November 21, 2007

Welcome to Gopher Nation kid

Well there have been a few common themes for the 2007 gopher football team.

  1. The defense is terrible each and every game. Holding a team to under 500 yards was something we got excited about and looked at as an improvement.
  2. We lost. A LOT. We lost games and we lost by a lot of points usually.
  3. Following a home loss, we would usually land a significant recruit or two.
Last week was no differentPublish Post. The gophers lost to Wisconsin. It was a close game and we held them to under 450 yards (WoooHOOO!). And then we followed up the loss with a string of recruits committing to the program.

Please take the time to welcome the following kids to Gopher Nation

Hey-Hey, We've got Big Play Traye!

CB - Tray Simmons (pictured right)is our fourth, 4-star recruit. BPT is expected to come in and be an immediate starter. I couldn't be happier that we are landing highly ranked kids at key positions. This was one of they key guys that gopher fans (who are paying attention) wanted Brewster to land. He is a more experienced than a high school kid and should be ready to contribute immediately. I'm afraid that I'm heaping too many expectations on him but he should be an upgrade over the current group of corners. This a big signing!

ATH - DaJon McKnight - The potential Skyline-4 is up to the Skyline 3 (just waiting on Keanon Cooper)! McKnight is clearly the lowest rated of the 4, but he is big (6'3") and fast so I'm sure he'll be able to help us out. I don't know yet where he'll play, my guess is WR, but there is speculation he'll play defense.

McKnight's Skyline Raiders have won their first game of the Texas big division playoffs (5A) and are in the final 16 remaining teams. They won @ Tyler Lee 28-10 with Troy Stoudermire having another great game rushing for 171 yards and 2 TDs. Next up the Raiders will play against Rowlett (6-5) @ Texas Stadium. Rowlett upset previously undefeated Allen (#3 in Texas) 37-32.

RB - Maurice Greer (pictured right)- another Denver Mullen kid. Greer is a JUCO transfer who was a highly rated RB out of high school. In fact he was the #1 rated player in Colorado as a senior and committed to the University of Colorado. Fans in Gopher Nation are pretty excited about this one. Personally I am a big fan of Duane Bennett but if Greer comes in and brings more to the field than Bennett who am I to complain.

WR - Xavier Brandon - a 2-star recruit out of the Atlanta area, and is actually a classmate of basketball recruit Ralph Sampson. Brandon is 6'2" and runs a 4.48 40. Brandon makes 3 WRs in this recruiting class with the potential for a few of the "athletes" to eventually be a WR. A position that once was very thin on depth (and talent) now looks to be a position that will be a strength over the next several years.

Newcomers I anticipate will be immediate starters...
  • LB - Sam Maresh
  • LB - Spencer Reeves
  • S - Simoni Lawrence
  • CB - Traye Simmons
  • CB - Troy Stoudermire (also PR and maybe WR)
  • WR - Brandon Green
  • DE - Anthony Jacobs (currently redshirting)
My Top 5 remaining Uncommiteds...
  1. DL - Willie Mobley - immediate starter
  2. DT - Jewhan Edwards - immediate starter
  3. QB - MarQueis Gray
  4. S - Keanon Cooper - could start
  5. CB - Prentiss Wagner - could start

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