Gophers’ top receiver Daniel Jackson is expected to play in the season opener against North Carolina at Huntington Bank Stadium at 8 p.m. Thursday, according to the Gophers unavailability report published two hours before kickoff.

However, U running back Darius Taylor is listed as out. Taylor injured his leg during the final open-to-media practice on Aug. 13. He was the Gophers’ leading rusher last season with 799 yards and five touchdowns in six games.

Without Taylor, the Gophers will likely give the majority of the carries to Oklahoma transfer Marcus Major as well as Seth Bangura and Jordan Nubin.

Jackson missed multiple weeks of preseason camp with an undisclosed issue. He was absent on Aug. 6 and again on Aug. 13. Jackson was their U’s leading receiver last year with 59 receptions for 831 yards and eight touchdowns.

The Gophers’ other key absence is safety Darius Green, who missed the start of camp with an off-the-field issue. Third string tight end Pierce Walsh is also listed as out.

Minnesota listed four season-ending injuries: offensive lineman Jerome Williams, defensive lineman Sam Macy, running back Jaydon Wright and defensive back Simon Seidl.

Defensive linemen Theorin Randle and Jaylin Hicks and walk-on tailback back Kaeden Johnson are also out.

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Invasive zebra mussels have been confirmed in Big Carnelian Lake in northern Washington County.

Officials with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources recently received a report of a zebra mussel attached to riprap on the lake’s shoreline. A crew from the DNR, along with staff from the Washington Conservation District and Carnelian-Marine-St. Croix Watershed District, conducted a search of the lake and found adult zebra mussels at the all sites they searched. They also found zebra mussel larvae, called veligers, in water samples that were taken at the lake.

State law requires boaters, anglers and waterfront property owners to take a variety of actions to prevent the spread of zebra mussels, regardless of whether a lake has an infestation, according to the DNR.

People should contact a Minnesota DNR aquatic invasive species specialist if they believe they have found zebra mussels or any other invasive species not already known to be in the water body.

Zebra mussels can compete with native species for food and habitat, cut the feet of swimmers, reduce the performance of boat motors and damage water-intake pipes.

More information is available at mndnr.gov/zebramussels.

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Minnesota Aurora is expanding the opportunity to become a community owner of the club.

The amateur women’s soccer team started in 2021 with 3,080 investors contributing $1 million to fund the team through the 2024 season. Now with that timeframe up, Aurora are expanding the opportunity by roughly 7,000 people.

“This is the land of 10,000 lakes. How about the land of 10,000 owners?,” Andrea Yoch, Aurora co-founder and Chair of Investor Relations, said in a statement. “Minnesota Aurora wants to become the biggest community owned club in the country.”

The club has suspended its second bid to become a NWSL expansion club earlier this month due to a lack of multi-million dollar majority owners as the bids to join the league have skyrocketed.

Supporters can get an ownership share for as little as $100, with associated benefits

“We don’t want consumers, we want fans with stakes,” Aurora said in a statement. “When will we go pro and what will it look like? We don’t know. But we’re buying in for the future.”

The funds will help Aurora’s operations, including player housing, game-day experiences, increasing front-office staff and paying U.S. soccer registration fees.

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A Burnsville man was sentenced to prison Thursday for his role in the fatal fentanyl overdose of an Eagan teen.

Dakota County Judge Dannia Edwards sentenced Sadiq Aden Isack, 29, to five years in prison for providing deadly fentanyl-laced pills to Hunter Verner Carlson, 16, in January 2021.

Sadiq Aden Isack (Courtesy of the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office)

Isack pled guilty to one count of third-degree murder on May 23, 2024.

According to court reports, Eagan police were called to a residence on the morning of Jan. 28, 2021, after Carlson was found by his mother face down and unresponsive in his bed. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

During a search of the teen’s bedroom, a broken blue pill was found in a safe, which was later confirmed to be fentanyl by the Minnesota BCA. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death a result of positional asphyxia complicating acute fentanyl toxicity.

According to the press release, the night before, Carlson had ingested Percocet with a friend who arranged the purchase of the pills from two men from Burnsville. Video footage from a home security camera showed a white car close to Carlson’s home that evening — which was found to belong to co-defendant Jamal Ahmed Adan.

Officers found the car parked at a motel in Burnsville weeks later. Adan and Isack were found in a motel room with more than 30 light blue pills that looked like the pill fragment found in Carlson’s safe.

According to the report, their phone records showed text messages between Adan, Isack and the friend on Jan. 27, 2021.

“We need to continue to hold drug dealers accountable for the harm they cause to our communities in Dakota County,” said County Attorney Kathy Keena in a press release. “My deepest sympathies to Hunter’s family and all families who’ve lost a loved one to fentanyl poisoning.”

Isack remains in custody at the Dakota County Jail awaiting transfer to the Minnesota Department of Corrections.

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