Wally Ellenson became Minnesota's first verbal commitment for the 2012 class.

Elllenson is a 6-foot-5 wing out of Rice Lake in Wisconsin. He visited unofficially on Saturday.

Ellenson recently received a scholarship offer from Minnesota, but the Gophers had recruited him since his freshman year.

"It meant a lot having Tubby (Smith) there the whole time," Ellenson said about his visit. "Just knowing it's close to home and my family can make it to the games was good. It just was a full package. I had been to the campus several times. The offer finally came, so I took a serious look at the campus. It was everything I was hoping it would be."

Ellenson, who also had offers from West Virginia, Oklahoma State and Utah, had a solid summer playing with local AAU team Minnesota Pump 'N Run, which included scoring 30 points with six three-pointers against the Atlanta Celtics in front of Smith at the Best Buy Shootout in Bloomington last month.