2021 Minnesota High School Football Signees

[Bayfieldgopher]

PJ has a lot of work to do in Minnesota. 247 has just two MN kids in their top 10 as Gophers; Eastern #3 and Purcell #8. PWO's Becker and Mau are #29 & #30.



2021 Top Football Recruits in Minnesota
The 247Sports rankings are determined by our recruiting analysts after countless hours of personal observations, film evaluation and input from our network of scouts.

247sports.com

Top nine Minnesota high school football players from the Class of 2021 - MaxPreps
MaxPreps News - Lineman headline list of the Gopher State's top gridiron recruits.

www.maxpreps.com




2021 Rivals.com Minnesota Top 5

#	NAME	POS	LOCATION	HT	WT	COMMIT STATUS
1	Riley Mahlman	OT	Lakeville, MN Lakeville South	6'7"	270	Wisconsin 09/22/19 SIGNED
2	Davon Townley	WDE	Minneapolis , MN North	6'6"	220	Undecided
3	Justice Sullivan	OLB	Eden Prairie, MN Eden Prairie	6'2"	230	Iowa 11/24/19 SIGNED
4	Deven Eastern	SDE	Shakopee, MN Shakopee	6'6"	280	Minnesota 12/19/19 SIGNED
5	Bastian Swinney	OT	Edina, MN Edina

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[IMG alt="Bayfield Gopher"]https://rivals-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/forums/minnesota/data/avatars/m/1/1282.jpg?1521569445[/IMG]

 

[MNVCGUY]

We all want to see the top in-state kids stay home but if Fleck recruits them and they choose to go somewhere else what more do you expect him to do?

If he was totally ignoring them that would be one thing but if he is recruiting them with the same effort that he recruits out of state guys then it is what it is if they choose to sign somewhere else.

In the end, I want a class full of talented kids who want to be here, regardless of where they are from.

 

[SixBySix]

Now do Illinois, which I think we can all agree has much better HS football.

 

[Stuff]

It's slightly frustrating to see so many highly rated in state OL recruits go to other schools.

 

[1983]

We all want to see the top in-state kids stay home but if Fleck recruits them and they choose to go somewhere else what more do you expect him to do?

If he was totally ignoring them that would be one thing but if he is recruiting them with the same effort that he recruits out of state guys then it is what it is if they choose to sign somewhere else.

In the end, I want a class full of talented kids who want to be here, regardless of where they are from.

I agree but pretty much all the great programs have a core of top home grown recruits. Somehow this must improve some.

 

[hungan1]

It will take time and winning titles before the instate recruiting make a turn to the Gophers.

But, even then kids that are intent on going elsewhere (Matt Birk - Harvard, JC Hassenauer - Alabama, etc...) will go elsewhere.

Justice Sullivan does not really count because he spent most of his life in Iowa before his dad moved his family to Minnesota later on in his career.

 

[HitMeAgainIAmStillMoving]

We all want to see the top in-state kids stay home but if Fleck recruits them and they choose to go somewhere else what more do you expect him to do?

If he was totally ignoring them that would be one thing but if he is recruiting them with the same effort that he recruits out of state guys then it is what it is if they choose to sign somewhere else.

In the end, I want a class full of talented kids who want to be here, regardless of where they are from.

Agree. If PJ cannot get them to come here then so be it. He is best coach since the music man and man only lasted two years.

 

[MNVCGUY]

I agree but pretty much all the great programs have a core of top home grown recruits. Somehow this must improve some.

Honest question, is there actual data to back up that claim?

Because it seems to me that once a kid is on campus it really doesn't matter one bit where they came from. If they can play they can play.

Are our team prospects that much different if we get Riley Mahlman instead of Cameron James?

Obviously it is easier if you can count on the best kids in-state staying home each year. I am sure Fleck would love nothing more than to see all the top Minnesota kids grow up wanting to be Gophers and have a strong desire to stay put, makes his job a lot easier.

But in the end all the coaches can do is recruit the in-state players. If they choose to go elsewhere then it is on the coaches to find someone with equal or better talent from some other part of the country.

