Beginning Friday, Minnesota coaches will hit the road for the beginning of the spring 39-day evaluation period, where they can evaluate student-athletes athletic ability and academics. 16 states allow high school football for the spring period, one of them being Florida.
Florida spring ball begins April 25. Entering the evaluation, Minnesota has offered four players from Florida:
Erin Collins, Armwood HS, RB
Nick Brahms Navarre HS OT
Bobby Roundtree, Largo HS, DL
Jordan Scott, Pinellas Park HS, DL
Largo and Pinellas Park are within 15 miles of each other and Armwood HS is about 20 miles southeast of that area. When these coaches visit these players, they are going to hear about other possible targets in that area from high school coaches, and probably from other college scouts they run into on the recruiting trail. Here's a list of possible targets Minnesota coaches come across and offer for 2017.
CJ Cotman, Clearwater Central Catholic, ATH: Dynamic athlete. Elusive in the open field. He would be the next Eric Carter, essentially.
Decalon Brooks, Gaither HS, LB: Son of Hall of Famer and former Buccaneer Derrick Brooks. Getting some offers, a 3-star commit with an offer list that includes Illinois. Dad played at FSU, so it'll be interesting if he wants to follow in dad's footsteps there, although he could flourish elsewhere.
Antoine Thompson, Plant City, WR: Wisconsin is the lone BIG school to offer so far. Played on the other side of Clemson commit TJ Chase last year. Speed, good hands, a list of a dozen offers but only three from P5 schools.
Steven Ogletree, Plant City, LB: Three-star recruit with about a dozen offers, including Wisconsin. Will probably be best LB the coaches see or hear of while in that area.
Malik Davis, Jesuit, RB: Surprised they offered Erin Collins before Davis, since Davis was top 5 in the state with over 2,000 yards. David has at least 15 offers, but only one from the Big 10, Maryland.
Then there's the IMG Academy factor. Everyone knows IMG Football is a factory for the nation's top talent. They spew 4 and 5 star players, but the 3 stars on that team are potential All-Americans.
Each day, I'll try to list the recruits the coaches will try to see in person during this period, and possible targets they could end up offering.
