Gophers basketball gets official visit from 7-2 junior Daniel Jacobsen

Most of the attention Thursday at Huntington Bank Stadium will be on the football field, but it will be hard for fans to miss 7-2 junior Daniel Jacobsen in attendance with the Gophers basketball team.

Jacobsen, who plays at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire, is the first player to make an official visit among Gophers coach Ben Johnson's top Class of 2025 targets.

The Gophers offered Jacobsen a scholarship after watching his JL3 Elite AAU team play during the July recruiting period. After his standout performance at the Nike Peach Jam in South Carolina, Jacobsen also received offers by other Big Ten programs with Illinois, Wisconsin and Purdue.

Due to the ties to New Mexico, former Gophers coach Richard Pitino, who currently is coaching the Lobos, offered Jacobsen, who moved two years ago to Albuquerque, N.M. from Chicago.

Gophers assistant Marcus Jenkins and Johnson have sold Jacobsen on the versatility of big men in their program, especially last season's leading scorer and rebounder Dawson Garcia, a 6-11 junior.

"We talked about how they play, and how I would fit into the system," Jacobsen said earlier about the Gophers. "They like to play through their bigs. Since I'm able to stretch the floor and shoot, I wouldn't be stuck on the block there."

An inside presence with his shot blocking ability, Jacobsen has shooting range extended out to three-point territory. He said he patterns his game after 7-footers such as Utah Jazz's Lauri Markkanen in the NBA and UConn's Donovan Clingan and Duke's Kyle Filipowski in college.

In the 2025 class, the Gophers have offered 10 players so far from seven different states not including Minnesota. Earlier this summer, Johnson hosted four-star forwards E.J. Walker from Kentucky and Amari Allen from Florida on unofficial visits, but there are no commitments yet in the class.

The Gophers have Minnesota natives Isaac Asuma from Cherry and Grayson Grove from Alexandria committed in the 2024 recruiting class.

At the state fair Wednesday, Johnson talked about what the Gophers are selling to recruits to attract them to the program despite back-to-back losing seasons.

"The biggest thing that sells it is in a year where we could've had a lot of guys leave, we didn't," Johnson said. "That's pretty telling for our guys and what they're about and what we're doing as a program. That in the early stages is what sells it, especially when you're up against it. It's easy when you're winning everybody loves it and is having a good time. But when you're not, to be able to retain the players we were able to, I think speaks volumes for our program and where we're going."

On a side note, Johnson said the biggest takeaway from summer practice was staying healthy for the first time in his three years as Gophers coach. Even junior forwards Isaiah Ihnen and Parker Fox (both missed two seasons with knee injuries) are on the right path to likely be fully cleared for contact when practice starts in late September.