Eat your heart out, Luther Darville

It was a little disorienting to wake up this morning and find out that my alma mater has come up with a top-20 recruiting class. No, not among chemical engineering recruits, or hairy-legged women's studies recruits, or snowblower management recruits.

Football recruits.

Time was, the Gophers would be happy to crack the top 10 in the Big Ten. Now Tim Brewster has backed up his reputation as a glad-handing salesman with the "highest-rated recruiting class Minnesota has attracted in decades" according to ace reporter Chip Scoggins of the Star Tribune.

There's still a little angst that Brewster didn't close the borders -- only one of the top five in-state recruits signed with the Gophers -- but this could be a case of familiarity breeding contempt. If you were a stud high school football player from the Land o' Lakes, would you really want to sign on to a program that's topped out at mediocre over the last, oh, 40 years?

As soon as this team starts to show some real signs of improvement -- and especially after they move into the new stadium in 2009 -- Minnesota kids will once again dream of strapping on the maroon and gold to defend their home state's honor against the pillaging hordes from Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin.

I have to admit, I've been as hard on Brewster as anybody, and the jury is still out on his coaching ability, but if this is any indication, the talent level could take a huge leap forward, and Gophers fans could realistically expect significant improvement without having to rely on Luther Darville handing out car keys and wads of cash all over Dinkytown.