The Gophers’ football program is expected to go back into the NCAA transfer portal to find another quarterback after Zach Pyron decided to leave the U last week.

Pryon, who received fewer team reps than other backups during the final two open spring practices, entered the portal Thursday and immediately landed at South Alabama on Friday.

It was a quick U-turn for Pyron, who transferred from Georgia Tech to Minnesota for spring semester in January. With 19 games of collegiate experience, he represented a veteran QB option for Minnesota in 2025.

The 2024 starter, senior Max Brosmer, is hoping to be picked in the April 24-26 NFL Draft.

Going into spring ball in late March, Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck billed the set of 15 total practices as a fresh quarterback competition between frontrunner Drake Lindsey, Pyron and others. But Lindsey’s role as the presumed starter quickly came into focus.

Backups Max Shikenjanski and Dylan Wittke received more reps than Pyron in the two sessions open to reporters on April 8 and 15. Shikenjanski is a third-year walk-on from Stillwater, Wittke a third-year transfer from Virginia Tech. True freshman Jackson Kollock of Laguna Beach, Calif., and redshirt freshman walk-on Jeremiah Finaly are further down the depth chart.

The Gophers are high on Lindsey, a four-star recruit from Fayetteville, Ark., but the 6-foot-5 signal caller played sparingly in only three games during his true freshman year. He completed 4 of 5 passes for 50 yards and a touchdown in 2024.

Wittke had mop-up duty in one game last season, while the other three have yet to play a game in college.

The NCAA transfer portal remains open for players through Friday, though players can commit to new schools after that deadline. It’s unclear how quickly the U will pursue and land another, presumably veteran, QB for next fall.

Over three years at Georgia Tech, Pyron had completed 88 of 155 passes for 995 yards, five touchdowns and seven interceptions from 2022-24.

Another consideration is how college football team rosters are expected to be capped at 105 players going into this fall. Taking into account incoming freshmen, Minnesota is currently over that limit and will need a handful of players to move on.

The Gophers open next season against Buffalo on Aug. 28 at Huntington Bank Stadium.

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LAS VEGAS — In a town where the all-you-can-eat buffets are legendary, and you can get a shrimp cocktail for less than $10 at any hour of day or night, the local hockey club’s coach just wants his team to be hungry.

We are less than two years removed from Bruce Cassidy directing the Vegas Golden Knights to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup title, in just its sixth season of existence, having joined the NHL as an expansion team in 2017. When thinking about his team’s latest foray into the playoffs, and a first-round series versus the Minnesota Wild, Cassidy couldn’t help but reflect back on what they did in 2023, and the internal fire it takes to win 16 postseason games.

He said the hunger his team had two seasons ago, led by a bunch of players and a coach that had never before reached the game’s pinnacle, is the difference-maker beyond the 82-game regular season.

“That’s kind of what we have to re-claim. That needs to be equal to the other team, unless you’re way better,” Cassidy said. “When you come into the playoffs, it’s 16 teams that are not that different. Some obviously have advantages over others, but they’re all good hockey teams. So, that hunger and competitiveness has to be at the top of the list.”

Vegas finished the regular season with a 50-22-10 record, tops in the Pacific Division and second behind Winnipeg in the Western Conference. Three of those 50 wins came against the Wild. But in their guests from Minnesota, the Vegas coach sees some things his team will need to counter, and a potential advantage for the Golden Knights if the Wild take penalties.

“I think they’re good at keeping the puck out of their net, and that’s usually a product of not allowing the rush game to get going. I think they’re very good at suppressing rush chances and not giving you odd-man rushes or easy opportunities,” he said. “You’re going to have to get inside, you’re going to have to work and create your offense through O-zone play … get on the power play, that’s an advantage. They’ve given up some goals on the PK. But the rush game, I think, is what they’re really good at.”

For the Wild’s part, their coach raves about the size of the Vegas defenders, and says that getting to the net might be Minnesota’s biggest challenge if they are to pull off an upset and get to the second round, something the Wild have not done since 2015.

“First and foremost, they’re a pretty strong defensive structure team,” John Hynes said on Friday. “They have one of the bigger D-cores in the league, and when you look at their defensive numbers, they’re a team that is responsible without (the puck). From an offensive perspective, they have high-end talent and they can hit you in multiple ways.”

The Knights’ offense is keyed by Jack Eichel, the 2015 Hobey Baker winner from Boston University who languished in Buffalo early in his career, then came to Vegas and was a cornerstone of the 2023 Stanley Cup run. Despite missing five regular-season contests, including one against the Wild, he finished in the NHL’s top 10 statistically with 28 goals and 66 assists in 77 games.

Eichel’s lone hat trick of the season came on March 25 at Xcel Energy Center in a 5-1 win over the Wild.

While preparing his team to face the Wild, Cassidy said that the first 60 minutes of any playoff series is the classroom where you learn how the next three to six games are going to go.

“I think the series starts after Game 1. You see what you are a little bit, and what they are and away we go. ‘I didn’t see this coming, I saw this coming, yeah, this is who they are,’ ” Cassidy said. “And then you start making a few adjustments and then you go along. I can give them all they want on Minnesota. They’re going to give us all about Vegas. But once you start playing, you start to truly know and get into it. So, you’ve got to be careful you don’t overload. I have learned that.”

