The top three players in Minnesota? Check.
A four-star quarterback from California? Check.
Add size and strength along both lines? Check.
Those are some of the key takeaways of the Gophers’ 2025 high school recruiting class that signed its binding financial aid agreements Wednesday morning during the opening day of college football’s early signing period.
By 9:20 a.m., coach P.J. Fleck had signed a 20-player class that is highlighted by the top-ranked recruit in Minnesota, Cooper linebacker Emmanuel Karmo. The Gophers also landed the Nos. 2 and 3 recruits in Minnesota, as ranked by 247Sports, in Caledonia linebacker Ethan Stendel and Providence Academy/Heritage Christian Academy defensive lineman Abu Tarawallie.
Wednesday evening, the class grew to 21 when running back Trey Berry of Lanier High School in Montgomery, Ala., signed with the Gophers.
The Minnesota signees had Fleck excited.
“We keep talking about taking care of the in-state players,” Fleck said. “The No. 1, 2 and 3 players from the state of Minnesota stayed home, which now we have that trend. More and more players are staying home because they want to stay home. And if you go back eight years ago to when these kids were … 9 years old when we first got here, they were at our little kids’ camp.”