We Will Make History Again

check out the new Golden Gopher Football video on the U of M's website.

We Are Gopher Nation

Bring on the season, it is a new era! (I hope)

We have a basketball commitment!

Paul Carter - PF/SF - has committed to Tubby and staff. Carter is an redshirted JUCO freshman and will have 3 years of eligibility for the Golden Gophers. At 6'8" he will fill a need in the paint, but at 190 lbs he won't be a banger or likely a strong post defender. Carter's JUCO coach says he will remind Gopher fans of Quincy Lewis. That is a good thing and a bad thing. We like guys who can score but we also lose all of our inside presence after this season and a thin PF/SF will only help so much.

You can watch Paul play this year as Missouri State-West Plains will be playing Mpls CC on Nov 24th. Get your tickets now.

Ultimately this is a good thing as we need size (vertically and horizontally) and help scoring beginning next season. Here is a look at what we can expect the 2008-09 roster to look like (my projected starters in bold)...

G
Jamal Abu-Shamala - Sr
Kevin Payton - Jr
Lawrence Westbrook - Jr
Blake Hoffarber - So
Nate Garth - RsFr
Al Nolen - RsFr


F
Brandon Smith - Sr
Travis Busch - Sr
Damien Johnson - Jr
Paul Carter - So

C
Jonathan Williams - Sr

Reports are that on Sept 7th we will have 2 official visits from a couple big men. Ralph Sampson III (6'11", 220) and Colton Iverson (6'9", 240) will both be on campus. This is a big date landing 1 of these young guys is a must and both would be very good. Sampson leads my recruit wish list, but Iverson will fill a need. I'd love to see these guys starting along side each other in a couple years.

Virgin Blog Poller

Well, I have submitted my first blog poll. Please rip my picks and tell me why I'm such an idiot. I am MUCH more knowledgeable on college basketball but I'm anxious for this FB season and looking forward to expanding my expertise on the best fall sport around.

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Southern Cal	25
2	Michigan	24
3	LSU	23
4	Texas	22
5	Oklahoma	21
6	Louisville	20
7	Florida	19
8	Arkansas	18
9	California	17
10	West Virginia	16
11	Penn State	15
12	Wisconsin	14
13	Georgia	13
14	Tennessee	12
15	Ohio State	11
16	UCLA	10
17	Virginia Tech	9
18	TCU	8
19	Auburn	7
20	Oregon	6
21	Florida State	5
22	Nebraska	4
23	Rutgers	3
24	Boise State	2
25	Hawaii	1

Dropped Out:

Before I get ripped too much I feel compelled to defend myself.

1. Michigan at #2? - YES, and I did this for 2 reasons. First of all Brian at MGO Blog runs this prestigious blog poll and I am clearly sucking up. Secondly, Michigan returns some serious weapons at several skill positions. Hart, Manningham, Henne and Long are all NFL talent. USC is clearly the team to beat but all other teams have holes, Michigan does too but their strengths are too much to keep them down. Also they have just about all of their tough games at home (Ohio State, Penn, State, Minnesota, etc.). I think they'll be the underdog to USC in the BCS title game.
2. After Michigan so tough on Big 10 - Yes, I think this will be a tough year on the Big Ten. OSU is down, I think the loss of Stocco will be bigger than anticipated for Wisconsin and Penn State might be the clear 2nd best team but they are not unbeatable.
3. TCU is my sleeper - they will be this year's Rutgers.
4. High on QBs and therefore Pac-10 - I think that QBs in college FB are much more important than at the NFL level (see Grossman in Chicago, Dilfer in Bal, etc.). I don't care what kind of hype surrounds the incoming QBs at OSU, LSU, Flor, Wis, Notre Dame, Nebraska, etc, they are still virgin hands under their respective center's butt. This is why I have several Pac-10 teams ranked higher than averaged. USC (duh), Oregon, UCLA and Cal. Usually I think any team after USC is vastly overrated, but this might be a strong year for the Pac-10.
   

That is enough justification for now, more to come on a weekly basis.

Bryce Webster is gone (plenty of Scholarships now available!)

I'm sure that most of you know Bryce Webster has been granted a release from the basketball team. This has been rumored for several weeks and most saw this coming. PJS has also commented on this situation, but I feel compelled to throw in my 2 cents.

While Bryce was ineffective (very) last season, this will impact the program. We lose several important players with the 2007-08 senior class, biggest (pun intended) of all are frontcourt players Spencer Tollackson and Dan Coleman. We have razor thin depth at all positions but there is at least there is marginal hope or potential with a few G/F's. Incoming freshman Hoffarber, incoming recruit Nate Garth, Junior-Brandon Smith have some potential, and I hold out marginal hope for Kevin Payton and Damien Johnson to at least contribute at the Big Ten level.

None of those five can play the 4 or 5 so there is a MAJOR problem that will hit this program very soon. I know Tubby is working hard to land a big man or two, BUT he hasn't landed anybody yet and we should all be concerned.

NCAA rules allow each D1 program to have 13 scholarships. Next year's club should have the following players on scholarship...

• Graduating 2008-09
• Smith - G/F
• Abu-Shamala - SG
• Williams - C
• Graduating 2009-10
  
• D. Johnson - SF
• Payton - PG
• Westbrook - G
• Graduating 2010-11
  
• Hoffarber - SG
• Nolan - PG
  
• Graduating 2011-12
  
• Garth - G

I'm assuming that Busch is not on scholarship and we can all hope that Abu-Shamala will have to forfeit his schollie for a legit basketball player before he graduates, it was awfully generous of Monson to pay for Jamal's education this year.

That leaves 4 scholarships available (maybe 5 if Jamal's isn't renewed). And 7 over the next 2 years. Tubby and staff are working hard on bringing in some big men and rumor has it that they are working the JUCO circuit pretty hard.

I'm enjoying the recruiting process for Brewster and the football team. But I would say that the basketball recruiting stories are MUCH more critical to immediate success.

This isn't a recruit post, but the Webster release is going to loom bigger than the collective yawn it has received from Gopher Nation. As I already stated, we have razor thin depth in the frontcourt and at this point we will be heading into the following season with Jonathan Williams as our only player to man the paint and the only player on the team over 6'7". That should scare you very much!

Gopher Nation quick hitters

There has been a minor explosion of newsworthy items in Gopher Nation.

Hockey - I don't see Gopher Puck's comments on this yet but the hockey team has lost it's 3rd underclassman defenseman to the NHL. Jim O'Brien has signed with Ottawa and will play on their minor league team in Seattle. O'Brien was a forward last year as a freshman and finished with 7 goals and 8 assists. He was scheduled to move to defense for his sophomore season. I am not familiar enough with the roster or incoming recruits to know who will see an increase in their minutes.

Men's Basketball - the Big Ten schedule has been released. As many of you know the schedule is expanding from 16 to 18 games meaning there will not be just 2 teams that you will play only one time. The Gophers will miss Purdue and Iowa a 2nd time around. Not quite as nice a missing Wis, OSU or Indiana but there isn't much you can do about it. Home games against Mich, Ind and Iowa will be on ESPN. The home Ohio State game on March 1st (or 2nd) potentially could be on CBS.

Football - we all know that fall practice has begun. Brewster and crew have returned from Collegeville and have now begun two-a-days. Recruiting has been uber-interesting this summer as TBrew is trying to drastically upgrade the overall talent on the team. By all accounts there will be a handful of true freshmen who will contribute (if not start) for your 2007 Golden Gophers. HERE is a relatively current depth chart.

Volleyball - one of the many minor sports that the Gophers have excelled at in recent years. Volleyball is a West Coast sport and Minnesota (along with Penn State and Nebraska) is one of the teams east of California who can compete with anybody. The most recent recruiting class was ranked 4th in the nation, behind Stanford, Texas and USC. This marks the third time in five seasons they have had a top 5 recruiting class. Their season open Aug. 24 vs. Notre Dame as these women try to improve on their NCAA Regional appearance from last year.

Here are some general NCAA Football newsworthy items...

ESPN "expert" Picks - ESPN weighs in on conference champ predictions as well as BCS Champs. It looks like the nation is fighting for 2nd as USC was the unanimous favorite and pretty much the entire Big Ten is fighting for 2nd behind Michigan. Also noteworthy is that Bowling Green is the most common pick as MAC East Champ with Miami(Ohio), another Gopher opponent, also getting some votes as MAC-E champ.

Sunday Morning QB - with their Big Ten preview, yet another expert picking the Golden Gophers to not even finish in the top 10 of the Big Ten!



The Hawkeye Compulsion - this is a great interview, story with Ron Zook.



Michigan Sports Center says 2007 National Championship or BUST!


Buckeye Banter's Big 10 Preview - last place for the gophers, AGAIN

Gopher Nation Offical Recruit want lists...

After doing some browsing I have found a few new names that I'd like to add to both Football and Basketball's lists. I will now put the official list on the right sidebar.

