Does the early signing day mean Rivals website won't be crashing this year?

A wide receiver, a tight end, or a hybrid of the two?


http://www.twincities.com/2017/12/1...vyn-spann-ford-and-former-u-star-eric-decker/

Will Frost pull a Fleck his first year at Nebraska or are they too loaded? Does he have a quarterback he can bring with him? I'm not saying I want him to win; I just want to know what we're up against. Central Florida is a little different than Western Michigan, especially recruiting wise. I don't want us to start losing to Nebraska on a regular basis again.

let me explain. Once we become a national power, NDSU will become less sexy to area athletes that are borderline. PWO or scholarship. Fleck is NDSU biggest threat in a long time. He could make a dent in their success, indirectly. Until then their dominance will hurt us, indirectly. Fight back Fleck. They are like a pebble in our shoe. Wisconsin or Iowa don’t have a similar scenario close to them.

What say you?

INSIDE GOPHER ATHLETICS: SCHOLARSHIP SEATING AND TAX CHANGES



Dec. 18, 2017

By Mark Coyle

In light of recent news that the federal tax reform bill has been passed through both houses of the legislature on its way to potentially becoming law, today we reached out to every fan who has invested in our student-athletes by supporting Scholarship Seating with their Gopher season ticket purchases to outline how one change in the tax code may impact their ability to write-off that contribution.

One of the many changes this bill will put into effect – should it become law – will remove what was commonly called the “80/20 rule,” which allows taxpayers to write-off 80 percent of charitable contributions attached to event tickets. In our case specifically, this deduction has been available to fans who owned season tickets in Scholarship Seating areas for football, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s hockey and volleyball.

This change to tax law would mean Scholarship Seating contributions will no longer be 80 percent tax-deductible. Should this become law, you will not be able to write-off any of your Scholarship Seating donations next year.

While tax law may change, what has not and will not change is the impact your investment makes in the lives of Gopher student-athletes. You were part of investing more than $11 million in our department last year. Those Scholarship Seating donations made up approximately 10 percent of our total operating budget, critical to providing more than $12 million in scholarship support for Gopher student-athletes.

Something else that has not changed is the people supported by your investment, some of the brightest student-athletes in the country. We have been the No. 1 public school in the nation for student-athlete academic performance each of the past four years according to the NCAA’s Public Recognition Awards for academics. We finished last year with a department-record GPA across our student-athlete population (3.24), we announced a department-record Graduation Success Rate this year (92 percent), and all of this with 700-plus students pursuing more than 80 different majors.

The new federal tax code may change how you account for your Scholarship Seating investment, but it will not change the significance of your investment to current and future Gophers.

As we shared in our email to fans who may be impacted by this change, our Golden Gopher Fund staff is happy to discuss questions you may have. The best way to contact them is to call (612) 624-4653 or email ggf@umn.edu. Of course, as recommended in that same email, we encourage anyone with specific questions about their personal taxes to reach out to a professional tax adviser.

Elijah Teague:


Strengths:

· Strength. Already possesses Division-I strength. Hard to move, takes the battle to the offensive lineman
· Active Hands. Extremely excelled for a high schooler on the use of his hands in both run and pass rush situations. A variety of moves are in his toolbox
· For a man of his size, he is quite quick and moves very well
· Keeps his “eyes on the prize”. What I mean by that is, whether he is engaged against the run or in a pass rush scenario, he is able to identify where the running back/quarterback is, not allowing them to get by him. Teague will shed the block, and come flat down the line to make the play

Weaknesses:

· Leverage. Because I feel like I have to put something here, I’ll say his leverage gets to be too high at times. When double teamed, he needs to learn to go through the hips of a double team and not the shoulders

To be rather simple with it all, Teague is a beast. One of the more impressive films from the class that I’ve looked at so far. Tough to find many weaknesses with his game. Elijah is strong, quick, and looks to understand blocking schemes and where he fits. Already uses his hands in an impressive fashion. Should see playing time from Day One

Man. This fan base has really gotten spoiled rotten. The level of recruiting we're doing this year is really very exciting, but I think our fan base has already come to take it for granted. Just over the last week we've gotten some great recruiting news and in the next week we'll see (for the second time in three weeks) some very impressive athletes on campus from all across the country.

1) Very exciting to hear the news over the last week that four star juco recruits Taikwon Paige (#23 overall juco, only offered by Rutgers and ECU, When was the last time either of those programs had top twenty teams?) and Hayo Carpenter (ho hum, legit 4.45 speed) are seriously looking at the Gophers. Both positions of need. Also four stars Anthony Leon (s/lb?) and wr Jamar Howard have Minnesota on the radar.

