Minnesota Preps Recruiting Updates: FCS All-Americans

One of my favorite things about college football is being able to watch and track the careers of the Minnesotans playing for various levels on a smorgasbord of different teams. The FCS level - home to the Missouri Valley Conference as well the Summit League, traditionally has been a level where many Minnesotans decide to play at - and where many have found a great deal of success in the classroom and on the gridiron. You can see this success in a variety of places, and one of them are the annual preseason and post-season All-America awards. This list - presented by <em>HeroSports </em>- was filled with natives from the Land of 10,000 Lakes, and these particular athlete’s are not only some of the most talented in all of FCS, but they were some of the most under-recruited coming out of high school. They made up for it, however, and then some. <strong>Lance, Radunz, </strong>and <strong>Smith </strong>all have legitimate chances of playing football on Sunday’s, and trusted and experienced NFL scouts have stated that <strong>Lance </strong>and <strong>Radunz </strong>may be one of the best at their position in the entire draft class - not just the FCS. With so much NFL hype centered around some former MN preps, I thought it was particularly appropriate to release this <em>PrepRedzoneMN </em>recruiting update on the preseason FCS All-Americans. Thanks for reading! <span style="font-size: 14pt;">First Team All-America Offense</span> QB: [player_tooltip player_id="1562" first="<strong>Trey</strong>" last="<strong>Lance</strong>"] (<em>Marshall</em> -&gt; NDSU) RS Sophomore. If one chooses to search "[player_tooltip player_id="1562" first="Trey" last="Lance"] NFL Draft" they would easily find a plethora of NFL Draft scouts and gurus comparing <strong>Lance </strong>to Andrew Luck, arguing that <strong>Lance </strong>is a better NFL QB prospect than Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields, or one of many film breakdowns that emphasize the 6’3, 225 lb. gun-slinger’s accuracy, decision making (0 interceptions in 2019), and athleticism. He’s got to be the most hyped Minnesotan in an NFL Draft since....ever? Either way, the kid can ball. The more articles and draft hype I see for NDSU’s #5, the sadder I get that the Golden Gophers didn’t offer <em>Marshall’s </em>finest, even after he received a Boise State offer late into his senior year. His prep career matched the success he found in Fargo, as <strong>Lance </strong>was a three-year starter who played both QB and SS for the <em>Tigers</em>, and was a 3x All-District selection as well as a Minnesota Vikings All-State pick and MN All-Star game participant as a senior after he passed for 1,386 yards and 14 touchdowns his senior year while also rushing for 641 yards and 10 TDs. As a senior safety he recorded 54 tackles and three interceptions as well. He was also an All-Conference basketball player in the winter. Easily the best player in FCS, <strong>Lance </strong>has done nothing but put on for MN since a prep. Make sure you keep your eyes peeled for more hype and news on the Bison’s QB1. <a href="http://www.hudl.com/v/2CcQMW">Senior Highlights</a> [embed]https://twitter.com/nfldraftscout/status/1275435927930732547?s=20[/embed] OL: <strong>Dillon Radunz</strong> (<em>Becker</em> -&gt; NDSU) Senior. 6'6, 315 lbs.  HERO Sports FCS Sophomore All-American in 2018 when he was also All-Missouri Valley Football Conference second team. In 2019 he was consensus First Team All-American across eight different services as well as a First Team All-MVFC selection. His draft stock has absolutely shot up since the 2019 season ended and scouts began watching <strong>Lance's </strong>film and noticing a standout OT blocking for him. To my excitement, <strong>Radunz </strong>is a <em>Becker </em>graduate who won state titles as a junior and senior and went 25-1 in that time frame. His senior season he was team captain, District MVP, AP All-State, <em>Kare11 </em>All-Metro, and a Minnesota Vikings All-State member. As a DLineman he totaled 99 career tackles and 14 sacks. He was also an All-Conference basketball and 6th place finisher at the state track and field meet. NDSU is loaded with Minnesota talent this year, be aware! <a href="http://www.hudl.com/v/2AHY0A">Senior Year</a> [embed]https://twitter.com/JimNagy_SB/status/1273772182582308871?s=20[/embed] <span style="font-size: 14pt;">First Team All-America Defense</span> DE: <strong>Elerson Smith</strong> (<em>MPLS South</em> -&gt; University of Northern Iowa) Senior. 