A busy day in Gophers football got off to a strong start for coach P.J. Fleck and his staff early Saturday morning when Jacob Schuster, a four-star defensive tackle from Olympia, Wash., announced via Twitter that he was committing to Minnesota.
Schuster, a 6-2, 300-pound senior at Tumwater High School, is the nation's 20th-ranked defensive tackle in the recruiting class of 2021 as rated by 247Sports.com. He had scholarship offers from 18 other FBS schools, and those expressing interest recently were California, Washington, Brigham Young, Arizona, Boise State and Stanford, along with Michigan of the Big Ten. Schuster received an offer from the Gophers in June.
"I've always dreamed of playing at the next level, but there's only one school for me – the University of Minnesota,'' Schuster said in a Twitter video.
Schuster is the 17th player to commit to the Gophers' 2021 recruiting class, which is ranked No. 24 nationally and sixth in the Big Ten by the 247Sports composite ratings of major national recruiting services.
The 21st-ranked Gophers open their season at 6:30 p.m. Saturday night against No. 18 Michigan at TCF Bank Stadium in a game that will be nationally televised by ABC. Minnesota also is host of EPSN's "College GameDay'' preview show, which will air from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.
