Nathan Boe, a 6-foot-5, 265-pound center from Lakeville (MN) North, committed to Minnesota in June.
Boe has helped lead the Panthers to a 7-3 record this past season, beating Buffalo 42-14 and Totino-Grace 42-7 in the first two rounds of the Class AAAAAA playoffs.
GopherHole recently caught up with Boe.
Gopher Hole: A big win to start out the playoffs. How pleased are you with the way that you played tonight?
Nathan Boe: I’m stoked. This was a complete game. Our offensive line, we dominated. That was the whole goal going in. Just domination.
Gopher Hole: I know that you guys had a good year, but you had some tough losses to some good teams like Eden Prairie, Maple Grove and Prior Lake. Is it easy to re-focus yourself in the playoffs and maybe forget what happened in some of those games in the regular season?
Nathan Boe: We don’t want to forget. We want to learn from our losses. We grew a lot as a team. Momentum is a real thing and a night like this is huge in the playoffs. We have got to keeping going. One game at a time. If we lose, we are done. This is my senior season, so this is it.
Gopher Hole: You committed to the Gophers this summer. How many Gopher games have you been to this fall?
Nathan Boe: All of them except the first one. We had a game that Thursday night, but all the others I have been to.
Gopher Hole: What is the feeling like now? Obviously, you committed awhile back. What is the feeling now that you know where you are headed?
Nathan Boe: I am just so relieved. It is awesome. It is an incredible feeling at TCF Stadium. It is an Elite place to watch a football game. What P.J. Fleck and the staff are doing right now, I am so excited to be a part of. Right now, I am focusing on being a Panther and part of a wonderful team we have right now, but once the season is over and hopefully, we keep going into Week 13, but as soon as I am done, I am ready to roll as a Gopher.
Gopher Hole: I know that you have gotten to know quite a few of your future teammates there. Is that kind of nice that you have gotten to know a lot of those kids even before you are part of the team?
Nathan Boe: Oh, yes. We are all just “Elite” people. P.J. Fleck really recruits really good people and it is just amazing to meet all of them. We are making friendships. Great friendships that are going to last a lifetime.
Gopher Hole: Do you know when you are going to take your official visit yet?
Nathan Boe: Yes. December 8th through the 10th. We are all taking them at the same time.
Gopher Hole: What are you expecting to learn that you maybe don’t know already from that official visit?
Nathan Boe: More about the campus life. Growing up here, I kind of know what it’s like there, but we are going to have academic meeting there, too and just hanging out with everyone, because we all haven’t been here because we have guys in Florida, Texas, Georgia and Chicago and Michigan. We have people from all over and for everyone to final come together, it is going to be really fun.
Gopher Hole: What is going to be like to finally walk on the field next year as a freshman?
Nathan Boe: I can’t wait. It’s going to be special. It is going to be a mix of emotions. It has been crazy. Growing up a Minnesota Gopher fan, to final get there, it’s crazy to think of.