The Gophers’ current offensive line issues can be traced back to Ohio State, but in a distinct way that proceeded the 42-3 blowout loss in Columbus on Saturday.

The transfer of 6-foot-5, 315-pound offensive tackle Phillip Daniels from Minnesota to the Buckeyes after the 2024 season created a hole the Gophers are still trying to patch.

A season ago, Daniels started for the Gophers as a redshirt freshman and was penciled in to be the U’s next left tackle in the wake of senior Aireontae Ersery being drafted by the Houston Texans in the second round.

Ohio State offensive lineman Phillip Daniels, far right, participates with new teammates in a drill during NCAA college football practice in Columbus, Ohio, Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. Daniels transferred away from Gophers after the 2024 season. (AP Photo/Paul Vernon)

But Daniels, a Cincinnati native and cousin to Buckeyes’ great Paris Johnson, went home — with a name, image and likeness (NIL) offer that was too rich for the Gophers’ pocketbook. Daniels ended up being the Gophers’ only significant loss to the transfer portal last year, but it was a big one and has had a domino effect.

It exacerbated the Gophers’ O-line overhaul, which was already going to occur with senior guards Tyler Cooper and Quinn Carroll leaving Dinkytown alongside with Ersery.

Without Ersery and Daniels, the Gophers have turned to redshirt freshman Nathan Roy at left tackle. The four-star recruit from Mukwonago, Wis. has been learning on the job and has been the highest overall graded starting O-linemen at 72.7, per Pro Football Focus.

For the opening four games, the rest of the offensive line was Greg Johnson at left guard, Ashton Beers at center, Central Florida transfer Marcellus Marshall at right guard and Kentucky transfer Dylan Ray at right tackle.

For the Buckeyes game, however, the Gophers moved Johnson to left tackle, Marshall to left guard. Beers stayed at center, but Ray slid inside to right guard and Roy flipped to right tackle.

Marshall, the U’s lowest-graded O-lineman, was subbed out in the second quarter in favor of Tony Nelson.

“We feel like we have eight guys that can really play, but maybe the fourth or the fifth guy hasn’t separated himself from the sixth and seventh and eighth guy,” head coach P.J. Fleck said. ‘We thought this (Ohio State) matchup was going to have to force us to really be stout on the edges.

“It doesn’t mean that’s going to have to be (the same) as we keep going forward, but we’re going to find the best five,” Fleck said. “… If we have to rotate, we’ll rotate. It’s a semi-good problem to have, because we do have some guys who can play. We’re deep; we just need more consistency from a few guys, and it’s our job to get them there as coaches.”

This season, the Gophers are 104th in the nation in rushing yards per attempt (3.79) and the Buckeyes defense limited them to 2.7 per carry on Saturday.

“That’s a pretty big wall we were going against,” Fleck said. “Our guys are coming off the ball. It’s not like we have a bunch of busts, but we played some pretty good teams, and we put ourselves in a negative or non-advantageous way early on in a few games (including a 14-0 hole early against Rutgers). That kind of got us out of a little bit of the run game early.”

The U’s running game woes also include California (3.5 yards per attempt) and Rutgers (3.3).

More for Taylor

The Gophers were managing the workload for running back Darius Taylor against Ohio State, and that’s why he didn’t carry the ball in the second half, Fleck said.

After two games out with a hamstring injury, Taylor had eight carries for 12 yards, with one reception for 6 yards at Ohio Stadium. He should get a bigger workload against Purdue on Saturday.

“I would confidently say that should be the case,” Fleck said. “I think our medical team would agree on that.”

Hundreds at Huntington

The Gophers will welcome back more than 200 former players for homecoming Saturday. Fleck said roughly 40 alumni returned to the U for this game near the start of his tenure in 2017.

Max Brosmer is among the 200, but the Vikings quarterback started his NFL bye week at the U’s Larson Football Performance Center, working out Monday with his successor, Drake Lindsey. Brosmer made the quick turnaround after taking the red-eye flight from the Vikings’ 21-17 win over Cleveland in London on Sunday.

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By DAVID KLEPPER and KONSTANTIN TOROPIN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s latest bid to deploy the military on U.S. soil over local opposition is triggering a new conflict with blue state governors that is playing out in the courts as Trump envisages a country where armed soldiers patrol U.S. streets.

Trump has already pushed traditional boundaries by using the National Guard domestically, envisioning a muscular role for the U.S. military in targeting illegal immigration and crime in American cities.

His attempt to deploy California National Guard members to Oregon and Texas Guardsmen to Illinois is a sprawling use of presidential power. Next steps in lawsuits filed by Democrat-led states will likely address significant questions of constitutional law, federalism and the separation of powers — setting up a potential collision between the courts and Trump’s aggressive use of the National Guard.

