How Caledonia’s Ethan Stendel became a University of Minnesota commit

Jun. 17—CALEDONIA — This was going to happen. There was no way that Caledonia’s Ethan Stendel was not going to be a college football player.

His father, Freddie Stendel, could see it from the time that Ethan — the second of he and wife Shelley’s four kids — was 8 years old. Ethan’s athleticism leaped out, already with a rare ability to run and jump and a gravitation to every sport, making all of them look easy.

But it was more than that. It was his unquenchable desire shown toward one sport in particular — football.

“Ethan had a dream to play college football since the third grade,” Freddie said. “That’s all he talked about. He’d carry a football around 24/7. He’d say, ‘Someday, I’m going to play in the NFL.’ I told him he’d have to play in college first.”

Ethan took that advice to heart.

College football then became his 24/7 focus.

And now, here it is. On Wednesday, June 5, it became official. Ethan Stendel is going to play college football. And not just anywhere. He’s going to play in the Big Ten Conference, with none other than his home-state University of Minnesota Gophers.

The Gophers — who began showing interest in Stendel in March — made their official offer to him that Wednesday. It came after watching him work out along with a pack of other high school prospects at one of their annual invitation-only Summer Splash events.

A quarterback with Caledonia, Minnesota wants him to shift to linebacker with them. Stendel has no problem with that. His answer of “yes” to Gophers head coach PJ Fleck and that scholarship offer was immediate.

June 5, 2024, now goes down as the happiest day of the 17-year-old’s life. That 24/7 approach, it worked. So did being a still-growing 6-foot-3, 215 pounds, with long arms and broad shoulders, an ability to smoothly bend his body, and able to cover 40 yards in a swift 4.7…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/caledonias-ethan-stendel-became-university-171600890.html

Author : Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.

Publish date : 2024-06-17 17:16:00

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