in year 2 of a rebuild. We should be more talented and deeper than them. The other 2 OOC games are near locks/must wins.

The BTN guys repeatedly called Maryland the 'least talented team in the Big 10' last year, and they have a new coach. Rutgers is a mess and also has a new coach--plus it's our Homecoming so the crowd should be good. The Darrell Hazell experiment at Purdue has been an unmitigated disaster, as they have somehow gotten worse each year. Illinois has some talent but they are in year 1 of a rebuild and Lovie is a D first guy, he isn't known for explosive offensive play.

Bottom line: Those are 7 games we have absolutely no business losing. I will be surprised and disappointed if we drop any of those games.

Penn State is breaking in a new OC, new DC, new QB, new OLine coach, and they lost 3 DLs to the NFL draft. Oh, and their OLine has been total garbage for years. Sure, they have really nice skill players, but IMO we are ahead of where they are in program development and in the trenches. Also, we get them in the first month of the year so they will probably still be working out the kinks of their new offense & new coaches. The only reason this could be a loss is cause they recruit good talent and it's in Happy Valley. Nonetheless, we oughta beat them.

Iowa is a toss-up as we get them at home. Our shorthanded squad was arguably one called holding penalty away from beating Iowa at Kinnick. This year we get them at home and I think it's a 50/50 game. By now we could be 4-0 and be building some momentum. Plus we've already had our bye week to help work out the kinks of our new coaches.

At Nebraska is always tough, but last year's game was an aberration. We've played them toe to toe each year and have won 2 of the past 4, including one in Lincoln. This is another toss-up.

Home against Northwestern: I know they pummeled us last year, but our offense has grown a lot since that early season fiasco, plus we hopefully won't have a triage unit this year. We almost always play tight games with them, and I'm putting this as a toss-up leaning win. They have a great D and a good RB, but I'm not at all convinced that their QB is any good. He certainly isn't as good or experienced as Mitch.

at Wisconsin: Look, I know they beat us up last year but we were down to our 5th, 6th, and 7th DTs. The 2 years before that we played them tight 'til the end. One of these years things have to swing our way. I've got this as a toss-up leaning loss.

So, in my view, we have 7 games we should absolutely win, 2 games that are true toss-ups, 2 toss-ups leaning win and 1 toss-up leaning loss.

Even if we lose one of the 7 'should wins', we oughta be able to go 3-2 in the other 5.

I think we need to win 9, but if we can stay relatively healthy, I truly believe we can win 10 games and have a real shot to win in Indy.

Here it is, as promised in another thread:

If you could host a dinner party and invite 4 living sports personalities, who would it be and why?

Mine:

1. Vin Scully - Vifan started this, and Mr. Scully would be my #1 invite. The baseball stories from Ebbets Field alone would be worth it, but he has so much more than that, including golf and football.

2. Lou Nanne - I could listen to his old-time hockey stories forever. Covers both Gophers and North Stars.

3. Bob Costas - some find him smug, but he has a wealth of baseball stories and well as Olympics among other things.

4. Bud Grant - again, covers football from the U to the great Purple teams, with some CFL thrown in.

Tell me who I missed - I haven't mailed them out yet so I can still change my mind if you convince me.

Chooses the Warriors over Thunder and East coast teams. They should be a power house for awhile. Wonder if there are enough balls to go around?

I'm wondering what, if anything, GI thinks the Gophers need to do to help secure a 2018 class ranked in the top 15-20 nationally.

If you don't like any of my options, tell me your thoughts in the comments.

And yes, I'm jonesing for football so much that I've been re-watching some of last year's games.

Link: Theo John breaks down recruitment

Minnesota has worked as hard as they can with John, and right now they're doing well. Marquette has worked hard too, and there's one person in his circle that would like to see him go there, although I don't think he has a lot of pull. And being from Minnesota, I think there are many that would like to see him be a Gopher.

Theo says he wants to commit before the school year starts, meaning he'd likely be the first of the three in-state targets (Theo, McKinley, Jericho) to make a decision. I think that's good news as the sooner he makes a decision, the better the Gophers' chances. I think it's also very possible that he picks up a few more "bigger" offers, like he just did from Maryland and Florida in this final eval period that runs the next three weeks. But, if he's planning to make a decision before school starts, I would think Minnesota could beat those offers.

I saw a lot of outrage on this. Everyone on the list did have more yards than our guys I believe with the exception of the OSU back who I'm sure is a stud.

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Still had a fantastic frosh year and has the potential to be a star.

Gentry has even more freakish ability and needs to focus/stay healthy.

There have been past rumblings that neither player had the requisite focus and work ethic to be truly great/consistent.

Any updates on that front? Have Leidner and the coaches been able to convince these guys to lock in and focus on being truly great?

Or should we expect that Woli or Eric Carter will have to the top receiving options due to lack of focus/health on the part of gentry and still?