Recruiting Report: Sam Jay Rudi (Edina-2022)
One of the cooler and more underrated aspects of writing for Northstar Football News is uncovering, tracking, and hyping up the younger upcoming prep recruits the state of Minnesota has to offer. Getting ahead on the recruiting trail of a future potential…
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Continue ReadingOne of the cooler and more underrated aspects of writing for Northstar Football News is uncovering, tracking, and hyping up the younger upcoming prep recruits the state of Minnesota has to offer. Getting ahead on the recruiting trail of a future potential highly rated recruit and helping to disperse their film and get their name out there as a underclassmen is a very cooling feeling as a writer in my position. I also can’t help but think a good one has been found with this newest recruit for this report: Edina 2022 grad Samuel Jay Rudi .
Rudi (65) with a block on an EP Eagle.The 6’1, 250 lb. sophomore is about to enter his third year of high school and is poised to make some waves coming up in Minnesota after playing varsity football for Edina in 2019 and contributing on the offensive lines in big games for the Hornets gives me the impression we will be seeing a lot more of #65 going forward. Rudi has the measurables and attitude of a future scholarship athlete, and I’m very fortunate to be one of the first writers he contacted. Check out this first-look, exclusive interview with the 2022 grad as we discuss his football career thus far, playing football for Edina, and some of his hopes for recruiting. Hope you enjoy! Hudl Profile
NFN: Hello and thank you for your time, Sam. If you could, start by telling me a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? When did you start playing football? Also, how did your 2018 freshman season at Edina go and what did you learn from your first year of high school football?
Rudi: “I’m from Edina Minnesota. I started playing football my freshman year and I am the class of 2022 so this year was my 2nd year playing. I play 4 sports for Edina high school which are football, basketball, track and field, and rugby. I am also in the band. I am 6 foot 1 and 250 pounds. Some highlights of my freshman year were just improving a lot as a player, as this being my second year I didn’t think I would be starting a varsity football game this year but I did and it was an awesome feeling. Definitely challenging but a great learning experience. Lowlights were a very slow start to the season as a team. We started off 1-4 but then finished strong on a 3-0 run including the big EP win. Learning from fellow teammate and friend Bastian Swinney is a huge help as he is a very skilled and great player to play and learn alongside. Going into this next season the team has to stay strong together and work as there will be many challenges in having an almost entirely new coaching staff as many of our coaches will be leaving.”
NFN: Congratulations on the starts this year that’s huge! What will you and the Hornets be up to this offseason?
Rudi: “This offseason I am staying in shape by playing basketball, track and field, and rugby. Edina is an awesome environment to play football in but this coming year as I said before will have it’s challenges regarding new staff. We have a lot of talented and hard working guys and if we keep that up we definitely have the skills and mentality to be a great football team this year. We had a heart breaking playoff loss to Centennial and that feeling was awful and we don’t want that to happen again.”
NFN: Good luck in advance. What was it like blocking for All-State and All-Metro RB Jonathan Bunce? He was an explosive and powerful runner that could make a big run out of nothing, how entertaining was that as a lineman?
Rudi: “Bunce is an awesome player. I have never seen someone with so much power and determination on the field in person. Once he gets the ball, lots of the time it’s game over for the opponents defense. I wish we could have figured out this dude was a beast earlier in the season though, as it took us a few games to start feeding that beast the football which made a big difference in the second half of the season.”
NFN: I loved watching you guys feed the beast against EP. Is there any news with you regarding your recruitment process? Have any schools been in contact?
Rudi: “I don’t have any specific teams in mind for colleges. Gustavus told me to come down for a visit and I was going to but then due to a family complication I unfortunately couldn’t make it to the game day visit.”
This won’t be the last you hear of Rudi, as he and the Hornets will be grinding in their nest awaiting 2020!