2012 is a very strong year for D1 football prospects out of the state of Minnesota. The past couple classes have had a few very good prospects coming out of our state but combination and depth and quality has been lacking. On paper, before a snap of college football is ever played by these kids, this appears to be one of the strongest classes since recruiting services have been ranking kids out of high school.
There obviously have been some very good players out of Minnesota in recent years who have gone to high profile programs. Seantrel Henderson and Michael Floyd come to mind very quickly. Jimmy Gjere, Tommy Olson and even Sam Maresh were highly ranked kids who chose to stay home. But this year appears to be a little different as it has some talented kids at the top of the list and then several kids also on the list who are going to be highly sought after commodities. A total of 13 Minnesota high school athletes received D1 football scholarships last year, 9 of them were at a BCS caliber school. This year could see that number of D1 scholarships double and we may see 15+ kids get a BCS scholarship.
Below is the list of 30+ names in the Rivals database, many of whom will receive BCS level scholarship offers. To say that the list is in no particular order would not exactly be true but the list is not any sort of actual attempt to rank in a specific order. At the top are the only three guys to receive an early star in Rival's ranking system. After that it is a minimal attempt to put players in a sort order based on their actual offers or schools interested. I know some will yell at me asking how on earth I could rank Lucas Wiborg over Michael Roane or Maxx Williams belongs ahead of Will Johnson. You may be correct but I'm telling you now that this is intended to be a general guide, not a specific ranking. This list is for your own enjoyment and to be used as a reference.
| Name | High School | Pos | Stars | Height | Weight | 40 time | BCS Offers (interested schools) |
Notes |
| Andre McDonald | Hopkins | WR |
|
6'3" | 200 | 4.5 | committed MINNESOTA | Iowa, Ill and AZ also offered. Great get for Kill |
| Nick Davidson | Eden Prairie | OL |
|
6'7" | 270 | -- | Minn, Clem, UNC, NC St, Duke, Marylnd, SCar, Stan, VTech, WVU | recently moved to Minn from North Carolina, father is a Vikings coach |
| Jonah Pirsig | Blue Earth | OL |
|
6'9" | 300 | -- | Minn, Aub, OSU, Mich, Iowa, Wis, Ill, Ind, MSU | highly recruited and the perception is Persig will earn a 4th star. |
| Isaac Hayes | St. Thomas Academy | OL |
(ESPN) |
6'3" | 270 | -- | Minn, Boise, OreSt, VTech, mid majors (Bama, Ark, Aub, LSU, MSU, NU, Stan, others) |
ESPN 4-star, ranked 116th. Smart kid looking at engineering, brother played at Stanford. |
| Philip Nelson | Mankato West | QB |
(ESPN) |
6'2" | 212 | 4.6 | committed MINNESOTA | nearly 2,500 yards passing in JR season |
| Will Johnson | Osseo | TE |
(ESPN) |
6'7" | 245 | 4.8 | Minn, Aub, BC, Miss, ISU (Iowa, Neb, Wis) | good offer list, not sure about Minnesota's chances considering we've already got commitment from a TE |
| Charles Webb | Minnetonka | DB |
(ESPN) |
5'10" | 174 | 4.6 | Toledo (Minn, MSU, Wis, Iowa, Syr, Tenn) | |
| Maxx Williams | Waconia | TE | 6'3" | 210 | -- | committed MINNESOTA | ||
| Nick Rallis | Edina | DB |
(ESPN) |
