PRzMN 2024 Rankings Update: Top-10 Breakdown
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The culmination of months of research, assembling names, watching tape, gathering info, and physical ranking edits, I was thrilled and grateful to officially publish the PrepRedzoneMN 2024 Rankings Update yesterday afternoon. In addition to a new #1 prospect, the rankings…
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Continue ReadingThe culmination of months of research, assembling names, watching tape, gathering info, and physical ranking edits, I was thrilled and grateful to officially publish the PrepRedzoneMN 2024 Rankings Update yesterday afternoon. In addition to a new #1 prospect, the rankings were highlighted by the complete transformation of the old Top-200 to a refurbished Top-240, well over 50 new additions (with 12 new names to the Top-30), stock risers seeing their name leap nearly 100 spots, and especially stacked linebacker and defensive line groups that could only be produced in the Great State of Minnesota. To kick off the ensuing content that’ll take our subscribers well into the weekend and next week, PrepRedzoneMN will be breaking down our new Top-10 prospects in the 2024 rankings. To get a sense of these 10 studs rise to the top, recruitment, skill set, and reason for being so highly distinguished, all you have to do is scroll down. Thanks for reading!
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Our new 2024 #1 prospect is a name our readers and fans should already be familiar with and will continue to hear about until the 2024s head off to college next summer. Rogers‘ 6’4, 245 lb. EDGE Wyatt Gilmore, whose size and verified athleticism put him on our radar as a young freshman and made his ascension into a national recruit unsurprising but still exciting, takes over as top dog in the 2024 class after the latest rankings update. He also holds the most amount of offers in the 2024 class, with all five of the P5 conferences represented in his offer list and 14 overall D1 scholarship opportunities. With Big10, Big12, MAC, and MVFC offers coming in during the spring of last year, his recruitment picked back up this offseason in February alone he added Kansas State, Purdue, Oregon, Miami, and Oklahoma offers to bulk up to 10 P5 offers. The combination of size, athleticism, and film has been too hard for suitors to resist, as the junior tape shows off an EDGE with a great get-off, twitch, and can bend the corner when getting after QBs, and Gilmore really puts his athleticism on display as a TE. He’s just as liable to juke you or as he is run you over when the ball is in his hand. The strength is also evident at the point of attack where he can stuff blocking attempts in their tracks and rag doll ball carriers as a tackler. Gilmore is also a great kid and an excellent representation for the #1 prospect in the state. Rogers made!
Highlights
The top dual-sport athlete in Minnesota’s 2024 class made an incredibly strong push to keep his #1 ranking and will continue to vie for top dog status throughout the offseason and next fall. Bloomington Jefferson’s Daniel Freitag is the owner of my favorite junior film in the class and as a high-major prospect in both football and basketball, a trend that Minnesota has been producing at an insanely high rate lately, is the owner of some elite athleticism and an intriguing offer list in both spots. His football recruitment has again built some steam this offseason with Notre Dame and Wisconsin adding high-powered offers, and Kansas State joined the mix with Big12 offers in both football and basketball at the end of November. I usually have a decent sense of where a Minnesota kid is leaning in their recruitment, but I can’t lie, I don’t have much of a clue where Freitag is leaning or in what sport, so with the mystery surrounding his status I’m going to sit back and enjoy the ride of having such a stud athlete balling out in Bloomington. I promise you will not regret turning on his tape, where the electric wideout can cut on a dime and shows off outstanding shiftiness and vision when making defenders miss or creating separation as a route runner. He’s a natural at setting up and creating space in his releases and at the top of the route, and Freitag also has some strong film as a DB, where he’s sticky in coverage thanks to his quickness and speed and can high-point and contest catches like you’d a hooper of his caliber could produce. He’s just electric, and with the trend of MN top-tier dual-sporters finding success in college the future is extremely bright for the Bloomington-based prospect. Always has been!
Highlights
Outstate Minnesota has produced yet another superstar in the high school ranks in Esko High School’s Koi Perich. Coming in at #3 overall, Perich is newer to the recruiting scene in comparisons to our #1 and #2 overall prospects but has made up for lost time and is tied for the second-most P5 offers in Minnesota with nine overall from four of the P5 conferences since Minnesota first offered up in October. He’s also the owner of some excellent athletic numbers at 6’1, 185 lbs., including a 38-inch vert and 10’4″ broad jump, and he was extremely productive in Esko’s 2022 state quarterfinal campaign, posting 60 carries for 813 yards and 11 TDs, 17 receptions for 353 yards and 9 TDs, and 75 tackles, 3 INTs, 4 FFs, and 2 sacks. The standout junior also returned 6 kickoffs for 225 yards and 2 TDs and added 16 punt returns for 226 yards and 3 TDs. That three-phase versatility is another testament to his overall athleticism, and with so many good things going for the projected DB you can see why he’s a P5 recruit before you even turn on the tape. However, the tape is also great, as he opens things up with a beautiful one-handed INT snag and continues to keep your attention when explosive plays on offense, defense, and special teams. The speed is noticeable and impressive, and in addition you can see Perich’s burst and ability to get to that top speed rapidly as well as cut and change direction while maintaining that momentum. He torched defenses and coverage teams all year long with the ball in his hand, and on defense he used that speed to patrol a ton of ground in the defensive secondary and make plays all over field. If I had to pick one word, I’d go with “dominant.” Welcome to the Top-3, Koi!
