In my first seven weeks on the Gophers beat, there have been some sizeable developments, even though it's the offseason.

In the last week before the Feb. 6 signing day, the Gophers won recruiting battles for four key players in their 2013 class -- TE Nate Wozniak, DB Daletavius McGhee, QB/WR Donovahn Jones and LB De'Vondre Campbell.

On Feb. 2, the Gophers landed their first verbal commitment for 2014, and it was a big one. Minneapolis Washburn running back Jeff Jones is rated as the nation's 169th best recruit for that class, by Rivals.com. It'll be another 50 weeks before he signs an official letter of intent, but it should only help the Gophers recruiting efforts.

"It's good for Minnesota to kind of put a fence around their own state," said Tom Lemming, recruiting analyst for CBS Sports Network. "Initially, you've got to land your top guys, and then you go out of state after that. I think it really bodes well for the class of 2014. They can use him sort of a centerpiece to attract [De La Salle QB] Reid Travis and some of the other guys."

Travis is a highly coveted basketball recruit, too. Another key recruiting prize from Minnesota for 2014 is Owatonna DE Andrew Stelter. It'll be interesting to see if Jones' commitment helps the Gophers lure the other premier players from Minnesota.

Jones sounds determined to help. As he told ESPN1500, "I want the Minnesota kids who Minnesota wants to be able to say, 'Jeff Jones chose this school, so it must be a good option.' "