Minnesota football coach Tim Brewster looks at basketball’s early signing period (now through November 21) and advocates two signing periods for college football. He has made that suggestion before his Big Ten Conference colleagues and believes an early signing period will relieve pressure on football recruits, just like it does in basketball. Brewster said it might make sense to have an early signing period in May when high school juniors could make commitments, and not have to wait until the following February as they do now.
What about Gopher recruiting for next year? Brewster told Sports Headliners that he’s convinced his 2008 recruiting class will be impressive. It will include some junior college players, but primarily high school athletes.
Regarding next season, Brewster predicts continued parity in the conference. Going into tomorrow’s final games, every team in the Big Ten has at least one conference loss. Asked about who might be the best teams, Brewster singled out with some hesitation Ohio State, Illinois and Michigan.
“I think we’re going to make a big jump,” he said. “I think we’ll be tremendously improved.”
The Gophers, based on their depth chart for last weekend’s game at Iowa, will return eight starters on offense and eight on defense. Tomorrow against Wisconsin at the Metrodome the roster will list 16 seniors who hope to avoid making history. If the Gophers lose their 11th game, it will be a school record.
Wisconsin has won 10 of the last 12 games against the Gophers. Minnesota won in Minneapolis in 2003 but hasn’t defeated the Badgers in Madison since 1994.
Wisconsin, by the way, has a 25-1 record in Madison since the start of the 2004 season, the nation’s best home record. The Badgers are working on 14 straight wins, the third longest home winning streak in school history.
At 10 p.m. tonight the Gophers will hold a pep rally at Williams Arena. Admission to the Border Battle Pep Fest is free. Much of the crowd is expected to come from fans who attended the men’s hockey game or women’s basketball game on campus. Brewster and the team will be in attendance.