The Gophers’ defensive line room is in flux.

Head coach P.J. Fleck fired D-line coach Dennis Dottin-Carter on Friday after one year in the role; incoming transfer players at the position disappointed overall in 2025; and the depth chart for 2026 is on the verge of an overhaul.

“Coach Dott is a tremendous football coach and is a really good person,” Fleck said in a conference call for Minnesota playing in the Rate Bowl against New Mexico on Dec. 26. “Just felt like we needed to make change at that position right now in leadership. Those are really difficult decisions to make.

“He has done a tremendous job with our guys in life lessons, but I just felt like it was time to move in a different direction there. … As we continue to move in the future, we are going to look for the best leader of that room.”

While that answer lacked specifics, Fleck is again looking of another D-line coach. The Gophers’ next D-line coach will be Fleck’s eighth across his 10 years at Minnesota. While circumstances vary, that is a lot of turnover at one position.

For bowl prep, the Gophers will turn to rush ends coach C.J. Robbins and nickels/outside linebackers coach Kevin Kane to contribute coaching to the D-Line.

As for the roster, the Gophers starting defensive tackles Devin Eastern and Jalen Logan-Redding will run out of eligibility after the Rate Bowl. And star end Anthony Smith, who was named all-Big Ten first team last week, has not yet made a decision on whether he will return to college for his redshirt senior season or head to the NFL draft.

Last winter, the Gophers brought in three D-Line transfers transfers, but only backup interior linemen Rushawn Lawrence from Stony Brook played significant snaps. Tackle Mo Omonode (Purdue) suffered a season-ending injury in preseason and edge Stephen Curtis (Illinois State) did not see the field.

The Gophers tried to bring in Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College interior D-lineman KJ Henson during the early signing period last week, but he backed out of his commitment and signed with West Virginia.

On top of a new position coach, the Gophers will need to register a higher success rate with its next batch of incoming players via the portal.

Opt-outs?

Fleck did not disclose how many players might sit out the bowl game. “You expect it to be a little unpredictable,” he said. “But we’ll have a really good team ready to go come December 26th, that’s for sure.”

Eastern and Smith are two key players who might decline to play.

New Mexico coach Jason Eck shared Sunday that three back-up players were opting out of the bowl game.

That’s Mr. Football

Gophers signee Roman Voss of Jackson County Central was named Minnesota’s Mr. Football on Sunday.

Voss, a four-star recruit who will play tight end at the U next year, put up more than 10,000 yards of offense, primarily at quarterback, for the Class 2A school in the southwest corner of the state.

The other finalists were Gophers signee Howie Johnson (Forest Lake); Izaak Johnson (Cretin-Derham Hall); Caleb Francois (Minnetonka); Owen Linder (Chanhassen); James Engle (Maple Grove); Micah Bush (Hills-Beaver Creek); Carson Heimer (Byron); Logan Lachermeier (Minneapolis North) and Deron Russell (Waseca).

The Gophers have had four other Mr. Football winners in the last 15 years: 2011, quarterback Philip Nelson (Mankato West); 2013, running back Jeff Jones (Minneapolis Washburn); 2018, running back Jason Williamson (Owatonna); and 2022, defensive back Cade Osterman (Elk River).

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Minnesota played five-plus minutes of assist-filled, joyful basketball to open Saturday’s fourth quarter against the Clippers.

It greatly resembled the product the Timberwolves produced at the outset of the final frame six days prior against San Antonio.

Ball movement and energy leads to good shots and good vibes on offense, which seems to almost inspire better defensive play.

“That’s the brand of basketball we’ve all set out to try to play,” Wolves guard Mike Conley said.

It’s certainly the most effective edition, and seemingly the one that produces the most glee.

“I don’t know why we don’t have it all the time,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said of the joy displayed by his players at the start of the fourth quarter against the Clippers. “Sometimes we’re just kind of too in our own head right now when things aren’t going well offensively, and that’s been kind of one of our fatal flaws for the last two years. When we forget about that, make the right play and the play that’s in front of us, play with a little more pop, things tend to work out really well.”

That’s the style of play that involves all, which seems to open up the most opportunities for the likes of Jaden McDaniels and Naz Reid – more than capable scorers who thrive when chances occur organically.

“Just when the defense is broken down, when (defenders are) trying to rotate, it’s easier for me to drive off the catch or make certain moves or do certain things,” said McDaniels, who scored a team-high 27 points in the win over the Clippers. Those points came on just 13 field goal attempts. Reid scored 19 points on 7 for 11 shooting, including the game-winning triple in the final 15 seconds.

It’s no mistake that shot came after three passes that sent Los Angeles’ defense scrambling and left Reid wide open in the corner.

“That was great offense,” Reid said.

Indeed. But how can Minnesota bottle that on a more consistent basis? Because the first three quarters were the opposite. Slow offense in which the ball nor bodies moved, both of which allowed the Clippers to stack their defense however they saw fit to slow Minnesota down with no punishment for doing so on the back end.

