Official Depth Chart

Week 1, here it is:

Depth Chart

2009 Defense

One of the big question marks this year is whether the defense will continue to improve, hold steady or decline under Cosgrove. This is a fair concern after the stint in nebraska ended poorly. Here is an article in the Star Tribune that is pretty good. Only time will tell, however.

Depth Chart

In anticipation of the depth chart release tomorrow, here are my thoughts. Everything I hear is that Michael carter has been very impressive in camp as has MarQueis Gray. The D-Line has been good and the LB corp has been solid. The offense has some work to do, but should be okay! Here is my 2 cents on what the depth chart should look like, let's see how close I am tomorrow.

Defense:
DE: Cedrick Mckinley, Ra'Shede Hageman
DT: Eric Small, Jewhan edwards
DT: Garrett Brown, Brandon Kirksey
DE: Anthony Jacobs, Raymond Henderson
LB: Simoni Lawrence, Spencer Reeves
LB: Leee campbell, Gary Tinsley
LB: Keanon Cooper, Nate Triplett
CB: Traye Simmons, Ryan Collado
CB: Marcus Sherels, Michael Carter
S: Kyle Theret, Tim Dandridge
S: Kim Royston, Kerry Lewis

Offense:
QB: Adam Weber, MarQueis Gray
RB: Duane Bennet, DeLeon Eskridge
WR: Eric Decker, Ben Kuznia
WR: Brandon Green, Hayo Carpenter
WR: Troy Stoudermire, Da'Jon Mcknight
TE: Nick Tow-Arnett, Eric Lair
OT: matt Stommes, Ryan Orton
OT: Jeff Wills, Domonic Alford
C: Jeff Tow-Arnett, Tey Davis
OG: Chris Bunders, Ned Tavale
OG: Matt Carufel, Ryan Ruckdashel

Special Teams:

K: Eric Ellestad
P: Dan Oreske
KR: Troy Stoudermire
PR: Hayo Carpenter

Visitors

Sorry to be away for awhile, I am actually doing some blogging and article writing for a couple of different college football sites and have been swamped with that. I will be back to post here more often now.

As the season is about to get started, the recruit visits are accumulating fast. Here is what is scheduled as of this morning:

September 12th game:
Jabari Price, CB Blanche Ely HS, Pompano Beach, FL
Tyrone Bouie, CB Seminole HS, Sanford, FL
Toby Durham, WR, Seminole HS, Sanford, FL
Ethan Grant, RB, North Broward Prep, Coconut Creek, FL
Kyle Kisseberth, TE, Klein HS, Klein, TX

September 19th game:
James Manuel, S, Warren Central HS, Indianpolis, IN
Kenny Bell, ATH, Fairview HS, Boulder, CO
Josh Huff, RB, Chester W Nimitz HS, Houston, TX

October 3rd game:
DeAndre Johnson, RB Monsignor Pace HS, Miami, FL

All of these prospects are highly regarded and rated players. Brewster will be doing very well even if he only lands half of them. I hope everyone is excited for the season to kick off Satuday, I know I am.

Go Gophers!

One Month and Counting!

Well, we are one month away today from the first practice. Some surprises will happen, of course, but here is what I think will be the starting lineup.

QB Adam Weber
RB Hasan Lipscomb
OT Matt Stommes
OT Jeff Wills
OG Matt Carufel
OG Dominic Alford
C Ryan Wynn
TE Nick Tow-Arnett
WR Eric Decker
WR Hayo Carpenter
WR Brandon Green

DE Anthony Jacobs
DE Cedric McKinley
DTGarrett Brown
DT Eric Small
LB Lee Campbell
LB Simoni Lawrence
LB Spencer Reeves
CB Traye Simmons
CB Marcus Sherels
DBKym Royston
DB Tim Dandridge

Pk Eric Ellestad
P Dan Oreske
KR Troy Stoudermire
PR Marcus Sherels

Recruit Rankings

I wanted to take a look at recruit rankings and see if they really mean anything or not. I know, this is an age old battle, but I wanted to pick a few players from past classes that have had a chance to make an impact on the team, therefore, I did not use the 2008 or 2009 class. Going back here is the rankings from rivals and Scout:

Year Name Rivals Stars Scout Stars
2002 Trumaine Banks 2 1
Bryan Cupito 2 1
Greg Eslinger 2 1
Matt Spaeth 2 1

2003 Laurence Maroney 4 2

2004 Dom Barber 3 3
Deon Hightower 2 2
Gary Russell 2 2
Willie Vandesteeg 2 2

2005 Steve Davis 3 3
Eric Decker 2 2

2006 Lee Campbell 2 2
Adam Weber 3 3

2007 Eric Small 2 2
Kyle Theret 2 2

If you consider the 4 from 2002 as major contributors, the ranking are way off. In 2003, Rivals seem to have Maroney pegged right, but Scout was way off. In 2004, Barber was probably rated right, but the other 3 were again quite off. in 2005, Davis is probably right, but Vandesteeeg was way off. Now in 2006, Campbell probably has played out to be a 3 star, and I think Weber's 3 stars is right on. In 2007, Small and Theret have both played out to about 3 star players.

Not listed here are many of the 4 and 5 star players (ok, mason didn't have many, but a few) that panned out to be busts for one reason or another. I see no evidence in these at all that would put any stock into the ratings whatsoever.

Your thoughts and opinions are quite welcome. Please, also sign up to be a follower of this blog.

Thanks much!

Season Preview

Here is a nice preview from Athalon sports, I think it is pretty good. Look back tonight or tomorrow morning, I should have another player interview posted.

http://www.athlonsports.com/college-football/16979/2009-minnesota-golden-gophers-preview