Minnesota Football has had a history of finding high school football players who were lightly recruited but end up becoming very talented players and excellent Gophers. Guys like Eric Decker, Thomas Barber, Greg Esslinger, Eric Murray, Briean Boddy-Calhoun and Steven Richardson are all excellent examples. That is certainly not an exhaustive or complete list.
There is also a history of some of these lesser known players who end up having very good senior seasons after committing to Minnesota, only to take a last minute offer from a more prestigious school and flip their commitment.