 

[MaxyJR1]

I agree but pretty much all the great programs have a core of top home grown recruits. Somehow this must improve some.

What is a core when you only have 8 kids worth an offer in the state? They recruited hard and I would say all that left make sense.

Family ties to the school of choice or fit to scheme.

They have to fit and want to be Gophers.

 

[Tommyboy]

Keep on fooling yourself, if you do not think every winning program's core are their home state players keep dreaming. The majority of these kids would stay home with the right coach. Kill recruited the state and created relationship's with the coaches. PJ will stay as long as it is conducive to his agenda. These kids all know this. His recruiting style reminds me of that old Coke commercial with the talking head.

 

[hungan1]

Honest question, is there actual data to back up that claim?

Because it seems to me that once a kid is on campus it really doesn't matter one bit where they came from. If they can play they can play.

Are our team prospects that much different if we get Riley Mahlman instead of Cameron James?

Obviously it is easier if you can count on the best kids in-state staying home each year. I am sure Fleck would love nothing more than to see all the top Minnesota kids grow up wanting to be Gophers and have a strong desire to stay put, makes his job a lot easier.

But in the end all the coaches can do is recruit the in-state players. If they choose to go elsewhere then it is on the coaches to find someone with equal or better talent from some other part of the country.

Doesn't PJ Fleck run football camps for kids? That's a good start to have little kids dreaming about being a Gopher. Cody Lindenberg (2020) was one of those kids whose family followed the Gophers, and dreamed of being one growing up.

As have been said earlier, Jerry Kill established relationships with HS coaches, and even had clinics for them in the summer. I don't know if PJ Fleck is doing the same thing. At least on the periphery, there is not much public visibility.

 

[Urbandale]

Keep on fooling yourself, if you do not think every winning program's core are their home state players keep dreaming. The majority of these kids would stay home with the right coach. Kill recruited the state and created relationship's with the coaches. PJ will stay as long as it is conducive to his agenda. These kids all know this. His recruiting style reminds me of that old Coke commercial with the talking head.

Your ability to spout off randomness without regard to facts is startling and impressive. You claim that "every winning program's core are their home state players"? Well, let's just take a look at a decidedly winning program - Alabama.

I'm guessing by "core" you mean a team's better players. If you don't mean better players, then the Gophers already have buckets of Minnesotans on their roster, so you shouldn't be upset. So here are the Alabama players who were first team all-SEC this year (thus their core players):

Mac Jones – Florida
Alex Leatherwood – Florida
DeVonta Smith – Louisiana
Deonte Brown – Alabama
Landon Dickerson – North Carolina
Najee Harris – California
Patrick Surtain – Florida
Christian Barmore – Pennsylvania
Dylan Moses – Louisiana

Sorry your guy wasn't good enough to draw Minnesota's interest and ended up at St. Thomas.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Keep on fooling yourself, if you do not think every winning program's core are their home state players keep dreaming. The majority of these kids would stay home with the right coach. Kill recruited the state and created relationship's with the coaches. PJ will stay as long as it is conducive to his agenda. These kids all know this. His recruiting style reminds me of that old Coke commercial with the talking head.

So Kill loaded up on MN kids in years 1-2 with 15. He signed 6 in years 3-5.
Fleck signed 9 in years 1-2 and 8 in years 3-5.

Kill signed 4 more MN kids than Fleck in 5 years.

Claeys's year was an oddity and not the norm.

 

[Tommyboy]

Your ability to spout off randomness without regard to facts is startling and impressive. You claim that "every winning program's core are their home state players"? Well, let's just take a look at a decidedly winning program - Alabama.

I'm guessing by "core" you mean a team's better players. If you don't mean better players, then the Gophers already have buckets of Minnesotans on their roster, so you shouldn't be upset. So here are the Alabama players who were first team all-SEC this year (thus their core players):

Mac Jones – Florida
Alex Leatherwood – Florida
DeVonta Smith – Louisiana
Deonte Brown – Alabama
Landon Dickerson – North Carolina
Najee Harris – California
Patrick Surtain – Florida
Christian Barmore – Pennsylvania
Dylan Moses – Louisiana

Sorry your guy wasn't good enough to draw Minnesota's interest and ended up at St. Thomas.

