Official 2026 Roster Movement Thread - Who's In and Who's Out?

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mngg11 said:
Appears (so far) we've added experienced/qualifiable starting talent and depth at our most needed spots while only losing two mentionable contributors at positions where quality replacements haven't been difficult to find or develop based in our staff's history. That's a net positive to me!
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Sorry was talking about the 2025 season (the one that just finished up)
 

rowdaboat said:
Does KP even have a roster spot left if he changes his mind??
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I'm curious too...about how many transfer portal guys do we have room to add?
Interesting...we have 21 Gopher guys in the portal and none of them have a new team so far.
We have added 12 new guys from the portal, but we had a big freshmen class too.
No idea what our total roster number is with total departures...seniors, portal, retirees etc vs the additions.
 

gopherbadgerman said:
Sorry was talking about the 2025 season (the one that just finished up)
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There were misses in the 2025 transfer class but interesting to look at additions vs. losses.

Transfers who started or were contributors - Nestor, Weston, Ray, Tracy, Denaburg, Turner (would have been most likely), Biber, Lawrence, Marshall, Davis

In terms of losses not many guys transferred to power 4 schools. Of those that did - Daniels and Lewis both started on the O-Line for Big Ten Schools. Bryson went to North Carolina and didn't do much for them. TJ McWilliams did nothing for Louisville. Sieh Bangura had a good year back in the MAC.

So purely from a transfer in vs. transfer out standpoint I would call 2025 a net positive but there were definitely more misses in the transfer group then you would ideally have.
 

60's Guy said:
I'm curious too...about how many transfer portal guys do we have room to add?
Interesting...we have 21 Gopher guys in the portal and none of them have a new team so far.
We have added 12 new guys from the portal, but we had a big freshmen class too.
No idea what our total roster number is with total departures...seniors, portal, retirees etc vs the additions.
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Might not be fully up to date but GopherGrandpa is tracking spots here:

# of Open Roster Spots

This Post will keep track of the total number of open spots for the coming 2026 Roster. Could be more additions to this list as the Transfer Portal opens. My net number assumes an NCAA roster cap of 105 players (and that we were at max roster in 2025). There might be a player or two that for...
gopherhole.com gopherhole.com
 

Disappointed that Koi left. Not sure, but it seems like the 2005 version of Koi will not be difficult to replace with something a bit better......
 


rowdaboat said:
Does KP even have a roster spot left if he changes his mind??
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The fact that Brown and Gousby (don't know if he has made an official announcement but not in the portal) are both coming back and we have brought in multiple safeties makes me think the coaches are confident Koi isn't coming back.
 


restovich said:
Disappointed that Koi left. Not sure, but it seems like the 2005 version of Koi will not be difficult to replace with something a bit better......
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Yeah 2026 Koi might be better than what the 2026 gophers have


But I am confident 2025 Koi will be at worst a push with 2026 gophers



And honestly if Koi is an all American in 2026 good on him for becoming for consistent
 

MNVCGUY said:
The fact that Brown and Gousby (don't know if he has made an official announcement but not in the portal) are both coming back and we have brought in multiple safeties makes me think the coaches are confident Koi isn't coming back.
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Gousby played more corner towards the end and honestly it was the first time I liked Gousby in his career.
I hope he stays at corner. Perhaps he is the nickel back
 




Some guy said:
Gousby played more corner towards the end and honestly it was the first time I liked Gousby in his career.
I hope he stays at corner. Perhaps he is the nickel back
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Given the number of safeties we have brought in there is probably a good chance that he does play more corner or nickle next year.
 


MNVCGUY said:
Given the number of safeties we have brought in there is probably a good chance that he does play more corner or nickle next year.
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I'm curious about the terminology you and others are using. In the base 4-2-5, I often think the Gophers are playing three safeties, with one near the line of scrimmage. Is that what you mean by corner or nickel? i.e. You are saying Gousby would play as the fifth defensive back in the base defense?
 



Scottsdale Gopher said:
I'm curious about the terminology you and others are using. In the base 4-2-5, I often think the Gophers are playing three safeties, with one near the line of scrimmage. Is that what you mean by corner or nickel? i.e. You are saying Gousby would play as the fifth defensive back in the base defense?
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Will be interesting to see how it shakes out, but yeah, assuming one of the safeties coming in fills Koi's role and West takes on a corner spot I would think that the other two roles would go to Gousby and Nestor. If Gousby made a full time transition to playing CB it wouldn't shock me to see Nestor in more of that Nickle role where he can play closer to the line of scrimmage and make plays as opposed to being in coverage as a traditional CB most of the time.

Assuming one of the safeties (Knutson or Smith) pans out we have the makings of a pretty solid secondary next year. Defense as a whole is looking really good on paper.
 


As things stand right now there are not a ton of spots left for incoming transfers.

One x-factor however might be if there are still guys grandfathered in who don't count against the 105 roster total. Not sure if that is still a factor this year and if we have guys that qualify.

As I typed that it looks like we added another Edge in TJ Bush Jr. from Cal. - 40 Tackles, 5.5 sacks last year including 1 against us.
 

LOL, it is true that the 2005 version of Koi probably didn't have the size or speed to compete in the Big Ten! 2025........
 



boozer said:
10.5 TFLs and 5.5 sacks. guys seems like a stud. do kinda wish we added another interior guy though, as we are still very thin there
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I think they really like Sunram and other internal guys
 


MaxyJR1 said:
I think they really like Sunram and other internal guys
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That is the huge x-factor in all this.....there are a number of options at various positions on the roster that we haven't seen yet but how they are approaching the portal gives some indication of how they feel about the options in house.

Edit - to date - 4 transfer DB, 2 DL, 2 K, and then 1 each at OL, QB, RB, WR and LB.
 

Seems like they're really leaning into Danny Collins and banking on last year being a personnel issue. Here's to hoping that's the correct thought process. This kid did have a sack against us, so that's kind of a fun little snippet.

Now lets get Luke Dehnicke to sign on the dotted line. The rest is gravy after that.
MaxyJR1 said:
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A bit crowded at DE/Edge now, no?

Although the thought of Smith, Menz, Bush and Howard all rushing the passer at once in obvious passing situations is pretty exciting.
 



GoldenMAV30266 said:
4 doesn't seem crowded, especially since Menz, Bush and Howard got multiple years to play.
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Bush has just one year left. It's crowed in the sense that it's 4 experienced, veteran guys that I'm sure expect to play a lot.

I'm sure it'll work itself out and I'm very happy to add Bush, just was a bit surprised.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Bush has just one year left. It's crowed in the sense that it's 4 experienced, veteran guys that I'm sure expect to play a lot.

I'm sure it'll work itself out and I'm very happy to add Bush, just was a bit surprised.
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The interesting thing is that it appear 3 of them play Rush end and only Anthony Smith is a DE. I wonder if Howard or Bush slide over to DE and put their hand in the dirt when Smith needs a break.
 


rowdaboat said:
Does KP even have a roster spot left if he changes his mind??
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Probably, but they're spending the money they had allocated to him, so he'd have to take discount.

They're recruiting as if he's 100% gone
 

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