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May 3—DODGE CENTER, Minn. — This sports star for all seasons, he'd prefer not to be told how good he is.
Above all, Pierce Petersohn fears complacency. His mission is to keep his accomplishments and people's reverence from going to his head.
Petersohn understands that it's been his willingness to grind (along with plenty of natural talent) that's gotten him to this point. He's among the state's top athletes in three sports — football, basketball and track and field.
It's what allowed him to zoom from the state's 106th-ranked football player one year ago to his current standing of No. 2. He's gone from a 3-star football prospect less than one year ago to an elite 4-star recruit.
In basketball, it's what allowed the swift, smooth, mobile and high leaping 6-foot-5, 195-pounder to average 28 points and 13 rebounds this past season, and to slam home 85 dunks, including seven in one game.
And in track and field, it's what has him as a serious candidate to win two state titles in June. Petersohn, who's been slowed by a hip flexor injury this spring, high jumped an incredible 6-feet-10 last year and has gone 6-6 this season. In the 400-meter dash, he ran a 49.93-second race in April, and the season is just one-third gone. He hasn't even hit his stride yet.
But Petersohn, as renowned for his humility as his ability, doesn't want to be reminded of any of his feats. He asks that he not be referred to as a big deal, even though he just returned from a football recruiting trip to national power Penn State University, one of a host of Big Ten Conference programs that have offered him a full-ride scholarship, Minnesota, Iowa and Northwestern the others.
He just doesn't want to hear it.
"Every time you go on a recruiting visit, they tell you how good you are," said Petersohn, who's being most heavily pursued by Minnesota, Iowa State and Penn State, and is now sure to pick football over basketball and track and field for college. "I think you learn more when people beat you up a bit. A lot of (recruits) get lost (in their own minds) when they go on these big college visits because they get all talked up by recruiters and then they stop working as hard. I don't tell people much about my recruiting because I think it can get in my head, all of the attention. It makes a person work a little bit less. I like to keep it on the down low."
It's easy to see what recruiters are so excited about when it comes to Petersohn, who comes from a family of athletes, his father Tracy Petersohn a former 800-meters state champion, older sister Kendra (a 2020 Triton graduate) a former basketball player at Gustavus Adolphus College and brother Owen a former state hurdles champion and now a standout at Minnesota State University, Mankato.
With Pierce, the excitement starts with his wide-shouldered 6-foot-5 frame, with long arms that will come in handy no matter what position he plays. He's being recruited mostly as a linebacker or tight end, though wide receiver, safety and even defensive end and quarterback seem possibilities. But putting on the requisite weight for Division I football — no matter the position he settles into — shouldn't be a problem with Petersohn's build.
Another major factor with Petersohn is his explosion and mobility. He is a 6-5 athlete who can really move, clocked in a laser-timed 4.54 seconds in the 40-yard dash, a rarity for someone of that height. He can also jump, as was on display with those 85 dunks he amassed last basketball season and his clearance of 6-10 in the high jump one year ago.
Then there is his smooth and diverse athleticism. He plays quarterback and safety in football at Triton, point guard in basketball and he's a beautifully striding 400 runner in track and field.
And finally, there is Petersohn the student and person. He has a perfect 4.0 grade-point average and is the ideal role model, never talking himself up and always trying to lead the right way.
"He's a pretty quiet leader but a hard worker," Triton track and field coach Kim Swanson said. "He gets along well with his teammates. He's just a humble young man."
A humble one who intends to stay that way.
"I think it's important to keep working and to stay humble," Petersohn said. "When you're getting attention, people look up to you. Young people are looking up to you. So it's important to be a good role model. My advice for anyone else in my position is that if you keep working, it will eventually pay off. Make your daily deposit (in workouts). And don't let social media stuff get in your head."
Triton football coach and Athletic Director Brandon Neseth sure understands the hype and attention around Petersohn.
He first caught Neseth's attention as a freshman, when he was playing quarterback for the Triton junior varsity and tossing touchdown passes with such ease.
"He had three touchdown passes in a junior varsity game against Chatfield that year," said Neseth, who has watched Petersohn carry his team to the state tournament the last two years, lighting things up at quarterback. "You could just see the natural ability. We went from a triple-option offense to a spread offense to use Pierce's talents. He was having a lot of success at a really young age."
