Gopher Football Recruiting Wishlist After the Annual NCAA Turnover Period

Since the end of the football regular season there has been some turnover on college football, both for the Gophers and around the Big Ten. In the last week the Gophers have added a couple nice recruits, a couple Big Ten teams are looking for new head coaches and we have information of a transfer. All of this has or could have significant impact on the 2013 recruiting class.

First of all you should check out Matt's Scholarship Grid. It is under the "Library Section" just below the cover. According to MV's math we have five remaining scholarships (when you factor in Shortell's transfer), and I am not willing to assume Jordan Hinojosa is ever going to end up a Gopher so I'm going with six is the number of available scholarships. That is assuming there are no more transfers, any more transfers are just another scholarship in the bank. (we may also be getting Beal's scholarship back if he is medically unable to play next year)

With all of that said, I want to update my new Top 10 (12) wish list for Gopher football. These are all kids that we have had some contact with, some had previously committed to other schools (Purdue and Wisconsin mostly) and not there is an opportunity to get them into the Gopher hole (if you will). This was my previous wish list. Since I got 2 of the top 4 I thought it best to update.

1. WR - Rob Wheelright - Ernie's brother who committed to Wisconsin. Had other offers from Michigan, Nebraska, BC, and a ton more BCS schools. He'd look awfully nice in a Gopher uniform at a significant position of need. (arbitrary % chance he comes - 7%)
2. CB - Kealon Brookins - a Minnesota, 4-star corner who committed to Minnesota before switching to the Badgers. Brookins has since torn his ACL but was sticking with Wisconsin, who was still honoring his scholarship. I'd love to see him back as a Gopher. With a new staff coming to Madison and if (this might be a big IF) Kill is willing to use a scholarship on an injury riddled corner, there is a chance he could come back to the fold. (22%) Apparently he already signed his early enrollee LOI so it would be kind of tough to switch now. Maybe he can rescind it due to the circumstances.
   
3. S - Malik Rucker - Iowa commit, Minnesota kid. Rucker has been hanging around Gopher games and has been rumored to be taking an official visit, which hasn't happened yet. Could the Hawkeye's bowlless season cause him to stay home? (11%)
4. DE Alec James - Wisconsin commit and native who may be looking for a new home. Minnesota recruited him early but he opted for Madison back in August. Great speed and a good offer list, I don't think we have a shot but I'd love to have him. (1.3%)
5. DT - Kyle Shortridge - formerly a Purdue commit who has since re-opened his recruitment. Shortridge is a three-star DT ranked #39th at his position according to Rivals. He has good size and I think this is a position of need for this particular class. I have a hunch he'll end up here. (37%)
6. OLB - Rayfield Dixon - down to Minnesota, Purdue, West Virginia and Wake Forest. Florida native and a position of need. Of those four schools we are the only one he has not visited and it is unsure if he will. Hopefully visiting yet this month after an in-home visit this past week from Gopher coaches. (21%)
   
7. CB - Marquez White - Florida State commit who the Gophers are desperately trying to get to visit. A four-star corner from Alabama flipping from FSU to Minnesota? He is supposedly going to visit but I'll believe it when I see it. Visited last weekend, this is what happens when you quickly throw a post together. This is one guy we have a slight chance of landing who would change the entire class entirely. (3%)
8. OLB - Duke Riley - major offer list for the kid from Louisiana. He has taken one official visit to Ole Miss and has offers from Miss St, TCU, Arizona, Cincy, Colorado and others. The Gopher staff did visit Riley and he is hopefully set to take a visit soon. (18%)
   
9. MLB - Jonathan Walton - visited Minnesota this past weekend and is being recruited by Penn St as well. Major position of need both now and in the future. Some of these LBs should be higher but none of them really get me excited so they are near the bottom. (28%)
10. RB - Jordan Huff - Alabama native who tore his ACL as a junior and is bouncing back as a senior. Huff was hoping to land bigger offers but they are just not coming. I know we already signed Edwards in this class but I'd love to take a chance on Huff too. Before his injury last year he was on pace to be a much bigger 2013 target with a chance to be very good. (11%)
11. WR - Hunter Jarmon - Texas receiver who is also a very good baseball player. (33%)
12. TE - TJ Watt - brother of JJ Watt. You may recall that JJ was a Gopher commit to Mason before the coaching change saw him move to Wisconsin. Maybe TJ reverses what his brother did and comes to Minnesota. TE is not a huge position of need in a class where we have limited scholarships, but this would be a good get imo. (2%)

OTHERS:

S - Tedric Thompson - I think he is nearly a l Gopher lock.

WR - Drew Wolitarski - possession receiver who has broken a few California high school records.

LB - Reggie Spearman - I don't think he is coming here, just enjoys playing the recruiting game.

I believe that Matt is working on a real recruiting post with more analysis and actual information. This is just a fluffy wish-list. A few of the names above have almost no shot of ending up a Gopher and when the Gopher coaching staff reads this they will probably get a good chuckle over it. But with Purdue and Wisconsin scrambling, and recruiting getting closer to the finish line I thought it was a good time to update what I want. Santa???