By CHRIS MONTER
FOXSportsNorth.com
March 6, 2011
Minnesota head football coach Jerry Kill continues to place a big emphasis on landing the top in-state players. His coaching staff hosted three players Sunday at the Golden Gopher basketball game versus Penn State.
Kill has already landed commitments from three outstanding Minnesota prospects and is hoping to convince other top in-state players to stay home and play for the Golden Gophers.
Jonah Pirsig, a 6-foot-9, 285-pound junior left tackle/defensive end from Blue Earth (MN) High, attended the Golden Gopher-Michigan State February 22nd and made a return trip today. Pirsig has already attracted Big Ten offers from Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan State and Ohio State and national champion Auburn extended an offer last week.
Issac Hayes, a 6-foot-3, 270-pound lineman from St. Thomas Academy also made the trip to Dinkytown this weekend. His older brother, Anthony Hayes, signed with Stanford last month. Hayes has received scholarship offers from Minnesota, Air Force, Western Michigan, North Dakota State, Virginia Tech, Army, and Navy.
6-foot-3 wide receiver Andre McDonald of Hopkins, who committed to Minnesota last month, also attended the game. Despite the commitment, he received scholarship offers from Big Ten schools Michigan State and Illinois this week. He previously received an offer from Iowa. However, McDonald has said that he plans to become a Gopher. McDonald caught 64 passes for 1144 yards (17.9 yards per reception) with 19 touchdowns last season.
McDonald is also a key reserve for the No. 1 ranked Royals, who are 25-1. They are the No. 1 seed in Section 6 and will play No. 8 seed Minnetonka next Tuesday.
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