The Gophers football team held its annual local media day on Wednesday and with 21 total players speaking to reporters, they nearly could have gone to the line of scrimmage and run a play.
But the U will have to wait until July 27 for the start of fall camp, and until Aug. 28 for the season opener at home against Buffalo. But hype, perspectives and little nuggets of information were shared earlier this week.
Here are eight standout quotes from the players’ question-and-answer sessions:
‘Delusional’ goal
It’s often hard to pry a big-picture perspective out of a P.J. Fleck-coached player, but third-year cornerback Za’Quan Bryan and linebacker Maverick Baranowski were willing to take the blinders off.
“A successful season is really just us getting to the CFP (the 12-team College Football Playoff),” Bryan said. “We are delusional this year, and that is the thing for us. … I don’t have any personal goals. My goal is this team getting to the CFP and get to that level that we want to be at.”
After an 8-5 overall record a year ago, including 5-4 in Big Ten play, the Gophers will need to fill multiple positions (including Bryan at corner), stay incredibly healthy and improve in one-possession games. But if those things happen, the schedule might set up for the U could have a run like Indiana had last season, surprise entrants in the expanded playoff field.
‘Night and day’
Drake Lindsey is the presumptive starting quarterback, stepping in for departed senior Max Brosmer, an undrafted free agent who will start training camp with the Vikings next week. The redshirt freshman got a taste of college ball last year, completing 4 of 5 pass attempts for 50 yards and a touchdown across three games.
Now a year older, with two sets of spring practices and a year of tutelage under Brosmer, Lindsey feels much more comfortable taking the wheel.
“I feel like it’s day and night,” he said. “I go back sometimes and watch last fall camp and spring ball and it’s just the little things, like managing the line of scrimmage, looking at the play clock nonstop, making sure everyone is on the ball, off the ball. … Things that Max had really taught me and the coaches have taught me. Just the details within every single play.”
Newcomer mistakes are bound to happen, and Fleck’s willingness to trust Lindsey on the next series will be paramount to the U’s success this fall.
‘Skip through college’
After a breakout true freshman season, safety Koi Perich has been receiving preseason All-America accolades and award watch-list shoutouts going into a sophomore season that will include an expanded role on offense on top of his already big roles on defense and as a returner on special teams.
But this was not his boyhood dream coming out of Esko, Minn.
“I didn’t watch college football,” Perich said. “My dream was to play for the Vikings. I would just skip through college if I could and go straight to the Vikings. But you’ve got to do your three years. I’m willing to do it.”
Camaraderie
The Gophers pride themselves on being a close-knit outfit and one example of that is how approximately 40 players came out to celebrate star defensive end Anthony Smith’s 21st birthday this summer.
“It was such a blast,” linebacker Maverick Baranowski said. “We all got dinner. That doesn’t happen everywhere, that connectedness.”
Big shoes to fill
Blindside tackle Aireontae Ersery extended the U’s streak of having a first- or second-round pick to six straight NFL drafts last April, and his exit left an enormous opening along the offensive line.
When Ersery opted out of the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, true freshman Nathan Roy got 15 snaps against Virginia Tech. The four-star recruit and No. 1 prospect out of Wisconsin might get that amount of plays in the first quarter of the opening game this year.
“Super talented,” said veteran lineman Greg Johnson. “I mean, he is a freak athlete, can move really well. It’s fun to play next to him because of how good an athlete he is. He makes my job pretty easy at times because in our pass sets, I trust him to do his job well. In the run game, he has gotten a lot more physical, as well.”
Darius Taylor #1 of the Minnesota Golden Gophers rushes with the ball in the fourth quarter against the Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium on Nov. 29, 2024 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images)
Requirements
Running back Darius Taylor missed half his freshman season with injuries, but he played in 12 of 13 games a year ago and amassed team highs of 1,336 yards from scrimmage (986 rushing and 350 receiving) and 12 total touchdowns.
While the U breaks in a new QB, offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh said during spring practices that Minnesota will lean more on Taylor in the run game.
“The demands on the field have to meet the demands off the field,” Taylor said. “That requires nutrition and in the training room. I did a great job of that last year, and now I’m trying to uphold that.”
HAVOC
The Gophers have to overcome the upheaval inherent in a third defensive coordinator in three years, with safeties coach Danny Collins promoted to run the entire unit after Corey Hetherman took a pay bump to join the Miami Hurricanes. Collin’s acronym for his defense is HAVOC, and the Gophers hope to wreak a lot of it on opponents.
A lot of the defensive principles will remain the same from Hetherman and Joe Rossi, including an emphasis on takeaways, on which Minnesota feasted last year. The U was tied for seventh in the nation in interceptions (17) and 36th in total takeaways (21) in 2024.
“(The next level) is continuing to develop the high football IQ as D.C. continues to talk about,” said defensive tackle Jalen Logan-Redding.
Catch radius
With the exits of Daniel Jackson and Elijah Spencer, the Gophers lost roughly 50 percent of its receptions, yards and touchdowns from wide receivers last season.
Minnesota returns Le’Meke Brockington, Cristian Driver, Kenric Lanier, Nuke Hayes, Jalen Smith and others, while adding three transfers in Javon Tracy (Miami of Ohio), Logan Loya (UCLA) and Malachi Coleman (Nebraska).
“This is the most-talented wide receiver room we have ever had, probably the most experienced, most versatile,” Brockington, a fifth-year senior, said.
It’s a crowded room, but Brockington, Tracy and Loya are the most-likely leaders in the bunch.
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