Gophers Land Historic 4-Star Commit, Fleck’s 2021 Class Now Top-6 in Nation




Wow…. this recruiting victory is sweet for a bunch of reasons. Avante Dickerson is a phenom. He is the 8th-ranked defensive back and 56th-ranked overall recruit, in the entire country (according to 247Sports.com).

Not only is Dickerson ranked highly in this year’s national recruiting class, but at a .9609, he is the 2nd-best recruiting get in Gopher football history, as far as 247 Sports composite ranking system goes.

Obviously, when a recruit is this highly-rated, he is going to have his choice of schools to attend, off of an offer sheet that spans just as impressive as it does long. Dickerson’s offers include LSU, Georgia, Ohio State, Michigan, Tennessee, USC, Oregon, among others… including Nebraska. In fact, that’s the school multiple analysts at 247 Sports had submitted their crystal balls to.

I love commitments from really good football players. I love them even better when PJ steals them from the grasps of Scott Frost.

As expected, Dickerson’s tape is off the charts too and experts at 247Sports.com are taken aback by this commitment and what is happening with this Gopher recruiting class… I’ve said it since Athan committed awhile back. 2021 is going to change everything.


“I think this is the type of commitment that Minnesota has to get to go from sweetheart dark horse to legitimate national power. This is a huge step forward for Minnesota in their recruiting efforts for them not just being able to evaluate but also just out recruit.”

247Sports Director of Scouting Barton Simmons


And we thought the Gopher Football commitment list for 2021 was impressive before we got to this moment. Avante Dickerson tops the list by quite a wide margin… The aforementioned Athan Kaliakmanis (QB) was the highest-rated commitment until now, and he is a .9013, which is .06 full points behind him. That’s a lot in the recruiting world.

Earlier today I wrote about the Gophers jumping into the top-4 Big Ten schools for 2021 recruiting with one more 4-star commitment. I was way off. They’ve actually moved into the top-3 for the Big Ten and top-6 for the entire nation… This is not a drill.



Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan