Acording to Rivals and the Star Tribune's Chip Scoggins, Eden Prairie's Willie Mobley has decided to play college ball at Ohio State instead of Minnesota.
I'm not incredibly surprised by this. How can we be surprised that a standout football player picks the tradition and legacy of Ohio State over playing football for the Golden Gophers? Tim Brewster or Jim Tressel? Right now, it's not even a comparison.
A few months ago I suggested that Tim Brewster's first big test would be to effectively put that so-called fence up around the state of Minnesota and keep the best Minnesota football prospects home. At the time, I suggested that it'd be a victory if Brewster were able to sign two of the top three Minnesota recruits available at the time: Cretin wideout Michael Floyd, Eden Prairie defensive end Willie Mobley and Cretin offensive lineman Joe Schafer.
Floyd is now committed to Notre Dame. Schafer is now commtted to Wisconsin. And Mobley rounds things out with a decision to play in Columbus. To be fair, I should note that the Gophers did sign linebacker Sam Maresh (as pointed out in the comments) who was ranked by some recruiting services higher than Schafer.
All is certinaly not lost with Brewster's first full recruiting class. Tom at Gopher Nation does a nice job here of going through the kids Brewster has been able to get on board.
I've said repeatedly here that I will be judging Brewster by his success or failures in the recruiting department. And the loss of Mobley doesn't make Brewster's first class a failure. But it certainly isn't a positive when out of the top four or five high school football players in the state you have only been able to land one. That tells me the fence Brewster wants to build still has many, many holes.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Mobley Picks OSU Over Minnesota
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5 comments:
By the big 3 you mean Mobley, Floyd and SAM MARESH!? right? Maresh is clearly better than Schafer. Just check out rivals.com
I agree that Maresh is a better get than Schafer would have been. Maresh is rated higher and LB is position of much greater need than OL.
But the point is that we landed 1 of the top 5 in the state. This is something Mason could have accomplished. Overall class is great but I echo your disappointment in keeping the Minnesota kids at home. Building a winning program STARTS with that.
Gopher Nation
anon, When I wrote that 'Top 3' Maresh had alraedy committed. So, at that time, I picked Schafer, Floyd and Mobley as the Top 3.
And Maresh might be better. But as Tom points out, getting 1 out of 5 certainly needs to be improved upon. And 1 out of 5 doesn't lead one to conclude that Brewster has made a first good effort in putting that fence up around the state.
Fire Brewster Now.
Quote:
"But the point is that we landed 1 of the top 5 in the state. This is something Mason could have accomplished."
How often did he do that? That would have been a good year for Mason. He didn't give a d**n about MN hs football. I agree that the jury's out on Brewster, but at least give him 1/3 of the time that Mason had to prove himself.
Jeff
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