Neseth has spent large chunks of his time the last four months fielding calls and in-school visits from Division I football coaches, all trying to land Petersohn. Things didn't really pick up until January when the calls came flooding in, recruiters getting a sense that Petersohn was set to pick football over basketball and track and field in college.
The attention first spiked when Petersohn high jumped 6-10 one year ago. Yes, there was some track and field attention from college coaches when that happened. But they came even more from football coaches suddenly taking note of Petersohn's all-around athletic talents and how nicely they would translate on the football field.
That was followed by Petersohn being a massive standout at a Minnesota State University, Mankato team football camp, many top colleges in attendance.
Slowly but surely, the intrigue with Petersohn went up and up. There was just so much going for him.
"The month of January, I heard from almost every (Division I) school from the Midwest about Pierce," said Neseth, who would still like to see Petersohn recruited at quarterback, where he thinks he has enormous potential. "For a lot of them, they've gotten to Pierce a little bit later in the recruiting process. Part of that was because Pierce didn't use a recruiting service, he did it all on his own. But coaches saw the success he had in multiple sports. They just wanted to see what direction he was going to go in college."
They know now. It's going to be football. It's led to quite a stretch for Petersohn and his family, and Neseth, who has joined Petersohn on many of his recruiting trips, including to Penn State.
Petersohn's father, Tracy, had his daughter Kendra and son Owen go through the recruiting process before settling on Gustavus and Minnesota State, Mankato, respectively.
But this "Power 4" recruiting, mostly among the top football schools in the Midwest, has been something else.
"It has been exciting," Tracy Petersohn said. "I never thought we'd go through something like this, just with how Division I programs recruit and what they offer. I just never expected anything this big. But they've all been good, not pushy, and just very excited to get (Pierce) on campus. They want to give him enough room to make his own decision."
That decision likely won't happen until late June, after Petersohn has taken his official visits to what, so far, are his top three schools — Minnesota, Iowa State and Penn State.
Until then, Petersohn wants to mostly concentrate on what he's doing at school — in the classroom, on the track and in being the best role model he can be.
This is a different time. Pierce Petersohn is being watched and talked about like never before.
He's chosen to embrace that, as best he can.
Continue reading...
Above all, Pierce Petersohn fears complacency. His mission is to keep his accomplishments and people's reverence from going to his head.
Petersohn understands that it's been his willingness to grind (along with plenty of natural talent) that's gotten him to this point. He's among the state's top athletes in three sports — football, basketball and track and field.
It's what allowed him to zoom from the state's 106th-ranked football player one year ago to his current standing of No. 2. He's gone from a 3-star football prospect less than one year ago to an elite 4-star recruit.
In basketball, it's what allowed the swift, smooth, mobile and high leaping 6-foot-5, 195-pounder to average 28 points and 13 rebounds this past season, and to slam home 85 dunks, including seven in one game.
And in track and field, it's what has him as a serious candidate to win two state titles in June. Petersohn, who's been slowed by a hip flexor injury this spring, high jumped an incredible 6-feet-10 last year and has gone 6-6 this season. In the 400-meter dash, he ran a 49.93-second race in April, and the season is just one-third gone. He hasn't even hit his stride yet.
But Petersohn, as renowned for his humility as his ability, doesn't want to be reminded of any of his feats. He asks that he not be referred to as a big deal, even though he just returned from a football recruiting trip to national power Penn State University, one of a host of Big Ten Conference programs that have offered him a full-ride scholarship, Minnesota, Iowa and Northwestern the others.
He just doesn't want to hear it.
"Every time you go on a recruiting visit, they tell you how good you are," said Petersohn, who's being most heavily pursued by Minnesota, Iowa State and Penn State, and is now sure to pick football over basketball and track and field for college. "I think you learn more when people beat you up a bit. A lot of (recruits) get lost (in their own minds) when they go on these big college visits because they get all talked up by recruiters and then they stop working as hard. I don't tell people much about my recruiting because I think it can get in my head, all of the attention. It makes a person work a little bit less. I like to keep it on the down low."
It's easy to see what recruiters are so excited about when it comes to Petersohn, who comes from a family of athletes, his father Tracy Petersohn a former 800-meters state champion, older sister Kendra (a 2020 Triton graduate) a former basketball player at Gustavus Adolphus College and brother Owen a former state hurdles champion and now a standout at Minnesota State University, Mankato.
