P.J. Fleck added two in-state players to his 2018 recruiting class late Friday night, when St. Cloud Tech's Brevyn Spann-Ford and Highland Park's Josh Aune gave verbal commitments to the Gophers.
Spann-Ford and Aune join Benny Sapp (Eden Prairie) and Logan Richter (Perham) as Minnesota high school players who have committed to be Gophers in this class.
With 14 commitments overall, including 13 three-star recruits, the Gophers sit No. 18 nationally in the latest 247Sports.com composite rankings. They fell a bit with the decommitments of Jalen Mayfield (now committed to Michigan) and Noah Shannon (undecided).
Fleck's staff held its first camp Friday night at TCF Stadium and subsequently made scholarship offers to Spann-Ford and Aune, who made big impressions during the camp.
Spann-Ford is a 6-6, 230-pound tight end/wide receiver and consensus three-star recruit. He had reported offers from Missouri, Iowa State, West Virginia and North Dakota State, among others.
Aune is a 6-1, 200-pound athlete who profiles as a college safety. Rated as a two-star recruit, he had reported offers from North Dakota State, South Dakota and Montana State, among others. He was featured in this Jim Paulsen story on Minnesotans working to showcase their talent to major college programs.
Two months ago, Aune attended the Nike Chicago combine and rated as the No. 8 overall recruit there among 200-plus prospects, belying his current star ranking. Spann-Ford also ranked among the top 51 players at that event.
