On with Sid and Dave:

Glasscock: We are very, very close. As close as we've probably been since we have been here to doing the things we want to do. Just a couple of pieces to the puzzle away from being a really, really good football team next year.

He said sign about 25.
He mentioned signing a juco safety, juco olineman, talking about a juco qb, juco wrs.

He mentioned they have had some good positive things on commit list in last couple of weeks...guessing he's talking about Landrews and Fisher.

Pool of 45-50 names for the 1 or 2 walk on qbs they will sign

He's switched back to quarterback for the bowl practices, per Claeys today.

Joe Russell Safety/WR from Totino Grace

Ta'amu committed to Ole Miss, so I'm expecting Minnesota to pull the trigger on McLaurin and I would expect him to be golden sooner rather than later. Ta'amu told me he wanted to visit this weekend and then never did. The offer came right after the Ole Miss offer, and I just don't think the Gophers were ever fully bought in to Ta'amu. The way Minnesota has recruited quarterbacks this cycle has been interesting to say the least.

Login to view embedded media
Isaac Zico tells me he'll visit the weekend of January 14.

The Gophers landed a player on offense tonight that's currently on his visit.

The mystery visitor did end up visiting, and I think Minnesota now leads for him. He's committed elsewhere so I'm still not allowed to reveal his name.

HS jersey retired

Huge honor, congrats

...to S. Florida, sorry opster !

Login to view embedded media
I'll also try and transcribe this for you guys.

E.J. and Matt previewed the game here

Game is on BTN and BTN2GO.

He has officially backed away from his Colorado State commitment.

Richard Pitino

• This team is extremely unselfish.
• Reggie has a long ways to go and just needs as many reps as he can, but he was terrific today. He rebounded the ball extremely well today. He's one of the better centers in the league. Lynch played a tough, physical game.
• Lynch has a very unorthodox shot near the hoop. He just puts it up there and it has no spin on it and just kind of dies.
• Amir is one of the most talented freshman in the country, but Reggie just brings a whole different dimension.
• I hate when people say have fun before a game because it's not an enjoyable time coaching a game, but the kids really do look like they're having fun. The team has very good chemistry.
• Winning helps the chemistry.
• We have a lot of balance. Dupree and Nate are both passing the ball really well.
• The team enjoys each other's company. Bus trips are loud, they're missing around with each other. We go out to eat and they're all messing around, not staring at their phones.
• The team has been really committed to locking into the scouting report. We play great team defense in addition to having some great individual defenders. Akeem has really helped get the guys to focus on the scouting report.
• As painful as last year was, it made us a better team. You never take a win or a day for granted. Last year we were an incomplete team but they knew enforcements were on the way.

Reggie Lynch

• Felt great to have a great offensive performance. Everyone played great.
• It was a setback to have pain in the knee and ankle, but I'm in a groove now. There's still some pain.
• Definitely feel more comfortable against more physical guys than I was at Illinois State. Playing against Arkansas, St. John's and Northern Illinois tonight helped that.
• I've been trying to change my shot since I was born (laughs). It has a low release point but I have good touch, so I just need to recognize when to go up and when not to. It doesn't work as well against teams like Florida State with so much size.

Jordan Murphy

• Last year no one really horsed around, but this year everyone kind of messes with each other. It's really enjoyable.
• The Florida State loss was eye opening and changed the attitude of the team. We had to pick it up physicality wise and had to hone in on being physical and tough.

Two coffeyville JUCO visits?

My bad...just one

Terry Wright?

A good showing for our redshirt freshmen and non-starters yesterday at SCSU! Here's the article from Gophersports.com:


Five Gophers Stand on Husky Open Podium

Eight Minnesota wrestlers were on the St. Cloud State campus on Saturday for the Husky Open, where five placed



Gophersports.com
Dec. 10, 2016

True freshman Dylan Anderson, in his second career open tournament, advanced to the 184-pound championship match on Saturday at the Husky Open, leading a contingent of eight Gophers that produced five placewinners. In addition to Anderson, the Gophers also got a pair of third-place finishes from Jordon Rothers (174 pounds) and Will Balow (197), a fourth-place performance from Gresh Jones (133) and a fifth-place showing from Colin Carr (174).

