June 28, 2008

Welcome to Gopher Nation Kid - Brooks Michel

The 2008 Recruiting class was heavy with wide receivers and defensive players at all positions. So far the 2009 class has loaded with offensive linemen. Typically offensive linemen take a redshirt year so the timing is probably about right since we currently have a young line. These incoming commits will take 2009 to redshirt and most of them will likely watch in 2010 then have 3 years to earn starting spots.

Brooks Michel, welcome to Gopher Nation.

Size: 6'7", 280 lbs
High School: Carmel HS, Indiana
Stars: 3 (Rivals)
Rank: NR
Notes: defending state champs, All-State Honorable Mention
Other Offers: NC State, Kentucky

For those of you looking forward to the 4 or 5 star, top 100 kid, you may be disappointed. For the second commit in a row this isn't that rock star verbal, but maybe you can take comfort in the adage that offensive line is the hardest to project and accurately assign stars. The godfather of recruiting rankings, Tom Lemmings, has been quoted as saying so, and after reading Bruce Feldman's "Meat Market: Inside the Smash-Mouth World of College Football Recruiting" it also became clear that stars mean nothing to coaching staffs. Gopher fans also know this very well as Greg Esslinger (2-star) and Mark Setterstrom (3-star) were lowly ranked and unheralded players who ended up dominating the Big Ten.

Back to Michel. He is a big kid who as a junior helped lead his Carmel Greyhounds to the Indiana State Championship. He is our third offensive linemen of the seven verbals we have received to date.

Let's hope he brings that championship pedigree to the Gophers.

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