Minnesota Football Recruiting: LB Matt Kingsbury commits to the Gophers

The Minnesota Golden Gophers have picked up a verbal commitment from Illinois linebacker prospect Matt Kingsbury. Head coach P.J. Fleck and co. hosted Kingsbury for an official visit this weekend before offering him a scholarship, which he then accepted.

Get to know Matt Kingsbury

Height: 6’3”
Weight: 235

Power 5 Scholarship Offers: None (Purdue offer on 247 Sports was as a preferred walk-on)

247 Sports Composite Rating: N/A

Scouting Report

Kingsbury has been productive at the high school level, recording 131 total tackles, 11 tackles for loss, and three forced fumbles as a senior. He was even named the Tony Lawless Award winner as the most outstanding player in the Chicago Catholic League. Kingsbury also has legitimate size for a mike linebacker. So why are none of his 25+ scholarship offers from a Power 5 program? His speed and agility are huge question marks. Watching his film, Kingsbury can play in a phone booth, but playing sideline to sideline seems to be a more dubious prospect. An easy comparison would be Mariano Sori-Marin, another Illinois product, whose lack of speed has made him a liability at times. I’m willing to eat crow later, but very skeptical of this pick-up.

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