2025 Gophers Season Preview

As a culture, we ascribe monumental importance to the sports we watch. An excellent athlete is not just good at their sport, but a legend. Breaking a record is not just an achievement, but rewriting history. A widespread change in tactics is not just a new way to play a child's game, but a revolution. Making your sport's hall of fame is not receiving an honor, but an enshrinement, the moment an individual achieves immortality.

More than a century of grandiose sports coverage has set the standard that 22 men fighting over a ball is a titanic occasion. Countless books, films, and docuseries about any athlete, coach, team, or game you can think of have helped make this language as natural as any other part of discussing sports. Everything that happens is on the grandest, most superlative scale. You can draw a line from Grantland Rice and "the Four Horsemen" of Notre Dame to John Facenda's NFL Films voiceovers to ESPN's 30 for 30 series to a team using a timeout before their first snap being labeled "the most electric moment in college football history" on YouTube.

Romance is a major part of getting into sports. Someone has been playing under the name and colors of your team for likely a lifetime or two. Millions have been spectators just like you, learning the rules and the songs and whom you are supposed to love and hate until it becomes part of you. You convince yourself that what happens in your stadium is a life-and-death concern because at its best, it sure feels like life. We make real, long-lasting memories and social bonds while sitting on a metal bleacher.

Yet part of growing up is realizing how unimportant it all actually is. I mean this both as a matter of maturing — not turning a bad result into someone else's problem — and as what must occur to you when you just take a look around.

However and whenever you start paying attention, you always do so in media res. Sports are endless. Before you were born, your team was playing. They may play until well after you die. When you are not watching, a season happens the same way that it does when you are. The world goes on largely unaffected.

Each season, especially in college football, is so ephemeral. Even if you center your whole Saturday or even your whole weekend around a game, by Monday, you are back in reality. You have the same responsibilities and problems you did before the game. You can look forward to the next one, all the way through the national championship in January, but your life is still your life, and the game is just a game. There are no brightly colored heroes and villains, no grand narrative, no tidy resolution of a final score.

If you are suffering, football is a momentary escape, not a cure. If you are worried masked government agents are going to illegally snatch one of your family members off the street, or if you are about to lose food stamps so rich people can pay less in taxes, whoever wins the Axe game on Thanksgiving weekend doesn't actually matter. The real world is on fire, as the hazy skies over the Twin Cities this summer demonstrated literally. To avert your eyes even for a few hours can feel like an act of complacency. I cannot tell you with certainty that it is not. Football is just football.

Even when one tries to frame football as potentially important within its own context, the stakes can be small. Minnesota's record since Glen Mason's first season is 179-166-1, not dramatically better than .500. You can easily argue that the 2025 season might be a step on the way to something bigger, but a lot needs to go right for that to be true. This year, like all the others, will pass — not without its own highs and lows, but almost definitely without great consequence.

In many ways, the sport's off-the-field storylines have worn me down. I do not have it in me to read about how exactly the House settlement works, the short-lived presidential commission on college sports, continuing conference realignment, or each effort of dumb corporate synergy by the suits in charge. To different degrees, these things still matter to me. I want the athletes who create profit for their schools to be justly compensated instead of being subject to whatever anti-labor solution Ted Cruz will inevitably put forth in Congress. I want college sports to go back to a regional focus. I want Brett Yormark to never say another word in public. But life is hard. I cannot let each example of the sport's capitalist rot occupy my mind when there are bigger concerns.

Yet I let football occupy my mind constantly. Despite its messy and scummy business, and despite the fact I probably should spend my time in a way that more materially improves myself and the place I live, I still intensely engage with football because it's what I know how to do. We only get a dozen Saturdays every fall. Whether they deserve to be remembered as myth, or if it is all just a game, they help us maintain some vigor for life. I don't know what that is really worth, but it feels like it's more than nothing.

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From this point on, you will find a more straightforward preview of the Gophers' season. For each area of the team — offense, defense, special teams — I've linked the position previews I published over the last few weeks and offer a predicted depth chart. I also ask 10 big questions facing the 2025 Gophers, divided between the three units.

Offense

Position previews: receivers and tight ends ・ running backs ・ quarterbacks ・ offensive line

Predicted depth chart:

Click to enlarge any image in this post.

How ready is Drake Lindsey?

It's the most obvious question, but a necessary one. Drake Lindsey has thrown five passes as a college quarterback, and only one was versus an FBS defense. Everyone in the program praises Lindsey, but when that is the public approach of any team with a first-time starter, that praise is a mostly irrelevant data point. There is no telling what Lindsey will be.

Realistically, he will probably not be so good that the Gophers make the Playoff or so bad that they miss a bowl game. There remains a chasm between those two extremes. However prepared Lindsey is will determine much of how this fall goes.

2025 Gophers Position Previews: Special Teams

On the other side of this interminable heat, humidity, and rain is a precious thing in Minnesota: fall. To get you ready for it, Ski-U-Blog is again previewing this year's Gopher football team, one position group at a time. As in every preseason, we close this series with a look at the specialists.

