Counter Intel: Minnesota Is Rolling, Michigan State Continues To Lock Up Its Home State, Iowa and Wisconsin Go South, and Michigan Goes Back to Mass

By Mick Walker on April 19, 2020 at 11:05 am
Jaylen Anderson
Jaylen Anderson
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Counter Intel is the smart Ohio State fan's look at recruiting action taking place at Big Ten and top national programs.

Minnesota is on fire

After going into Arizona last week and stealing four-star cornerback Steven Ortiz Jr. away from Pac-12 schools, Minnesota went even bigger this week. P.J. Fleck went into the state of Nebraska on Friday and plucked Avante Dickerson, the state's top-ranked player, away from the Cornhuskers and numerous other national schools. 

Dickerson is Minnesota's second-highest-ranked commitment in school history, according to 247Sports. Additionally, he was the top 2021 target for Minnesota's Big Ten West foe and home-state school, Nebraska. Finally, he is a player that possesses the rare athletic ability to match up man-to-man on some of the top receivers in the Big Ten. For all those reasons, Dickerson's commitment to Minnesota is huge and could down as a program-changing recruit.

But Dickerson's commitment was not Minnesota's first commitment on Friday, as the Golden Gophers came into the state of Ohio and flipped former three-star Kentucky outside linebacker commitment, Devon Williams, Friday morning. Williams was Kentucky's first commitment in the 2021 class, but that didn't stop the Gophers from coming into the Buckeye State and stealing him from the Wildcats. Having seen Williams in person last fall, he brings a lot of athleticism and talent to Minnesota's linebacker room.

Even earlier in the week, Minnesota added a commitment from three-star wide receiver, Lemeke Brockington, out of the state of Georgia. Brockington's commitment continues to show Minnesota's national reach on the recruiting trail as it now has commitments from Texas, Arizona and Georgia in the 2021 class. On top of growing Minnesota's recruiting footprint, the Dickerson, Williams and Brockington commitments have established good recruiting momentum for the Gophers.

Michigan State adds more local talent

After landing his first three commitments at Michigan State last week, Mel Tucker added two more in-state studs this week. The first commitment for the Spartans this week came from three-star Detroit area defensive tackle Derrick Harmon out of Loyola High School. Harmon provides size and skill in the trenches for the Spartans defense. He will likely play nose tackle in Tucker's three-man defensive front.

Sparty's second commitment this week came from three-star defensive end Tyson Watson from Warren Mott (Mich.) High School.

Watson actually visited Ohio State this past fall for a game and the Buckeyes showed interest but nothing more than a general inquiry. Watson is Michigan State's highest commitment in its 2021 class to date. Similar to Harmon, much of the credit for his commitment goes to defensive line coach Ron Burton, who Tucker kept on staff when he took over. Tucker continues to work on building a fence around his own state in an effort to rebuild Michigan State to its former glory.

Wisconsin dips into the Volunteer state

While it is a distant second, Wisconsin owns the second-ranked class in the Big Ten behind Ohio State, and it just went into the south to land talented running back, Antwan Roberts. 

A three-star prospect, Roberts is a native of Hendersonville, Tennessee and held offers from programs like Vanderbilt and Missouri. However, he chose to go north and play at a prestigious running back-development program like Wisconsin. Taking that into account, Roberts name may be one to file away.

Iowa takes one from the Sunshine State

In a rare recruiting venture for the Hawkeyes, they went into the state of Florida and secured a commitment from three-star cornerback Jordan Oladokun from Gaither High School.

Iowa is not a hot name in recruiting circles inside the Sunshine State, but for the past few recruiting cycles they have pulled one or two players from Florida and have done it in 2021.

Oladokun held offers from Big Ten programs like Penn State and Maryland but decided to pick the Hawkeyes. Seeing as they have developed a few talented defensive backs in the past few years, don't forget about Oladokun.

Michigan continues to drink the Massachusetts kool-aid

The Wolverines' 2021 haul currently has nine commitments – three from Michigan, one from Illinois, Florida and New Jersey, and the final three hail from the great state of Massachusetts, Harbaugh's home away from home.

A Friday commitment from three-star defensive end T.J. Guy out Mansfield (Mass.) High School gave Michigan its ninth total commitment and third from Massachusetts.

Guy, a former Boston College commitment, decommitted from the Eagles last February, shortly after Michigan offered. Ever since that offer, Michigan seemed like the place that Guy would end up, and that came to fruition on Friday. Guy brings athleticism and length to the Wolverines.

USC shows life

After a forgettable 2020 recruiting cycle, Clay Helton and his Trojans have rebounded well in 2021 and now have the No. 5 overall class in the country.

This past week, they landed three commitments from California natives – three-star offensive lineman Maximus Gibbs, four-star athlete Calen Bullock and four-star athlete Anthony Beavers Jr. With this uptick in recruiting and hope for a bigger season this fall, Helton and his staff seem to be showing life in SoCal.

North Carolina continues its rise

After climbing to the third-ranked class in the country not too long ago, Mack Brown and the Tar Heels have now risen to the second-ranked class in the country.

Friday evening, North Carolina landed two commitments from four-star linebacker Raneiria Dillworth and three-star offensive guard Jared Wilson, both of whom are North Carolina natives. Of its 14-player class,13 of its commits are from the state of North Carolina, showing that Brown is succeeding by keeping the best players home.

Alabama has a pulse

Despite being the eighth-ranked recruiting class in the SEC, Alabama did pick up commitments this past week from four-star wide receiver Agiye Hall and three-star defensive tackle Anquin Barnes from Robert E. Lee (Ala.) High School.

In Barnes' recruitment, Alabama beat Auburn for an in-state physical specimen. And for Hall, they beat the likes of Clemson, Oklahoma, and LSU to land a uber-talented wide receiver. Despite only having three commitments in 2021 and getting off to a snail-like start, Barnes' and Hall's commitment might provide a spark for the Crimson Tide.

Neal Brown has the Mountaineers on a roll

Last week, Neal Brown and West Virginia landed a commitment from Dublin Coffman (Ohio) defensive end Hammond Russell.

This week, the Mountaineers came back to the state of Ohio to land four-star running back Jaylen Anderson from Perry High School.

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