McDaniels was asked for any constant themes from Minnesota’s current five-game winning streak, and couldn’t name one. How could he? The Wolves are Jekyll and Hyde-ing their way through every game at the moment on both ends of the floor.

It’s working in the interim. But results of real substance require a more consistent standard.

“I think it’s just a switch that just goes off,” Reid said. “(Saturday), Jaden got it going. Going into the fourth, we kind of all just followed suit. But there’s stuff that happened in the beginning of the game that has to happen over a 48-minute stretch or spell as opposed to two quarters or a half.”

Mike Conley said a key is for Minnesota to play that way out of the gates. Once the rhythm is established, it’s difficult to stop. And life would be easier for players off the bench if they entered a game already being played within a strong offensive flow.

Boredom and complacency have been the primary culprits of Minnesota’s inconsistency this season, which comes off the heels of consecutive Western Conference Finals appearances.

But it’s hard to be bored when you’re having fun performing on a nightly basis. Some styles of play are far more fun than others, as shown by the excitement players displayed in the fourth quarter Saturday.

“Everybody’s eating. Everyone’s killing. Everyone’s excited,” Reid said of the ball-movement bonanza.

“We’re just sharing the ball with each other, everybody touching the ball on the possession,” McDaniels said. “Miss or make, that’s a good possession when everybody’s touching the ball and everyone playing free and just with confidence.”

“Those of us who are out there being a part of that, we know how fun it is,” Conley said. “It’s a much different game when we’re all active and feel engaged, whether you shoot it or not, you just feel more energy.”

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Not much has gone right for J.J. McCarthy this season. He missed a month and a half with a high ankle sprain in the early stages, then struggled mightily with his mechanics upon his return to the field.

It hit a potential breaking point a couple of weeks ago when McCarthy looked completely overwhelmed while the Vikings got blown out by the Green Bay Packers. He suffered a concussion in the process as some started to question the viability of him playing the position long term.

That’s why McCarthy’s performance on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium felt so important. He got some swagger back as the Vikings ran away with a 31-0 win over the Washington Commanders.

It wasn’t as sexy stat line for McCarthy by any means. He completed 16 of 23 passes for 163 yards and a trio of touchdowns while leading a wire to wire win. The most encouraging part migth have been the simple fact that he didn’t turn the ball over at any point.

It was a complete effort by the Vikings across the board as the offense moved the ball efficiently throughout the game while the defense forced a trio of turnovers en route to recording a shutout.

Will this go down as a moment everything changed for McCarthy in his career? That remains to be seen. In a campaign devoid of of a lot of bright spots, however, McCarthy will take a win any way he can get it.

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The Gophers will play New Mexico in the Rate Bowl in Phoenix on Dec. 26.

The first meeting between the two programs will kick off at 3:30 p.m. CT at Chase Field and will air on ESPN.

Bowl projections late last week for the Big Ten-Big XII conference matchup was penciled out to be Gophers (7-5) versus Iowa State (8-4), but the Cyclones opted out of the bowl on Sunday due to “lack of healthy players to safely practice and play.”

Iowa State, which is also going through a coaching change from Matt Campbell to Jimmy Rogers, was fined $500,000 by the Big XII for declining a bowl invitation. With Kansas State also opting out, the Rate Bowl picked a Mountain West Conference program.

Under up-and-coming, first-year head coach Jason Eck, New Mexico won six straight games to finish 9-3 overall and 6-2 in conference play. The Lobos lost the season opener to then 14th-ranked Michigan, 34-17, on Aug. 30, but knocked off UCLA 35-10 on Sept. 12.

Eck, who just signed a five-year extension to stay in Albuquerque, produced the program’s first win over a Big Ten school and ended two long losing streaks to Air Force (25 years on the road) and Colorado State (13 straight games). Their overall record was the program’s first wining season since Bob Davie was the coach in 2016.

The Lobos also lost to San Jose State and Boise State to barely miss out on the Mountain West championship game, which Boise State won, 38-21, over UNLV on Friday.

The Gophers had a memorable experience in Phoenix in 2021, beating West Virginia in the then-named Guaranteed Rate Bowl at Chase Field. More than 4,000 Gophers fans attended the game at Arizona Diamondbacks’ home venue.

The Gophers also played in the Insight Bowl three times at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., and lost all three games to Texas Tech (2006), Kansas (2008) and Iowa State (2009).

This year’s Gophers team reached bowl eligibility with its sixth win in a 23-20 overtime win over Michigan State on Nov. 1, and after losses to Oregon and Northwestern, they improved their position with a 17-7 win over Wisconsin for Paul Bunyan’s Axe in the regular-season finale on Nov. 29.

The Gophers are headed to their seventh bowl game in nine seasons under head coach P.J. Fleck. They failed to qualify in his first year, 2017, and opted out of a bowl game during the pandemic-altered season in 2020.

The Gophers’ eight-straight wins in bowl games is the longest streak in the nation; the U hasn’t lost since the 2015 Citrus Bowl.

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