Football Official Top 15(16)
v3

1. Mike Floyd - WR
2. Willie Mobley - LB
3. Brandon Green - WR
4. Ryan Bass - RB
5. Deion Walker - WR
6. Marqueis Gray - QB
7. Keanon Cooper - S - I think we have a better shot at Cooper than Brewster so he moves up 1 spot
   
8. Nolan Brewster - S
   
9. Spencer Reeves - LB
10. Kapron Lewis-Moore - DE
11. DJ Marshall - DT
12. Tray Simmons - CB - JUCO 4-star (scout.com) - College of Sequoias. This is simple we need CBs and Simmons appears to be a good one who won't be as green as a true freshman.
13. Dewawn Whitner - DT
14. Cordale Scott - WR
15. Harry Adams - WR
    
16. Prentiss Wagner - CB - he's a possible "get" until LSU decides to offer, then he'll be a Tiger.

Dropped off

Darron Thomas - QB/Ath - Darron was ranked 12th, but he seemed like a logical choice to take off the list. WR and CB are areas of extreme need while QB isn't as pressing with Brewster redshirting and the possibility of MarQueis Gray joining Gopher Nation. I'd be happy to have him but not top 15(16)

Basketball Official Top 10(11)
v2

The second list is going to be a bit different as I have stumbled accross a few more names that intrigue me...

1. Elroy Vargas - PF - 5 star and #10 overall
   
2. Ralph Sampson III - C - 4 star
   
3. Festus Ezeli - C - JUCO
4. Devoe Joseph - SG - 4 star
5. Colton Iverson - SF/PF - 3 star
6. Paul Carter - PF - JUCO
7. Tony Dennison - SG - JUCO - big time scorer!
   
8. Stan Simpson - PF - 3 star - moving down my list, I just prefer the guys ahead of him
   
9. Klay Thompson - SF - 3-star - moving up everyone's list and gaining big time offers. Most notably he is the son of former Golden Gopher great Mychal Thompson. Klay appeared headed to Pepperdine to play with his brother but recent offers from MN and others may change that.
   
10. Travis Leslie - SF - 4-star - #22 overall SF according to Rivals and very athletic. Currently has no offers but interest from several big time schools.
    
11. Orlando Allen - C - JUCO
    

Dropped Off

Lewis Jackson - PG - 3 star
Justin Brownlee - SF - 4 star

Lets talk some basektball

I would consider myself much more of a basketball guy than a football guy. I love football and I think I know more than your average rube on the technical aspects of the game. But having spent several years coaching basketball at the collegiate level, I have a deeper passion and knowledge base for basketball.

So after that self-promotion, my point...This has been a football heavy blog for the last couple months and it's time for some basketball info.

This is not going to be a 2007-08 season preview but I need to state my thoughts as a starting point. I think there is actually talent on this current roster. Not the kind of talent to finish top 3 in the conference or make a run into the tournament. But enough talent that on a given night they can beat just about anybody this year (with Wis and OSU down and nobody significantly up). A top 5 finish (read 4th or 5th) and a bubble team that makes the tourney is not out of the question, imo.

Why I think this and what kind of meds I'm taking can be discussed another time.

My point for this particular post is that while I think there is some talent for 2007-08, there is very little talent (read NONE) for the following season. Nathan Garth may come in and help out as a red shirted freshmen but that won't make up for losing Coleman, Tollackson and McKenzie. Last season's "prized" recruit was Bryce Webster. Webster was supposed to provide some stability and an inside presence after this year's senior big men graduated. Well Bryce is very likely leaving the team (and quiting basketball altogether).

So that leaves the 2008-09 roster looking something like this...

PG - Nate Garth - rsFr
SG - Abu-Shamala - Sr (God help us)
SF - Brandon Smith - Sr (if he's still on the team, he is talented)
PF - Damian Johnson - Jr
C - um, Jonathan Williams? - Sr

Hoffarber - So
Kevin Payton - Jr
Lawrence Westbrook - Jr
Travis Busch - Sr
Al Nolen - So

That is an awful lineup that would struggle in the MIAC (not really, but they'd be bad). Garth may be decent, Smith is very talented and I have hope for Damian Johnson and Hoffarber but there just isn't Big Ten talent/depth there.

How will Tubby and staff give us a roster worth watching in 2008-09? Even with a stellar recruiting class of incoming freshmen, it will be tough to win with that roster. From the sounds of it Tubby is hitting the JUCO circuit rather hard.

• Paul Carter - PF, 6'8", Missouri-West Plains - Carter is almost a certain Gopher. He has 3 other offers but lists MN as a clear cut #1. Good news is that the other offers are from weaker schools like Baylor, Charlotte and Wyoming. The bad news is that the only other schools offering are Baylor, Charlotte and Wyoming. He will have 3 seasons of eligibility left at the D1 level and as we have seen with other Tubby recruits he is known as a coachable kid, who has leadership traits and a strong work ethic. We will keep an eye on Carter and his successes this season. "Paul is a special player. He will be one of the premier players in Region 16 and the country," head coach Brian Ostermann said to JucoJunction "He will challenge for Player of the Year honors, and fans will really enjoy watching him play." That is high praise and time will tell.
  
