From MJH via Twitter. Happy to see this...finally.

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No love for the Gophers again

Gophers picked to finish near bottom of Big Ten West by media
"Easier" schedule fails to inspire confidence: team picked to finish 5th in West in preseason poll.

By Joe Christensen Star Tribune

JULY 22, 2016 — 10:48PM

Gophers senior quarterback Mitch Leidner

Even with a lighter Big Ten schedule this year, the Gophers are listed as heavy underdogs to win the Big Ten West.

Minnesota was picked fifth in the division — behind Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Northwestern — in the annual preseason media poll released Friday by Cleveland.com.

The Gophers also were picked fifth two years ago, when they went 5-3 in conference play, losing a decisive game to Wisconsin for the division title.

Last year, the media picked the Gophers third in the West, and they went 2-6 in conference play, tying for fifth place.

This year, the Big Ten is switching to a nine-game conference schedule. After drawing interdivision games against heavyweights Ohio State and Michigan the past two years, the Gophers appear to have a lighter load this year, facing Penn State, Maryland and Rutgers from the East.


Tracy Claeys is entering his first full season as Minnesota’s coach, and senior Mitch Leidner returns at quarterback for a squad with a new offensive coordinator, in Jay Johnson.

The media picked Ohio State to win the Big Ten Championship, as the Buckeyes received 27 of 39 votes to win the title, despite losing 16 starters from last year’s team. The Buckeyes were picked first in the East, followed closely by Michigan and then defending conference champion Michigan State.

Big Ten Media Days run next Monday and Tuesday in Chicago. The Gophers open training camp on Aug. 5, and play their first game on Sept. 1, at home against Oregon State.

One of, if not the biggest question mark for Minnesota this year is the depth and overall talent of the defensive ends. I take an early look at the position right here:

https://minnesota.rivals.com/news/position-preview-defensive-ends-1

Link: All-Rivals Team: Top players from the final live period

That's a big deal. Gophers were good to get in on Bede early, and I guarantee you he's genuinely interested in Minnesota.

TC---Better public speaker than JK.Does not say "you know" as often

MJH-Thanks for being there AND asking a question.

There seems to be big variants as to what a successful football program would look like.

What would it take for you to say "our program is successful and I'm happy with where we're at"

There's an article in the STRIB about summer practice. He says he's faster and twice as good as he was before. He doesn't mention anybody else. He did say he got to talk to Peyton Manning almost every day at his camp. Manning suggested he take care of the offensive line. Good advice, considering last year. I don't know what he can do to keep them healthy, though. I suppose he means show them lots of love.

I have a brother that lived in Philadelphia for a few years and I attended the HS basketball tournament BACK TO THE BEACH in neighboring Wilmington, Delaware for a few years.. Great HS hoops as the best teams from Philly, Baltimore, Washington DC and the prep schools like Oak Hill would play there,, I was much more serious at the time about wanting to get into scouting for basketball so I would make the 8 hour trip to watch these teams.

If you are a hoops junkie like me, Philadelphia is one of the towns you want to visit, if for no other reason the nostalgia.. To see where these kids would end up in the Big 5 schools in the city(Villanova, LaSalle, St Joe, Penn, and Temple)... Trust me, the ride is a bit daunting as Temple, for instance, is off Broad Street and the neighborhood is really rough around it.. I have driven by most of the colleges and HS that produced the famous players in the Philadelphia area. I just thought it would be fun to list some of them though I have only been into 2 of the gyms to watch games(Overbrook and Roman Catholic). I thought I would list some of the more famous HS that produced famous players and other stars so if you visit Philly, you could go to the area just for nostalgia.

