Football Recruiting

Keeping track of football recruiting this spring has been exciting and exhausting. Coach Brewster and his staff have been working their tails off to get Minnesota in front of many of the top recruits in the country. With the list of scholarship offers upwards of 100 it is difficult to track.

Based on reading various sites here is a list of 14 talented kids who will 1-drastically improve the talent level on the team and 2-are seriously considering Minnesota. If we have a scholarship in front of a top 10 player but we don't have a realistic shot at signing him I didn't put him on this list.

• QB
• Matt Scott (Cali) - 3-star, dual threat QB who attended last weekends camp on campus. Scott appears to be nearing a decision and it appears that MN has a VERY good shot at landing him. Tough to say where he would fit in with the current group of QBs (Mortenson, Weber (rsFr) and Brewster (Fr)), but landing the 8th overall dual threat QB (according to Rivals) would be an upgrade in overall talent.
• Darron Thomas (TX) - 3-star QB who also attended camp last week. Thomas is not a likely sign as he is favoring LSU.
• RB
• Ryan Bass (Cali) - 4-star and Rivals top 250 RB who is teammates with QB Matt Scott. Bass mentions MN along with Ole Miss, San Diego State and Arizona. Of this list Bass would be in my top 5 I want to land.
• WR
• Deion Walker (Virg) - 5-star and #20 overall according to Rivals. Also, not a likely future gopher. We are on his list, have offered a scholarship but his list is extensive. We may be helped out by the fact that he could have an immediate impact in an offense that will feature the WR position. I'm not holding my breath though.
• Mike Floyd (MN) - 4-star, #52 overall and 8th best WR. Floyd attends Cretin and is being heavily recruited by Ohio State, Notre Dame and Michigan (among others). I've said this before but Floyd is a MUST HAVE for Brewster. We need WRs and we need to establish that we can keep our best here at the U. He is currently on a trip to take unofficial visits to Wis, Mich, Ohio St and Notre Dame this weekend. Pray for rain!
• Brandon Green (Chicago) - 4-star and Rivals top 250. Green has offers from most other Big Ten schools but my gut tells me he will end up wearing maroon and gold on Saturdays in 2008.
• OT
• Joe Schafer (St. Paul) - 3-star OT with offers from Wis, NW, Stan, Mizz and Ill. Schafer is another hometown kid that we should land. He won't be challenging for the Outland Trophy or anything but the 6'5", 262 lb kid would be a welcome addition to the OL that will be graduating soon.
• DE
• Willie Mobley (Eden Prairie) - 4-star and Rivals top 250. Mobley is #2 on the list of MN kids we have to get. I would bet he'll be a Gopher but he is also entertaining offers from Ohio State, Iowa, Colorado, Arizona, UCLA, Oklahoma and Wisconsin.
• Kapron Lewis-Moore (TX) - 4-star DE who would provide more talent to the side of the ball that needs it most. Kapron has offers from Neb, OK, ND, OK St, Tex A&M, TTech, Vir and Wis.
  
• DJ Marshall (TX) - 3-star recruit, not ranked as highly as commit Brandon Kelly but again this side of the ball needs all the talent it can acquire. Only has offers from Iowa State and Minnesota but is gaining interest from other D1 schools.
• LB
• Leonard Hubbard (Illinois) - 3-star who has narrowed list to Iowa, Minn and Wis. It would be nice to start winning some of these little recruiting battles with the Hawkeyes and Buckeyes. Hubbard would be a solid addition to the LB core. I think that Sam Maresh (already committed and #15 LB) is going to be more of a stud but Hubbard would surely contribute.
• Spencer Reeves (Dallas) - 3-star OLB says that Kansas State and Minnesota are at the top of his list but that can always change when higher profile schools come calling. I don't know much about Reeves, but he is one of a handful of kids we are recruiting from Dallas Skyline High School. Landing 1 could lead to landing a 2nd and then a 3rd, etc.
• CB
• Prentiss Waggner (Clinton, LA) - 4-star corner who has offers from the likes of Aub, Minn, S Miss and LaTech. 70 tackles and 16 INTs as a Jr. As previously stated (10 times) we need more talent on defense. I know little about Waggner but a 4-star recruit indicates he has some talent and if we can wrestle him from Auburn we could have ourselves some help on defense.
• S
• Keanon Cooper (Dallas) - 3-star safety with some speed. Cooper is another Skyline kid who would help our pass defense. Cooper has offers from KanSt, LSU, Mich, OK, Pur and Wis so he has a number of big time schools on his recruiting trail.
  

So who are my top 5 you ask?

1. Mike Floyd (RB) - highly talented and the best in the state. I've said it 20 times on this blog, he is a MUST HAVE for Brewster
2. Willlie Mobley (DE) - another in state stud. Mobley would greatly help our beleaguered defense and would be another in state kid that Brewster kept home.
3. Brandon Green (WR) - we need good WRs to run this new offense. Green is the 36th best WR according to Rivals and would certainly help us.
4. Matt Scott (QB) - I don't know much about this QB but the coaching staff seems to love him and maybe he's the guy Coach Dunbar could develop as the next Brett Basanez.
   
5. Ryan Bass (RB) - We'll need someone to carry the ball next year with Pinnix graduating. I know this is an offense happy list but we've already received LB and DE commitments.

The 14 kids listed above are not the only kids being recruited. This is just MY list of guys who are very good and we have a realistic shot at landing. Now we wait and see what happens!