New '22 Commit- Spencer Alvarez

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From Ryan Burns- "He's a guy that Minnesota's been wanting to keep quiet for some time.

He was on campus last Tuesday and Wednesday. Tore his knee last fall, but Minnesota is confident that if he was 100% right now, he'd be the top tight end prospect in the state. We'll see how their gamble pays off. Quite a basketball player as well.

Like I said, I expect Minnesota to take two tight ends if they can in this class."
 



This does not move the excitement needle one iota.

With that said... In fleck I trust.
 


The Lakeville blocking TE just committed to NE.
Is this commit also a blocking TE?
 




Hard to believe the Lakeville TE is worth much. NE snatched the top TE recruit out of Iowa who had multiple P5 offers. But then again maybe Scott watched IaState play 3 tight ends all the time.
 

These types of offers almost always turn out to be good football players for us (in Fleck and Kill's era). This is a guy that we had absolutely zero pressure to offer. It's like Cody Lindenberg or Eric Murray. There is a huge difference between offering a lower rated recruit fairly early on and settling for one near signing day.

As for Spencer Alvarez. I know nothing about him as a football player but I've seen him play basketball. If he ends up growing into an OL, he'll be pretty damn athletic for an OL. It wouldn't be at all surprising if he is 6'8" or 6'9" next year.
 

Better name than Barry..............
 






Even if he's up to 250 or 260 now, to become an OL, he would have to put on another 40 to 50 lbs.

That's not as easy as it sounds if you want to retain some mobility.

We've seen that Fleck likes big, strong TE's so I would expect this guy to stay at TE.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Even if he's up to 250 or 260 now, to become an OL, he would have to put on another 40 to 50 lbs.

That's not as easy as it sounds if you want to retain some mobility.

We've seen that Fleck likes big, strong TE's so I would expect this guy to stay at TE.
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I don’t know how easy or difficult it is, but it seems like it’s been done fairly often.
 

stuck_in_scony_go4_fan said:
This does not move the excitement needle one iota.

With that said... In fleck I trust.
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This cycle is likely to be a tough one for those that only rely on what the recruiting sites say because those sites are going to be way behind. Plus on a guy like Alvarez who was hurt they are really going to be in the dark.

As someone else mentioned there was zero pressure to offer him now, so the fact that they did tells me the coaches see something they really like in him and wanted to make sure they got to him early before others catch on.
 


Interesting prospect. Only 2* at the moment. Plays for a very small public school ... I think Heights, Brooklyn Center, and St Anthony are the smallest public districts in the core metro, and play like 3A level ball?

Anyway, obviously Fleck and staff see something there. Good point that maybe he will bulk up and move to OT. Not at all an unheard of transition.


This could be a "Maroon shirt" offer, as well. Meaning he is PWO his first year with a guarantee of scholarship upgrade in year 2, and are announced with the rest of the scholarship signees. (NCAA changed this rule a few years ago, Zach Annexstad was first to take advantage of this)
 

I like it. Taking a chance on a local recruit with a big upside. In Fleck we trust! Hopefully this guy becomes a multi year starter.
 

Congrats to Spencer Alvarez!

We've got another home town dreamer who will develop in the system. No pressure at all on the kid.

We need more MN kids like him.
 


Matt Spaeth was a pretty fair, local 6’7” TE. Rated 2* 0.7667 coming out of St. Michael Albertville. Turned out OK: first team All American, Mackey Award winner, drafted in 3rd round. Great athletes can be overlooked, esp. if injured in HS.
 
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Watched the first few minutes of his highlight tape and he didn’t catch any passes. All blocking and defense.
 

Word said:
Well hopefully he exceeds Wozniak's zero career touchdown receptions!
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Wait... are you telling me that throwing it high to a tall guy near this end zone is NOT a guaranteed touchdown?

Damn. I guess I've been misinformed about that all these years...
 
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Gophergrandpa said:
Matt Spaeth was a pretty fair, local 6’7” TE. Rated 2* 0.7667 coming out of St. Michael Albertville. Turned out OK: first team All American, Mackey Award winner, drafted in 3rd round. Great athletes can be overlooked, esp. if injured in HS.
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Super bowl champion as well.

This is one of those commitments where all fans can really do at this point is put their faith in the coaches that they are seeing something scholarship worthy in the kid. Always great though when you have local kids super excited about the prospect of staying home and playing for the Gophers.

Will be interesting to see how it plays out with Alvarez but the fact that we are offering a scholarship to a guy with limited other reported offers tells me there is a decent chance he is going to blow up at some point here.
 



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