With Pierce, the excitement starts with his wide-shouldered 6-foot-5 frame, with long arms that will come in handy no matter what position he plays. He's being recruited mostly as a linebacker or tight end, though wide receiver, safety and even defensive end and quarterback seem possibilities. But putting on the requisite weight for Division I football — no matter the position he settles into — shouldn't be a problem with Petersohn's build.
Another major factor with Petersohn is his explosion and mobility. He is a 6-5 athlete who can really move, clocked in a laser-timed 4.54 seconds in the 40-yard dash, a rarity for someone of that height. He can also jump, as was on display with those 85 dunks he amassed last basketball season and his clearance of 6-10 in the high jump one year ago.
Then there is his smooth and diverse athleticism. He plays quarterback and safety in football at Triton, point guard in basketball and he's a beautifully striding 400 runner in track and field.
And finally, there is Petersohn the student and person. He has a perfect 4.0 grade-point average and is the ideal role model, never talking himself up and always trying to lead the right way.
"He's a pretty quiet leader but a hard worker," Triton track and field coach Kim Swanson said. "He gets along well with his teammates. He's just a humble young man."
A humble one who intends to stay that way.
"I think it's important to keep working and to stay humble," Petersohn said. "When you're getting attention, people look up to you. Young people are looking up to you. So it's important to be a good role model. My advice for anyone else in my position is that if you keep working, it will eventually pay off. Make your daily deposit (in workouts). And don't let social media stuff get in your head."
Triton football coach and Athletic Director Brandon Neseth sure understands the hype and attention around Petersohn.
He first caught Neseth's attention as a freshman, when he was playing quarterback for the Triton junior varsity and tossing touchdown passes with such ease.
"He had three touchdown passes in a junior varsity game against Chatfield that year," said Neseth, who has watched Petersohn carry his team to the state tournament the last two years, lighting things up at quarterback. "You could just see the natural ability. We went from a triple-option offense to a spread offense to use Pierce's talents. He was having a lot of success at a really young age."
Neseth has spent large chunks of his time the last four months fielding calls and in-school visits from Division I football coaches, all trying to land Petersohn. Things didn't really pick up until January when the calls came flooding in, recruiters getting a sense that Petersohn was set to pick football over basketball and track and field in college.
The attention first spiked when Petersohn high jumped 6-10 one year ago. Yes, there was some track and field attention from college coaches when that happened. But they came even more from football coaches suddenly taking note of Petersohn's all-around athletic talents and how nicely they would translate on the football field.
That was followed by Petersohn being a massive standout at a Minnesota State University, Mankato team football camp, many top colleges in attendance.
Slowly but surely, the intrigue with Petersohn went up and up. There was just so much going for him.
"The month of January, I heard from almost every (Division I) school from the Midwest about Pierce," said Neseth, who would still like to see Petersohn recruited at quarterback, where he thinks he has enormous potential. "For a lot of them, they've gotten to Pierce a little bit later in the recruiting process. Part of that was because Pierce didn't use a recruiting service, he did it all on his own. But coaches saw the success he had in multiple sports. They just wanted to see what direction he was going to go in college."
They know now. It's going to be football. It's led to quite a stretch for Petersohn and his family, and Neseth, who has joined Petersohn on many of his recruiting trips, including to Penn State.
Petersohn's father, Tracy, had his daughter Kendra and son Owen go through the recruiting process before settling on Gustavus and Minnesota State, Mankato, respectively.
But this "Power 4" recruiting, mostly among the top football schools in the Midwest, has been something else.
"It has been exciting," Tracy Petersohn said. "I never thought we'd go through something like this, just with how Division I programs recruit and what they offer. I just never expected anything this big. But they've all been good, not pushy, and just very excited to get (Pierce) on campus. They want to give him enough room to make his own decision."
That decision likely won't happen until late June, after Petersohn has taken his official visits to what, so far, are his top three schools — Minnesota, Iowa State and Penn State.
Until then, Petersohn wants to mostly concentrate on what he's doing at school — in the classroom, on the track and in being the best role model he can be.
This is a different time. Pierce Petersohn is being watched and talked about like never before.
He's chosen to embrace that, as best he can.
Continue reading...
