Gophers insider: How P.J. Fleck and Co. have been winning big on the recruiting trail

GOPHERS FOOTBALL INSIDER RANDY JOHNSON

P.J. Fleck, a man of many mantras, has a favorite in how he wants his Gophers football team to manage a game. “Start fast, accelerate in the middle and finish strong” has been a guiding principle since Fleck took over in Dinkytown in 2017. It’s as important at Minnesota as “Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose” is with the “Friday Night Lights” franchise.

Fleck’s phrase doesn’t apply only to games. He’s followed it with impressive results on the recruiting trail as he puts together his 2026 class of incoming freshmen. Entering Thursday, Fleck and his staff had verbal commitments from 24 players, and the Gophers class ranked 14th nationally and sixth among Big Ten teams in the 247Sports.com composite ratings of major recruiting services.

How have the Gophers done it?

First, they’ve started fast, securing commitments from a pair of in-state four-star performers — Rocori offensive tackle Andrew Trout and Forest Lake defensive lineman Howie Johnson — in January and June, respectively, in 2024. Downers Grove, Ill., quarterback Owen Lansu gave his commitment in July. By May 30 of this year, the Gophers had 10 players committed to the 2026 class.

Second, they’ve accelerated in the middle — and that’s where they are right now.

To say Fleck and Co. are on a heater in their recruiting would be an understatement. They held their two “Summer Splash” recruiting weekends, with 21 official visitors from May 30-June 1 and 13 from June 13-14. From those weekends — in which recruits dined at steak houses, toured Target Field and spent a day on Lake Minnetonka, among other festivities — they received 14 verbal commitments.

The biggest of those came Monday, when Jackson County Central four-star athlete Roman Voss, the top-ranked player in Minnesota, picked the Gophers over Alabama, to which he gave last at-bat with a June 13-15 visit to Tuscaloosa. Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer couldn’t close the deal, and Voss said the relationships he built with Fleck, tight ends coach Eric Koehler and offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh Jr., was the deciding factor.

Last week, Fleck picked up a quarterback for his 2027 class when three-star Furian Inferrera of national power Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif., flipped his commitment from Boston College to the Gophers.

Not all has gone Fleck’s way. On Wednesday, Triton four-star athlete Pierce Petersohn picked Penn State, where he’ll play tight end, over the Gophers, who wanted him as a linebacker.

Still, Fleck and his staff have been tilting recruiting battles in the Gophers’ favor recently when facing so-called “helmet” schools. In 2024, they kept Esko safety Koi Perich in state even after Ohio State coach Ryan Day flew to northern Minnesota for a last-gasp push before early signing day. Perich promptly earned second-team All-America honors as a true freshman and became the most popular Gophers football player of recent memory.

Fleck and Co. have won three battles against DeBoer and Alabama in the past seven months. Along with Voss picking Minnesota, El Paso (Texas) running back Ryan Estrada pledged to the Gophers over the Crimson Tide (and Michigan). In December, former Washington offensive lineman Kahlee Tafai picked Minnesota over Alabama (and USC).

Fleck’s assistants have stepped up during the hot streak. New running backs coach Jayden Everett was key in landing Estrada, who rushed for 2,422 yards and 32 touchdowns in 2024 while averaging 13.5 yards per carry.

Mariano Sori-Marin, the exuberant former Gophers linebacker in his first year as linebackers coach, has made a difference on the recruiting trail. He helped land Hudson Dunn of Liberty High School in Peoria, Ariz., a speedy linebacker whose offer list included Arizona State, Michigan, Nebraska and Oregon. And Sori-Marin took a mighty swing in trying to keep Petersohn in Minnesota to play linebacker when Penn State, a playoff semifinalist last year, could point to tight end Tyler Warren and his 102 receptions in 2024 as a selling point.

Offensive line coach Brian Callahan showed his recruiting chops, too. The five commitments he helped secure include the top-ranked offensive tackle in Minnesota (Trout) and Oklahoma (Norman North’s Daniel McMorris) and the top-ranked overall player in Wisconsin (Janesville Parker tackle Gavin Meier).

Now comes the final portion of the mantra: finishing strong.

The Gophers’ lofty class ranking almost certainly will decrease because several teams with significantly fewer pledges than Minnesota will fill out their classes. Two examples are No. 15 Michigan (14 commitments) and No. 16 Florida (13). Others will wait to add in the February signing period. To finish strong, Fleck and his staff will continue to recruit this class to avoid players changing their minds.

It’s six months until Dec. 4, when the three-day early signing period starts and the relationship between team and player is sealed in ink. That must seem like an eternity for a coach trying to keep a player from changing his mind. Still, how the Gophers have started this recruiting season certainly has been positive.