• Festus Ezeli - C, 6'11", Yuba CC - Ezeli is a VERY interesting recruit. He is technically a JUCO recruit but he has 4 years of eligibility and pending academic approval from the NCAA will be a part of D1 program this fall. Ezeli has gone from a relative unknown to one of the hottest names on the scene. He is what you would call a raw talent, but over the summer has shown enough promise/talent/improvement that he is getting interest from just about any school in need of help in the paint. Fortunately for MN he is playing AAU ball with Nate Garth who has already committed to Tubby and will be on campus after the 1st semester. Unfortunate for MN is that schools like Ohio State, Flor, UCLA, Cal and others. Minnesota has not actually offered (unsure why but not my decision) this Nigerian but if he has any interest in the Gophers I would expect to see one very soon.
• Tony Dennison - SG, 6'2", Broward CC (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) - Dennison is described as one of the most prolific scorers in the country. His coach tells Rivals that as a freshman Dennison averaged nearly 28 ppg. That is impressive and is exactly the kind of shot in the arm this team will need next season. What I find interesting is that if he is such a dynamic scorer then why is his only scholarship offer from Hofstra? He has interest from OK, Miami, Kan, KSt, Gonzaga and MN but no offers yet. Maybe that is another topic for another day, but it does make one wonder.
• Orlando Allen - PF, 6'10", Paris JC - Formerly a Seton Hall recruit out of high school but now is open to anyone. Has interest from the likes of Indiana, Kent, OK, GTech, Neb, Penn St and MN to name a few; but has no official offers. Out of high school Allen was one of the top 15 players in the Cincinnati area. His numbers seemed very average last season but we'll see what this big man can produce as a soph. Yet another potential recruit with a strong work ethic (I'm seeing a pattern here).

There seem to be more on their radar but these are the 4 bigger names that were worth mentioning.

He have scholarships to give and so far nobody willing to take them. Landing a couple quality JUCO players along with a couple of very talented freshmen (Royce White and Rodney Williams in particular) would help to jump start this program and get it back to a competitive level.

How about an official Gopher Nation Top 10(11) basketball recruit list...

1. Elroy Vargas - PF - 5 star and #10 overall
2. Ralph Sampson III - C - 4 star
3. Devoe Joseph - SG - 4 star
4. Festus Ezeli - C - JUCO
5. Stan Simpson - PF - 3 star
6. Paul Carter - PF - JUCO
7. Tony Dennison - SG - JUCO
8. Colton Iverson - SF - 3 star
9. Orlando Allen - C - JUCO
10. Lewis Jackson - PG - 3 star
11. Justin Brownlee - SF - 4 star
    

Football Recruiting, Gopher Nation Top 15 (16)

Rivals (great site and I strongly encourage a subscription) has a list of some of the top uncommitted players in the Midwest. It would behoove Coach Brewster and staff to land any of these guys that they can get to listen to them. There are several who have MN on their radar, here is a recap of the article...

• Mike Floyd - team to beat is Notre Dame with OSU as a darkhorse. No new information here.
• Cordale Scott - team to beat is Ohio State with Wisconsin as darkhorse.
• Brandon Green - Minnesota is the team to beat with Illinois as a darkhorse. 4-star and #243 overall according to Rivals new top 250.
• Willie Mobley - team to beat is Iowa (?) and UCLA is the darkhorse. I still believe that MN is in good shape to land Mobley, but a couple Big Ten wins are crucial. Mobley is a big fish that Brewster needs to land.
• MarQueis Gray - team to beat is Minnesota with Oregon as the darkhorse. I'm liking Gray more and more, I hope to see him at TCF in a couple years.
• Corey Johnson - team to beat is Mich State with Minnesota as a darkhorse. New name on my radar, but Johnson has an impressive list of offers (Flor, Neb, Mich St, Wis, Minn, K St and Vir). We all know that we need WRs.
• Dawawn Whitner - team to beat is Illinois and Minnesota is darkhorse. Another new name to me. W Vir, L'ville, M'lnd, Pur, Mich St, Minn, Ill are the schools offering Whitner. 6'3", 285, #37 overall DT and 24th in the state of Ohio.