OVERBROOK: Modern day would identify this as the HS of Will Smith, the actor... It is a hoops nostalgia area as it has produced close to a dozen NBA players in its history.. Wilt Chamberlain, Walt Hazzard, Andre McCarter(John Wooden's last PG at UCLA), Lewis Lloyd, Malik Rose, Wali Jones, Mike Hale, and a few others that made the NBA.. All Philly HS that are old have the Gothic architecture, which is interesting in and of itself.. Overbrook sits on a hill and is definitely not in the safest part of town in NW Philly. Great experience nonetheless. St Joes University is right on the edge of the neighborhood that has all row houses(none are detached).

ROMAN CATHOLIC; The easiest HS in the city to get to because it is right off the highway.. Dont have to go into the scary rough neighborhoods like Overbrook.. HS home of football player Marvin Harrison.... But also the hoops home of Eddie Griffin(played for the T-Wolves), Dallas Comegys, Mike Bantom, Matt Guokas, Speedy Morris.

JOHN BARTRAM: SW Philly where Earl Monroe and Joe Bryant went to school.. SADLY, turns out the scariest school of them all as teachers have been routinely assaulted at this school.

SIMON GRATZ: Close to downtown where Rasheed Wallace, Aaron McKie, and others attended... Beautiful building. Another dangerous school but great Philly hoops teams. Home of Leroy Kelly(NFL) and his brother, Pat Kelly(MLB), Roy Campanella(famous catcher).

Kobe Bryant went to Lower Merion which is a wealthy HS that is more a college prep school.. Has lecture halls like a college so its a way different setting. Pooh Richardson went to Ben Franklin HS which is also toward the center of downtown. Rip Hamilton went to Coatesville, which is outside the city aways.

Philly hoops has lots of history that is way more exciting than the Democratic National Convention so I thought I would share this as an alternative read.

to Indiana?? Tough loss as this was a big target for the staff. Given his previous flip flopping it may not be over.

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These were just thrown together quickly, and are only an indication of the overall picture of the recruiting, coaching and every other factor that can influence the overall record year by year. This just puts together some longer-term basic facts.

*I didn't take time to do Cal Stoll and Gutey. Cal would be ranked third above Mason and Gutey would have been right mixed in with Mason and Kill.

I can hardly wait to start the OFFICIAL watch of how TC will stack up against some of these examples. Each coach had the program at different periods and stages of the history of Gopher Football.

A few questions: Would Bernie and Murray have fared as well if the ties were taken out and they had to play more conference games? Also, it would appear that in many regards Kill & Mason were quite equal. Was it a help for Kill to have TCF BANK STADIUM? Or, is that a non-factor?


Obviously, Bernie and Murray didn't play as many games per season, and didn't have as many bowl games. Games also ended in ties during their era.
The ratio of Big Ten wins vs Big Ten losses tells a story though.

Of the Big Ten games played each season:

Bierman won 70%
Warmath won 54%
Stoll won 48%
Mason won 40%
Gutey won 39.6%
Kill won 39%
Brewster won 23%


Coach # of Seasons # wins per season # losses per season # Big Ten Wins # Big Ten Losses
Bierman 16 5.8 2.2 3.5 1.75
Warmath 18 4.8 4.3 3.8 3.2
Stoll 7 5.5 5.5 3.8 4.2
Mason 10 6.4 5.7 3.2 4.8
Gutey 6 4.8 6.2 3.0 4.7 ties .30
Kill 4.5 6.4 6.4 3.2 4.8
Brewster 3.6 4.2 8.3 1.8 6.2

First off, sorry about yesterday. The WiFi I was using was using yesterday was down all evening, but I should have lots of content today.

