In-State Gophers Football Recruit Jide Abasiri Decommits After Visit to USC

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Photo: Jide Abasiri (@jide_abasiri - X)

Jide Abasiri is one of the top defensive high school football prospects in the state of Minnesota and up until Monday afternoon, the 3-star (247Sports) Prior Lake defensive lineman was committed to his hometown Gophers.

USC swoops in on Minnesota Gophers in-state commit, Jide Abasiri

But then USC called and things quickly changed. Abasiri scheduled a visit out on the West Coast, which he took over the weekend. Shortly upon his return, the 6-5, 290 pound freak athlete made his Minnesota decommitment official on social media:

After a long talk and consideration with my family I have decided to decommit from the University of Minnesota. Thank you to all the coaches at Minnesota for helping and believing and me

I’m going to give Jide the benefit of the doubt and assume his last ‘and’ was meant to be an ‘in’. But no matter, this one hurts. Abasiri was not the top-rated Gopher commit in their 2024 class but he was someone the Minnesota staff was very excited about; an excitement the USC coaches obviously shared.

Related: Gophers Add Three More Transfer Commits to Cap Active First Week in Portal

PJ Fleck in danger of losing other top 2024 commits to helmet schools

The Gophers top 2024 commit is named Koi Perich, a national top-100 safety from Esko, MN. As far as we know, Koi is not interested in USC. He is, however, taking visits to two other helmet schools.

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

Given their current lot in NIL life, which is improving every day thanks to Dinkytown Athletes, Minnesota cannot afford to continue losing their best recruits to shinier, better-funded programs.

But how much can you blame Fleck or his staff for failing to keep a kid from choosing USC, where Caleb Williams is driving his NIL-paid Porsche around campus with Jordan Addison on Vikings off weeks?

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