In-state check-in: 2021 OLB/DE Grant Gerber
The recruiting process started early for Grant Gerber, who took his first visit to the University of Wisconsin in September of 2018.
Roughly 19 months later, the 6-foot-3, 225-pound edge prospect from Eau Claire (WI) Memorial High School has two scholarship offers - Minnesota Duluth and Upper Iowa - with interest coming from a handful of other programs.
"The offer from Minnesota Duluth has been in the works for a while," Gerber told BadgerBlitz.com. "Its defense has a hybrid defensive end/outside linebacker, so that played a big part, I think. And then Coach (Chad) Henning from Upper Iowa and I had been communicating for a while, back to when he was at Mankato State. It felt good to get those offers. I know that I have what it takes to play at the next level, but it was nice to finally pull a couple of offers in.
"Outside of those two schools, I have been to junior days at Nebraska and North Dakota State. I am also in contact with Air Force, South Dakota, South Dakota State, Minnesota State Mankato, Northern Illinois and Northern Iowa."
This past fall, Gerber, who 51 tackles and six sacks during an honorable mention all-state campaign, was able to see two Big Ten programs. He is teammates with current Badgers' running back commit Loyal Crawford.
"This fall I had the opportunity to take game-day visits at Iowa, South Dakota State and Wisconsin," Gerber said. "I was going to go to a junior day at Northern Illinois, but I came down with the flu and haven’t been able to get there.
"With Wisconsin, they have been to school a couple of times this year in the weight room to watch Loyal and me. I did talk to Coach (Chris) Haering then, but I haven’t heard anything since. I’m not sure how interested they are."
Like many recruits across the country, Gerber is trying to navigate the process without being able to take on-campus visits due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It’s been tough because this is a pivotal time in my recruitment," Gerber said. "I had a couple visits that have been cut out. I was going to attend the WFCA combine, which would have been big in recruiting for me, but that just got cancelled.
"When things open back up, I would like to go back to South Dakota State and out to NIU, along with Mankato State."
Gerber's size and skillset makes him an intriguing edge prospect at the level. He has the ability to play with his hand down at the line of scrimmage or standing up as a linebacker.
"I'm being recruited as both an outside linebacker and defensive end," Gerber said. "It depends on the school and what they run. I am being told I would play defensive end at some schools, but others say they see me more as an outside linebacker."