Minnesota’s top in-state recruit, Emmanuel Karmo, appears ready to sign with Gophers

Jack Negen has had his fill of Emmanuel Karmo, and that’s a compliment.

Negen, the Armstrong High School football coach, has had to scheme against Karmo, the standout Cooper linebacker, six times over the past three seasons. Negen had an up-close look at the disruption that Karmo can cause an offense and the impact he has on a game.

“He’s an awesome player. I’m glad to see him go,” Negen said with a chuckle. “I won’t see him in a Cooper outfit anymore.”

Negen will, however, see Karmo about 15 miles down the road in a Gophers uniform.

The top-ranked player in Minnesota in the 2025 recruiting class, Karmo is expected to sign with the Gophers on Wednesday, the opening day of the three-day early signing period for college football. A four-star recruit according to the 247Sports.com composite ratings of major recruiting services, Karmo is scheduled to participate in a 4 p.m. ceremony at Cooper High School, and an Instagram post by Cooper’s football account said he’ll be joining the Gophers.

Karmo sits atop a 21-player 2025 class that have given verbal commitments to Gophers coach P.J. Fleck and his staff. Signings and announcements are expected to trickle in Wednesday beginning at 6 a.m.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Gophers class was ranked 44th nationally and 13th in the Big Ten in the 247Sports composite. According to Allen Trieu, national recruiting analyst for 247Sports who focuses on the Midwest, Minnesota’s class might be better than its ranking.

“Despite what the rankings may say, I think if you look at where these players are, within the three-star range, there are several 89s, which is one point away from being a four star,” Trieu said. “And so maybe you don’t have a Koi Perich in this class, but it’s a very balanced class, top to bottom, and they filled some needs.”

Last year, Perich, the standout safety from Esko, Minn., stayed true to his verbal commitment and signed with the Gophers — even after Ohio State pushed hard late with an Esko visit from coach Ryan Day. He quickly became an impact player, leading the Big Ten with five interceptions.

There are recruiting parallels with Perich and Karmo, who received strong interest from Wisconsin and Nebraska, and had scholarship offers from eight other Big Ten teams. Trieu gives Fleck and his staff credit for landing Karmo, along with Providence Academy defensive lineman Abu Tarawallie, the state’s No. 3-ranked player.

“Those guys were not layups because they were Minnesota kids,” Trieu said. “They could have easily left the state, and they didn’t. … It’s a much different tenor to this class if both of those guys had left.”

The Gophers also landed the No. 2 player in the state, according to 247Sports, in Caledonia linebacker Ethan Stendel, and No. 8 in Byron defensive lineman Colin Hansen.

The 2025 Gophers class also includes a four-star quarterback in Laguna Beach (Calif.) High School’s Jackson Kollock, a 6-3 ½ 215-pounder who passed for 1,711 yards and 21 touchdowns this season.

“The best thing about him is when you look at what he’s done during the course of his high school career, he’s a very low-interception guy — single digits three years in a row,” Trieu said.

With Karmo this year and Perich last year picking the Gophers, Fleck and his staff landed the top-ranked Minnesota player in back-to-back classes. The top-ranked Minnesotan in 2023, Cooper’s Jaxon Howard, picked LSU and spent a season in Baton Rouge but transferred to Minnesota last spring. He’ll reunite with Karmo, his former Hawks teammate.

Like Howard, Karmo impressed in high school with his drive, athletic ability and quick diagnosis of plays.

At 6-3 ½ and 222 pounds, the versatile Karmo collected 64 tackles, six tackles for loss, two sacks, a forced fumble and an interception for the Hawks, who finished with an 8-2 record this season. Cooper coaches used him in a variety of ways on both defense and offense. At Minnesota, he’ll likely play linebacker, a position at which he’s rated No. 38 nationally in the 2025 class in the 247Sports composite.

“You try to game plan for him. We tried to run away from him. We tried to read him,” said Negen, the Armstrong coach. “You try to do all kinds of different things. And he makes it really tough. He’s just so athletic, and he runs stuff down.”

Hastings coach Dana Strain faced Cooper in the regular-season finale, and Karmo made 11 tackles — and a big impression.

“I was asked to evaluate four different guys for All-Metro that we went against,” Strain said. “When I looked at all four, Emmanuel was the clear-cut guy that stood out, not only against us but against other teams. When I watched him on film, he’s just extremely disruptive, very violent and explosive, and I mean that in a positive way.”

“It’s great to see him stay at home and play for the Gophers,” Strain added. “If they can continue to keep attracting these top kids like this, they’ll have a bright future.”