Anderson’s first match was one of the highest scoring matches of the entire tournament, one which Anderson outscored Austin Cook (Wisconsin-La Crosse), 13-11. A pin late in the first period of his semifinal match advanced Anderson to the finals, where he fell, 6-1. His runner-up finish is the best of his young career

Rothers and Carr both made the 174-pound semifinals, Rothers with a 15-0 tech fall and a 9-3 decision, Carr with a first-period fall and a 13-3 major decision. Losses in the final four sent both into the consolation bracket, where Rothers earned a 14-2 major to take third.

Balow marched into the semifinals at 197 pounds with an 18-5 major decision and a pin 62 seconds into his quarterfinal match before dropping a tough, 3-2 decision to Vince Dietz (St. Cloud State) in the semis. Once in wrestlebacks, Balow posted his second 18-5 win of the day and then cruised to a 10-3 decision to take third.

After a first-period pin, Jones was bounced to wrestlebacks in a decision loss to eventual champion Jarred Oftedahl (St. Cloud State). Jones rallied for a 16-0 tech fall in the consolation semifinals before dropping the third-place contest.

Also in action from Minnesota were Tijani Karaborni (174) and Faris Karaborni (184). Both picked up wins on the day, but neither placed. Tim Christianson wrestled at 184, dropping a 5-2 decision in his opener before medically forfeiting his next match.


Match-by-Match Results:

133

Gresh Jones (2-2, 4th Place)
Quarters: Gresh Jones fall (0:32) Devon Berry (St. Cloud State)
Semis: Jarred Oftedahl (St. Cloud State) dec Gresh Jones, 7-0
Cons Semis: Gresh Jones tech fall Tyus White (Rochester Comm & Tech College), 16-0
3rd Place: Jordan Aquino (St. Cloud State) fall (4:27) Gresh Jones

174

Jordon Rothers (4-1, 3rd Place)
Champ Rnd 1: Jordon Rothers tech fall Julian Georgescu (Augsburg), 15-0
Quarters: Jordon Rothers dec Austin Rake (St. Cloud State), 9-3
Semis: Adam Cooling (Minnesota State) dec Jordon Rothers, 3-1
Cons Semis: Jordon Rothers med. for. Austin Boniface (Augsburg)
3rd Place: Jordon Rothers maj dec Austin Rake (St. Cloud State), 14-2

Colin Carr (3-2, 5th Place)
Champ Rnd 1: Colin Carr fall (1:34) Ryan Kottschade (Rochester Comm & Tech College)
Quarters: Colin Carr maj dec Austin Boniface (Augsburg), 13-3
Semis: Clayton Jennissen (St. Cloud State) dec Colin Carr, 3-1
Cons Semis: Austin Rake (St. Cloud State) dec Colin Carr, 5-3
5th Place: Colin Carr med. for. Austin Boniface (Augsburg)

Tijani Karaborni (1-2)
Champ Rnd 1: Bye
Quarters: Adam Colling (Minnesota State) dec Tijani Karaborni, 6-3
Round of 12: Tijani Karaborni dec Nicolas Stafford (Ridgewater), 7-2
Cons Rnd of 4: Austin Rake (St. Cloud State) dec Tijani Karaborni, 6-3

184

Dylan Anderson (2-1, 2nd Place)
Champ Rnd 1: Bye
Quarters: Dylan Anderson dec Austin Cook (Wisconsin-La Crosse), 13-11
Semis: Dylan Anderson fall (2:43) Jonah Lange (North Dakota State)
Finals: Owen Webster (Augsburg) dec Dylan Anderson, 6-1

