BleedGopher
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per Rich:
No. 19: Minnesota
The Gophers made big strides in 2019, notching a pair of wins over top-10 teams (No. 5 Penn State and No. 9 Auburn) and dramatically improving their numbers in all major offensive and defensive metrics. But heading into the season, there sure are some big cleats to fill on defense. Minnesota parted was with its top three tacklers, the top two sack producers and the top two interception leaders, including Antoine Winfield Jr., the Big Ten’s defensive back of the year who had seven picks. The offense should be good again, and if the defense can figure things out, Minnesota can again be a factor in the conference.
Minnesota wasn’t ranked in our preseason poll last year.
About the Golden Gophers
2019: 11-2,7-2 in the Big Ten; beat Auburn 31-24 in the Outback Bowl
Coach: P.J. Fleck (53-37, 23-15 in three years at Minnesota)
Returning starters: 8 offense, 5 defense
Shoes to fill: OC Kirk Ciarrocca (now at Penn State); RB Rodney Smith (last year’s leading rusher); S Antoine Winfield Jr. (2nd round, Buccaneers); WR Tyler Johnson (last year’s leading receiver, 5th round, Buccaneers); LB Kamal Martin (5th round, Packers); OLB/DL Carter Coughlin (7th round, Giants, 2nd-team all-conference)
Catching up
There were two important offseason developments on the coaching front — offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca jumped ship for Big Ten rival Penn State, and head coach P.J. Fleck, coming off a big season, was awarded a contract extension that locks him in through the 2026 season. The new OC, Mike Sanford Jr., was a Boise State quarterback in the early 2000s who went 9-16 as the head coach at Western Kentucky before serving as Utah State’s OC and quarterbacks coach in 2019, where he developed Jordan Love into a first-round draft pick. … WR Rashod Bateman has been named to a second-team Walter Camp Preseason All-American. … Five players went in April’s NFL draft, but four of those rookies will at least already have a friend on the team; safety Antoine Winfield Jr. and receiver Tyler Johnson both were taken by the Buccaneers, and linebacker Carter Coughlin and cornerback Chris Williamson both went to the Giants in the seventh. … Recruiting has been going well — the Gophers’ 2021 class ranks 18th — but they did lose a commitment from four-star quarterback Sam Jackson not once, but twice; he originally committed to Minnesota in February 2019, then decommitted last fall, then pledged to Minnesota again in April, then backed out again this summer. He’s now pledged to Big Ten foe Purdue. … Former Gophers coach Jerry Kill, now a special assistant at TCU, contracted the coronavirus, but the 58-year-old has since recovered.
Go Gophers!!
No. 19: Minnesota
The Gophers made big strides in 2019, notching a pair of wins over top-10 teams (No. 5 Penn State and No. 9 Auburn) and dramatically improving their numbers in all major offensive and defensive metrics. But heading into the season, there sure are some big cleats to fill on defense. Minnesota parted was with its top three tacklers, the top two sack producers and the top two interception leaders, including Antoine Winfield Jr., the Big Ten’s defensive back of the year who had seven picks. The offense should be good again, and if the defense can figure things out, Minnesota can again be a factor in the conference.
Minnesota wasn’t ranked in our preseason poll last year.
About the Golden Gophers
2019: 11-2,7-2 in the Big Ten; beat Auburn 31-24 in the Outback Bowl
Coach: P.J. Fleck (53-37, 23-15 in three years at Minnesota)
Returning starters: 8 offense, 5 defense
Shoes to fill: OC Kirk Ciarrocca (now at Penn State); RB Rodney Smith (last year’s leading rusher); S Antoine Winfield Jr. (2nd round, Buccaneers); WR Tyler Johnson (last year’s leading receiver, 5th round, Buccaneers); LB Kamal Martin (5th round, Packers); OLB/DL Carter Coughlin (7th round, Giants, 2nd-team all-conference)
Catching up
There were two important offseason developments on the coaching front — offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca jumped ship for Big Ten rival Penn State, and head coach P.J. Fleck, coming off a big season, was awarded a contract extension that locks him in through the 2026 season. The new OC, Mike Sanford Jr., was a Boise State quarterback in the early 2000s who went 9-16 as the head coach at Western Kentucky before serving as Utah State’s OC and quarterbacks coach in 2019, where he developed Jordan Love into a first-round draft pick. … WR Rashod Bateman has been named to a second-team Walter Camp Preseason All-American. … Five players went in April’s NFL draft, but four of those rookies will at least already have a friend on the team; safety Antoine Winfield Jr. and receiver Tyler Johnson both were taken by the Buccaneers, and linebacker Carter Coughlin and cornerback Chris Williamson both went to the Giants in the seventh. … Recruiting has been going well — the Gophers’ 2021 class ranks 18th — but they did lose a commitment from four-star quarterback Sam Jackson not once, but twice; he originally committed to Minnesota in February 2019, then decommitted last fall, then pledged to Minnesota again in April, then backed out again this summer. He’s now pledged to Big Ten foe Purdue. … Former Gophers coach Jerry Kill, now a special assistant at TCU, contracted the coronavirus, but the 58-year-old has since recovered.
Go Gophers!!
