Minnesota Football: Gopher FB Recruiting Update Goes to BBQ

July recruiting is pretty big for Football as well as basketball.  Much of June is spent evaluating players at hosted and satellite camps around the country.  July has camps as well but this is when you see more offers presented, unofficial visits and verbal commitments.

Time for a Gopher Football recruiting update.  The big news right now is the BBQ that is being hosted this weekend.  Several commits and a handful of guys we are heavily pursuing will be in town for a BBQ. The latest information I learned from the guys at GopherIllustrated has 10 kids planning to attend the BBQ.  Six of the ten are our current verbal commits with 4 others who will be in attendance who have not yet made a decision.  Expect a commitment or two to come out of this weekend.

Current Commits

• OT Blaise Andries
• TE  Nathan Bursch
• RB Dominik London
• OT Eric Obejei
• K Grant Ryerse
• OLB Kyrei Fisher
  

Other Visitors (we should refer to them as future commits)

• OLB Dimitri Moore - Texas - Moore is a 3-star OLB with a nice offer list that includes ASU, Arkansas, Missouri, Texas A&M, Iowa State and others.  Potentially a safety but looks like he'd be a good fit as an athletic OLB.  Plays for Cedar Hill HS in Texas which is a powerhouse.  He's on a loaded team this year and an early contender to win the 6A title in Texas.
• CB/WR Demetrius Douglas - Oregon - the son of former Gopher, Omar.  Douglas spent much of his life in Minnesota before moving out to Oregon.  He has offers from the Ducks and the Beavers, hoping he decides to come back to Minnesota with a verbal commitment this weekend.
• DT Joshua Croslen - Texas - another Texas kid coming north for the BBQ.  Croslen's offers are from smaller schools (Houston, SMU and Colorado St), but his position is a huge area of need in this recruiting class.  Croslen plays for Steele HS in the San Antonio area who lost in the 6A state semis last season.
• WR Javan Hawes - Georgia - another prospect with smaller offers, mostly mid-majors and Purdue (I'd make a joke about Purdue being a mid-major but I'll be nice).  Hawes is a wiry receiver who says he may end up at DB when he arrives here but that'll be determined at a later date.

I would be very surprised if this weekend comes to an end without at least a couple kids pledging to the Gophers.

As the recruiting process narrows it's focus, time for my completely subjective list of the top kids that I would love to see end up faxing their National Letter of Intent to Minnesota next February.  This list isn't exactly in any particular order and I'm only listing guys that it appears we have a relatively realistic shot at landing.

My GN Big Board ...

• CB/WR - Demetrius Douglas - mentioned above, he is at the top of my list.
• DT - Kendrick Green - Illinois kid with a Syracuse offer.  Could come at a C but likely will play for the Gophers on the defensive side of the ball.
• OC - Brett Kitrell - Nebraska kid who apparently will be a Gopher unless the Huskers offer him.
• CB - DeWayne Terry - 6'1" corner out of Florida.  Cal and Louisville are the other two contenders for Terry at this point.
• DE - Andrew Van Ginkel - JUCO defensive end and we need to land guys at DE in this class.  Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska and others are after Van Ginkel.
• DT - Juan Harris - former Iowa commit (twice) who is currently living and playing in Janesville, WI.  Harris would be a nice, big body to add to this class.
• OLB - Jeff Burley - Georgia native and has had the Gophers at or near the top of his list for a while.  No star ranking on Scout, but has a nice offer list with Mississippi State, Louisville, NC State and Wake.
• LB - Dimitri Moore - mentioned above but I'd love to land an athletic LB from a Texas football powerhouse.
• TE - Noah Gindorff - northern MN kid who is very athletic and could end up being a really nice offensive weapon at the next level.  TE is a newish position for him so he needs to keep polishing his skills before he actually earns an offer.
• S - Claudin Cherelus - Naples, FL native and a safety with really nice size.  2-stars and not a great offer list but if THIS staff identifies a DB they like, I'll trust their analysis. 
  

So that about wraps things up for this mid-July recruiting update.  The offer map has been updated and can be seen below for you to peruse.  Expect commitments in the coming days and more info from TDG.