In recent years, many in the broadly-defined NU football community have gleefully noted that we seldom recruit the same student-athletes as our tax-supported brethren to the south, and that when we do, we almost inevitably win those battles. I hope at least that latter trend continues. A brief look at potential recruits reveals that NU and U of I are competing for Khalid Kareem, Josh King, and Treyjohn Butler, among others.
Bad sign?
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Actually, the truth is that we recruit MANY of the same student-athletes as our tax-supported brethren to the south, but when we do, we ALWAYS win those battles. The last recruit that Illinois secured that had an NU offer was Aaron Bailey, and even then, Bailey was not given a slot at QB after we secured the services of Matt Alviti (who also had an Illinois offer).
Look at our roster. A ton of kids had Illini offers. No one on Illinois's current roster had an NU offer (Bailey has since transferred I believe).
Look at our roster. A ton of kids had Illini offers. No one on Illinois's current roster had an NU offer (Bailey has since transferred I believe).
Yet Illinois beats us last year.
Why didn't we recruit Mikey Dudek? He would have seriously considered NU if NU had offered. There goes 4000 receiving yards and 30 TDs down the drain to Illinois. Major recruiting failure on that oversight!
Oh well..."don't worry about the ones that get away, make sure that the ones we get can play."
This post was edited on 3/30 12:22 PM by Gladeskat
Why didn't ANYONE else recruit Mikey Dudek (with the exception of Illinois State and North Dakota)? Kid can obviously play, but it's not like we were the only ones to miss on him.
Agreed. It's easy to look back and say why did/didn't we recruit an individual. It's similar to the draft. After a year, people aren't as concerned about the number of stars or what round they were selected (unless it's a massive surprise) but production.
But he was right in our backyard! And he was playing for a large school (Nequa Valley, I believe). I think he was also aggressively promoting himself for offers, and working out with trainers at large gyms. 4.4 speed, 40+ inch vertical jump, excellent productivity his junior year (1400 yards), videos on the web. I heard of him and I don't even follow recruiting all that much.
The same could be said for Max Williams up in Minnesota.
The same could be said for Max Williams up in Minnesota.
We were definitely looking for a slot WR in 2014, and even got one -- Solomon Vault was initially signed as a slot WR prospect and was listed at that position in the official release before sliding to RB after injuries and Mark's departure. I suspect he will gradually slide more into a WR/RB hybrid with the emergence of Jackson, what I anticipate as the emergence of Anderson, and the addition of Moten.
Dudek's junior tape is also not THAT impressive, as he appears to be pretty fast and productive but also VERY undersized without showing much route-running ability aside from a 9-route. I would guess that NU coaches wanted to see him in a camp setting in the event that Vault didn't commit before the summer.
In any event, kudos to the Illini for making an offer based on projection and hitting on it. That's not easy to do.
This post was edited on 3/30 3:28 PM by gocatsgo2003
Maxx Williams was a triple Minnesota legacy (dad was a Minnesota QB from 1986-1988 before a long NFL career, mom was a volleyball player from 1984-1987, and uncle played football there) who committed to the Golden Gophers in March of 2011 before signing in February 2012 and went to high school about a 45 minutes from campus.
I don't think other schools missed on him as much as they said "well, there's no way he goes anywhere but Minnesota, so what's the point?"
Born under a bad sign,
I've been down since I began to crawl.
If it wasn't for bad luck,
I wouldn't have no luck at all.
I've been down since I began to crawl.
If it wasn't for bad luck,
I wouldn't have no luck at all.
Dudek's whole under recruited narrative has always bothered me a bit... The guy committed to Illinois in early April of his junior year. That is awfully early in the recruiting process. Having ANY Big Ten offers at that point in the game is pretty good, and he reportedly had interest from several others. If he had gone to a few more camps and kept his recruitment open through the summer, let alone through his stellar senior year, he would likely have had many more options. Still, gotta give credit to the Illini for getting in so early and seeing his talent before anyone else.
To clarify-Brian Williams, Maxx's dad, was a center for the Gophers who was drafted by the Giants in the first round of the draft. His uncle, Ron Goetz, was a Gopher LB drafted by the Vikings. Maxx played QB his junior and senior year of high school.
This post was edited on 3/31 10:34 PM by GopherMD
This post was edited on 3/31 10:34 PM by GopherMD
My bad -- was reading his official UMN bio too quickly and crossed-up his grandpa that played QB at Notre Dame with his dad at Minnesota.
Point stands that he seems like he was a Gopher "lifer" from the get-go.
