Nick Connelly, a 6-6, 255-pound junior defensive tackle/offensive tackle from Red Wing (MN) High, attended the Iowa Junior Elite day and the recent Minnesota’s Gopher Junior Elite day.
Connelly has been invited to the Rivals Under Armour camp May 4 in Chicago and the Chicago land Showcase June 13. He has received invitations to the Nebraska, Minnesota, Michigan State, Colorado, Colorado State, Wyoming and Iowa summer football camps in June and the Nike SPARQ in April in Chicago.
Connelly, who is rated as a three-star recruit by Scout, averaged 10 tackles and four solo tackles per game this season. He decided to not play basketball this season as he decided to focus on getting bigger, stronger, faster for football and the shot put and discus for the track team this spring.
Connelly attended the Minnesota Gopher home games versus Western Illinois, Iowa, Penn State and Nebraska and Nebraska’s home game versus Michigan State.
Connelly recently talked to Gopher Hole about the Minnesota Junior Day and the latest on his recruitment.
Gopher Hole: You visited Minnesota for Junior Day recently. What was that like?
Nick Connelly: It was good. It was really good. It was basically just like the Iowa one where they just took us in and showed us around. Got to talk to a lot of the coaches quite a bit. Talked to Coach Limegrover a lot because he is the one who recruits my area and he had a lot of good things to say about me. He was really impressed. He talked about some different things with my position. There was some good food. It was good.
Gopher Hole: You have been invited to the Rivals Under Armour camp May 4 in Chicago and the Chicagoland Showcase June 13. That has to make you feel pretty proud that you are getting that kind of attention.
Nick Connelly: Yes. It is awesome. I am really excited.
Gopher Hole: Your dad told me that you have been invited to the Nebraska, Minnesota, Michigan State, Colorado, Colorado State, Wyoming and Iowa summer football camps. Is that right?
Nick Connelly: Yes, but I don’t know if I will attend all of those, but I am definitely going to attend some of them.
Gopher Hole: Which ones do you definitely think you will try to go to?
Nick Connelly: I definitely think that I will get out to Iowa again, for sure. I want to get out to Colorado probably. Maybe Nebraska. Probably Michigan State. I want to get out there.
Gopher Hole: What things have you been really working on to improve yourself as a player?
Nick Connelly: Really now, I have been just working on my speed. Starting in November, I started working on a bulking program and I did that until the end of January and I said that at the beginning of February, I was really going to work on my speed and quickness to get ready for the Under Armour and SPARQ combine
Gopher Hole: What are you up to weight-wise right now?
Nick Connelly: 255.
Gopher Hole: What did you play at last season?
Nick Connelly: Between 240 and 245.
Gopher Hole: What would you like to get up to either for the camps this summer or for your senior season?
Nick Connelly: I’d be happy if I was 265.
Gopher Hole: Are you planning on playing both sides of the field next year for Red Wing?
Nick Connelly: Yes. Definitely.
Gopher Hole: I know that he just got named as the new head football coach at Red Wing, but have you gotten to know Coach Rickey Foggie yet?
Nick Connelly: Oh, yes. He has been around quite a bit. I have gotten to know him pretty well.
Gopher Hole: Obviously, he played at Minnesota. Has he talked to you about Minnesota much?
Nick Connelly: Just a little bit here and there. We talked about the Junior Day a little bit. Just small talk. That’s it. Nothing big. He said that he really liked it there and he encourages me to go there, too.
Gopher Hole: Has his hiring gotten people more excited about the program?
Nick Connelly: Yes. Definitely, especially a lot of the kids. We are getting a new coach in there and a lot of the players are more pumped up now and getting into the weight room more often now. It will be good.
Gopher Hole: Unfortunately, Red Wing did not win a game last season. I’m assuming that you walk by kids in the hallway who you think could play on the team, but might not be excited about playing because of the losing record. Do you think that Foggie being hired will turn things around?
Nick Connelly: I think so. Definitely. Like you were saying, there are people that maybe want to play football, but they really don’t want to play for a losing team like that. Now that we have got a fresh coach in and he has all this experience behind him, he can bring what he has from Canada, Arena football and college football. He brings that and I think that kids will get really excited about that and hoping that he can really turn the program around.
Gopher Hole: Your dad had given me a long list of schools that you are hearing from like Cincinnati, Mankato, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Cornell, Princeton, Indiana, Purdue, Northern Illinois, Kansas State, North Dakota State, Miami of Ohio, Michigan State, Columbia, Arizona State, Nebraska, Harvard, Maryland, Colorado State, Ohio and Wake Forest. Does that sound right?
Nick Connelly: Yes
Gopher Hole: Are you hearing from some schools more than others?
Nick Connelly: The top ones right now are probably Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Michigan State and Arizona State. Those are probably the top ones right now.
Gopher Hole: You don’t have any offers right now, right?
Nick Connelly: No.
Gopher Hole: What would it mean to you to get that first offer?
Nick Connelly: It will be huge. It will really pump me up and take me to the next level. That is what I have been playing for and that is what I want.
Gopher Hole: Have the Gophers said much to you about an offer? I know that a lot of times with juniors they want to see them play at their camp. Have they said that they might extend an offer if you played well at the camp? Have they said much about that yet?
Nick Connelly: They said a little bit when I was talking to Coach Limegrover on the Junior Day, he talked about that a little bit and saying that how I play both offense and defense and how their coaching staff is arguing on what they want to recruit me as, because they want to recruit me as offense or defense. He said that it would be great if I could just come to the one-day senior camp this summer and I could work one-on-one with him and they could try me at some offensive positions and then on defensive positions, just to help to figure out the confusion between them on whether they want me for offense or for defense, then they said that they would go from there.
Gopher Hole: I know that you play both sides, but I think that you are primarily known as being more of a defensive player. Is that the way that you look at it?
Nick Connelly: Yes. Definitely. I am definitely known more right now as a defensive player, but what Coach Limegrover was saying is that by looking at my body and how much weight he thinks that I can put on, he thinks that I could become a really good offensive player, too.
Gopher Hole: Your dad said that you have been working in weight room five days a week and are being trained by a former Navy Seal and power lifter this winter. What is that experience like?
Nick Connelly: (Laughing) Pretty intense. He was in the Navy Seals for 30 years and he is crazy. When he was 66, he set a world record for his age, benching 616 pounds three times, so he knows what he is doing. He gives me programs. Every six weeks, the programs changes into a new program to keep it different and fresh. The intensity that comes from working out with him and he will push you. That Navy Seal training and mental aspect of working out is really good. It has been really good. I have had really good results from it.
Gopher Hole: How much do you think that it has helped you?
Nick Connelly: A huge amount. I was kind of plateauing. It seems like my maxs weren’t really going up that much, so I went and talked to him and he got me started on some stuff. It has been helping me a huge amount.
Gopher Hole: What is your bench right now?
Nick Connelly: My bench right now is 295.
Gopher Hole: What about squat or anything else?
Nick Connelly: My squat right now, I maxed at 470 and my clean and jerk is 122 kilos.
Gopher Hole: What would it mean to play for the homestate school?
Nick Connelly: It would be pretty cool. I have kind of grown up as a Gopher fan. My dad has always been one. My whole family has always been one, so it would be neat to keep the tradition and going with the hometown school, playing for the team that I grew up with and doing the best that I can for my home state.