Buck Bravo

In recent years, one of the criticisms of the Gopher football program has been that too many of Minnesota’s best high school players don’t stay home for college football.  Some blame the lack of a stadium, some blame lack of a fan base due to the Vikings, and some blame former coaches.  Whatever the reason(s), in the four years leading up to Tim Brewster’s hiring (2003-2006) only two of the annual top five Minnesota high school football players (ratings by Rivals.com) became Gophers.  That’s a 10% retention rate (2 out of 20 total).  I’ve chosen to analyze the top 5 from each recruiting year since delving deeper into recruiting classes would often include two star recruits who may not be offered scholarships.  For a comparison I’ve chosen Wisconsin and Ohio State.  Both schools have a monopoly in their home states in that there are no other big name schools to compete with.  Let’s see how the Gophers stacked up for retaining local recruits from 2003-2006:

While the University of Minnesota kept 10% of their annual top 5 in-state recruits at home from 2003-2006, Wisconsin had an 80% retention rate and Ohio State 60%.  Even more troubling is the number of Minnesota recruits lost to Notre Dame and border rival Wisonsin during that same period:

 Both Wisconsin and Notre Dame were able to recruit better than The University of Minnesota in the state of Minnesota from 2003-2006.  Wisconsin hurts the most, as the players headed to Madison knowingly committed to a school that would play their home state’s university every year in a border battle.  I can understand a high school player desiring to experience another part of the country, but Wisconsin?  I would liken a top Minnesota high school player becoming a Badger to Brett Farve playing for the Vikings, a Hatfield joining the McCoys, or another historical figure.  For a player to agree to play against their home state, in front of friends and family, and sometimes while visiting their home state is tough to fathom.  Oh, I forgot to mention, there is no definite academic benefit to attending Wisconsin or Notre Dame over Minnesota.  If the “other school” was Harvard or Stanford I might understand.  Also, I think that Minneapolis has more for college students to do in their free time than Madison or South Bend.

Since the hiring of Tim Brewster, the trend of Minnesota attrition may be reversing.  Brewster was hired with a reputation as a great recruiter.  Having a new stadium in 2009 can’t hurt either.  Since Brewster didn’t take over as head coach until early 2007, I have no way of knowing who is responsible for the 2007 Minnesota recruiting class.  Therefore, for the sake of fairness, I’ll omit it from my analysis.  Remember, the 2009 class is still seven months from signing day.  That being said, here’s how Brewster’s Gophers compare to Wisconsin and Ohio State when it comes to retaining in-state recruits for the 2008 and 2009 classes: 

2008 had one top 5 Minnesota recruit stay home, which is in line with expectations from 2003-2006.  It is not completely fair to hold Brewster responsible for the 2008 class, since these high school players faced a changing of the guard prior to their senior seasons.  2009 already has three of the top 5 in-state recruits staying home, which is on par with Wisconsin and Ohio State.  Ra’shede Hageman, a talented tight end from Washburn Senior High, has yet to commit to a school.  Minnesota is on his list of potential schools.  While 2008 saw two Minnesota recruits go to Wisconsin and one to Notre Dame, 2009 is looking much better:

Keeping top Minnesota talent in Minnesota is crucial to building the reputation of the Gopher football program.  Although there aren’t enough recruiting years to definitively establish a pattern, it looks as if the trend lines are headed in the right direction:

 So far, it appears that more top Minnesota high school recruits are opening their eyes to the benefits of staying in Minnesota for their college football careers.  Hopefully the trend will continue of local talent following the “Golden” brick road after realizing that there’s no place like home.

Heart abnormalities are not a new phenomenon in sports.  I can clearly remember the untimely death of star basketball player Hank Gathers of Loyola Marymount University in 1990 due to a previously unknown heart condition.  I also remember the sad day that Reggie Lewis of the Boston Celtics died from a heart condition in 1993.  Fortunately for Sam Maresh, the University of Minnesota conducted a thorough health screen that detected his heart condition.

Sam Maresh is an extraordinary athlete.  Not only is he a top college football prospect, but at Champlin Park High School he was also a state champion wrestler.  My uncle is a high school wrestling coach, and claims that Maresh was one of the best heavyweight wrestlers he’d ever seen.  He is also known to have walked for great distances on his hands.  That’s quite a feat of strength for a 240 pound man.  It is surmised that his exceptional physical conditioning masked the effects of a heart valve that wasn’t working at 100%.

I’ve often heard doctors mention that if you’re going to have a heart problem, Minnesota is the best place to be.  In fact, Minnesota is one of the few places in the world where people are more likely to die from cancer than from heart related conditions.  That’s not because our oncology care is substandard, but rather because our cardiology treatments are exceptional.  Sam Maresh had his valve replacement surgery performed by cardiovascular surgeon Hartzell Schaff, M.D. at the Mayo Clinic.  Dr. Schaff is one of the premiere cardiovascular surgeons in the world.  Not only was Dr. Schaff able to successfully replace Sam’s valve, but he didn’t even have to cut all of the way through his sternum to do it.  Such success was unheard of until recent years.

The absolute best part of this story is that Sam Maresh should be able to live a normal and healthy life thanks to his physical exam at the University of Minnesota.  If progress continues as expected, Sam may be able to play football again come Spring.  Athletes have successfully returned from heart surgery in recent years.  Teppo Numminen of the Buffalo Sabres returned to the NHL after heart valve repair in 2007, and Ronny Turiaf of the Los Angeles Lakers returned to the NBA less than one year after his heart valve surgery.  Tim Brewster has already stated that Sam Maresh will carry the flag onto the field for the first game at TCF Bank Stadium.  With his attitude, work ethic, gift of athleticism, and top-notch doctors, I predict that we’ll see Sam Maresh wearing maroon and gold in full pads come 2009.  I’m looking forward to his first tackle.