After a 50-win season, the Knights are coming in as the confident favorite, and their coach said he’s not trying to give them too much to think about regarding Kirill Kaprizov or Brock Faber or Filip Gustavsson.

“We’re going to play our game and let them adjust to us. That’s not a bad mindset,” Cassidy said. “They want to play hockey. They’ve done it 82 times this year. They want to play Vegas Golden Knights’ hockey and they don’t want to hear every detail about Minnesota.”

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By PHILIP MARCELO

NEW YORK (AP) — Opponents of President Donald Trump’s administration took to the streets of communities large and small across the U.S. on Saturday, decrying what they see as threats to the nation’s democratic ideals.

The disparate events ranged from a march through midtown Manhattan and a rally in front of the White House to a demonstration at a Massachusetts commemoration marking the start of the American Revolutionary War 250 years ago. In San Francisco, protesters formed a human banner reading “Impeach & Remove” on the sands of Ocean Beach overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Thomas Bassford was among those who joined demonstrators at the reenactment of the Battles of Lexington and Concord outside of Boston. “The shot heard ’round the world” on April 19, 1775, heralded the start of the nation’s war for independence from Britain.

The 80-year-old retired mason from Maine said he believed Americans today are under attack from their own government and need to stand up against it.

“This is a very perilous time in America for liberty,” Bassford said, as he attended the event with his partner, daughter and two grandsons. “I wanted the boys to learn about the origins of this country and that sometimes we have to fight for freedom.”

Elsewhere, protests were planned outside Tesla car dealerships against billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk and his role in downsizing the federal government. Others organized more community-service events, such as food drives, teach-ins and volunteering at local shelters.

The protests come just two weeks after similar nationwide protests against the Trump administration drew thousands to the streets across the country.

Organizers say they’re protesting what they call Trump’s civil rights violations and constitutional violations, including efforts to deport scores of immigrants and to scale back the federal government by firing thousands of government workers and effectively shutter entire agencies.

Some of the events drew on the spirit of the American Revolutionary War, calling for “no kings” and resistance to tyranny.

Boston resident George Bryant, who was among those protesting in Concord, Massachusetts, said he was concerned Trump was creating a “police state” in America as he held up a sign saying, “Trump fascist regime must go now!”

“He’s defying the courts. He’s kidnapping students. He’s eviscerating the checks and balances,” Bryant said. “This is fascism.”

In Washington, Bob Fasick said he came out to the rally by the White House out of concern about threats to constitutionally protected due process rights, as well as Social Security and other federal safety-net programs.

The Trump administration, among other things, has moved to shutter Social Security Administration field offices, cut funding for government health programs and scale back protections for transgender people.

“I cannot sit still knowing that if I don’t do anything and everybody doesn’t do something to change this, that the world that we collectively are leaving for the little children, for our neighbors is simply not one that I would want to live,” said the 76-year-old retired federal employee from Springfield, Virginia.

In Columbia, South Carolina, several hundred people protested at the statehouse. They held signs that said “Fight Fiercely, Harvard, Fight” and “Save SSA,” in reference to the Social Security Administration.

And in Manhattan, protesters rallied against continued deportations of immigrants as they marched from the New York Public Library north towards Central Park past Trump Tower.

“No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state,” they chanted to the steady beat of drums, referring to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Marshall Green, who was among the protesters, said he was most concerned that Trump has invoked the wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798 by claiming the country is at war with Venezuelan gangs linked to the South American nation’s government.

“Congress should be stepping up and saying no, we are not at war. You cannot use that,” said the 61-year-old from Morristown, New Jersey. “You cannot deport people without due process, and everyone in this country has the right to due process no matter what.”

Meanwhile Melinda Charles, of Connecticut, said she worried about Trump’s “executive overreach,” citing clashes with the federal courts to Harvard University and other elite colleges.

“We’re supposed to have three equal branches of government and to have the executive branch become so strong,” she said. “I mean, it’s just unbelievable.”

__

Associated Press reporters Claire Rush in Oregon, Joseph Frederick in New York, Rodrique Ngowi in Massachusetts, Nathan Ellgren in Washington and Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina contributed to this story.

The top-rated high school basketball recruit in the state of Minnesota in the 2026 class is headed to Iowa State.

Wayzata shooting guard Christian Wiggins announced his commitment to the Cyclones on Saturday. The rangy 6-foot-4 player is considered a four-star recruit and a top 70 player in the nation, according to 247Sports.

Wiggins received a scholarship offer from Iowa State in May 2024, but no offer from the Gophers until March 30 after Niko Medved became head coach. It was Medved’s first in-state offer after being hired away from Colorado State on March 24.

Iowa, Creighton, Wisconsin and Northern Iowa also offered scholarships.

Wiggins was visiting Ames, Iowa, this weekend.

Wiggins led Wayzata over Cretin-Derham Hall for the Class 4A boys basketball championship on March 22. He scored 21 points in the title game. He also plays AAU basketball for D1 Minnesota.

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