On Wednesday, the Minnesota Golden Gophers picked up a commitment from top offensive lineman target Gavin Meier, who made his decision after a three-day visit to the Twin Cities. Below, Gophers Nation goes over five things to know about Meier's commitment and what it means for the Gophers.
1. The Gophers pulled a fast one on Wisconsin
Coming into this week's unofficial visit for Meier, the Wisconsin Badgers were the significant favorite not just here on Rivals but across the recruiting industry for Meier. The recruitment was considered the Badgers' to lose, and a recent unofficial visit to Madison seemed only to strengthen that line of thinking.
That being said, anytime the Gophers are able to host recruits on campus for these multi-day visits, they're worth paying very close attention to. We believed that the Gophers could use the multi-day visit to strengthen their odds for Meier, but even for us, the commitment came as a surprise.
2. Meier didn't think he would commit this early
You could probably say it's even a surprise for Meier himself. Following his last visit to Wisconsin, Meier caught up with our Wisconsin sister site, BadgerBlitz, and said the following about his timeline.
"I don't think that will happen soon, but I am open to other schools," he said in regards to a potential commitment.
Well, 15 days after that story was published, Meier did just that, except it wasn't to be a Badger. It was to be a Gopher.
Beyond his offer from Wisconsin, Meier held notable offers from Auburn, Indiana, Northwestern, and Washington State. He had official visits scheduled to Auburn, Indiana, and Wisconsin on top of his official visit to Minnesota.
3. This is the third straight cycle that Minnesota has landed a prospect from Wisconsin
The Gophers have now gone into their neighboring state in three straight cycles to land key prospects. Once he arrives on campus will join fellow Wisconsinites Rhett Hlavacka, a former three-star prospect out of Fond du Lac High School in the 2025 recruiting cycle, and offensive lineman Nathan Roy. Roy a native of Mukwonago, Wisconsin, was a four-star, Rivals250 prospect and the top talent in the state of Wisconsin in the 2024 recruiting cycle.
4. He is the second offensive line commitment this cycle
Meier will join offensive lineman Andrew Trout as offensive linemen who are committed to the Golden Gophers in the 2026 recruiting cycle. Trout, the top prospect in the state of Minnesota, was the Gophers' first commitment in the cycle and has been a key peer recruiter since.
While Meier is not a four-star prospect currently on Rivals, he does possess tremendous upside, giving offensive line coach Brian Callahan a strong duo as he continues to put together his offensive line class in the cycle.
Callahan isn't done either as the Gophers are set to host two additional offensive linemen currently for official visits in Norman (OK) standout Daniel McMorris and Mountain Pointe (AZ) talent Aaron Thomas.
5. The Gophers now have a top-30 recruiting class
It's still early in the recruiting cycle, but the Gophers' coaching staff is putting together a strong foundation for their 2026 recruiting class. The Gophers now have six commitments in their class and have added two prospects to their class this month in Meier as well as wide receiver Rico Blasingame, who committed last week.
With their six commitments, the Gophers' recruiting class now ranks 30th overall in the country here on Rivals and is currently ninth in the Big Ten, as the conference as a whole is off to a strong start. Currently, USC, Oregon, Penn State, Ohio state, Illinois, Iowa, Washington, and Rutgers have recruiting classes ranked higher than the Gophers. Notably, all eight have two or more four-star commitments including 12 already for USC.
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