Likely Starters

You didn't think we were done talking about Koi Perich, did you? Though he will need to take in some oxygen and fluids at some point, Perich's starting role at safety and forthcoming offensive contributions do not mean he is about to give up his job as Minnesota's primary returner.

Now, Perich does need to improve his judgement when fielding kickoffs. He plays brashly wherever he is on the field, and sometimes that has drawbacks. On his 16 kick returns in 2024, he only made it to the 25-yard line four times — not nearly often enough, especially when Perich's longest return was just for 32 yards. If he won't always make the right choice on taking back a kick, he at least needs to make a few of them really count.

Now, as a punt returner? Perich's dynamism here is not in doubt.

While he quieted down in the back half of the year, the threat of a big Perich punt return will always be there. If it comes at the right time, it could turn a game in the Gophers' favor.

2025 Gophers Position Previews: Secondary

On the other side of this interminable heat, humidity, and rain is a precious thing in Minnesota: fall. To get you ready for it, Ski-U-Blog is again previewing this year's Gopher football team, one position group at a time. The final area of the defense is the one that could be responsible for the most headlines this season, both good and bad: the secondary.

Likely Starters

I don't know what any of you expected from Koi Perich's debut season, but I guarantee it was not that. After a few weeks on special teams, Perich stepped into the starting lineup against USC and was instantly one of the best players in the Big Ten — and that's just considering his defensive performance. He was everywhere. Crashing the box to stop the run:

Tracking one of the best players in college football in man coverage:

Making huge interceptions:

He can do everything you want from a safety. And he expects to do everything: For every ball in his vicinity that he cannot catch, Perich reels in frustration that it was not a yard closer to him, or else it would have been his. As P.J. Fleck tells it, Perich is disappointed when he does not play every possible snap. He is a cocky player with high expectations for himself, and he regularly meets those expectations.

In his introduction to the college game, Perich became the first Minnesota true freshman since Darrell Thompson in 1986 to make the All-Big Ten first team. The Sporting News, one of the five consensus All-American selectors, named Perich to their second team. With his increased presence on offense and a full season of a starter's workload on defense, he should turn more heads as a sophomore and make a run at even higher honors.

2025 Gophers Position Previews: Linebackers

On the other side of this interminable heat, humidity, and rain is a precious thing in Minnesota: fall. To get you ready for it, Ski-U-Blog is again previewing this year's Gopher football team, one position group at a time. Next up: the linebackers.

Likely Starters

Revisiting the 2024 season, it is incredibly apparent how valuable Cody Lindenberg was to the Minnesota defense. However long it took for him to reach his ceiling, through injuries and on-the-field difficulties, Lindenberg's final form was fantastic. He fit the run correctly and quickly, he made plays in coverage, he was a sure tackler, and he led the defense. He was an ideal linebacker.

Lindenberg was Minnesota's only every-down linebacker last season. The Gophers alternated his partner every drive: Maverick Baranowski would play the Mike next to Lindenberg at Will on one drive, and Devon Williams would play the Will with Lindenberg at Mike on the next. Baranowski started when healthy, blitzed a little more, and was slightly less likely to come off on 3rd down, but the two almost evenly split snaps.

Neither was totally up to speed when they started together two years ago, but 2024 was a bit smoother. Playing in the middle and being more of a run-stopping linebacker, Baranowski was around the ball more and racked up the bigger stats: 43.0 tackles (21 solo), including 5.0 tackles for loss (1.0 sack), plus a couple pass breakups. You could see in small ways the benefits of another year in the program. Baranowski made smarter reads, and his tackling was more consistent.

He is still just a true junior who needs to clean up his game a bit. The stats above nearly match his stats from the prior year, which is not a perfect reflection of his progress but does illustrate how much more he can grow. He is a better tackler but can still get outmuscled by heavy running backs. He is a naturally aggressive player but sometimes seemed half a beat behind Lindenberg coming downhill. Baranowski's two predecessors at middle linebacker took time to put everything together, and it has been no different for him. Even if this might not be the season he becomes a true standout, he should keep improving.

2025 Gophers Position Previews: Defensive Line

On the other side of this interminable heat, humidity, and rain is a precious thing in Minnesota: fall. To get you ready for it, Ski-U-Blog is again previewing this year's Gopher football team, one position group at a time. Today, we cover Minnesota's veteran defensive line.

Likely Starters

The most exciting player in the Gopher front six is Anthony Smith. Smith has turned heads since he first appeared on campus, owing to his obvious physical attributes. He is real big — 6-and-a-half feet tall and 285 pounds — and he moves abnormally well for someone that big.

The concept of Smith was always intriguing, and in 2024, he turned that promise into results, leading the team with 11.5 tackles for loss (6.0 sacks). Jah Joyner's presence on the edge meant Smith moved back and forth between end and tackle, and Smith showed he could make plays from either spot. And while Joyner improved greatly as a run defender, Smith has always been solid in that regard.