At a gathering of military brass last week, Trump called for using U.S. cities as a training ground for troops and warned of an “invasion from within.” To his critics, however, Trump’s use of the National Guard amounts to a frightening use of force against Americans.

“What will happen when the president loses in court?” said Alex Reinert, a constitutional law expert at the Cardozo School of Law in New York City. “Will he use it as an excuse to act in an even more authoritarian way?”

An expanding role for the National Guard not seen before

Rifle-wielding troops on American streets are one of the starkest manifestations of Trump’s attempt to expand presidential power, with troops already deployed to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Control over a state’s National Guard typically falls to the governor unless units are federalized — as they were in California over the governor’s objections. Otherwise, it’s up to the governor to decide to deploy Guard members or send them to other states to assist with natural disasters. In D.C., Trump commands the Guard himself.

Local authorities, Trump says, have failed to safeguard communities, giving several Democrat-led cities as examples. He’s called Portland “war ravaged” and a “war zone” that is “burning down” and like “living in hell.”

Law enforcement officers arrest a protester during a protest at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Ore. on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

However, the nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the military’s role in enforcing domestic laws, reflecting America’s long-standing belief that law enforcement should remain in civilian hands.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump wants to make America’s cities safer.

″You guys are framing this like, ‘The president wants to take over the American cities with the military,’” Leavitt told reporters Monday. “The president wants to help these local leaders who have been completely ineffective in securing their own cities.”

U.S. officials say the decisions to send federalized troops from Texas and California to other states are being made at the highest levels of the Trump administration, bypassing formal Pentagon policy processes that would normally be part of troop deployments.

While this dynamic is not unheard of, one official said, it’s typically used in situations like natural disasters where troops need to move out quickly before formal orders and authorizations. The officials all spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal situation.

One result is that governors like California’s Gavin Newsom and Illinois’ JB Pritzker, both Democrats, have become the first to announce troop deployments. Pentagon public affairs officials have struggled to confirm or deny the actions and troop numbers, facing pressure to avoid giving even basic details of military operations and to defer questions to the White House.

The situation is far different from President John F. Kennedy’s move to federalize the Alabama National Guard in 1963 to integrate the University of Alabama in a standoff with Gov. George Wallace. That is because Trump is ostensibly seeking to use troops to protect federal property and personnel, not to enforce federal civil rights laws passed by Congress, according to William Banks, a Syracuse University law professor and an expert in constitutional law and national security.

The Guard members cannot enforce local laws, block traffic or do “any of the things that police do,” Banks said. “So it’s more symbolic than helpful.”

Legal challenges set up a clash over Trump’s deployments

Leaders in Illinois, Oregon and California have sued, while top White House figures blasted a Trump-appointed judge’s decision to block the deployment in Portland.

Stephen Miller, a top Trump adviser, suggested it’s the courts that have ignored constitutional limits.

“A district court judge has no conceivable authority, whatsoever, to restrict the President and Commander-in-Chief from dispatching members of the US military to defend federal lives and property,” Miller posted on X, likening the protests over Trump’s immigration policy to “domestic terrorism.”

Judges are not likely to be swayed by the bluster, legal experts say. Instead, they will look at whether Trump’s orders violate the Constitution and the federal laws governing how the Guard is used.

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rump’s opponents have relied on the court system to slow down his agenda, with the Republican-controlled Congress largely not checking his expansion of power.

With litigation piling up, Trump officials have shown disdain for judges and decisions they oppose but so far have avoided the direct kind of confrontation that legal experts say could do real harm.

“The potential that they would defy an order from a federal court is very worrisome,” Banks said. “That’s our backstop. That’s what we have in the United States to keep our democracy on the rails.”

Trump’s attempt to deploy California National Guard members to Oregon is a “clear violation of the law” and a flagrant attempt to circumvent the judge’s weekend ruling, according to Elizabeth Goitein, an expert on presidential powers.

Goitein, senior director of the Liberty and National Security Program at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, said Americans should be concerned that Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth see deployments in U.S. cities as practice for overseas conflicts.

“What the military is trained to do is to fight and destroy enemies of the United States. The president of the United States wants soldiers to practice this battle training in the streets of American cities,” she wrote on a social media.

Associated Press writers Chris Megerian, Seung Min Kim and Nathan Ellgren contributed to this report.

By MELANIE LIDMAN and RENATA BRITO, Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli authorities said Monday they deported to Greece and Slovakia another 171 people detained for taking part in a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, including prominent Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.

Israel’s foreign ministry posted on X that “the deportees were citizens of Greece, Italy, France, Ireland, Sweden, Poland, Germany, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Austria, Luxembourg, Finland, Denmark, Slovakia, Switzerland, Norway, the UK, Serbia, and the United States.” The post included photos of Thunberg and other activists wearing white T-shirts and gray sweatpants.