Highlights
The top dog from the 2024 class of Minnesota’s historically best recruiting position comes out of Irondale High School and their 6’5, 300 lber. Emerson Mandell. I was interested to see who was going to separate themselves from the pack of the crop of ’24 offensive linemen during the fall, and Mandell did just that in late October when the hometown Golden Gophers became his first scholarship offer after his standout junior film had made the rounds. The big reason he created some distance from his peers was his dominance at the point of attack and strength in the run game. The heavy hands and brute power helps him easily send defenders flying and/or into the turf with seemingly not a lot of effort, and on top of that he’s got a motor that doesn’t quit and will find work if he cleans up his first block quickly and is relentless when working to finish opponents into the turf. He also plays with a nice square base, low pad level for his size, and a strong leg drive that gets opponents on their heels and off balance in a couple of steps. The Irondale junior, with the help of Irondale S&C coach Mac Kukowski, has broken all of the Knights lifting records since the fall concluded, including a 315 lb. clean, and showed that he was only scratching the surface of his strength last season as a junior. Mandell holds offers from Northwestern, KState, Illinois, Mizzou, Iowa, Kansas, Syracuse, and Iowa State, in addition to the Minnesota offer, and I’m excited to see where he ends up visiting and focusing on throughout the offseason.
One of only two committed 2024 prospects in our Top-10, both of whom are heading to the Golden Gophers, Detroit Lakes LB Mason Carrier is another classic Outstate prospect overflowing with size, toughness, thump, and athleticism. Carrier spearheads the Lakers absolutely loaded LB corps that is arguably the biggest and baddest in Minnesota and is another great representation of the high-quality linebackers the Land of 10,000 Lakes churns out. With P5 athleticism to back up his 6’1, 215 lb. frame, Carrier is putting up big-time numbers in the weight room and has thrown down some massive dunks on the hardcourt this winter to back up his great junior film from the fall of ’22. Strong enough to excel in the box and more than capable of making plays in space, Carrier can beat blocks with either power or quickness, make plays through contact, and shows off standout closing speed that gets to his opponents before they can react, or sometimes even see him coming. I also like his stop/start ability, and the combination of athletic traits helps him always stay around the ball and make plays all over the field. The first commit of the Golden Gophers 2024 class, Carrier will join his older brother Ethan in Dinkytown next year, so I see more Carrier dominance on the gridiron in the near future and I’m stoked to see what DL can accomplish next fall in Class 4A.
It’s a very exciting Minnesota 2024 WR group at the top end and Coon Rapids stud KhiJohnn Cummings-Coleman is MN’s hottest stock-riser into the P5 ranks of recruiting after he blew up early this past fall. There were several juniors who saw a rapid rise into P5 offers, but none quicker than Cummings-Coleman, who earned Iowa, Iowa State, Minnesota, and Kansas offers during the season and followed it up with Northern Illinois, Central Michigan, and Army offers this winter. He also took a visit to Iowa earlier this month, so keep an eye on the Hawkeyes during the recruitment as it continues to develop. With a good basketball background, KCC posted 51 receptions for 870 yards and 11 TDs to go along with 9 rushes for 137 yards and an additional TD for the Cardinals while displaying speed, elusiveness, and ball skills in droves. Able to consistently make that first man miss, KCC can turn routine plays into big gains and is liable to take the top off the defense anytime he goes deep. I also like his burst from a dead stop, ability to high point the football and win contested catches, and use a combination of quickness and contact balance to break tackles. There’s a lot going for the junior and I would be pumped if he joined the growing Gopher commitment class when things are all said and done. However, I think we’re still far from a commitment to anyone, so enjoy the rest of the ride this offseason and next fall. I’ve loved seeing this recruitment and welcome to the Top-10, KhiJohnn!