2) Very exciting to look at visits already made by four star recruit Hasan Lipscomb (a verbal from one of Texas best backs? seriously?)and visits scheduled by four star recruits Eric Stephens (a verbal from Rivals #6 rated APB? are you kidding me?) and Michael Carter (OMFGx4).

3) Very exciting to hear news over last week or two that four star recruit Maresh is working out and cleared by docs, high three star Spencer Reeves has passed clearinghouse and will be here in January and that four star Marqueis Gray still plans on being a Gopher.

4)Very excited to hear Gophs are in the running for four star (on Scout already and soon to be on Rivals) Taylor Lewan. Pumped to see Gophers get an early commit on high three star (5.7) Fergus Falls Campion, who reportedly is leading his team to great season. Also nice to hear great things about Mahtomedi's Ed Olson this weekend.

5)Very impressed to see Gophers hitting Florida hard (and not just hitting it hard but getting a commit and early visits) for skill/speed players like receivers Keise and Reese and d-backs Crawford, Kellam and the Geffard twins. All of these guys are three star guys with nice competing offers. In past years, we'd be jumping out of our shoes about a last minute afterthought visit from these guys in January.

6) Nice to see us proactive in going after a punter, rather than trying to get some one to walk-on in August.

7) Good to see we haven't abandoned looking for tough kids from west central Minnesota.

8) Pumped to see a visit from a guy in Colorado that we never would have even blipped on radar in past. A Rivals 5.7 3* guy at that. Have we reached the point where a visit from a Rivals 5.7 3* guy with multiple offers from a place we've never had recruiting success in the past is a ho-hum thing?

9)Excited to read we are still in the chase for a guy like Kendrick James, a southern speed athlete that we got in early on and may have a shot at now that Colorado and Oklahoma are sniffing around. Hope we still get a visit from one of best d-linemen in Texas (Nosa).

10) Great to see us lock Alipate down early, pumped to see us still in the hunt for Hageman and Garin, who would be huge, huge gets and difference makers.

Potential for nine four stars yet again (Hayo, Carter, Paige, Howard, Leon, Lips, E-Step, Lewan and RaShede) and 12 three stars ( Alipate, Campion, KGM, Nosa, Keise, Kendrick, Garin, Crawford and Kelllam (or Geffard and Geffard) Reese, Olson and Michel in this class. Plus Maresh, Reeves, Carufel, Royston and maybe Gray. Are you kidding me? Book your 2009 TCF seats now. Ho hum.
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???

Film is good. Size is good. Offer list is great. Dad played in the NFL.

Oh well, Winfield was a 2 star player coming out of HS too. If Ahanotu turns out as good as he has we got another absolute steal!

2018 Under Armor Game: Daniel Fa'alele; Curtis Dunlap

2018 U.S. Army All-America Bowl: None

2018 Blue-Grey All-American Bowl: Jack York, Austin Beier

2018 International Bowl: Rashod Bateman

If I missed anyone, let me know.

Josh Aune:


Strengths:

· Exceptional tackler. Appropriately attacks the correct hip and doesn’t leave his feet when he tackles. Big problem we’ve seen out of our current DB’s is diving at players ankles. Aune does not do that
· Quick to get to the ball. Is good at not getting blocked. Doesn’t allow himself to get caught up by lineman, runs around them or is able to shed them quickly
· Instincts. Shows a natural ability to read and attack pullers, but also feels cutbacks/boots from the backside

Weaknesses:

· Defensive back experience (if playing DB). Played LB all of high school as their do-it-all guy, so he doesn’t have much experience at DB
· Size (if playing LB) 6’2” 195 pounds

It is a bit unclear what the Gophers have planned for Aune at the next level. His size projects him more as a safety, however he played linebacker all of high school and has Blake Cashman qualities where we could see him at outside linebacker down the road. His speed and instincts are exceptional as a player, but there will be some technical work to be done pending which position he is playing.

I have seen people say it is the worst one (sans the prequels as they were the worst no question). I have seen people say it is Top 2 of all the episodes.

I went yesterday. I loved it. Empire Strikes Back is better as it is the best. That said, it is right there with Rogue One and Return of the Jedi for 2nd place.

3.5 out of 4 stars for me.

