Bronson Bruneau, a junior long snapper/tight end from Lakeville North, has picked up several schools and is hoping that a strong summer camp could lead to more interest from the Gophers.
Bruneau helped lead the Panthers to the state Class 6A Prep Bowl, where they lost to Eden Prairie. He is also the starting center on the basketball team, which advanced to the Class AAAA state tournament.
Gopher Hole caught up with Lakeville North head coach Brian Vossen to learn the latest on his Bruneau’s recruitment.
Gopher Hole: Have the Gophers expressed interest in Bronson as a long snapper?
Brian Vossen: They requested that he go to the special teams portion of their camp, the long snapping portion. Bronson is doing a long snapping camp with the Gophers. He had a lot of exciting schools that have come in. Schools like the D1-AA that have talked to Greg (Menard). No one has made an offer to Bronson yet, but maybe the biggest school that was in was Stanford, who came in and had seen film of Bronson snapping. They weren’t necessarily talking an offer, but were very interested in the potential possibility of getting him to come out. The University of Northern Illinois seemed to really like Bronson.
Gopher Hole: Would they look at him playing a position or mostly just specializing on the long snapping?
Brian Vossen: I think right now at that level, it is just a projected that he could play a position. He is 6-5 about 215 or 220 and has all the features that would make you think that he could grow into something big, but the Division I’s seem like they would recruit him as a long snapper only and then depending on how he grew and got stronger would depend on whether a position was possible. South Dakota State came in and they had their linebacker, who was their long snapper. They were a school that looked at him. Stanford said that they only have a long snapper, but as I believe Stanford’s long snapper is not even a scholarship athlete. He will not earn a scholarship until he is a proven, effective long snapper from what I understood, but that is a unique opportunity, too. To walk-on at Stanford is certainly different from walking-on somewhere else. You are getting top high-end education. Incredible football experience. Al of that. Bronson is number one in the Class and Greg (Menard) is like 50, so they are both 4.0 or higher.
Gopher Hole: What position is Bronson going to be playing for you this season besides his snapping duties?
Brian Vossen: He will be a tight end for us. Primarily a tight end, but potentially a flex receiver and depending on injuries, potentially defensive end. He played it when he was younger. He has extremely good hands and he is very, very smart. He expect him to be one of two most targeted receivers, for us to be successful.
Gopher Hole: He also plays basketball. How much do you think that basketball helps him for football in terms of foot work and his hands?
Brian Vossen: Tremendous. Bronson, like any kid who is 6-5 this early in life, they have to grow into their frame a little bit. I think that if he doesn’t play basketball, we are seeing a lot less coordinated kid. From a sophomore to a junior year, we got to see his coordination improve a lot. The other thing you notice, too, basketball requires a different type of toughness than football does, but still when you are known as the tough guy or the guys that stands under the rim or takes the charge in basketball, I do think that stuff transfers over. I know that Bronson was considered extremely tough on the basketball team. We have never questioned his toughness. He just is not a thick enough guy or at least last season compared to the kid that we had. I think that basketball has been tremendous for him.