Gopher Football
“We want to teach our kids what I call the Minnesota way,” Kill said. “We’re going to expect them to play hard. Any football team I’ve been associated with has always played hard, but you have to develop that through practice. We need to learn how to finish — finish drills, finish plays and hustle around, those sort of things.”
Kill will begin “the journey” — as he calls it — of teaching his team the Minnesota way of doing things Thursday when he gets his first opportunity to coach his team. The first of 15 spring practice sessions will commence Thursday afternoon at the Gibson-Nagurksi Football Complex.
While the Gophers begin the work of trying to improve on last season’s 3-9 record Thursday, Kill’s message is to “get better every week.”
“Everyone’s goal is to win a championship and it is my goal to teach them how to do so,” Kill said.
Kill only wants players who truly want to be here; the ones who will “play hard, finish, be consistent, have a mental toughness and intelligence.” He espouses the benefits of playing hard and getting all 11 players on the field playing hard for every play. While he admits that will not guarantee wins right away, it will give the team a chance each week. While he looks to instill his will upon the players, it ultimately comes down to who is on the field and their performance.
Specifics on players and the team were hard to come by. But Kill did offer insight into his defensive philosophy.
“We’re going to be aggressive,” Kill said. “One goal from the spring is going to be to try to find somebody who can turn the corner and get after the quarterback. We’re not going to try to read anything. We’re coming up the field. It’s going to take a while to learn that mentality, but that’s the only way I’ve done it my whole career.”
The Gophers’ defensive line will not be reading anything this fall, they will be getting up the field and after the quarterback, a philosophy Kill adapted from John Teerlinck, a defensive line coach for the Indianapolis Colts and owner of three Super Bowl Rings.
When pried what positions have openings, Coach Kill responded with “all of them.” However, many of those in attendance remained focused on the quarterback position. Kill confirmed that MarQueis Gray will be playing the quarterback position, but being three years removed from playing quarterback full time and learning a new system will require some time to be allowed for adjustment.
Although the coaching staff has not yet been spent much time with the team on the field, Coach Kill and his staff have reiterated that it is in the fundamentals of the game and the inches moving forward that determine how and when games are won and lost.
“We have to teach our philosophies and schemes,” Kill said. “We’re not going to be able to be who we want to be next year because we don’t get to recruit for all that right now. We have our football team assembled going through the spring and that’s what we’re going to have to rely on. We have to find out what we can do and that’s going to identify who we’re going to be. That’s going to need to happen in the spring.”
-By student assistants Keith Beise and Matt Armstrong