Even with 5-technique all to himself, we can expect Smith to continue moving around the line. End is his better position, but his size and athleticism play anywhere. The ability to put their best returning pass rusher over any gap will give the Gophers an added advantage.

This is probably Smith's last year of college ball, though he is only a redshirt junior. He should improve upon 2024's all-Big Ten honorable mention and impress NFL scouts on his way out of the program.

2025 Gophers Position Previews: Offensive Line

On the other side of this interminable heat, humidity, and rain is a precious thing in Minnesota: fall. To get you ready for it, Ski-U-Blog is again previewing this year's Gopher football team, one position group at a time. Next up: the offensive line.

Likely Starters

Though he will start at right guard, Marcellus Marshall could end up covering anywhere on the offensive line. He was a first-team All-MAC left tackle at Kent State in 2022; split 2023 at UCF between left guard, right guard, and right tackle; and even started a game at center for the Knights in 2024. Marshall is the ultimate utilityman.

He is not only flexible — not to mention durable — but reliable as well. Marshall does nothing spectacular, but he plays like a lineman with more than 2,000 college snaps under his belt. He does not make many mistakes, taking just two penalties all of last season. He rarely misses an assignment in protection and intelligently passes work to a teammate when a late rusher arrives. He effectively executed the many pulls in Gus Malzahn's complicated run game. He can make blocks in the open field and in the second level, a hard thing for many linemen to do. This all makes Marshall an extremely competent player.

For all the things he does right, there are admittedly few moments Marshall does them exceptionally. He holds his own more than he dominates. Though he was far from UCF's biggest problem against Florida last October, Marshall's performance that day suggested he might not be a match for the biggest lines on the schedule. He does a job wherever he is needed but does not elevate the unit as a whole. That still makes Marshall a valuable addition to this offensive line.

2025 Gophers Position Previews: Quarterbacks

On the other side of this interminable heat, humidity, and rain is a precious thing in Minnesota: fall. To get you ready for it, Ski-U-Blog is again previewing this year's Gopher football team, one position group at a time. We now move to the biggest, most crucial unknown of the preseason: what Minnesota will have at quarterback.

Likely Starter

In the transfer era, it feels like a lot of teams don't make long-term plans at quarterback anymore. One only has to look at Minnesota's schedule for examples: Buffalo, Cal, Iowa, Northwestern, and Wisconsin all brought in experienced upperclassmen who are at least good bets to start under center, if not guarantees. Only a couple of those players — Iowa's Mark Gronowski and Northwestern's Preston Stone — look like genuine improvements over what their new schools usually have at the position.

The Gophers, of course, used a stopgap starter last year in Max Brosmer, but that was only because Athan Kaliakmanis didn't live up to expectations in 2023 before transferring to Rutgers. While P.J. Fleck and offensive playcaller Greg Harbaugh Jr. loved what Brosmer provided, and while Fleck aggressively turns over other positions every offseason, the program handles quarterback the old-fashioned way. They want to develop long-term starters internally.

Enter Drake Lindsey. By all accounts, Lindsey spent 2024 glued to Brosmer's hip and is still in touch with his former teammate. He carried on Brosmer's annual tradition of holding out-of-state workouts with his receivers and fellow quarterbacks. Fleck and other players have been effusive about his personality. Lindsey has surely learned some things from Brosmer (and new Vikings starter J.J. McCarthy) that in time will help the redshirt freshman be a better quarterback and leader.

The question is: What does that mean right now? Lindsey has taken six college dropbacks, and five were in garbage time against an FCS team. Here is his one throw against Virginia Tech:

And here is his first touchdown pass:

Both are the kind of throws we expect any semi-competent college quarterback to make. Such a small sample gives us little added idea of what Lindsey brings.

2025 Gophers Position Previews: Running Backs

On the other side of this interminable heat, humidity, and rain is a precious thing in Minnesota: fall. To get you ready for it, Ski-U-Blog is again previewing this year's Gopher football team, one position group at a time. The second post in this series covers a deep running back room.

Likely Starter

When I put these previews together, I usually start with the newcomers first. Counterintuitively, seeing a player for the first time, watching a hopefully representative video sample of their abilities, forming an opinion, and synthesizing my findings is easier than writing about the players who have been on the roster.

Former backups stepping into meaningful roles are obviously difficult to analyze because, as an outsider, I often can only go off the information I had when they first arrived to campus. That might have been a year ago, or it might have been three or four. While I do my best to offer insight, I must be honest about my limitations.

Contrastingly, there are the players everyone knows. Those cases are hard in a different way. What can one say about Darius Taylor that is novel? If you watched even a couple of Minnesota games last season, you know what Taylor is.

His style is well-established. There are faster, shiftier, stronger, and more explosive running backs, but what makes Taylor stand out is how multidimensional his game is. He is a power back, capable of breaking tackles and keeping his balance through contact, but he also can cut and accelerate into the open field.

When you combine these skills with his intelligence and background as a receiver, you get one of the most well-rounded, all-around best tailbacks in the country. If Taylor leaves for the NFL after the season, he should close his Minnesota career with his first all-conference selection.