The news has rippled through the community, and the Argus sat down with Caledonia Area rising senior Ethan Stendel to talk about his commitment to the University of Minnesota football program after graduation as part of the 2025 class.
He is Minnesota's third in-state commitment for the 2025 class, and he held other offers from Northern Iowa and North Dakota.
On the commitment, Stendel recapped the process, how things went at camp and what to expect going into the Gopher football program.
“I didn’t go to any other camps this year other than Minnesota," Stendel said. "Previous years, I went to a couple, and generally, they work on your footwork and see how physical you are. Minnesota wanted to see how physical I was at linebacker and how I shed blocks. Previous camps — where I thought I was going to be a QB — were more focused on things like footwork.”
Stendel plays quarterback but is committing as a linebacker.
“It’s a change, but it’s D-1 football; that’s a dream of mine," he said.
Senior year ahead
Stendel will also be playing both quarterback and outside linebacker this coming football season for Caledonia.
He said, “I want to try my best to start playing as soon as possible, but I have to put on weight and possibly sit out a year or two, but I’ll see what happens.”
Looking forward to his senior year of high school, Stendel said he is “feeling good. We have good teams, and I think we can win state in football, basketball, and track.”
Stendel stated that football is obviously his main focus, playing both offense and defense, and possibly some special teams. For basketball and the team only losing one senior in Lewis Doyle, the basketball team should still be strong. Stendel has a great defensive skill all over the floor, which helps anchor the defense for the Warriors.
Stendel is also looking forward to improving even more in the high jump and hurdles in track.
Three-sport athlete
The discussion switched to how being a three-sport athlete helped his sports aspirations and improved his athleticism. Stendel’s three-sport career started pretty late in his youth athletics—with football being the mainstay Stendel started basketball in 8th grade, and didn’t do track until his freshman year.
“In recruiting for football, the coaches ask you all the time if you play other sports. Coaches got wide eyed when I said that I did 110m hurdles. Basketball was another big facet as coaches were excited to see my defense in basketball as well.” In general, college coaches look at three-sport athletes not only as physical talent, but learning other skills such as discipline and time management. Skills from other sports transfer between each other.
Mentors guide successful path
Multiple people have helped guide and influence Stendel's successful career. He said, “Coach Fruechte helped me be a better leader. I was pretty quiet freshman and sophomore years. Junior year came and I had to pick it up a bit more. He’s helped me throughout my career and been a mentor. Brett Knutson helped me to get to all the camps and helped me be a good kid.”
Stendel has one sole goal for the upcoming sports seasons—to reach the Minnesota football All-Star game.
A huge congratulations for Ethan Stendel and his commitment to Minnesota Gophers football. The future looks bright for the young man.
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