The Minnesota Gophers football team started the season on a hot streak that led many to believe they would be contenders in the Big Ten, However, the Gophers have lost their last two games, and the team’s chances of winning the division is greatly reduced. Despite the recent losses, the team has to find a way to regroup before they face a talented Maryland team that will be one of the top college football picks of the weekend.
In their loss against Penn State, the Gophers did enough offensively to win the game, scoring 26 points in the loss. However, the defense did not hold up their end, and gave up 29 points to a team that was embarrassed the previous week by the Michigan Wolverines.
Last week, the defense played well against Iowa, and allowed the Hawkeyes to score 14 points. Unfortunately, their offense couldn’t get going in the game, and scored only 7 points in front of their home crowd.
Despite the two disappointing losses, the Gophers got some good news this week when they learned that Rochester John Marshall graduate Mike Sherels had been reinstated to the team, allowing him to rejoin the coaching staff on a full-time basis after life threatening intestinal illness that required surgery.
Sherels was initially hospitalized in August, but his condition worsened and he ended up being in critical condition. The illness required doctors to perform life-saving surgery on him, and after some close calls, Sherels was able to pull through.
After the surgery, Sherels was allowed to return home, where he has been working his way back to health. In September, he was allowed to return to the team on a limited basis, and now, he has been given the green light to continue his duties on the team on a full-time basis.
For the first time since he was hospitalized in August, Sherels was back on the sidelines against Iowa. He was reinstated as the linebacker’s coach, which was a duty Keith Jordan had taken over on an interim basis, and his defense played well enough to make him proud.
Sherels is now entering his third season as an assistant coach with the Gophers. He played for Minnesota from 2003-2007, and was the team’s captain during both his junior season and his senior season.
Sherels also has the distinction of being the only walk-on player to ever become a two-year captain in school history, which shows he is someone that doesn’t give up on his dreams and works hard to achieve them.
As a Minnesota native and a well-known figure in the state, Sherels is also instrumental to the team’s recruiting, and has helped the team land some key recruits from the state.
Despite things not going the way the team would have liked on Saturday, especially when it was Sherels’ first game on the sidelines this season, the Gophers were happy to welcome him back to the family.
In the coming weeks, look for the defensive effort of the Gophers to be much improved because Sherels demands his players give their all on the field every single play, and now that he is back on the sidelines, that is exactly what he is going to get.