What Gavin Meier committing to Minnesota means for Gophers, home-state Wisconsin Badgers
Gavin Meier estimated that, during the past week, he received roughly 25 pieces of mail from Wisconsin’s football coaching staff members. Meier, a 6-foot-6, 300-pound tackle from Janesville, Wis., was rated by 247Sports as the No. 1 2026 recruit in the state. He had made the short drive to Madison twice in the previous three weeks — for a junior-day visit and to see a spring practice — and staffers wanted to ensure he understood how much he was valued.

If Wisconsin is truly recruiting you and you’re an in-state guy, it’s really hard to not go there,” Meier said. “I loved everybody on that coaching staff. There wasn’t one red flag with the coaching staff.”

In a bygone era from not long ago, those circumstances and that quote would have been enough to assure Meier stayed home and that the Badgers locked up the best talent inside its borders. But Meier did something that has become more commonplace among top in-state recruits in recent years: He committed somewhere else, picking rival Minnesota on Wednesday night following a mid-week visit to campus.

Why?

It had a lot to do with what Minnesota represented to him. He liked the feeling he got from offensive-line coach Brian Callahan when he attended a camp there last summer and felt Callahan was well-positioned to help him one day play in the NFL. Meier visited three times and appreciated how much he said head coach P.J. Fleck cared about his players. Meier said Fleck promised Meier’s parents that he would not fail their son.

But the truth is, Meier’s decision had to do with what he believes Wisconsin isn’t right now.

“I don’t like talking bad about other schools, but I also have to keep in mind that this isn’t the same Wisconsin they used to be,” Meier said. “Like, this isn’t the Barry Alvarez Wisconsin. I don’t like throwing shade at anybody because Wisconsin is still a great program.

“But Minnesota, they’ve proven to be good. The past three out of four years, they’ve beaten Wisconsin. Wisconsin, one more losing season, and it’s kind of uncertain. I get Coach (Luke) Fickell is signed, but anything can happen.”

Meier noted that Minnesota has won all six of its bowl games under Fleck — although it should be pointed out that the Gophers finished in the AP Top 25 just once during that stretch, in 2019, and only reached a bowl game in 2023 with a losing record on the strength of their Academic Progress Rate. Fleck is 56-39 in eight seasons at Minnesota but 33-36 in the Big Ten. Fickell, meanwhile, is 13-13 overall and 8-10 in the Big Ten, with his last game a 24-7 loss to Minnesota at Camp Randall Stadium in late November that clinched Wisconsin’s first losing season — and one without a bowl bid — in 23 years.