SI All-American Watch List: 15 Minnesota commits and 9 key Gophers targets named

Top 10 position rankings start this week; preseason SI99 out in August

Minnesota celebrated its first 10-win season since 2003 with a thrilling Outback Bowl victory over Auburn on New Year's Day, sending a nationwide statement about the program's ongoing ascent under coach P.J. Fleck. Not even eight months later, it's abundantly clear recruits across the country have begun to take notice of the Golden Gophers.

Fifteen Minnesota commits and nine rising high school seniors considering UMN are candidates for the 2020 Sports Illustrated All-America team. Headlining the group is Athan Kaliakmanis, a dual-threat quarterback from Antioch Community High School in northern Illinois whose twin brother, Dino, is also bound for Minneapolis.

Listed below is the full breakdown of UMN verbals and prime targets on the SI All-American watch list. 

VERBAL COMMITS

OT Austin Barber/6-6, 315/Jacksonville, Fla.

OT Cameron James/6-8, 280/Chicago, Ill.

OT Logan Purcell/6-7, 245/Annandale, Minn.

DE Austin Booker/6-5, 235/Greenwood, Ind.

DE Deven Eastern/6-5, 260/Shakopee, Minn.

WR Brady Boyd/6-1, 175/Southlake, Texas

WR Lemeke Brockington/6-0, 180/Moultrie, Ga.

WR Dino Kaliakmanis/6-2, 188/Antioch, Ill.

CB Avante Dickerson/6-0, 170/Omaha, Neb.

CB Steven Ortiz/5-10, 170/Goodyear, Ariz.

S Darius Green/6-0, 190/Covington, Ga.

TE Jameson Geers/6-4.5, 240/New Lenox, Ill.

RB Mar'Keise Irving/5-10, 175/Country Club Hills, Ill.

QB Athan Kaliakmanis/6-3, 188/Antioch, Ill.

LB Devon Williams/6-1, 215/Dublin, Ohio

TOP TARGETS

LB Jamari Buddin/6-2, 210/Belleville, Mich.

ATH Justin Franklin/5-9, 160/Douglasville, Ga.

DE Kelvin Gilliam/6-3, 250/Highland Springs, Va.

RB Justin Johnson/5-11, 190/Edwardsville, Ill.

S A.J. Kirk/6-0, 200/Dublin, Ohio

DE Kyran Montgomery/6-4, 215/Indianapolis, Ind.

WR Quincy Skinner Jr./6-1, 175/Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

WR Jaquez Smith/6-0, 190/Atlanta, Ga.

WR Jace Williams/6-3, 185/Grand Rapids, Mich.

More than 1,000 student-athletes, representing every state in the country, are SI All-American candidates. Video highlights, scouting analyses and a list of each player’s college verbal commitment and/or top college contenders can be found on their bio pages, broken down by state, at SIAllAmerican.com.

Over the coming weeks, SI will unveil its preseason top 10 for each of 14 position groups (kicking off with quarterbacks this week). SI will unveil its initial top 99 ranking, the SI99, on August 24.

The evaluation process will continue throughout the season “until the list of 1,000 contenders coalesces around just 25 young men who can say proudly they are the best of the best -- they are Sports Illustrated All-Americans,” said SI Director of Football Recruiting John Garcia, Jr.

The candidates will be narrowed to 250 in October and 99 in November, and will culminate with 25 first-team Sports Illustrated All-Americans saluted at SI’s annual Sportsperson of the Year banquet in New York in December.