Two-time MN Gatorade Player of the Year to enter portal, should the Gophers pursue?

One of the top high school football players to recently come out of Minnesota is looking for a new home.

Iowa State Cyclones' running back Carson Hansen (26) runs with the ball for a first down against Kansas during the first quarter in the senior day on Nov. 22, 2025, at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa | Nirmalendu Majumdar/ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Former Lakeville South star running back Carson Hansen won Minnesota's Gatorade Player of the Year in 2021 and 2022. After three seasons at Iowa State, he's looking for a new school to play college football at, after he announced he intends to enter the transfer portal on Tuesday.

Thank you Cyclone Nation🌪️ pic.twitter.com/G186U6fpGB

— Carson Hansen (@CarsonHansen21) December 24, 2025

Hansen had a legendary high school career with more than 4,500 rushing yards and 57 touchdowns with the Panthers. He picked up scholarship offers from notable schools such as Kansas State, Northwestern and Iowa State, but never the hometown Gophers. According to the 247Sports Composite, he was ranked as the 956th-best player in the class of 2023 and the sixth-best player in Minnesota, but he signed with the Cyclones.

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Hansen quickly outperformed his recruiting rankings. He had 22 carries for 67 yards and 11 catches for 115 yards as a true freshman. He took a huge step as a sophomore with 151 carries for 752 yards and 15 total touchdowns in 2024. He continued that production in 2025 with 188 carries for 952 yards and six touchdowns. He will now head to the transfer portal with one year of eligibility remaining after Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell left for Penn State.

The Gophers did not recruit Hansen very hard at all in the 2023 cycle. Minnesota ultimately signed Marquese Williams and Darius Taylor as its only two running backs in that high school class. Many programs viewed Hansen as a linebacker at the college level, but he has proven himself as one of the best running backs in the country.

If Taylor opts to forgo his final season of eligibility and leave for the NFL Draft, a Minnesota homecoming would make much more sense with Hansen. If Taylor and A.J. Turner return alongside incoming four-star freshman Ryan Estrada, pursuing Hansen would not make much sense.

The Gophers looked elsewhere when Hansen came out of high school. It will be interesting to see if that strategy changes a second time around.