Minnesota’s football team has received a verbal commitment from Wausau, Wis., wide receiver Ben Fischer.
Fischer gave his verbal commitment to the Gophers on Sunday, but those close to him aren’t exactly busting out their bullhorns to announce it.
The 6-foot-2-inch, 180-pound receiver runs a 4.5 second 40-yard dash and was a three-sport standout at Wausau East High School, earning all-conference honors in football, basketball and baseball.
Although he plans to play football for Minnesota, he’d prefer to play Division I basketball if given the chance, East defensive back’s coach Mike Younggren said.
“The reason we haven’t made a big deal out of it yet is because obviously Minnesota (only) has so many slots open, and they wanted Ben to make a choice before they ran out of slots or lost one,” Younggren said.
“He’s a multiple-sport athlete for us, and they know and it’s no secret that if he were able to come up with something with basketball, he would probably take that. They understand that, but at the same time, they don’t want to lose him. So we’ve kind of been keeping it down, and not making a big issue out of it at this point in time.”
Nagel to Classic
Minnesota senior wrestler Matt Nagel will compete in the National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Star Classic on Monday. He wrestles No. 1 Johnny Hendricks of Oklahoma State in the event’s 165-pound bout.
Nagel, ranked fourth at 165, was added to the classic after Michigan’s Ryan Churella pulled out of the dual meet.
The All-Star Classic attempts to match the top two wrestlers in the country at each weight class against each other in a dual-meet format.
Sophomore 133-pounder Mack Reiter and junior heavyweight Cole Konrad are also slated to appear at the event. Third-ranked Reiter is scheduled to wrestle Darrell Vasquez of Cal Poly, and No. 2 Konrad will wrestle Oklahoma State’s top-ranked Steve Mocco.
Johnson to redshirt
Minnesota’s men’s basketball freshman Damian Johnson will redshirt this season, the team announced Tuesday. Johnson, a 6-foot-7-inch forward from Thibodaux, La., is expected to play on the wing.
