4 Minnesota natives getting tryouts with the Vikings
The big names like draft picks Jordan Addison, Mekhi Blackmon and Jaren Hall will get most of the attention during rookie minicamp, but there are four names familiar to Minnesota sports fans who are also on the Minnesota Vikings rookie minicamp roster.
Blaine native Zach Ojile, who played fullback at Minnesota-Duluth, is one of two former Bulldogs getting a tryout. The other is wide receiver Armani Carmickle, who is originally from Kenosha, Wisconsin.
A pair of offensive linemen with Minnesota roots getting tryouts are Victoria native (Mayer-Lutheran High School) and former Golden Gopher Sam Schlueter. He spent some time with the 49ers last season. The other lineman is Rogers native Travis Sinclair, who played in college at Bethel.
The fourth Minnesota native getting a tryout is former Augustana (South Dakota) safety Eli Weber. He is originally from Dawson and played at Dawson-Boyd High School in southwestern Minnesota. He had 12 interceptions in four years at Augustana.
Full Vikings rookie minicamp roster
Quarterbacks (2)
16 Jaren Hall, BYU (fifth-round pick)
5 Logan Nelson, Mary (invited for tryout)
Running Backs (4)
27 TJ Cole, Ouachita Baptist (invited for tryout)
29 Tejey Green, Liberty (invited for tryout)
37 DeWayne McBride, UAB (seventh-round pick)
31 Zach Ojile, Minnesota-Duluth (invited for tryout)
Wide Receivers (7)
3 Jordan Addison, USC (first-round pick)
85 Cephus Johnson III, Southeastern Louisiana (undrafted free agent)
81 Malik Knowles, Kansas State (undrafted free agent)
86 Trea Shropshire, UAB (invited for tryout)
89 Thayer Thomas, N.C. State (undrafted free agent)
82 Cole Tucker, Northern Illinois (invited for tryout)
12 Armani Carmickle, Minnesota-Duluth (invited for tryout)
Tight Ends (2)
48 Lachlan Pitts, William & Mary (invited for tryout)
49 Ben Sims, Baylor (undrafted free agent)
Offensive Line (6)
66 Alan Ali, TCU (undrafted free agent)
63 Jacky Chen, Pace (undrafted free agent)
51 Ahofitu Maka, UTSA (invited for tryout)
61 Sam Schlueter, Minnesota (veteran invited for tryout)
59 Travis Sinclair, Bethel (invited for tryout)
60 Josh Sokol, Sacred Heart (2022 undrafted free agent)
Defensive Line (4)
69 Calvin Avery, Illinois (undrafted free agent)
76 Zach Howard, Northwest Missouri State (invited for tryout)
78 Jaquelin Roy, LSU (fifth-round draft pick)
50 T.J. Smith, Arkansas (joined practice squad in 2021)
Outside Linebackers (3)
73 Junior Aho, SMU (International Player Pathway Program)
57 Andre Carter II, Army (undrafted free agent)
90 Brayden Thomas, North Dakota State (veteran invited for tryout)
Inside Linebackers (3)
39 Abraham Beauplan, Marshall (undrafted free agent)
41 Wilson Huber, Cincinnati (undrafted free agent)
40 Ivan Pace, Jr., Cincinnati (undrafted free agent)
Defensive Backs (8)
32 Jalen Green (S), Mississippi State (invited for tryout)
20 Jay Ward (S), LSU (fourth-round draft pick)
42 Eli Weber (S), Augustana (invited for tryout)
11 Mekhi Blackmon (CB), USC (third-round draft pick)
35 C.J. Coldon, Jr. (CB), Oklahoma (undrafted free agent)
34 Justin Ford (CB), Montana (invited for tryout)
36 NaJee Thompson (CB), Georgia Southern (undrafted free agent)
38 Jaylin Williams (CB), Indiana (undrafted free agent)
Specialists (3)
9 Anthony Beck (P), Georgia Southern (invited for tryout)
43 Karsten Battles (LS), Oregon (invited for tryout)
46 Jack Podlesny (K), Georgia (undrafted free agent)
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.