Thunberg was among dozens of deportees to land in Athens, Greece, on Monday afternoon. Crowds of supporters gathered at the Eleftherios Venizelos international airport and chanted “Free free Palestine!” as activists disembarked.

“That this mission has to exist, it’s a shame! It is a shame!” Thunberg told journalists and protesters shortly after arriving. “I could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment, trust me, but that is not the story,” she added.

Former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau is embraced by a friend as she arrives at the airport in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025, after being arrested on the Global Sumud Flotilla and subsequently released by the Israeli authorities. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu Parra)

Instead, Thunberg urged world leaders and ordinary citizens to end their “complicity” with the “genocide” being carried out against Palestinians in Gaza, on the eve of the second anniversary of the war there between Israel and Hamas.

“We cannot take our eyes away from Gaza,” Thunberg said.

The interception of the flotilla led to large-scale demonstrations in cities across the world.

Israeli authorities again rejected mistreatment accusations that have emerged in interviews with activists who were deported to Turkey, Spain and Italy over the weekend. Israel’s government has also vehemently denied claims that its offensive in Gaza amounts to genocide, despite a growing number of experts denouncing it as such.

Activists arrive at the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport in Athens, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025 after being deported from Israel for taking part in a Gaza-bound aid flottila. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Lubna Tuma, a lawyer with the Adalah association representing more than 470 Global Sumud Flotilla participants who were detained last week as they attempted to break the Israeli siege of Gaza, said 150 people were still held in Israel’s Ktziot prison, including Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Mandla Mandela. Forty of them were on hunger strike, including many Tunisians.

“Some stated that they prefer that their food go to the people in Gaza,” Tuma said during a briefing on Monday that was broadcast on Adalah’s and the flotilla’s Instagram accounts. Others were also refusing to drink water “until medical treatment is given to all detainees,” she said.

The association’s legal team said the remainder of the activists — including those from countries that don’t maintain diplomatic relations with Israel — were expected to be deported on Tuesday.

Activists arrive at the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport in Athens, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025 after being deported from Israel for taking part in a Gaza-bound aid flottila. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Adalah lawyers have seen most, but not all, of the activists. Tuma said Israeli authorities have repeatedly violated activists’ rights. Tuma said it started with their interception in international waters and continued with their transfer to Israel and detention in a maximum security prison, where Tuma said activists were subject to physical violence and humiliation.

Israeli authorities have strongly rejected the claims, reiterating that the detainees’ rights had been respected throughout their detention. Israel’s foreign ministry accused one activist of biting a female medical staff member.

Several activists have given testimonies alleging mistreatment by Israeli authorities.

“There was some dehumanizing and violence and shouting,” Roos Ykema, a Dutch member of the flotilla who was deported to Madrid on Sunday, told The Associated Press. “But we got the European treatment,” she added.

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North African nationals who were detained told the AP they faced harsher treatment than their European counterparts.

“When I showed my Belgian passport their behavior towards me changed completely,” said Houssem Eddine Rmedi, a dual Tunisian-Belgian citizen.

Others said they weren’t so lucky.

“The moment you show your Tunisian, Algerian or Moroccan passport, they start beating you,” said Moroccan activist Ayoub Habraoui, who added that he and others were kept kneeling under the sun for nearly six hours.

South Africa’s government said Monday that its citizens would be released and repatriated on Tuesday via Jordan. Several other governments that had citizens taking part in the flotilla have said their embassies in Israel were working closely with Israeli authorities to make sure activists were released and sent home as swiftly as possible.

Brito reported from Barcelona, Spain. Ghaya Ben Mbarek contributed reporting from Tunis, Tunisia.

MIAMI (AP) — Western Mexico was being lashed Monday by a hurricane bringing heavy rain, strong winds and rough surf to coastal areas and the Baja California peninsula.

A tropical storm watch was issued for Baja California Sur from Cabo San Lucas to Santa Fe, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. A watch was also in effect for Punta San Telmo to Punta Mita, Mexico.

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Hurricane Priscilla was spinning just off the coast of Mexico, about 205 miles southwest of Cabo Corrientes with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph.

Parts of southwestern Mexico could get up to 6 inches of rain from Priscilla’s outer bands through Wednesday, bringing a flash flooding risk to Michoacán and Colima states, forecasters said.

Swells from Priscilla were reaching the coast of Mexico. Life threatening surf and rip currents were likely, the weather service said.

The hurricane was expected to intensify to a Category 2 and approach major hurricane status over the next several days.

Nearby, Tropical Storm Octave was weakening about 885 miles west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California. Its maximum sustained winds Monday morning were 65 mph.

There were no watches or warnings in effect with Octave, and no hazards affecting land. Forecasters expect the storm will continuing weakening and dissipate in a few days.