Official Gopher Nation Top 15 (16)

1. Mike Floyd - WR
2. Willie Mobley - LB
3. Brandon Green - WR
4. Ryan Bass - RB
5. Deion Walker - WR
6. Marqueis Gray - QB
7. Nolan Brewster - S
8. Keanon Cooper - S
9. Spencer Reeves - LB
10. Kapron Lewis-Moore - DE
11. DJ Marshall - DT
12. Darron Thomas - QB
13. Dewawn Whitner - DT
14. Cordale Scott - WR
15. Harry Adams - WR
16. Prentiss Wagner - CB

MN Parents of the Year

Rah, Rah, Rah for Sky-U-Ma....

(break for fruit snack)

Rah for the U of M!

Gopher Football NOTES

Training Camp has started up in Collegeville. That statement in and of itself is not news and if you didn't already know that then you somehow accidentally stumbled in to Gopher Nation. But below are some tidbits of info picked up from around the web...

• A few simple rules - #1 (and #2) - No Cell Phones, No Computers! #3 freshmen cannot address the media until after their first game.
  
• Offseason conditioning has stepped up a notch or two. Brewster places heavy emphasis on the power clean. Upon Coach Brewster's arrival the Golden Gophers had exactly 4 members of the football team who could clean 300 or more lbs. After Brewster put the screws to strength coach Mark Hill, the team started cleaning. Last week they tested the power clean again and the team had 39 players cleaning over 300 lbs. "One of the things that I truly believe in is that the power clean is the most important lift that you can do as a football player. I think the power clean lets you know explosiveness; it's an aggressive lift, a mindset, and a technique. It says more about a guy for football more than any other lift you can do." In all honesty this is impressive to me and I do believe this will make us an overall better team. Right away? Will it translate to wins in 2007? Probably not, strength can only make up for so much lack of top notch talent, but hopefully you'll see some better tackling, bigger hits and overall better athleticism on the field (ability to cover ANYBODY would be nice).
  
• Freshman Watch
• S-Curtis Thomas(pictured right) - the defensive backfield is probably the only position that is thinner than the WR, and the Gophers may have stumbled upon some luck as Thomas looks like the early starter at free safety. Thomas has impressed in his first day of camp and hopefully will bring some stability to the defensive backfield.
• WR/Ret-Harold Howell - this diminutive WR is fast. One of the fastest kids in the state of Florida last year should have an immediate impact as a PR/KR. His size may make it more difficult to contribute as a WR right away but Double H is someone to keep an eye on. Coach Brewster..."Harold Howell is a dynamic young athlete, and to say that I'm excited would be understating it tremendously,"
• WR - Ralph Spry - GopherIllustrated reporter, Zach Johnson, says that Spry has great hands, body control and ability to adjust to the ball in the air. Look for Spry to develop into a solid 3rd WR in the spread offense. I am in the camp that both Wheelright and Decker will have very big years but in order for this offense to be successful we have to have a legit QB and a trustworthy WR3.
  
• QB-Clint Brewster - After 1 day of camp Brewster is getting praise from his teammates. Rival QB, Adam Weber, says that Brewster is further along in his first day of camp than Weber/Mortensen were during spring practices. Brewster does have an advantage of running this offense in high school. He has also been given praise for a live arm with a quick release. I'd be surprised if Brewster is your starting QB (at least until Mort or Weber struggle), but this QB competition will be interesting.
• New Helmets - the new helmets were on display for the first practice. This cropped pic of transfer LB Logan U'u was the best I could find.
  
• QBs - after spring practices there were not a whole lot of glowing reports about the QBs fighting for the vacant stall behind center. Neither Tony Mortensen nor Adam Weber took steps towards establishing themselves as the starter. In a nutshell both looked OK but neither was overly impressive. While neither has taken off yet (through 1 whole day of practice), both did look better. "The quarterbacks showed more command of the spread offense and appeared more relaxed in no-pads team drills." Baby steps is what we need, nobody is expecting Matt Leinart to lead us this season, but lets show some competence and play making ability.
• ALL OTHER BIG TEN FANS/PLAYERS NEED TO QUIT READING NOW...The offense unveiled a new option play, there the QB pitches to the WR not the RB. Fascinating and probably unstoppable.
• Lots of wins vs. not very many (zero) wins - the picture on your right (for those of you who don't know) is Gopher Coach Tim Brewster with zero career wins as a head coach standing next to St. John's head coach John Gagliardi who has 419 career wins at the collegiate level. Brewster should be able to catch him as he will get 12+ games every year, plus eventually a Big Ten Championship game and hopefully a small D1 playoff system. So in several years Brewster can start racking up 16-0 seasons. 27 seasons of that and he'll be the all time winningest coach in college football.