On game days, P.J. Fleck will scribble items down in a yellow-covered notebook for future reference.
Now in the transfer portal, the Gophers head coach is checking boxes on roster needs for the 2026 season — tick, tick, tick.
In a flurry of activity in the portal’s opening five days, the Gophers football program has added a total of nine incoming transfers, including a handful of new players who will likely be called on to contribute immediately next fall.
This roster-building period is still a work in progress, as the Gophers will continue to add to the class before the start of spring semester on Jan. 20.
The U needed a big target at wide receiver to threaten defenses downfield, and win more contested-catch situations, and 6-foot-3 Auburn wideout Perry Thompson appears to fit the bill. He committed Monday night.
Thompson had 22 receptions on 45 targets for 280 yards (12.7 per reception) across two seasons in the SEC. Three grabs were considered contested catches, per Pro Football Focus.
Minnesota has brought in big wideouts from name-brand schools in the past, but they haven’t panned out. Malachi Coleman from Nebraska was the latest example; he went right back into the portal after this past season.
But Thompson, a former four-star prospect in Alabama, will have new position coach Isaac Fruechte to work with in spring practices.
Minnesota’s offensive line needs an upgrade and has a vacancy at right tackle, and a massive one in Bennett Warren from Tennessee committed Sunday night. The 6-foot-7, 320-pound Texas native also received four stars coming out of high school but has only played 116 offensive snaps across two years for the Volunteers.
Tennessee offensive lineman Bennett Warren (68) sets up at the line during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Alabama, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)
Warren appears to be a candidate to fill the spot vacated by Dylan Ray, who did not raise the level of the line in his one year after transferring in from Kentucky.
The Gophers’ top four defensive tackles ran out of eligibility in 2025, and they began to address that huge hole with an anchor type to play nose tackle in 320-pounder Naquan Crowder from Marshall. He joined the group Monday.
None of the new Gophers have received as high of PFF grades as Crowder did in 2025. He earned a 75.9 overall grade and a superb 82.7 mark in run defense, but he will have to make the big jump from the Sun Belt Conference.
The U lost starting cornerback Za’Quan Bryan to the portal in December and on Tuesday brought in Aydan West, who made 19 tackles in 12 games as a true freshman at Michigan State last year. He allowed 18 receptions on 27 targets a year ago, per PFF.
At 5-foot-11, West played 343 of 380 total snaps at wide corner last season. He had an average overall grade (61.8), but his best mark came against the Gophers (75.0) in late October.
The Gophers have also back-filled a few other roster requirements via the portal: backup quarterback Michael Merdinger (North Carolina/Liberty), backup running back Jaron Thomas (Purdue), linebacker/edge depth in Andrew Marshall (Eastern Michigan), safety Parker Knutson (Southwest Minnesota State) and Aydan West’s older brother and fellow defensive back Elisha West (also Michigan State).
One of the biggest surprises in that bunch is Knutson, a Sartell, Minn., native who amassed 13 interceptions across two seasons at the Division II school in Marshall. The Gophers beat out the rival Iowa Hawkeyes and others for Knutson’s signature.
Southwest Minnesota State safety Parker Knutson plays against Jamestown in a Division II football game in Jamestown, N.D. on Sept. 13, 2025. The Sartell, Minn., native will transfer to the Gophers for the 2026 season. (Courtesy of SMSU Athletic Communications)
Fleck covets incoming transfers with multiple years of eligibility remaining. That’s true for all nine new players in the class so far. Thomas has four; Warren, Merdinger and the Wests each have three; and Thompson, Crowder, Knutson and Marshall all have two.
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