Recruiting Report: Nick Flaskamp (MPLS Southwest-2021)
I love me some purple and white, and as a proud Minneapolis Southwest Laker I make sure to keep an eye on my alma mater and try to bring the exposure to its players that I felt we deserved when…
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Continue ReadingI love me some purple and white, and as a proud Minneapolis Southwest Laker I make sure to keep an eye on my alma mater and try to bring the exposure to its players that I felt we deserved when I was a senior and we went 7-1 in the regular season. I’m not talking about myself, I was DIII all the way, but some of my teammates deserved some legitimate scholarship looks that were hard to come by in the former Minneapolis City Conference. With that being said, Nick Flaskamp is a 2021 Southwest Laker who has been balling out under the lights near Pershing Park in Southwest Minneapolis and deserves some college recognition for it. Standing at 5’11 and a sharpened 200 pounds, Flaskamp just finished 2nd in the entire state of Minnesota in tackles in 2019 with 113, and added 20 TFL’s and 401 rushing yards with five touchdowns from his fullback position. This netted him All-District honors as well as the Twin City subdistrict Defensive MVP award after this past season. Last season in ’18 as a sophomore he recorded 78 tackles, four TFL’s, and a FF that won him an All-District HM nod. Flaskamp is also an accomplished wrestler who is a 2x state qualifier that went 23-5 in 2018-19 and was just recently ranked #9 in his weight class of 182 lbs. in The Guillotine’s December 19th high school state rankings. He also placed 4th in the state in the spring of ’19 on Southwest’s 4×2 track squad with teammate and NDSU football commit Demetrius “TK” Marshall. What more could you want from a recruit? Check out what the junior had to say to Northstar Football News about his 2019 MVP season, his career as a Laker, and any pertinent recruiting news! I hope you enjoy! Junior Year Hudl
NFN: Hello and thank you so much for your time, Nick! Go Lakers. To start, tell us a little bit about yourself personally, when you began playing football, and your stats and measurables!
Flaskamp: “To start I have always been a dedicated student athlete. My parents have always felt that school is as if not more important than excelling in athletics so I’ve focused on school and sports throughout my high school career so far. I’ve lived in Minneapolis my whole life and have been playing football for Minneapolis teams since 3rd grade. I’ve always loved football because there’s no other sport like it. No other sport has the same combination of physical skill and mental skill required to play it. I’ve been to the state tournament twice for wrestling and am currently ranked top 10 in state and placed 4th in the state tournament for 4×200 meter relay for track last year. I’m 5’11 195 , run a 4.54 40 and can bench around 285, squat around 395 and deadlift 450. Last year I had 113 tackles and 24 tfl’s in 8 games ( I’ll check with my coach for my stats that include post season) I had 410 yards and 5 touchdowns through 8 games with 9.3 yards per carry.”
NFN: Well put. How did Southwest’s 2018 season go? What were some things you worked on in the offseason to improve for ’19?
Flaskamp: “2018 season we had mostly sophomores and juniors so it was important for us to start building chemistry together and learning how to work with each other. I picked up a lot from my other linebackers who were older than me and Nate Mertes has had a lot of success at the linebacker position so it made it a lot easier for me to learn how to be an impact player on the defense as a sophomore. I ended the year on a high note with getting 16 tackles in our section loss to SLP that year and knew I was poised for a successful year as a junior. As we started this football season we had only graduated about three starters so we all already knew how to run the defense and offense and what we wanted to accomplish that season. We had a lot of offseason success. I did training three days a week over the summer at Gameface training with TK and it elevated my level of play.
Flaskamp (7) breaks a big run from his FB position.Wrestling has also helped me a lot because it helps with explosiveness, tackling, overall strength, and especially conditioning. It’s gotta he the hardest sport out there. However I will always consider myself a football player over a wrestler. The main things I like about the Southwest program is we’ve got a good group of guys that all want to get better and some really involved coaches. Our new defensive coordinator was great and really boosted all of our ability to make plays by putting us in the right spots. I also think that we have the best running back coach in the state.”
NFN: I am biased, but tend to agree. I’m glad you were putting in work with TK as well, he’s a stud. What were some specific things you worked on there?
Flaskamp: “My main focus this year was on defense because I knew I wouldn’t be at halfback until my senior season so that’s what I focused on. And after I started doing good I felt like I was on a roll and kept dominating. It gave me a boost of confidence that I was the guy that teams started to prepare for and work their offense on beating the weak they played us. I’ve always had a good sense of running the ball and after Gameface I felt like my foot work and speed was better so once the coaches started giving me the ball in the preseason they realized that something changed in my running ability from last year. I became a legitimate option to hand the ball to when the coaches needed a touchdown. I think as a running back I’m able to continuously pound the ball down the throat of a defense which may not be flashy but when they keep giving the ball to me and Nate eventually one of us is going to bust one for the TD. As a linebacker I think that I play downhill well and can recognize plays in order to stop them earlier or in the backfield.”
NFN: Nice. So what were some of the big 2019 games, how do you think the season was overall, and what should we expect from the Lakers in 2020?
Flaskamp: “The game that stood out to me the most was the North game because it really showed us all what we needed to work on. We all felt like we could have won that game but we did not play to our full ability. After North we got on a roll as a team until Fridley which was a rude awakening and it was a message to us that if we wanted to go far in sections we needed to buckle down in practice and work hard. Going into the Park Center game (in sections) a lot of people just looked at their record and wrote them off. Right away we realized that they hit hard and they were not gonna just fold up and give us the playoff win. TK, Nate, and I knew that as the main offensive weapons we had to be getting in the end zone. And that’s exactly what we did. On the defense I felt like there wasn’t a single game where we didn’t take care of business except for Fridley. In our last playoff game against Cooper (section semi’s) they came out really strong and it surprised us a little. They were stopping us on offense and we didn’t know what to do.
Flaskamp with a big sack.After halftime we all had a talk as a defense and something changed in us and we started playing like some dogs. They didn’t score a single time in the second half and after we switched to wildcat we were moving the ball on offense. In the end it came down to the wire and we couldn’t punch the ball in the end zone but it just made all of the returning players for next year hungrier this offseason. I’ve seen a lot of guys in the weight room especially the lineman and I believe that with their help and me at halfback we’re going to have another great season at Southwest.“
NFN: Any recruiting news? Who have you been in contact with and what are you looking for in a college team?
Flaskamp: “I’ve been talking to SDSU and UNI but have no official offers yet. I hope that I will get the opportunity to play college football at a high level. I’m working harder this offseason that I ever have before and come senior season I hop to be ready to lead this team to doing great things and hopefully pick up some offers along the way. I haven’t been going to camps yet but I plan to this summer.”
I know I’ll be rooting for Nick as he attempts to lead Minnesota in tackles in 2020, and I have a feeling some offers should be rolling in soon. Good luck and thank you!