Jake’s Favorite Early 2022 Signings

Another early signing day has come an gone. The early commits finally got the chance to sign their National Letter of Intents and take pictures with their family, coaches and friends. Years of hard work for these kids have payed off and now they will have these memories to look back on forever. While I enjoyed following every recruit’s path, here are the ones that I am real happy to see and why: Tracy-Milroy-Balaton OL/DL- <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="116188" first="Tony" last="Nelson"] (Minnesota Golden Gophers)</strong>- I was really excited for this signing because his first varsity game for the Panthers was my first game I covered as a scout. I remember asking the people up in the press box ’who is a guy I should write about and try to get to college football?’ All four of them pointed right at Tony and said the exact same thing. "He’s a good character kid that has plenty of potential in his athleticism even if you don’t see it tonight." That game was a hard 50-7 loss for the Panthers against an always talented Minneota Viking team. Nelson got some snaps on both sides of the ball and played extremely well for his first game against a good team. I went up to after the game and told him to keep working hard and good things will come, I was imagining a D2 offer for him. I then saw his tape at a Showcase of ours and thought ’this kid is definitely legit.’ Not too long after came his offer from the Gophers, and his commitment soon after, to now his signing day! &nbsp; Fairmont DB- <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="116257" first="Hudson" last="Artz"] (North Dakota State Bison)</strong>- This was also a kid I remember from my first year. They were a young, but extremely athletic Fairmont Cardinal team playing against an always good Luverne Cardinal team. Most of the starters were sophomores, including Artz, but all played well together on the field like they had been playing together forever. Artz stood out as one of the lockdown corners, he kept Luverne’s favorite target out of the game and forced them to do something else to get their big plays. It took me until halftime to look at my program and see that he was only a sophomore at the time. After that I knew this kid was going to reel in some schools in the near future. NDSU really snagged a good one here who is going to do many great things for a great program just based on his work ethic and how much he has already improved. &nbsp; Fairmont DB- <b>[player_tooltip player_id="49827" first="Zach" last="Jorgensen"] (Minnesota Golden Gophers)</b>- Fairmont always seems to have a good young QB to start and play three years for them. Then along came this kid who started both QB and at Safety if I remember right. Again the athleticism came out and really showed against a good team. Jorgensen could not be contained in the pocket when pressured, then he slung a ball 45 yards on the run, rolling to his left, as a right handed QB. His speed and awareness showed on both sides of the ball, playing Safety he flew around the field in pass coverage and was a good tackler in run support. The biggest thing when mentioning both Fairmont kids is that they are some of the nicest kids to talk to, along with their parents as well. Harrisburg QB- <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="56447" first="Jacob" last="Knuth"] (Minnesota Golden Gophers)</strong>- I always say character plays louder than stats, and this kid is a true testament of that in my eyes. Nate, my head scout, had brought this kid up and said he was a top-ranked worthy kid for the Dakotas and sent me his film. I was sold on it after watching it. Knuth already had some big time interest and a few Power 5 offers before he had talked to us, he still showed us nothing but gratitude for writing about him, even when it seemed like we were being redundant with other media outlets saying the same things about him. When I finally got the chance to watch him in person, after he had already been committed, he showed me that his film did not do him any justice, his game is a lot crisper and more fun to watch in person than through a camera. Woonsocket- Wessington Springs -Sanborn Central OL- <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="56460" first="Quinten" last="Christensen"] (South Dakota State Jackrabbits)</strong>- This kid had to be a good kid with how he first addressed me, made me feel old but he was definitely a good kid! A message popped up on Twitter starting with the kid’s film and a message saying ’Hey Mr. Evans.’ Never been addressed so properly before so hats off to you Mr. Christensen! He stood out with his line play on both sides of the ball as well as his size is just something that sticks out in game. He was very powerful coming off the edge but really nimble as well, that also helped him on offense when he was blocking. His recruiting skyrocketed after he sent me his film because he sent me an impressive list of schools interested in him, then all roads led to his commitment to the Jackrabbits! It was really fun following your guys’ recruiting processes! I’m glad to see you guys end up at nice programs and wish you guys all the best in your futures!