6'7, 245 lbs. There's really only one real reason why <strong>Smith </strong>wasn't more highly recruited out of high school, and that is because he played in the now disbanded MPLS City Conference. If you've been reading my stuff for a while you already know that I believe city kids to be underrated as is, but this was especially true back when <strong>Smith </strong>was a senior. Weirdly, his sister August and I wrestled together for <em>Southwest's </em>team, so there was a chance of him becoming a <em>Laker</em>, but nevertheless UNI does about as good a job as any as recruiting kids from Minneapolis, and they lucked out big-time with <strong>Elerson</strong>. With a crazy amount of length and range and still a ton of room to grow, he's got NFL scouts salivating when it comes to his potential - especially for a small school prospect, and will be a sack machine as a senior. As a <em>South Tiger </em>he was named First Team All-State by <em>USAToday</em> as a TE, earned Second Team All-State by us at <em>NorthstarFootballNews</em> as a defensive end, and Second Team All-Metro by the <em>StarTribune. </em><a href="https://www.hudl.com/video/3/3016927/5721cedf0dcb0d12f8722494">Senior Year Highlights</a> [embed]https://twitter.com/JimNagy_SB/status/1269256983380705281?s=20[/embed] <span style="font-size: 14pt;">Second Team All-America Offense</span> OL: <strong>Nash Jensen</strong> (<em>Osseo</em> -&gt; NDSU) Junior. 6'4, 331 lbs. A gigantic human being who I got to see play a few times for my old DC and now <em>Osseo </em>head coach Ryan Stockhaus, <strong>Jensen </strong>started all 16 games as a sophomore last season for the Bison and was named an FCS Sophomore All-American for his efforts. He was dominant as a prep as well as he played six or seven different positions while at <em>Osseo, </em>and recorded 86 pancake blocks as a senior and over 150 in his career. Side not, I love it when high school's track pancakes. He won a state championship as a junior and was named to the MN All-Star Game. He's MN's next great Bison OLineman! <a href="http://www.hudl.com/v/2Cfcq6">Senior Film</a> WR: <strong>Isaiah Weston</strong> (<em>STMA</em> -&gt; University of Northern Iowa) Junior. 6'4, 210 lbs. The <em>St. Michael-Albertville </em>product had an unreal prep highlight tape as a senior and was one of the - if not the most - dominant receivers in the state coming out of high school. He was named All-Conference, Conference MVP, All-State, and named to the Minnesota Vikings All-State team while helping the <em>Knights </em>to conference, section, and state championships. With a great frame I really hope he has a big junior season and gets some looks to play in the NFL. <a href="https://www.hudl.com/video/3/2559610/5721d832c124573b54808a60">Senior Year Film</a> <span style="font-size: 14pt;">Third Team All-America Offense </span> OL: <strong>Lewis Kidd</strong> (<em>Totino-Grace</em> -&gt; Montana State) Senior. 6'6, 315 lbs. A highly recruited prospect coming out of <em>TG </em>who I feel like fell off some people's radars when he went out West to play his college ball, <strong>Kidd </strong>is having himself one fine career and was a Second Team All-Big Sky pick last fall. He also started all 13 games as a sophomore and was named FCS Sophomore HM. He also started 5 games as a freshman. As a prep he was named All-State and his conference's Lineman MVP. He'll be a stud senior.   <a href="https://www.hudl.com/video/3/3681662/5721d7d6e984d413d4213a14">Senior Year</a>