P.J. Fleck’s Gophers are landing more top in-state recruits, including some who transfer home

Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck often says he’s not for everyone, but for a few years now, his program has been a place where top Minnesota talent has flocked.

After a down stretch a few years ago, the Gophers have made waves in recruiting Minnesota prospects, not only from high schools but also through the transfer portal.

“I think they’ve done a great job,” said senior offensive tackle Quinn Carroll, who transferred from Notre Dame. “Keeping Minnesota talent here is important.”

When Fleck arrived in 2017, he inherited the state’s top recruit, Blaise Andries, from the previous regime, and reeled in 2018′s top Minnesota recruit, Brevyn Spann-Ford.

But for three straight years, from 2019-21, Fleck was unable to land the consensus top three players in Minnesota, including former Notre Dame All-America tackle and NFL first-round draft pick Joe Alt.

The first significant signing from Minnesota for Fleck ended up being a transfer from the Irish. Carroll, rated the top Minnesota senior by Rivals and ESPN from Edina in 2019, is entering his third year as a Gophers starter.

“It’s a team you want to play for and you want to see win,” Carroll said. “Even when I was at Notre Dame, I wanted to see Minnesota win. Coming back, I could help do that.”

In the state’s 2020 class, former Minnehaha Academy defensive back Craig McDonald signed with Iowa State and played at Auburn, but he transferred to the Gophers last year. After playing for LSU last season, ex-Cooper star Jaxon Howard came back to play at home this year. He was the No. 1 player in the state’s 2023 class.

“There was an itching feeling in the back of my head,” Howard said at a homecoming event this summer. “I wanted to play for my state.”

Two years ago, the Gophers started seeing an uptick in landing top in-state recruits right out of high school.

Fleck signed two of Minnesota’s top three prospects in the 2022 class. Local recruiting really turned the corner with the Gophers signing four of the state’s top five prospects in 2023 and five of the top eight prospects in 2024, according to ESPN.

Fleck had his highest nationally ranked class this year at No. 33 by 247Sports. He made arguably his biggest recruiting splash in back-to-back years by getting the state’s No. 1 prospects in the 2024 and 2025 classes to stay home with Esko’s Koi Perich and Robbinsdale Cooper’s Emmanuel Karmo, respectively.

In the 2026 class, the Gophers already have a commitment from two in-state players, most notably Rocori four-star offensive lineman Andrew Trout, the No. 1 junior in Minnesota.

“We’ve just had the highest-ranked recruiting class we’ve had at Minnesota, and it wasn’t because maybe we were the highest bidder,” Fleck said at Big Ten media days last month. “It’s because we had the right fit for our program.”

Seven players from Minnesota could be starters on projected depth charts entering the Aug. 29 opener against North Carolina. Senior defensive end Danny Striggow and senior linebacker Cody Lindenberg were under-the-radar prospects out of Orono and Anoka high schools, respectively.

Several of their peers at the top of the state’s 2020 class ended up going to programs such as Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan State and Iowa State. Striggow said playing for the Gophers and staying home developed into an even stronger feeling years later.

“When you’re a freshman, you’re like, ‘I play for Minnesota,’ and it’s the name,” Striggow said. “As I’ve gotten older, it’s turned into, you represent more than just the name on your front and back.”

Playing in front of friends and family has been a top selling point with in-state talent.

“It means everything,” sophomore offensive lineman and former Prior Lake star Greg Johnson said. “It’s a blessing to be here and dream to come true, to be honest.”

Johnson, a four-star recruit in the 2023 class, told local prospects on recruiting visits how special it’s been for him to represent his home state at the U. He’s also honest that it’s “super hard to play here,” too. Fleck can’t convince everyone to stay, but more and more are realizing they want to be Gophers.

“It’s worth it,” Johnson said. “You become a better man and player.”