Highlights
If we’re talking upside and potential, Prior Lake’s DL Jide Abasiri would be ranked #1. The 6’5, 260 lber. only began playing football as a freshman but became a bona fide P5 prospect this fall when Iowa State hit the Land of 10,000 Lakes hard on the recruitment trail and reached out with some game-changing Big12 offers for MN juniors. Abasiri was one of the players to receive a Cyclones offer in that rush of scholarships, but people locked into Minnesota’s recruiting scene saw this one coming for a while, as you don’t see the mix of size and athleticism in sophomores every day or even every cycle. Also a strong wrestler on the Lakers 3A squad, Abasiri followed up the Iowa State offer with Kansas State, Kansas, Minnesota, Central Michigan, Washington, Ohio, and Mizzou opportunities since September and is a big name to watch when talking Golden Gophers recruiting. This past season, Abasiri got reps as both a 3T and DE and used a variety of exciting means to beat blocks as a junior. With outstanding length, he can keep opponents at bay when he fully extends those long arms, and is strong and proficient in his hand usage from that wrestling background to then easily shuck or toss opponents aside depending on the situation. He also does a good job of getting skinny through gaps, has a powerful first step, and is fun to watch pursue and chase plays flat down the LOS from the backside. He’s only beginning to scratch the surface of his potential and has the chance to be an absolute monster with more reps, coaching, and work in the weight room. Going into only his fourth year of football this upcoming fall Mr. Abasiri finds himself as PrepRedzoneMN’s 7th overall prospect in the class of 2024. You gotta love it!
It was tough sledding to rank the talented crop of 2024 defensive lineman at the top end of the PRzMN 2024 rankings, and although Two Rivers’ Max Mogelson is the only member of the Top-10 to not currently hold a P5 offer, I firmly believe he’s a P5 talent and deserving of his current #8 overall ranking. Mogelson is smaller than some of his DL peers but is far from small at 6’3, 260+, and missed most of his sophomore year with an injury he bounced back from impressively, so I think Mogelson is going to benefit more from the summer camp circuit and will have to grind a little harder than some of his counterparts for that first P5 offer. The big quality that makes me so confident is his outstanding junior film, which is one of my favorite in the entire state, not just the 2024 class. Filled with big hits and high-energy celebrations, Mogelson is a beast on the gridiron and easily defeats both single blocks and double teams with his combination of speed, strength, and hand usage, and is a violent tackler who also brings the pain to the offensive side of the ball with a mean truck stick and a bully mentality as a blocker. He’s also twitchy, has a quick get-off, and uses good angles to run down ball carriers in the backfield. Whether in space or through contact, this dude can plays, and the playstyle and gridiron mentality/energy makes him fun-to-watch and an easy prospect to get excited about. Wherever he ends up he’s going to be a successful college player.
Another newcomer to the P5 recruiting ranks who saw his recruitment blow up this fall with an Iowa State offer in September, Eden Prairie has yet another top-end defensive prospect on their hands in 6’5, 275 lb. DL Mo Saine. Kansas, KState, and Arizona State have also added their names to the mix for his talents, and for good reason, as his size, power, and movement skills make him a no-brainer for the always heavily-recruited DT position. He can move OCs, OGs, and OTs backwards like they’re a blocking sled, and does a great job of identifying the play and finding the football while staying gap-sound while working under blocking attempts in zone-blocking schemes. A lot of the time, he’s making big-time tackles five yards behind the LOS when blockers still draped all over him, and the combination of size and strength goes unmatched in MN’s 2024 class. Saine is a tornado-like force in the middle of the Eagles defense and Iowa State made an excellent choice trusting their eyes and getting on board first for the EP DT. This is the last dude I’d want to see in the A-gap next season. More offers are coming!
The newest Golden Gopher 2024 commit is another excellent multi-sport athlete who saw his stock rise a ton this offseason, culminating in a Gopher offer after visiting Dinkytown early this month and a commitment shortly thereafter. I was a big fan of Hill-Murray 2024 Simon Seidl’s older brother Sawyer, who is heading to Grand Forks to play RB for the Fighting Hawks next fall, and am pumped to see the rarer football/hockey standout combination go the way of football in college. Both the Seidl’s are ballers on the hockey rink and on the track, and Simon’s diverse skillset are big pluses in his recruitment profile and played a role in the Gophers feeling confident enough to become his first P5 offer. As a WR/DB/returner this past fall, Seidl’s speed showed up all over the field, and I loved how his body control shows up when playing the ball in the air and making highlight reel catches that he can consistently finish on his feet and going forward. I also like how he can drop his hips and change direction, burst out of a dead stop to quicky get to top speed, and lay the wood and never shy away from contact. There’s a ton going for the Hill-Murray Pioneer and when you combine the traits, athletic background, versatility, and production and it’s no wonder the Gophers felt confident enough to get seriously involved. What a new addition to the Top-10. Seidl is a heckuva prospect to round out our updated Top-10. Big things coming, Simon!