Minnesota Football Recruiting: Gophers Land 3-star Florida Corner, Raheem Layne

(*Editor's note...What the heck does "Commitment to Eight" mean? It is our recurring title for recruit commitments referencing a commitment to work towards the Gopher's Eighth National Championship. A little bit tongue in cheek, but why not right?)

Upon beating Purdue last weekend the Gophers received an unexpected commitment from Florida corner, Raheem Layne. The Sebastian, FL native leads his high school team into the Florida 6A state playoffs with a 9-1 record (8A is the largest class). This name was no exactly on the radar as a potential commit but he loved his visit over the weekend and considering this was his only major conference offer, he pulled the trigger.

Quotables

Ryan Burns of GopherIllustrated ($cout).

Coach Reeves came down and meant what he said when he told me he'd have the staff look at my film. He sent my film back and stayed in touch with me. I kind of knew they were gonna offer me, so when they did, I was just grateful that someone was giving me a chance to show them what I can do. Sawvel told me I could play corner or safety when I get there, as it depends on how I look at both, but I plan on playing corner to start at Minnesota. Sawvel also told me that, "if you don’t want to come to the NFL, don’t come here,", and I'm hoping to potentially have that shot like other Gopher defensive backs had."

(Likely Fraudulent) Measurables**

** The section title is intentionally facetious regarding how recruiting sites (and even some college coaches) notoriously exaggerate traditional combine measures -- especially the 40. No offense is meant.

Height: 6' 1"
Weight: 183 lbs.
Fake 40 Time: 4.47

Layne is a tall kid and this is maybe his best attribute. He was getting looks from other major programs but none were quite ready to pull the trigger and give him an offer, except the Gophers.

Junior Year Highlights:

TDG Analysis

In Two Words - if you have to remember just two things about this player...

• Long
• Hitter

Absurd Comparisons

I was not expecting to see Layne lay so many big hits in his highlight video. So who would I compare him to? I would compare him most favorably to current freshman Kiondre Thomas. Not that absurd, but should be fairly accurate. Both have good mobility, long arms and aren’t afraid to do some hitting.

Scheme Fit

Sawvel likes his lengthy corners and when you factor in that Trey Creamer is 6’0” as well in this class, you are going to start seeing some legit size on the edges of our secondary. I like how this kid hits and tackles, there is a chance that he ends up at safety but it sounds like he wants to come here and be a corner.

Impact on Other Prospects?

I would imagine that we are done at corner at this point.

Recruiting Map