Walk on Isaac Fruechte

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Most of this info is in the article, but he is from Caledonia, a program that has had very good success the past few years in class AA (back to back state champs in 2007 and 2008) and has also generated a Big Ten starter in Karl Klug (DT for Iowa). He has good size (6-3, 200 lbs.) and speed (not sure what his 40 time is). His dad is the head football coach, so he has been surrounded by football his whole life. I'm excited to see walk-ons like this, kids that you know are going to come in and work their tails off to play for their favorite team. He had 5 other scholarship offers (3 from FCS, 2 from DII). Hopefully we can get more walk-ons like this.
 

Cool beans. Welcome aboard! Show our scholarship guys how to get it done.
 

Great to have Isaac on board with the Gophers. I love seeing Minnesota kids who want to play for their home team, truth be told I pull for them a little harder. Hopefully he will earn himself a scholarship and have a great career.
 

I'm actually shocked that he chose the Gophers over Iowa. Ever since Karl Klug went to Iowa, the whole town has been obsessed with the team. I'm also surprised he's going to the U for the reason that his dad confronted Brew when Brew called all the coaches that were going to the state tournament for football a couple years back.
 


StewieGopherFan said:
I'm actually shocked that he chose the Gophers over Iowa. Ever since Karl Klug went to Iowa, the whole town has been obsessed with the team. I'm also surprised he's going to the U for the reason that his dad confronted Brew when Brew called all the coaches that were going to the state tournament for football a couple years back. I know his sister pretty well and I always thought she was an Iowa fan. Oh well, the kid is a stud and can play on both sides of the ball.
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why would his dad confront Brew?
 

Well, then coahc was disappointed that none of the coaches had even bothered looking at any of his players and smaller schools in the area since Brew had started coaching at the U, when Mason was involved in recruiting the Klugs and taking a look at other players from the school in past years.
 





StewieGopherFan said:
His sister said that he doesn't have the grades to go to the U and so he's going to RCTC? Weird...
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Sounds like he is going to the U since Scout is also reporting this.

Isaac Fruecthe Will Walk-On at Minnesota

Isaac Fruecthe, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound wide receiver from Caledonia, will be a preferred walk-on at Minnesota this upcoming season. Fruecthe helped lead the Warriors to state titles in 2007 and 2008. GoldenSports.Net caught with Carl Fruecthe, his father and Caledonia head football coach to learn more about his decision.
 

Love to see guys like this join the team. I wish him the best.
 

StewieGopherFan said:
Well, his dad (the coach) was disappointed that none of the coaches had even bothered looking at any of his players since Brew had started coaching at the U, when Mason was involved in recruiting the Klugs and taking a look at other players from the school in past years.
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Yeah, Mason did such a dynamite job recruiting in Minnesota. I'm not going to call BS because I don't know, but it doesn't seem to add up.

Anyway, glad to see he's walking on here. Getting kids like this is really important for the long-term health of the program.
 

We may never really see the imprtance of things like this, but these kinds of things are absolutely critical to the success of the program. If the message get out about the values of a being a w/O, and more kids take that route we'll see this aspect to our program grow.

While I can't argue against any kid taking a free ride anywhere, even if you don't stick with it or can't get a sniff of the playing field one or two years on a top D1 program (no jokes needed, any B10 team is tops regardless of your personal feelings) has great value. Plus you'll have taken that chance to see if you can be one of the best. That's something you can never know if you go most other routes. I think being a D2 or 3, kid with a year on the Gopher roster is better than not.
 



anyone know the Zach Motta one of the perferred walk ons from last year did in practice?
 



Maybe state kids are starting to want to be Gophers again. At one time most kids in the state wanted to be Gophers, and there was unlimited Fr. squads. There were yrs that over 100 would become Greenies in hopes of being a Gopher. If they saw the writing on the wall, they transfered to other schools, but that was their goal to try. Now with limits they can't do it, but if offered, it would be nice to see them jump at it. The offers are usually still at the other schools.
 


I would love to return to freshman teams and freshman ineligibility. I know that sounds backwards, but it would benefit the players, the school, the team, the sport. Everything does not have to come out of a microwave oven.
 

Great news! We need to go out of state to get a lot of speed and quickness. However, kids like this will always be the foundation of the program. I hope the academic comment was a rumor.
 


diehard said:
I would love to return to freshman teams and freshman ineligibility. I know that sounds backwards, but it would benefit the players, the school, the team, the sport. Everything does not have to come out of a microwave oven.
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I completely agree. They could solve it though by saying RS kids don't count against total team limits.

There are solutions.
 

I was misinformed on the situation. My apologies. I'm looking forward to seeing him in maroon and gold next year!
 

What is the status of this Walk-on

I have not seen anything about this reported walk-on in recent list. Anyone know his plans and status ?
 


That is not unprecidented.

harley_gopher said:
His name was NOT listed on the preferred walk-on list at the Signing Event last Wednesday night.
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We forget that signing day is not the only day that things change and people switch, or offers are made after, based on what the fax machine spits out. I have noticed a lot of schools have had Preferred Walk-ons change their minds, accept D-IAA (FCS) offers, decide to concentrate on studies, or just not play football. It could have just been an omission, or miss-communication. I tend to get more concerned when the rosters come out and names are missing from them.
 

Here is a blurb about Fruechte from the Rochester Post Bulletin on Feb. 3:

Fruechte to Gophers

"Bungum isn't the only Rochester-area player signing with a Division I football program today.

Arguably southeastern Minnesota's best athlete, Isaac Fruechte of Caledonia, is signing as a preferred walk-on at the University of Minnesota.

Fruechte, a wide receiver and defensive back at Caledonia, figures to play wide receiver for the Gophers. Fruechte seems to have all the physical tools to do it. He's 6-foot-3, 200 pounds and runs a 4.47 40-meter dash.

Former Rochester John Marshall stars, brothers Mike and Marcus Sherels, originally signed as preferred walk-ons at Minnesota. Both eventually earned scholarships as well as starting positions, before using up their eligibility. Fruechte hopes that he will eventually be in the same boat.

Playing Division I football satisfies his life-long dream.

"I've wanted to play Division I since I was about 7 years old," said Fruechte, who at Caledonia played under his father, Carl Fruechte. "With my dad coaching, I've just been around football so long. When you're young, and you're always going to the practices, I just really got to love it."

Fruechte also strongly considered Iowa, which has a recent history with Caledonia. Karl Klug, a 2006 Caledonia graduate, just finished a standout junior season at defensive tackle with the Hawkeyes.

But when Iowa didn't offer the scholarship that Fruechte was hoping for, he turned his attention to Minnesota, where he'd developed a strong relationship with first-year receivers coach Richard Hightower."

Maybe Hightower leaving caused him to change his mind?
 

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