Faris Karaborni (1-2)
Champ Rnd 1: Chevy Farris (St. Cloud State) maj dec Faris Karaborni, 15-3
Cons Rnd 1: Bye
Round of 12: Faris Karaborni dec Ben McPhail (unattached), 3-1
Cons Rnd of 4: Cory Flaata (St. Cloud State) dec (SV-1) Faris Karaborni, 3-1

Tim Christianson (0-1)
Champ Rnd 1: Cory Flaata (St. Cloud State) dec Tim Christianson, 5-2
Cons Rnd 1: Bye
Round of 12: Austin Cook (Wisconsin-La Crosse) med. for. Tim Christianson

197

Will Balow (4-1, 3rd Place)
Champ Rnd 1: Bye
Champ Rnd 2: Will Balow maj dec Mason Hawkins (Rochester Comm & Tech College), 18-5
Quarters: Will Balow fall (1:02) Alexander Bleeker (North Dakota State)
Semis: Vince Dietz (St. Cloud State) dec Will Balow, 3-2
Cons Semis: Will Balow maj dec Sebastian Larson (Augsburg), 18-4
3rd Place: Will Balow dec Trae Story (St. Cloud State), 10-3

Our Wrestlers are at MSU tonight at 6pm on BTNPlus and at MI on Sunday at 1pm. With this late post,
I didn't have time to list each match, but it looks like 32-4 MN. I'll handicap the MI match before Sunday, which should be a tough one!!

Here's an article on the weekend road trip:

Gophers Hit the Road to Open Big Ten Season

Minnesota will visit East Lansing for the first time since the 2013-14 season to take on Michigan State and begin its Big Ten dual season


Gophersports.com
Dec. 8, 2016

Match Notes Michigan State

Michigan St's Match Notes


After spending last weekend in Las Vegas for the Cliff Keen Invitational, the Gophers return to Big Ten country to get their conference slate started on Friday night against Michigan State. Sparty is a familiar face for Minnesota when it comes to open up the Big Ten season. Michigan State has been the opening conference opponent for the Gophers four of the past six seasons during which the two have appeared on each other’s schedule. Minnesota hopes to continue its run of success in those matches (4-0) on Friday.

When, Where and How

Friday’s match starts at 6 p.m. Central at Jenison Field House in East Lansing, Mich. Fans will be able to stream the action live on BTN Plus or keep tabs on the latest updates by following Gopher Wrestling on Twitter (@GopherWrestling).

So Far This Season

Michigan State (2-3) is already well into its 21-match dual schedule for this season, having spent last weekend at the Nebraska Quad. The Spartans were swept in that event, dropping matches to Nebraska, Princeton and Drexel. Prior to their trip to Lincoln, the Spartans had picked up a pair of wins on a swing through Pennsylvania, where they defeated Bloomsburg and Lock Haven.

The Green and White have competed in a pair of early season tournaments, visiting nearby Ypsilanti for the Eastern Michigan Open and hosting the Michigan State Open. No. 12 Javier Gasca won the 141-pound title in both of those events, while freshman Drew Hughes captured the 165-pound championship in the latter event.

While Sparty was in Nebraska, the Gophers were in Nevada, where they finished fourth in the Cliff Keen Invitational. No. 12 Jake Short and No. 2 Brett Pfarr won the 149- and 197-pound titles, respectively, as five Gophers placed.

In dual action, Minnesota is 1-1 this season, with a comeback victory over No. 20 South Dakota State and a loss to No. 1 Oklahoma State already in the books. Friday’s dual will be the first road contest for Minnesota this year.

Marquee Match

At 165, a pair of pinners will both work to get the other on the mat when Brandon Kingsley takes on Drew Hughes. The two currently have eight falls between them this season (two for Kingsley; six for Hughes). Last season, Kingsley pinned six opponents, with five of those falls occurring in 100 seconds or fewer.

Last Time Around

Minnesota and Michigan State last wrestled early in the 2014-15 season, a 36-3 victory for the Gophers at the Sports Pavilion. After dropping the evening’s opening match at 125 pounds, Minnesota won nine straight to close out the dual. Each team has just three starters from that match still on the roster, and half of those competitors have bumped up a weight class in the two years since that meeting. No rematches from the last meeting are expected on Friday.