I saw this on Twitter and thought it should be seen. What a quality young man. This is clearly the type of student athlete that PJ will appeal to because of the culture here. Very exciting future - we can win with these guys.

http://www.tygerpride.com/protected/ArticleView.aspx?iid=63Y2AA0&dasi=4G3YB

Whats the deal with this school? Fifteen in the Florida top 100 including 5 in the top 15. Their offensive line is bigger than what our Gophers trotted out in 2017.

I’ve confirmed he is “NOT” visiting Georgia this weekend. He gave it some thought and he has let me know that he’s not visiting.

Bateman tells me he will “DEFINITELY” sign with Minnesota on Wednesday.

Great job by Fleck and his staff.

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Nice to see him get in the game. Vikes up 34-0 on the Bengals in the 4th.

Link: Norton recaps elite visit, wants to learn from Warinner

Alex Reigelsperger:


Strengths:

· Quickness. Reigelsperger’s quickness and speed is excellent for a player of his size. He can really move for being 6’3” 240 pounds and is quite the athlete.
· Burst off the ball. The quick burst off the football is really what makes him such a good defensive end. He consistently wins with his speed rush, sets up tackles to overset.
· Pass rush technique. Going off the bulletpoint above, his speed rush is very good, and Reiegelsperger also has active hands coming off the edge. He does a great job of slapping away defender’s hands

Weaknesses:

· Strength/playing against the run. He’s not particularly bad against the run, but as for the next level he’ll need to put on some weight/strength, as most all HS prospects do. He has a tendency to come high off the ball as well.

Reigelsperger is a gifted pass rusher and an athletic defensive end. The quick burst off the ball combined with the use of his hands will most likely allow him to play early in third down situations, where Gophers have struggled in the recent past. Overall I like what I see out of him. He should be an impact player at Minnesota.

Buford just committed to New Mexico St, he will get to play one more game at TCF.
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Can someone please explain the difference.

Whos your best guess for first 2019 commit? I’m guessing Hank Bachmeier.

Abi Okonji


Strengths:

· Run stopper. Abi does an excellent job with his run fits and doesn’t get caught up with offensive lineman and uses leverage well.
· Block shedding. Okonji uses his hands extremely well to shed blocks, especially in the run game. The one thing I was most impressed with was his ability to keep offensive lineman at arms distance, and then throw them off, then make the play.
· Burst off the line. Initial jump off the line sets up his speed rush, but then he causes tackles to overset in their drop, allowing him to work back under.

Weaknesses:

· I was a bit disappointed that there weren’t more clips of him pass rushing. MaxPreps had him with only two sacks this season. His team wasn’t very good this season, but even then I would expect more than two sacks from a D1-bound defensive end. His tape didn’t show an array of pass rush moves.
· Bit of a tweener: Rivals has him listed at 6’3” 240, but from the pictures I’ve seen of him next to Bryce Paup and some commits, I think he’s a bit smaller. I could be wrong there.

Okonji has a chance to be a player for the Gophers. I expected his tape to be more pass-rush focused than run-defense, but it turned out to be quite the opposite. His rush defense ability allows him to play early, however he’ll only be a two-down player for Minnesota until his pass rush abilities improve. He’ll most likely see time early as there aren’t many other DE options ahead of him.

Jack York:


Strengths:

· Strength. Jack looks to be one of our stronger offensive lineman commits, especially from an upper body standpoint. He utilizes his arms well to keep defenders at distance
· Already has Division-I size. Listed at 6’5” 290 pounds, York is close to already being Division-I physically developed.
· Bully mentality. Often finishes defenders into the dirt. Not afraid to keep blocking to the whistle, even if he has already driven the defender 15-20 yards. Has to be careful, as he occasionally jumps on defenders after they are already on the ground. Could be a penalty

Weaknesses:

· Not as quick footed as others. He is athletic enough to get on the edge for screen/reach blocks, but isn’t as quick to get there as I would say a Norton or Dickson.
· High leverage. Needs to work on coming off the ball on a lower base, and squatting down a bit more in his initial stance. It works against smaller high school defenders, for now.
· Tackle pass-blocking technique. The kick step is small and as I mentioned in the bullet point above, he’s a bit high in his drop. A wider, more stable base will allow him to prepare for all types of pass rushes (bull, speed, etc.)

With Jason Dickson, Faalele, and Norton committed, I wouldn’t be surprised if York is moved inside to guard. Personally, I think that would be a better fit for his strengths. He does have size to play both tackle and guard. The bully mentality and strength are intriguing for him as a prospect, but like most freshman lineman he'll need to be coached up before being Big Ten ready.