First of all hope I'm not intruding but figured I'd paint a little extra for you on this terrific ball player. In case you don't know who I am....I publish my site Edgytim.com (@EdgyTim) Illinois Prep football which has been on the Rivals network for...well...as long as the Rivals network has been around. I also evaluated and scouted PJ Fleck when he was at Kaneland high school (yes I ranked him as a two star) so I've been at this for awhile (evals/covering recruiting for just over 30 years now/publishing for almost 30 years).
Kingsbury is a sleeper here of the highest level. Matt, who started his high school career at Lincoln Way East then transferred to St Rita before his junior season (LW East is his local public school....St. Rita is where his Dad went to high school) was named to my All State team for this past season along with winning the Tony Lawless Award in the Chicago Catholic League as the Defensive Player of the Year in his conference. Kingsbury had a ton of FBS/FCS offers and interest and I'd say more than half of the Big Ten had eyes on him all season....along with multiple PWO offers on the table.
Kingsbury as mentioned played in the Chicago Catholic League...one of the state's oldest and best conferences in the state year in and year out. Kingsbury is battle tested as well as any linebacker in the state and his game just kept getting better and better this season. A player comp for me with Matt Kingsbury? He reminds me a lot of former Lake Zurich/Wisconsin and now Chicago Bears LB Jack Sanborn. Sanborn also had a question mark of speed coming out of high school....but has seemed to do Ok at both the college level and so far in the NFL and like Sanborn, Kingsbury is just a highly productive player who will make play after play and just become a steady force inside for the Gophers.
Kingsbury on the field? I was able to see him in person three separate times in 2022. His size is pretty impressive and obvious here....he has just high level football IQ and instincts and in many ways is truly an old school throwback linebacker who was just highly impressive stuffing the run while also showing impressive sideline to sideline speed and closed as well as any linebacker I've seen over the last handful of years live.
So why not more offers from other Big Ten schools? Heck of a question....and I have a few guesses. Many questioned whether Kingsbury was more physically built for say DE/DT and with his overall size and frame and look.....could he really have linebacker speed that's so much needed in the Big Ten? I saw Kingsbury get moved over in a college camp from ILB to DL and he did fine. However, I also think this could wind up being a mix of bad evaluations from some coaches on Kingsbury, and some lazy evaluations from others as well. Seeing this kid live this fall I have no question about his speed and ability to handle the position at the Big Ten level. Also I have no question the transfer portal played a huge role in many other schools slow playing Kingsbury...trying to get him to lock into a PWO without needing to offer him. Minnesota's late win here will be a lot of others loss down the line.
Hope this helps.
Kingsbury is a sleeper here of the highest level. Matt, who started his high school career at Lincoln Way East then transferred to St Rita before his junior season (LW East is his local public school....St. Rita is where his Dad went to high school) was named to my All State team for this past season along with winning the Tony Lawless Award in the Chicago Catholic League as the Defensive Player of the Year in his conference. Kingsbury had a ton of FBS/FCS offers and interest and I'd say more than half of the Big Ten had eyes on him all season....along with multiple PWO offers on the table.
Kingsbury as mentioned played in the Chicago Catholic League...one of the state's oldest and best conferences in the state year in and year out. Kingsbury is battle tested as well as any linebacker in the state and his game just kept getting better and better this season. A player comp for me with Matt Kingsbury? He reminds me a lot of former Lake Zurich/Wisconsin and now Chicago Bears LB Jack Sanborn. Sanborn also had a question mark of speed coming out of high school....but has seemed to do Ok at both the college level and so far in the NFL and like Sanborn, Kingsbury is just a highly productive player who will make play after play and just become a steady force inside for the Gophers.
Kingsbury on the field? I was able to see him in person three separate times in 2022. His size is pretty impressive and obvious here....he has just high level football IQ and instincts and in many ways is truly an old school throwback linebacker who was just highly impressive stuffing the run while also showing impressive sideline to sideline speed and closed as well as any linebacker I've seen over the last handful of years live.
So why not more offers from other Big Ten schools? Heck of a question....and I have a few guesses. Many questioned whether Kingsbury was more physically built for say DE/DT and with his overall size and frame and look.....could he really have linebacker speed that's so much needed in the Big Ten? I saw Kingsbury get moved over in a college camp from ILB to DL and he did fine. However, I also think this could wind up being a mix of bad evaluations from some coaches on Kingsbury, and some lazy evaluations from others as well. Seeing this kid live this fall I have no question about his speed and ability to handle the position at the Big Ten level. Also I have no question the transfer portal played a huge role in many other schools slow playing Kingsbury...trying to get him to lock into a PWO without needing to offer him. Minnesota's late win here will be a lot of others loss down the line.
Hope this helps.
