Gophers Fly ‘Row The Boat’ Banner Over Koi Perich State Tournament Game

By    |  
Updated:
NCAA Football: Minnesota at Iowa
Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

PJ Fleck and the Minnesota Gophers have the top 2024 high school football prospect in the state, 4-star safety Koi Perich (No. 84 overall recruit in nation), committed to staying home and playing his college ball in Dinkytown… for now.

After news broke last week, that Perich received offers from, and scheduled visits to both Ohio State and Florida State, the future isn’t so certain. So what is a University of Minnesota coach to do, in a situation like this? Well, the answer to that seems obvious.

Related: Top In-State Football Commit Vows to Stay with Gophers No Matter the NIL Offer

PJ Fleck, Gophers fly plane with ‘Row The Boat’ banner for Koi Perich

Fleck did what any right-minded head coach would do. He hired a pilot to fly a plane over the Brainerd, MN football field on Saturday, where Perich and his Esko Eskomos teammates were warming up for a state tournament game, with a banner trailing behind it that read ‘Row The Boat’.

I reached out to Ryan Burns (247Sports) via his GopherIllustrated.com website, to make sure I read his tweet right. He replied back with confirmation. According to his sources, this was not some crazy Gopher fan playing recruiting hero with his crop duster. It was indeed PJ Fleck and his staff who set up the plane/banner stunt, in order to get Perich’s attention. College football recruiting is amazing.

Pulling out all the flights…

Koi Perich claims he is still committed to the University of Minnesota. But clearly, with visits scheduled elsewhere, it’s a soft commitment, at best. I’m not sure a plane/banner combo will ever be the ticket to winning recruiting battles, but hey, A for effort, I guess.

Read all of our Minnesota Gopher football blogs!

Mentioned in this article:

More About: