TheGoldSeat

You have to be happy with Tim Brewster and his last minute efforts to recruit a top 50 class. If the coach can correct that 113th ranked Defense the Gophers have a shot at winning 7-8 games next year.

But one thing really caught my eye with the 2007 recruiting class nation wide. Everyone is heading south. Notre Dame, Michigan and the Illinois upset class are the only 3 cold weather schools in the top 18 ranked by ESPN. Notre Dame and Michigan are rated #8 and #10. Sure Butch Davis at North Carolina helped, but South Carolina and North Carolina in the top #11? Has to be the weather.

Imagine back a few years and you are a top High School football recruit. You have scheduled visits to Michigan and North Carolina. You visit Michigan and it’s 10* degrees outside, the football field is covered in snow, and all the girls are bundled up in parkas. Then you head to North Carolina the next week. It’s 60* degrees outside, the football stadium looks beautiful in the sun light, and all the girls are wearing that sweet baby blue. What school do you choose?

Cold weather schools know that can’t win the Jan/Feb recruiting trail so they try to bring in players during the football season in the fall. But playing that game can be risky. Think of all those Notre Dame recruits watching Notre Dame get crushed at home and thinking maybe this place isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. A great example of this risk game happened last fall. The University of Minnesota brought in one of the top MN recruits to watch the Gophers take on D-1AA North Dakota State University. By the end of the game the gopher recruit decided to go to NDSU because they absolutely manhandled the gophers.

Bottom line, when recruits visit southern schools in Jan/Feb right before they decide who to sign with…sunny weather and unbundled girls on campus’ help.