Rank and File

It's expected that six ranked wrestlers will compete on Friday night - all at different weights. Five of these wrestlers will be in Maroon singlets: No. 17 Mitch McKee (133), No. 12 Jake Short (157), No. 16 Nick Wanzek (174), No. 2 Brett Pfarr (197) and No. 6 Michael Kroells (285). The lone ranked Spartan is No. 12 Javier Gasca (141).

Series History

The Gophers hold a slim edge in their all-time series with the Spartans (34-31) but have dominated the head-to-head meetings recently. Minnesota has won 19 of the last 20, including eight straight, over State, last dropping a dual to MSU in January, 2005. Only one of the eight matches during the Gophers’ current winning streak has been within eight points, and only two have been within 24.

There’s No Place Like Home

While the Gophers have logged plenty of travel miles already this year, with tournaments in New York and Las Vegas, Friday will be their first road dual of the season. Based on last year’s results, the road schedule appears less daunting than the home half for Minnesota. The Gophers’ seven home opponents had a winning percentage of .779 (81-23) last year, while their road foes posted a .527 winning percentage (38-34).

Parting Shot

Minnesota has won 10 of its past 11 Big Ten openers going back to the 2005-06 season. During that run, Michigan State has been on the other side of the mat for four of those 10 victories.

Northern Illinois is a team that is much better than their 4-4 record.. 3 of the 4 losses have been real close games where a possession or 2 went the other way on them. Those could have easily been wins for them. You could argue that they could even be undefeated as their last loss was by double digits but whittled the lead down to 6 with 2 and a half minutes left after an extremely slow start in the game. Indiana State was the opponent and Northern Illinois had beaten them earlier. Kind of a weird thing to play a non-conference opponent twice in a year, during the regular season. The point is that Northern Illinois is a team that really has not put it all together yet, in any of their games.

They have 3 seniors and the rest are either sophomores or freshmen. Senior Marin Maric is a 6-11 250lb European big that can shoot it to the 3. He has nice moves in the post, as well. He could give us fits if he plays well.. Can do a lot of things for them... Fellow senior Aeric Armstead is their 2nd leading scorer and a good all around ballplayer.. He is their best defender at 6-5. Their guards are young except for the 3rd senior Dontel Highsmith, who leads the team in steals but is not really a scoring threat.. Their other guards are interesting.. MARSHAWN WILSON is from Minnesota and has been talked about a lot.. I dont know if he is injured, just in a funk, or an off court issue as he is only averaging 2.2 points a game this year after having a good season last year. I am sure that if there is anyone that would want to have a huge game in Minnesota, it would be Marshawn. But the minutes are going to Highsmith and a sophomore named Laytwan Porter, who is shooting a blistering 57% from beyond the arc. They have 2 freshman guards that are small named Justin Thomas from Indianapolis and Eugene German from Gary that have been pretty decent in their time on the floor... Northern Illinois guards dont have much size except Armstead in the backcourt to contend with the Gophers.

Their forwards outside of Maric are a couple kids from Milwaukee named Jaylen Key and Levi Bradley. They want Key to be an active guy around the basket but Bradley is a more skilled player.. Both in that 6-7, 6-8 range.... This is a team that has a different guy has a good game each game, and in their losses, the rest of the team doesnt put together as good of a game for whatever reason.. They have more potential than what their record indicates. Very inconsistent in their play and not able to finish off opponents, at times. They have some skilled players, though

Their coach is a familiar name.. Mark Montgomery played for Michigan State as a PG in the late 80's early 90s.. He was a captain his senior year.. He became an associate head coach under Tom Izzo and was considered an up and coming star when he was hired at Northern Illinois as a head coach...He did a great job mentoring some good PGs at Michigan State before he got to be a head coach. This game will be interesting to see what happens as I could see anything from a similar result to the Georgia Southern game to a closer game like NJIT.... I think we will win but dont have a clear opinion how much difference the scores between the teams will be at the end. Northern Illinois just has not put a game together that says "this is the trend of the team".

