Pharrel Payne is one of those players who was not on a lot of program’s radar until he had a fantastic summer of AAU ball and saw his recruiting stock rise dramatically. Ben Johnson and the Gopher staff also took notice of Payne’s big summer and they have been making a push to get him landed as part of their 2022 recruiting class.
The local crop of 2022 players is very deep and talented. Payne really wasn’t on many lists of top Minnesota juniors, just a few months ago. But now the Cottage Grove kid is seeing his name garnering more and more attention.