MINNEAPOLIS  — The faxes rolled in, the rankings circulated through cyberspace, and relentless coach Jerry Kill produced a 22-player list that forms the pillar of his first recruiting class at Minnesota.

There aren’t any blue-chip or five-star kids crowned by national analysts who are coming to the Gophers football program, but Kill wasn’t concerned about that. Even the best-rated prospects who signed letters of intent with Minnesota, Kill acknowledged, don’t come with any kind of guarantee.

“They’re all paper tigers, OK?” Kill said. “I can say that. Every coach in America is going to tell you, ‘This is the greatest recruiting class that we’ve ever had.’ I can say that: It’s the greatest recruiting class that’s ever happened in Minnesota. Well, we all feel that way, but you can’t judge recruiting classes until two years down the road.”

Wednesday was the first day prep stars could make their college choices official, and Kill — who took the job just two months ago — and his staff secured a diverse group from several points around the country, including a handful of in-state standouts. Adding speed to several positions was one of the priorities.

They relied on recommendations for roughly half of the class, players who verbally committed to the previous regime under coach Tim Brewster. For the rest, Kill and his assistants had a better feel for thanks to in-person evaluation from past summer camps when they were at Northern Illinois.

Kill, at a news conference to discuss the 2011 class, stressed his professionalism in a process that can be corrupt at times, or at least exhaustingly and fiercely competitive. He told a story about being at Northern Illinois years ago when a rival coach told a recruit both schools were pursuing that Kill had cancer and wouldn’t be there long.

That, um, wasn’t true.

“I’m no different than anybody else. I want to win, and I want to win right now,” Kill said. “But it’s going to take time, and we’ve got to do it the right way. Luckily, I’ve got good assistants.”