Ta'amu tells me that he doesn't think he'll be visiting Minnesota this weekend. It's my understanding that he's still at Ole Miss.

Link: Northern Illinois preview

Top ten things I want to hear about as some of the redshirts and reserves get some extra time and attention:

1. Seth/Demry/Mark W...HAVE to hear reports that at least two (all three would be great) of these look smooth, improved, confident, elusive. Want to hear Jay Johnson say that it should a good battle heading into Spring.

2. Howard/Holland/Register/Mayer/Morse/Gentry...is Hmielewski practicing?...HAVE to hear reports that at least two of these look good, should be able to compete for playing time come Fall.

3. Witham/Kieft...really need to have one or both of these emerge as guys who can do something like what Fumagalli and Carter did for WI and NE. Would like to hear Lingen is good to go, holding out as precaution, looking forward to him full speed for Spring ball.

4. Connelly, Dovich, Schlueter, Olson...want hear good things on these four...need them to outplay or at least push/provide depth for Greene, Calhoun, Wright, Moore, Weyler, Mayes.

5. Gary Moore, Merrick inside and Gibson, Tamarion outside...Moore and Merric aren't exactly young, but need them to push Richardson and Stelter with Scott E and Timms going. DeLatti and Devers showed some things on field (although they don't seem to trust Devers except in passing downs) and would be nice to get some more de play from Tamariona no Gibson with Hank Ekpe leaving.

6. All the young linebackers were out there this year...would like to hear Poock should be 100% for Spring ball.

7. Need to hear about help coming at safety...Dior? Huff? The Kent State transfer, Dipre? Maybe a corner is growing into a safety?

8. Need to hear very good things about Kiondre, Coney...need them to fight with Buford, Shenault for Myrick spot, nickel.

9. A walk on find...Cashman emerged, Carpenter emerged.

10. Johannesson, FemiCole...it is possible Smith and Brooks could be gone after next year...MCCrary will be gone after next year...

Regents confirm they want to replace/ relocate the rec sports dome and intramural fields by Siebert to the Steel Elevator site by TCF Stadium...due to historical preservation complaints and budget concerns, decision had been delayed and some alternatives investigated...still need to clear lawsuit before demolition of elevators...new track going in current rec sports dome and field site...Kaler says replacement facility must be ready before getting rid of current dome/field...that delays new track construction

http://www.twincities.com/2016/12/0...-stadium-regents-grain-elevator-site-instead/

http://www.postbulletin.com/sports/...cle_8d7c13ed-c1f5-5cc9-82a5-ca8d131aa5ad.html

Creamer with four tds in Georgia 4A Championship game. Back to back titles for his squad, 30-0 run in '15 and '16.

Link: Holmes is golden

As I hinted at in the Saturday night recruiting updates thread, Jakyle Holmes committed to Minnesota today on his official visit! I'll recap with Holmes after he wraps up his visit.

Login to view embedded media

There's hope for our FB team to beat Whisky soon. Army just broke a 14 year drought and finally beat Navy today. Has to feel good to get that win. I can't wait.

Was looking at the last 5 year recruiting cycle and am surprised by how many never made the field and/or transferred early from what would be our upperclassmen

2012 - 7 of 27 remain as rSr (4 or 5 start)
2013 - 9 of 19 remain with about 6 making contributions (~5 start)
2014 - 17 of 22 remain with only 7 or 8 really contributing at the moment, however many may not see the field while here
2015 - All 24 remain with about 9 making regular contributions and we tend to hear lots of good things about those not playing
2016 - All 21 remain with about 10 seeing the field consistently, a little to early to tell on those not playing which isn't a surprise

Seems we had several misses with the earlier classes (not sure what the average P5 hit rate is), which has led to depth issues IMO. Will be nice if these past 2 year classes don't have as many misses

to Stanford. Wisconsin won the first 2 sets, Stanford took the last 3. Does my heart good.