6'0" | 200 | -- | none (Minn, Wis) | brother of Mike Rallis and decommitted from Minn |
| Jonathan Harden | Cretin-Derham Hall | DT |
(ESPN) |
6'0" | 300 | -- | North Dakota (Minn, Iowa, PSU, Wis, KU, mids) | |
| Karmichael Dunbar | Prior Lake | DT | 6'2" | 290 | -- | none (Minn, LSU, Iowa, Stan, Wash, Wis) | father is Vikings Ast Coach | |
| Joe Mollberg | Detroit Lakes | QB |
(ESPN) |
6'2" | 210 | -- | UND, NDSU, SDSU (Minn, Iowa, MSU, Neb, Wis) | |
| Antonio Ford | Coon Rapids | RB | 5'9" | 208 | 4.5 | none (Minn, MSU, ISU, Mizz, OK St, NDSU) | injured early in JR year, looking to earn big offers | |
| Adam Bungum | Dodge Center (Triton) | ATH | 6'2" | 180 | 4.6 | none (Minn, Iowa, ISU, MSU, Wis, mid majors) | outstate athlete at a good but smaller football program |
|
| Drake Michaelson | Eden Prairie | LB | 6'1" | 205 | 4.6 | none (Minn, Iowa, Wis, Ivy schools and others) | working hard at several camps to earn offers, intelligent kid | |
| Tavaughn Blair | Hopkins | DB | 5'10" | 175 | -- | none (Minn, Iowa, ISU, NDSU) | knee injury early in JR season | |
| Kevin Carroll | Edina | OL | 6'3" | 265 | 5 | UNI (Minn, Ill, MSU, VTech, UCF) | father played for Vikings, brother plays at VTech | |
| Ryan Dahl | Holy Family | OL | 6'9" | 285 | -- | none (Minn, Iowa, ISU, MSU, NU, OSU, Stan, Wis) | ||
| Stefan Sauer | Rosemount | OC | 6'3" | 275 | 5.7 | none (Minn, Neb, Wis, ISU, UNI) | ||
| Sam Lee | Blue Earth | OL | 6'5" | 300 | -- | none (Minn, Wis, Iowa) | Pirsig's teammate | |
| Mitch Leidner | Lakeville | QB | 6'4" | 220 | 4.9 | none (Minn, Iowa, UAF) | ||
| Lucas Wiborg | De La Salle | OL | 6'4" | 270 | 5.2 | none (Minn, BC, NDSU) | ||
| D.J. Hebert | Osseo | ATH | 6'2" | 185 | 4.6 | NDSU, UNI, SDSU (Minn, Mich, NIU) | ||
| Chase Roullier | Burnsville | OG |
(ESPN) |
6'4" | 272 | 5.1 | Toledo, UNI | |
| Michael Roane | Holy Family | DB | 6'2" | 185 | -- | none (Minn, Wis, UND, UAF) | ||
| Kendrik Brewster | Cretin-Derham Hall | RB | 5'11" | 178 | -- | none (Minn, Wis) | ||
| Taylor Montero | Cretin-Derham Hall | TE | 6'4" | 215 | -- | none (Minn, Wis) | good basketball player | |
| Nate Howard | Cretin-Derham Hall | LB | 5'11" | 165 | -- | none (Minn) | ||
| Shawn Willis | St. Louis Park | OLB | 5'10" | 190 | -- | none (Missouri) | ||
| Kasey Robinson | Breck | WR | 5'9" | 160 | -- | none (Wis) | ||
| David Simmet | Hill Murray | OL | 6'9" | 340 | -- | none (Wis) | ||
| Bryson Johnson | Champlin Park | OL | 6'2" | 285 | -- | none (Wis) | ||
| Andrew Larson | Eden Prairie | RB | 5'11" | 194 | 4.5 | Harvard, NDSU, SDSU |
attended ISU camp and Minn next week | |
| Brett Pierce | Holy Angels | DE | 6'6" | 250 | -- | North Dakota, South Dakota |
||
| Taj Rich | Robbinsdale | LB | 6'2" | 210 | -- | North Dakota |
||
| Emeche Wells | Roseville | WR | 6'3" | 195 | -- | none |
A lot of those names are guys that have received letters or some form of mild interest from the Gophers or other schools, but in the end they will end up playing D2 ball. We will know a lot more in the next few weeks as these kids are attending camp after camp trying to earn a scholarship offer from the Gophers and other schools.
Recruiting updates are coming fast and furious. There have been several changes just since I started putting this post together. I'll do my best to try and keep this updated but at any given moment it will be behind.