Now your comparing us to Alabama? If you know anything about any successful program the majority of the kids are from the state. Who is my guy? My brother had a full ride to the gophers in basketball or baseball and did not take it.

 

[Urbandale]

Now your comparing us to Alabama? If you know anything about any successful program the majority of the kids are from the state. Who is my guy? My brother had a full ride to the gophers in basketball or baseball and did not take it.

What are you talking about? There is no successful program in major college football in which the majority of the kids are from the state.

And you're claiming that your brother was offered a full ride scholarship to the University of Minnesota in basketball as well as a full ride scholarship in baseball? Oh, boy...

 

[MNVCGUY]

Now your comparing us to Alabama? If you know anything about any successful program the majority of the kids are from the state.

Prove it. Give me a successful program not located in Texas, California or Florida where the majority of their entire roster is from their home state. To save you some time that won't be true of Ohio State, Wisconsin or Iowa.

 

[#2Gopher]

Keep on fooling yourself, if you do not think every winning program's core are their home state players keep dreaming. The majority of these kids would stay home with the right coach. Kill recruited the state and created relationship's with the coaches. PJ will stay as long as it is conducive to his agenda. These kids all know this. His recruiting style reminds me of that old Coke commercial with the talking head.

Not always true. Sure it helps to have the right coach and all that. You have to remember though that players are different every year as to what they want to do. It will be a roller coaster for a bit yet until we show some consistency as to staff.

 

[#2Gopher]

I agree but pretty much all the great programs have a core of top home grown recruits. Somehow this must improve some.

It can with our help. By wearing Gopher gear everywhere for more exposure. Every little thing helps.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Doesn't PJ Fleck run football camps for kids? That's a good start to have little kids dreaming about being a Gopher. Cody Lindenberg (2020) was one of those kids whose family followed the Gophers, and dreamed of being one growing up.

As have been said earlier, Jerry Kill established relationships with HS coaches, and even had clinics for them in the summer. I don't know if PJ Fleck is doing the same thing. At least on the periphery, there is not much public visibility.

Fleck has had camps and I see the promotions all the time. Unfortunately COVID has canceled everything for the last year.

That's awesome about Cody, I'm glad he is a Gopher and I too wish more MN kids wanted to be Gophers. I also wish more were deserving of a scholarship. Cody was the 10th rated kid in MN and that can't be core of your recruiting.

 

[btowngopher]

It's slightly frustrating to see so many highly rated in state OL recruits go to other schools.

Doesn’t help that the two border rivals are among the best in the country at developing NFL olinemen. While we have struggled with it since Mason.

 

[LesBolstad]

Now your comparing us to Alabama? If you know anything about any successful program the majority of the kids are from the state. Who is my guy? My brother had a full ride to the gophers in basketball or baseball and did not take it.

Who was it, Barry Wohler?

 

[laazrakit]

It's slightly frustrating to see so many highly rated in state OL recruits go to other schools.

It is... but as long as PJ is pullin' 1's and 2's from other states while keeping some great Minnesota talent home who've bought into the culture, I think I can live with it. Besides, this way I can get have the pure enjoyment of watching Minnesota kids take a giant dump on those who've chosen to leave. The succor that Boye Mafe provided by schoolin' Bryce Benhart has gone a long way to chilling me out on the subject. Here's to hoping that sometime in the near future, I get the satisfaction of watching a Gopher lineman toss Davon Townley around like a rag doll.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

So Kill loaded up on MN kids in years 1-2 with 15. He signed 6 in years 3-5.
Fleck signed 9 in years 1-2 and 8 in years 3-5.

Kill signed 4 more MN kids than Fleck in 5 years.

Claeys's year was an oddity and not the norm.

This is true. It was an oddity, both in terms of in-state talent and in-state signings.