Mark Dantonio - Michigan State

• We've been able to retain our staff. THat happens because of our administration and I thank our staff for that. We've not had a lot of attrition. We've had five leave, and three became head coaches and one went to the NFL.
• Our seniors have their best years. You look at Aaron Burbridege last lear, you look at what Connor Cook was able to do. We've established a culture with that.
• We've had a great recruiting class. We've built classes on top of each other. You'll see some young receivers playing this year. Our guys expect to win.
• I don't know Lovie that well, but I think his track record as a football coach is very well received. Great coach and I've heard great things about him as a person. I think Illinois made a great hire.
• The Alabama game kind of got out of hand, but I thought it was competitive in the first half. I told my staff we've got this far, but we still have a ways to go. There will be ups-and-downs, and that was a down time, and it's all about how you do in the down times. It's part of the process, and Michigan State is a part of the process.
• You always have things in mind about quarterback. We lost a lot of experience, but I think we have four guys who are Big Ten-type guys, can throws and run. Tyler O'Connor is in the lead for the quarterback spot right now. He's been behind a great quarterback for a while now.
• Malik McDowell is a playmaker, there's not doubt about that. He's big, physical, and comes to play every single game. He'll only be a true junior this year. I think this is the year that catapults him. We have some other great defensive players too. Ed Davis is in his fifth year. We lost a lot of players, but have a lot of talent coming back.
• Riley Bullough is a sideline-to-sideline guy that studies the game hard and is an extremely great leader.
• I'm surprised to hear James Franklin's claim that MSU has negative recruited Penn State. That's not our mo. I've not said anything negative about Penn State. Negative recruiting is not how we do business.
• There's a culture that the expectation is there to win and the confidence is there to win. Our players know how to win, and when the game has been close, we've won. At the same time, we've had guys that were born on third but should be on first and we have to get them up to speed and let them know that you have to work hard to win football games.

Feel free to post links, tweets, and whatever else in here.

Elazazy talks camp performance, energy of Bart Miller

The Gophers staff has already filled all their needs offensive lineman recruiting in 2017, but Menasha (Wis.) lineman Mohammed Elazazy was at the Gophers elite camp and stood out to the coaches. Not likely an offer coming his way, but a name to keep an eye on. Also, it's great to see the impact Bart Miller is already having on recruits. Young guys really enjoy a high-energy guy as there position coach, and he's definitely making an early impression on recruits and players.

Link: Athletic, 6-8 rising 2017 prospect plans to visit Texas

Texas is on Jericho very hard, and they're probably Minnesota's biggest competition for Sims right now.

Sims picked up an offer from UConn this morning, by the way.

Yes, only 2 at a time will normailly play in a 4-3, maybe different if you have a 3-4 where you need your d-line to hold the point of attack(and ideally force the o-line to double team the front so the LBs get freed up to make plays.... At any rate, I think you have to recruit and develop with the idea of your 2 deeps as starters at DT, even more than other positions.. Those guys get leaned on, hit, chop blocked by big o-linemen every play and then pursue.. At their size, they can tire fast, Whether you alternate on different plays within a series or alternate on successive series, to me you have to alternate those guys unless you get those athletes like Hageman or intensity like Botticelli.

I hope we get at least 4 d-tackles without losing talent as I think a good way to recruit is to point out to a perspective college player that the top 4 d tackles on the team are ALL TECHNICALLY STARTERS.. Each needed as much as the other. With Jackson and Richardson, who else do we have and how many more do we need??

Link: A look at new offer Isaiah Mucius

I had Prep Hoops Iowa writer TJ Rushing watch 2018 four-star Isaiah Mucius after the Gophers offered on Sunday.

Wow!! And the congratulatory high fives...

https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/20457

Minnesota is the first power five offer for East Limestone (Ala.) athlete Reed Blankenship. You can watch his Hudl here.

The weeklong 2016 Cadet and Junior Nationals wrestling tournament has just finished up at the Fargodome today. This is a very large tournament with 1200 wrestlers, including high school and recently graduating seniors in both Freestyle and Greco-Roman divisions...and along with US/World Team Trials, it's the most prestigious tournament of the year.

