BleedGopher
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Great column by Pat if only because he didn't take 13 paragraphs to get to the point of his column!
This is a good one.
Perhaps you are aware of a media member who has spent a long career working to develop a reputation for being crusty, and if so, please advise said person to avoid interviews with the LeCaptain family from the cherry blossom region of Door County in Wisconsin.
Talk to mom, Kris, a teacher and in-home tutor, and father, Mark, a coach, and youngest son, Derik, a college football player, and also hear the tales of older son Nick, a pizza hustler in nearby Sturgeon Bay, and all those decades of smart aleck-ness could be floating away in the summer wind.
Derik LeCaptain was a three-sport standout at Southern Door, a school in Wisconsin’s smallest division of 11-player football. He had 5,199 career rushing yards, 100 touchdowns and more than 400 tackles. He was named the Wisconsin Male High School Athlete of the Year in 2019.
He had a scholarship offer from South Dakota and coach Bob Nielson but wound up deciding between walk-on overtures from the Gophers and the Badgers.
“We’re big Packers fans, and we were also Badgers fans,” Kris said. “But we were with Derik when he made his visit to Minnesota. At the end of practice, P.J. Fleck called the team together and started speaking to the players.
“I listened to him doing that for a few minutes and said to Mark, ‘I can say with 100 percent confidence that Derik is going to choose Minnesota.’ ”
Yes, Mom, but that was for the fall of 2019 — and Derik’s still here. Are you surprised he came back for a seventh season?
“Oh, my gosh ... no,” Kris LeCaptain said. “He lives it, being a Gopher, playing for Coach Fleck and the staff, with his teammates. Derik absolutely was going to take any extra time he could being part of this.”
www.startribune.com
Go Gophers!!
This is a good one.
Perhaps you are aware of a media member who has spent a long career working to develop a reputation for being crusty, and if so, please advise said person to avoid interviews with the LeCaptain family from the cherry blossom region of Door County in Wisconsin.
Talk to mom, Kris, a teacher and in-home tutor, and father, Mark, a coach, and youngest son, Derik, a college football player, and also hear the tales of older son Nick, a pizza hustler in nearby Sturgeon Bay, and all those decades of smart aleck-ness could be floating away in the summer wind.
Derik LeCaptain was a three-sport standout at Southern Door, a school in Wisconsin’s smallest division of 11-player football. He had 5,199 career rushing yards, 100 touchdowns and more than 400 tackles. He was named the Wisconsin Male High School Athlete of the Year in 2019.
He had a scholarship offer from South Dakota and coach Bob Nielson but wound up deciding between walk-on overtures from the Gophers and the Badgers.
“We’re big Packers fans, and we were also Badgers fans,” Kris said. “But we were with Derik when he made his visit to Minnesota. At the end of practice, P.J. Fleck called the team together and started speaking to the players.
“I listened to him doing that for a few minutes and said to Mark, ‘I can say with 100 percent confidence that Derik is going to choose Minnesota.’ ”
Yes, Mom, but that was for the fall of 2019 — and Derik’s still here. Are you surprised he came back for a seventh season?
“Oh, my gosh ... no,” Kris LeCaptain said. “He lives it, being a Gopher, playing for Coach Fleck and the staff, with his teammates. Derik absolutely was going to take any extra time he could being part of this.”
Reusse: Legend of Derik LeCaptain has one final season with Gophers football
Originally a walk-on with the Gophers in 2019, former Wisconsin prep star Derik LeCaptain will finish his college career with the U this fall.
www.startribune.com
Go Gophers!!