 

[MaxyJR1]

This is true. It was an oddity, both in terms of in-state talent and in-state signings.

Add in Green and Winfield who had ties but were not in-state.

 

[Some guy]

Keep on fooling yourself, if you do not think every winning program's core are their home state players keep dreaming. The majority of these kids would stay home with the right coach. Kill recruited the state and created relationship's with the coaches. PJ will stay as long as it is conducive to his agenda. These kids all know this. His recruiting style reminds me of that old Coke commercial with the talking head.

A lot of Minnesota coaches didn’t like kill and claeys Tbh

A lot don’t like fleck too


Some liked both. Some dislike both

pretending like one regime was loved and another is just making stuff up

 

[hungan1]

Fleck has had camps and I see the promotions all the time. Unfortunately COVID has canceled everything for the last year.

That's awesome about Cody, I'm glad he is a Gopher and I too wish more MN kids wanted to be Gophers. I also wish more were deserving of a scholarship. Cody was the 10th rated kid in MN and that can't be core of your recruiting.

I honestly feel that players like Bryce Benhart were turned off by PJ Fleck's RTB mantra. Early on, many fans haven't bought in either including here in GH.

Now after an 11-3 2019 season, it awaken fan interest.

This will change when PJ Fleck sells out TCF Bank more often.

 

[Some guy]

I honestly feel that players like Bryce Benhart were turned off by PJ Fleck's RTB mantra. Early on, many fans haven't bought in either including here in GH.

Now after an 11-3 2019 season, it awaken fan interest.

This will change when PJ Fleck sells out TCF Bank more often.

All stories I’ve heard is sort of that Riley Mahlman is a different type of cat

Which is fine. No knock. But a kid should ALWAYS pick best fit. Better for the kid.




would it be better for fleck to get Mahlman and then he transfers out after a year because it’s the wrong fit? Or is it better for both of them for him to make the right choice for him?

 

[gophernut1]

Culture matters and creating a culture of connecting MN kids to MN athletics is a big deal for creating a great program. If you can get the top kids in the state to commit early because they have always dreams of playing for the U, it makes recruiting that much easier. Especially when that athlete is a game changer. It goes towards momentum of a program and it is something to pay attention to. You will always have kids who want to go elsewhere, but it should be balanced by kids who have always wanted to play for there local university. In the day and age of social media, national sports camps and leagues, this may not matter as much, but it really tells us where the state of the program is at.

The fact that we had a half dozen top football athletes in this state leave this year says less about Fleck or Kill as much as it says none of these kids grew up wanting to play for the "U." Creating a program where a coach has some low hanging fruit each year is part of creating a great program.

 

[forever a gopher]

I would love for PJ to haul in all the top in-state kids, but it's not the end of world if he doesn't. I have been very vocal about the need for Pitino to keep more in-state talent home. But it is way more important in basketball than football. If you get say 50% of the top talent to stay home in basketball, you can have a very nice roster. You do the same in football, and you're still needing to poach the majority of your roster from other places. MN just doesn't produce enough talent to sustain the football team. They do, however, produce enough basketball talent to basically do that.

Just as a comparison, see a few states from the 2021 class as a reference as to what is happening at other places. I limited it to top 7, as that's what fit in my screen capture. You'll see WI is really an outlier. If you look back at years past, they have been recruiting in-state talent probably better than anybody. They, of course, have been very successful, and for quite some time. All of the kids signing have grown up with a dominant WI football team. Even IA, which has also been very good, wasn't able to sign their top 3 in-state kids. PA, where people are very passionate about PSU football, signed 1 of the top 7. AL, the most successful football program in decades, signed 3 of their top 7 in-state kids.

WI:



IA:



NE:



IL:



MI:



PA:



TX:



AZ:



AL:

 

[Some guy]

conventional wisdom is the best way to get good kids who want to be a part of your program is locally

But at the end of the day the only thing that matters is getting the best kids that want to be a part of your program

How about Iowa state (a program whose trajectory I would compare to Minnesota’s even though they may be a little ahead) getting 0 of the top 7 in their state