Even before he took the job as athletics director at the University of Minnesota, Norwood Teague was a big fan of college football recruiting.
"I will admit, I follow it a lot," Teague said.
That wasn't part of the job description during his days as AD at Virginia Commonwealth -- a school with no football team, best known for making the NCAA Final Four in men's basketball two years ago.
So why would an AD follow football recruiting when his school didn't even have a team?
Because Teague wanted his next job to be at a place where he could be part of building a successful football program. And coaches who were able to do that without bringing in top-tier recruiting classes fascinated him.
"I have to know about that in order to know the business," Teague said. "It comes down to a lot of hard work. Those staffs that really work at it, and work at it in a hard way, not just the actual relationship but the evaluation, tend to be the most successful."
The day he took over as the Gophers' AD, on June 18, Teague knew football coach Jerry Kill had to be judged differently in recruiting.
Teague was aware the Gophers' 2012 class ranked at the bottom of the Big Ten (11th by Scout.com, 12th by Rivals.com). But Teague isn't concerned because he considers Kill and his football coaching staff "great evaluators" of talent.
"I look at (recruiting rankings)," Teague said. "But those that tend to have
the greatest success, even at the top-10 level in recruiting, are those who have evaluated the best of those groups. It's amazing the attrition that football will have in a given class, whether it be at Texas, Ohio State or Minnesota. The quality of that class is probably how you are evaluated in a lot of different ways."Former Gophers coach Tim Brewster had a top-20 recruiting class in 2008, but many of those players never lived up to the hype -- or didn't stick with the team.
Brewster actually benefited from a 1-11 record in his first season at Minnesota in 2007 because he sold extra playing time to recruits.
Kill is preaching the same thing after the Gophers' 3-9 record last season, but it's been a tougher sell. Only four players in the 2013 class have given the Gophers oral commitments: Tartan defensive back Keelon Brookins, Marian Central Catholic (Ill.) quarterback Chris Streveler, Van Alstyne (Texas) offensive tackle Alex Mayes and Beaver Dam (Wis.) defensive end Owen Salzwedel.
Scout.com and Rivals.com rank Kill's 2013 class 10th and 11th in the Big Ten, respectively. The 6-foot-6, 290-pound Mayes was the only player to receive multiple offers from BCS schools, although Brookins recently added an offer from Wisconsin.
But Kill hasn't changed his recruiting philosophy since arriving last year from Northern Illinois. He trusts the instincts of his staff. Many of the players Kill targets have no stars from the major recruiting sites, but the Gophers project them to be much better in college after developing in their system.
"You look at some of the programs that have struggled," Kill said. "UCLA was in the top eight in the country (in recruiting), getting all these five-star players. And yet (coach) Rick Neuheisel got fired. He's a pretty good football coach who made some mistakes in recruiting."
Brewster was hired by former AD Joel Maturi as a super recruiter but got fired in the middle of his fourth season in 2010. Glen Mason coached the Gophers for 10 seasons before getting fired following the 2006 season after reaching nothing better than mid-level bowl games.
CBS Sports recruiting expert Tom Lemming said Kill is better at evaluating talent than Mason and Brewster because his coaching staff is more stable.
"You've got to keep the in-state guys, but you have to be able to bring in guys from other parts of the country," Lemming said. "That's where the evaluation skills come in. In places like Florida, you can't get the A-list guys, so you go after the guys who have a lot of talent, but you have to be able to project them. That's where a keen eye can really come in handy. If you don't have keen eyes on your staff, then almost always you're going to flounder in the long run."
An AD with little knowledge of college football recruiting might see lower-ranked recruiting classes as signs of bad things to come. Not Teague. He has faith that Kill's way is the right way for Minnesota.
"When you have a proven track record like they do as a group, you've got to trust them," Teague said. "You've got to trust that they're getting the players they want."
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