2020-21 MN Recruiting Hotbeds: Annandale

As we have moved on from the 2019 season - and recruiting has heated up in the winter - we have seen signing days pass and upcoming junior days began to be planned. With these commitments and visits being reported, Northstar Football News is going in-depth to reveal which of Minnesota’s high school program’s hold some of the deepest and most talented recruiting classes in the state. Over the coming weeks NFN will feature teams from all around the Land of 10,000 Lakes who showed themselves to be the hottest stops on the recruiting trail for either the 2020 recruiting cycle or the upcoming 2021 one. This second edition to the series will take us Northwest of Minneapolis up TH 55 an hour to the town of Annandale. The town of around 3,500, best known for the 26 lakes in its 10 mile radius and it’s post office that has been in operation since 1887, is about to be well known for something else quite soon here: it’s football team’s big and talented c/o 2021 recruiting class. And when I say big I mean both in number of players as well as size. The Cardinals roster features a ton of big, strong kids that are getting collegiate interest from teams at the Division I, II, III, and NAIA level, and it’s not really a surprise when you remember Annandale reached the MN Class 3A state semifinals last season where they lost to Dassel-Cokato 14-24 at U.S. Bank Stadium. While they did graduate some ballers, Annandale’s 2021 senior class is even better this next year, and through the limited information found from the Cardinal’s Hudl and MNFootballHub, Northstar Football News presents this Annandale Cardinal edition of “2020-21 MN Recruiting Hotbeds” where we will take a closer examination at the impressive ‘21 senior class. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy! Let’s first take a quick look at some of Annandale’s c/o 2020 players that helped lead them to the Class 3A state semi’s... Paul Meyer (6’4, 190 lbs.) WR. Committed to the University of Mary. [embed]https://twitter.com/umaryfb/status/1225108425295716353?s=21[/embed] Lucas Bachel (6’2, 240 lbs.) DE/RB. @bachel_lucas Uncommitted. <a href="https://www.hudl.com/video/3/9997008/5dd11eccb534360de85c08cf">vs. Dassel-Cokato 2019</a> <a href="https://www.hudl.com/video/3/9997008/5c001b6764e05b16cc0eded2">Junior Year</a> Mitchell Sullivan (5’8, 160 lbs.) CB. Uncommitted. <a href="http://www.hudl.com/video/3/11578294/5dd5d995dfd8950ddc3ea5f4">Senior Highlights</a> Josh Lanctot (6’3, 250 lbs.) OL. Uncommitted. <a href="http://www.hudl.com/v/2CUECx">Senior Season</a> Alan Luna RB. Uncommitted. <a href="https://www.hudl.com/video/3/11578236/5dbd881eab92861028275671">vs. Mora HS</a> Zane Swanson (6’2, 195 lbs.) RB. Uncommitted. Logan Aune (6’0, 300 lbs.) OL. Uncommitted. Now we’ll get into the 2021 prospects. Whatever level you coach that there’s a kid for you....! [player_tooltip player_id="18028" first="Logan" last="Purcell"] (6’7, 240 lbs.) OL/DE. ‪@LoganPurcell5 ‬Committed to the University of Minnesota. <a href="https://www.hudl.com/video/3/11578347/5dd363884decd7049c31d69b">Junior Year Highlights</a> [caption id="attachment_13250" align="alignnone" width="300"] Purcell w/the QB hit.[/caption] [player_tooltip player_id="18137" first="Landon" last="Jones"] (6’5, 225 lbs.) QB. ‪@Jones72302lsj ‬Threw for 1,538 yards and 12 TDs in 2019. Has received junior day invites from Minot State, Northern State, University of Minnesota-Duluth, Augustana (SD), South Dakota State, Southwest Minnesota State, Bemidji State, Minnesota State-Mankato, Concordia College-Moorhead. <a href="http://www.hudl.com/v/2CytMM">Junior Season</a> [player_tooltip player_id="18078" first="Isaac" last="Hagstrom"] (6’5, 240 lbs.) OL/DL. ‪@HagstromIsaac ‬2019 All-District and District OL MVP. Has received junior day invites from University of St. Thomas, Northern State, Augustana, UMD, Winona St, Valley City State, Minnesota State-Mankato, South Dakota State, North Dakota, South Dakota Statec Concordia-St. Paul, Bemidji State, Minnesota State-Moorhead, and Concordia College-Moorhead. <a href="http://www.hudl.com/v/2CU3By">Junior Year</a> [player_tooltip player_id="18118" first="Drew" last="Conte"] (6’2, 280 lbs.) OL/DL. ‪@DrewConte1 ‬Has received junior day invites from Gustavus Adolphus College, Iowa Western Community College, St. Thomas, UMD, Northern State, Minnesota State-Moorhead, Augustana, Valley City State, Morningside College, Missouri Western, Minot St, UW-Eau Claire, Bethel, Southwest Minnesota State, St. John’s University, Mayville St, Concordia College-Moorhead, Montana Tech, University of Jamestown, Concordia-St. Paul, Bemidji State, UW-River Falls. <a href="http://www.hudl.com/v/2CdkWQ">Junior Year Highlights</a> John Langbehn (6’3, 190 lbs.) WR/LB. @johnlangbehn <a href="https://www.hudl.com/video/3/11578327/5e54b38d32dcb2144ca356dd">vs. Dassel-Cokato</a> Kessler Kenning OG @kesslerkenning 2019 Class A 285 5th Place Wrestler. Followed by a Minnesota State-Moorhead coach. [caption id="attachment_18594" align="alignnone" width="300"] Kenning on the podium![/caption] Lucas Evans (6’0, 175 lbs.) RB. <a href="https://www.hudl.com/video/3/11578348/5ddd5b8d4205c110f4a2f279">vs. Holy Family Catholic</a> Riley Niedzielski (5’11, 180 lbs.) RB. <a href="https://www.hudl.com/video/3/11578343/5e59a3c0c119de0898cc5ae3">vs. Watertown-Mayer</a> Logan Arnold (6’0, 200 lbs.) OL/DL/LB. Also varsity 182 lb. wrestler. <a href="https://www.hudl.com/video/3/11578344/5dd5fff623481b0cbcf9f533">vs. Princeton HS</a> Ben Wheeler (5’8, 170 lbs.) RB/DB. Reed Leabo (5’8, 175 lbs.) Slide Moore (5’7, 160 lbs.) Austin Sundberg OL CJ Kuser RB, Ethan Pederson RB, Justice Cochin WR, Sam Heath OL, Brohde Fronning OL, Zach Danielson OL, Tommy Eckstrom OL, Payton Crotty Go Cardinals!