Several current Gopher commits and future recruiting targets put on a very good showing this week! These were:

- 2016/17 Mitch McKee (St. Michael-Albertville) won the 138# Greco-Roman title on Tuesday and Mitch did not give up a point...he won all of his matches with a total score of 61-0!! McKee also wrestled Freestyle later in the week and took 4th in maybe the toughest weight class of the tournament. To me, Mitch looked a little tired in Freestyle as he lost his last two matches to 2017/18 #5 ranked Nick Lee (PSU) and 2016/17 #34 ranked Carter Happel (IA). Still being a double AA in one week's time is quite a feat!!

- 2016/17 commits 145# Hunter Marko and 182# Dylan Anderson both finished short of AA status in Freestyle, with 4-2 and 5-2 records, respectively.

- 2016/17 commit Owen Webster (Scott West) won the 182# Freestyle title in very impressive fashion by a 10-0 tech. fall over highly ranked Kevin Parker of New York. And 2016/17 commit 170# Lucas Jeske (St. M-A) won two matches in Freestyle, but did not make it to AA. Both Webster and Jeske have signed NLI's, but have not been admitted yet by the U. Jeske seems to have fallen back a bit lately, but Webster is a major stud, so I hope we are able to get both wrestlers qualified soon!

There is a wealth of young talent in MN now and many of these wrestlers did very well at Fargo.

Future recruits:

- 2018/19 Patrick McKee, younger brother of 2016/17 Mitch McKee (St. M-A - #8 ranked at 106 lbs.) took 3rd at 113#s by tech. fall 14-4 over Lajoie of MI (he reeled off 14 straight points for the win!). Pat looks very impressive and his ranking will continue to improve over the next couple of years!!

- 2017/18 Brent Jones (Shakopee) took 5th at 132# by fall in 2:14 over Brock Rathbun (IA).

- 2018/19 Alex Lloyd (Shakopee) took 7th place by tech fall 13-2 over Zach Barnes (IA). Lloyd can really score as he has an excellent "gut wrench"!!

- 2017/18 #34 ranked Jake Allar (St. M-A) won the 160 lb. title by 10-0 tech fall over Max Wohlbaugh (FL). In the semis, he beat highly ranked Evan Wick (CA - WI commit) 4-3 with some unbelievable single leg defense...the best I've ever seen!!). Allar is on a big rise and might be a good take for us!!

Other MN placers:

- Griffin Parriott (New Prague - Purdue commit) won the 152# title by tech fall 10-0 over Zander Wick (CA - WI commit) and I don't think he gave up a point!!

- Keegan Moore (Jackson County Central - OK State commit) lost by tech fall 15-4 at 220#s to highly ranked Sam Shields-Colbray (IA State commit). Moore was undersized for this weight, but will be a force in the future for the Cowpokes!!


Still no news on the JRob/Xanax scandal...hopefully soon!! (Next week??)

We need to get this settled as we are in some hot recruiting battles for highly ranked 2017's:

- 120 lb. #17 Justin Mejia (Clovis, CA - we're in the final 2-3),
- 160 lb. #9 ranked Brady Berge (Kasson-Mantorville - we're in his final 3)
- 182 lb. #8 ranked Jacob Warner (Washington, IL - in his top 3),

I can't confirm this, but I did hear that all the assistant coaches signed contracts for next year and that Brandon Eggum did a home visit with Mejia in the last 10 days. So at least we are continuing to be very out front in our recruiting.

Resolution soon...I hope!!!

Leave after work thursday...return mon morning...176 at sun country.

Link: Wright talks recruiting, Bede, final July eval period, Wabissa Bede

Link: Croslen talks Gopher commitment

Joshua Croslen just tweeted his commitment, giving the Gophers another Plan A guy. Croslen visited for the BBQ, which paid off.

https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/maple/169053

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tonight was hilarious. His review of the RNC convention was crazy and liked his review of songs used by politicians too
and this for our friends

Can't wait to see his review of the DNC convention.

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Isaiah Mucius has received an offer from Minnesota. He plays for PSA Cardinals and is the No. 33 player in the 2018 class.