Jake’s Favorite 2022 Signings
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Another National Signing day has come and gone. A BIG wave of kids have signed their National Letters of Intent to compete for the schools they committed to for the next four to five years. This class seemed pretty high…
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Continue ReadingAnother National Signing day has come and gone. A BIG wave of kids have signed their National Letters of Intent to compete for the schools they committed to for the next four to five years. This class seemed pretty high in numbers compared to other years especially in the Dakotas but also in small town Minnesota as well. It was a blast covering this class because when I started, these guys were Sophomores so I had been watching them develop for the past three seasons. It is safe to say now, that they all developed into good athletes, and by the looks of it, I’m not the only one who thinks so. Check out my Top 10 Favorite 2022 Signees and why.
Harrisburg LB- Cade Larson Cade Larson LB Harrisburg | 2022 State (Minnesota)
I watched Larson play as a Junior on a Livestream against O’Gorman, who always has a good team. You know how it feels like the PA just says the same name on a defensive play because he seems like he likes a kid. Well I would always keep my eye on the tackling pile and see who got up from it, Larson was always in the pile somewhere. The kid read his keys and just found the football. He moved really well to get himself in position to make the play in the run game. He also has impressive size that the Gophers picked up on as well. I followed his recruiting and saw he had interest from the Top FCS schools, I was wondering if he’d get that Power 5 offer before the year was over. Not too long after, the Gophers offered a PWO and I was happy to see Larson take it! A great defensive addition!
Dell Rapids DB- Landon Ruesink Landon Ruesink ATH Dell Rapids | 2022 State (Dakota Wesleyan)
I spoke with Ruesink once on Twitter when he was a Junior. He invited me to one of his games, showing me that he wanted to show what he could do, rather than just talk about it. He definitely let his play do the talking. He was fun to watch on film, with his quick burst, precise route running and jumping ability on offense, to his flowing and flying around the field and making plays defensively. I was kind of concerned that he wasn’t posting offers because I felt like he should have a lot. I watched him at a camp as well and he was competing with kids much bigger than him and winning the match-ups. I didn’t realize he was a baseball player until Signing Day, which made sense why he signed at a place where he could do both.
Watertown WR- Cole Holden Cole Holden DB Watertown | 2022 State (Dakota Wesleyan)
I found Holden’s film when he was a Junior, I liked his film at CB and thought that’s where his offers would be. His Senior Season, he got his chance to play offense too. He did really well there too. You can see he carries over his basketball skills to the football field, his agility and physicality to position himself to keep the defender away from the ball on routes. He also showed he had pretty good hands, whether he needed both on a catch or not. He has enough speed to be a vertical threat and good enough hands and spacial awareness on the sideline to be a real nightmare. I can tell he was mentored by a good one before him based on his social media activity, keeping in touch with a ranked ’21 receiver, now Northern State receiver in Dawson Schmidt.
Fairmont RB- Gavin Rodning (Valley City State)
I watched Rodning play as a Sophomore, and he caught my eye in that game, especially being on a young team. He was very shifty and had good vision, making good cuts and bursting up the gap for big chunks of yardage. He was also a physical runner, attacking defenders on his runs as well. He did a great job running hard against a physical and well-disciplined team, and not trying to be flashy and just running. I hadn’t seen him be very active on social media with offers or anything and I hadn’t seen him go to any camps, so I was curious if he was interested in playing college ball. Valley City has done a great job snagging these good, quiet athletes and got another one here.
Pipestone LB- Cole Paulson Cole Paulson 5'8" | 170 lbs | LB Pipestone Area | 2022 (Dakota State)
Of course I need to give a shoutout to my guys I coached this fall. This kid watched the most film each week, was dragging kids into the weight room with him, and always asked for the schemes to be written up so he could visualize it all every week. He put everyone on the defense in the right place and did his job to the best of his ability. He read keys really quick and flowed to the ball really well. I never did see him get to the ball, but he was always coming up from the bottom of the pile each play. He had also went to many camps in the offseason and competed extremely well, despite being undersized compared to some of the groups he was put in. He does well in pass coverage and gets enough depth on his drop to get into passing lanes. Happy to see the kid go to a good program and continue to play this game.
Pipestone OL- Seth Gawerecki Seth Gawerecki 5'11" | 220 lbs | OL Pipestone Area | 2022 (Dakota State)
Seth Gawerecki Seth Gawerecki 5'11" | 220 lbs | OL Pipestone Area | 2022 is a story I will tell every year. This kid came into summer workouts before his Senior Season and asked if he had a shot to play college ball, because he was not done playing this game once the season was done. He had no idea what to do when it came to the recruiting process, so it was building from the ground up here. He put his film together each week and showed his footwork and hand-technique, he really knew how to use his low center-of-gravity against a bigger defender. He was smart and did really well picking up blitzes. I remember when he got his first offer and how excited he was. Something he never thought was possible to start the season, became reality to him, my favorite recruiting process ever.
Maple River OL- Nolan Buckholtz (Dordt)
Buckholtz wasn’t a kid who stood off the page when it came to size, but that did not matter, at all. His play on the line stood out for him enough. He was quick off the ball and stayed low to keep his leverage. His technique was every offensive coaches dream and every defensive coaches nightmare, I know from experience. His pull-block was quick and forceful, I believe he flattened each of my DT’s at some point in the game. He showed real determination on each play driving the D-Line off the ball on each snap, which in a cold game was extremely crucial. The best part, for them, was after the game, Buckholtz and many of his teammates came up and shook all of our coaches’ hands after shaking hands with the players too.
Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial RB- Camden Ludeman (Concordia-St. Paul)
Ludeman was a player we knew we needed to prep for and slow down if we wanted to beat the Knights. It’s rough when the first play from scrimmage on the game, he takes for a 56 yard TD. He wasn’t flashy, he just ran hard and kept the wheels turning, especially after contact. He really showed his strength on those punishing runs too, defenders either had to get a gang tackle going, or really know how to wrap him up. The Knights got creative in how to use him by throwing passes to him out of the backfield, or splitting him out wide. When they needed a play, he was more than likely getting the football. He was strong running between the tackles, but had just enough speed to stretch runs out to the perimeter as well.
Brookings OL- Perry King Perry King 6'3" | 265 lbs | OL Brookings | 2022 State (Briar Cliff)
Putting the rankings together for the first time in the Dakotas, I stumbled across Perry King Perry King 6'3" | 265 lbs | OL Brookings | 2022 State first and really liked his footwork. He moved really well in pass protection to keep the defenders off his QB. He used his big frame and kept his leverage off the ball to wash down the DT’s on his down blocks. He did a great job pancaking his linemen and finishing his blocks to the ground, really opening the gaps for his backs. What excites me most about this signing, is that King is going to a promising program with a fairly knew coaching staff. The Cliff will be a good football team in a couple years if they keep signing kids like this.
Flandreau QB- Tanner Christenson Tanner Christenson QB Flandreau | 2022 State (Mount Marty)
I brought Christenson up in a article earlier. I like his ’underdog’ status, not the biggest guy, but just is a ballplayer and makes plays for his team. He is very mobile and elusive in the pocket and can extend plays with his legs. Something I haven’t seen too often at this level is his ability to trust his receivers to throw them open. He lets the routes develop and leads his receivers, even if they aren’t open when he throws it, they become open after and he doesn’t force the issue. What excited me more about this signing is that I had no idea where he was in the recruiting process when I wrote about him, and then he signs with a brand new football program in Yankton that will find a way to be competitive within their conference in the next few years.