Thank you Coach Schiano and Coach Ciarrocca for the opportunity. Let’s Chop🪓🪓 #Committed @RFootball @GregSchiano @KirkCiarrocca pic.twitter.com/sMYt9wri9T

— Athan Kaliakmanis (@aajk_23) January 2, 2024

Related: Buy the Right Brand of Bacon in January and 100% Goes to Gophers NIL Fund

Athan Kaliakmanis joins multiple familiar faces at Rutgers

Kaliakmanis was once projected to be one of the best and most talented quarterbacks to ever step foot on campus. He was a 4-star phenom out of Antioch, IL and Fleck literally skipped entire recruiting classes of quarterbacks to show him Minnesota’s level of commitment. transferring

But he struggled to grab hold of the starting spot when given an opportunity in 2022 and the belly flopped when handed the starting job in 2023, after Tanner Morgan left. Now, he and his WR brother Dino Kaliakmanis, will head to the East Coast and rejoin, not only Ciarrocca, but multiple familiar faces.

Rutgers defensive coordinator and defensive line coach are both former Gophers coaches, who the Scarlett Knights gave hefty raises to escape Dinkytown.

Over the weekend, 247Sports.com did an update to their recruiting profiles and many kids, who didn’t yet have a rating, received one. The two new Gopher commits for 2021, who happen to be brothers, were two of those kids. And, if you are a fan of our local D1 college football team, you’re going to be one happy rower. 

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You wanted another big time QB, Gopher Nation? You just got one. Athan is currently the 6th-rated dual-threat QB nationally, on 247Sports.com, and he is PJ Fleck’s highest-rated quarterback by far. We are all very excited to watch Jacob Clark throw a football for the first time in a Gopher uniform next Saturday for the Spring Game, and that certainly doesn’t change with the addition of Athan, but Jacob ended his recruiting with a .8850 rating when he eventually stepped on campus. 

 That’s like the difference between a B+ and a C+ on your last test…

247Sports takes pride in the accuracy of their recruiting system and it’s been impressive in the time I’ve followed it. They have the process they go through on their site but recruits come into the rating system on the low-end of their potential. The ratings usually don’t move too much for most players but when they do……. they USUALLY go up…

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 And, Athan’s brother Dino is nothing to blink at either. He’s a solid 3-star and carries plenty of WR potential in a big 6-2 – 190 lb frame.

Don’t look now (seriously don’t… it’s way too early and will set unrealistic expectations), but the Gophers currently lead the Big Ten for 2021 recruiting. They only have 3 commitments and most teams have 0…. but hey, I’ll never miss a chance to slap PJ on the back and I’d rather be at the top than the bottom, no matter the time of year.

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Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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