2024 Gophers Position Previews: Secondary

September's coming soon, so it is once again time to start thinking about football. Ski-U-Blog will analyze every position group on the Gophers' roster: starters, depth, and potential future contributors. A remodeled secondary that could make or break the season is the focus of this post.

Likely Starters

Field cornerback Justin Walley contributed from Day 1 his true freshman year, chasing after Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson as an introduction to college football. If you can believe it, Walley is now a senior, having never missed a game and starting the last 32 in a row. He has never quite become a star, but he is easily Minnesota's most trusty defensive back entering 2024.

Walley is less a game-changing, impact player than an well-rounded, reliable one. He stays on top of his man and has quick enough hips and feet to turn and track a receiver going vertical. While he has at times had issues with comeback routes — possibly a crack in the scheme — or underthrows, Walley has developed into a sure tackler like Coney Durr and Terell Smith before him.

As long as Walley is available, he gives the Gophers one spot on the field about which they do not have to worry. If he can take another step before departing, he will be one of the better cornerbacks in the conference and improve his NFL stock.

For the second year in a row, Walley's counterpart at corner is an FCS transfer. Ethan Robinson was first-team All-Patriot League at Bucknell last season and will spend his last college season in Minneapolis.

The Bison backed off their corners a bunch, conceding underneath completions and requiring Robinson make isolated tackles on the outside. He ended up with a team-leading 43 solo tackles.

When given the chance, Robinson still could make a play on the ball, as evidenced by his 13 pass breakups and three interceptions.

He is a bit slender and might struggle to shed blocks, which will limit his effectiveness against outside runs. Even so, Robinson's tackling ability, anticipation, and quickness should make him a viable stop-gap starter.

Jack Henderson should remain the No. 1 nickelback, even if video from practice has shown him taking some reps with the second string. I had mixed thoughts on Henderson going into his first season as a Gopher, and for the first month of the season, he quieted doubts about his tackling or his utility in coverage. Against North Carolina in particular, Henderson was a force, recording 9.5 tackles (8 solo) and an interception, allowing (per Pro Football Focus) just 5 yards per catch.

Then came the Michigan game, when basically the entire defense looked bad and Henderson left with an injury. He did not play from that point like the injury had any lingering effects, but it is fair to say his production levelled off. While solid, Henderson missed some tackles, did not dispose of blockers easily, and is probably not the ideal person to cover a slot fade. He still offers a valuable presence around the box and in the flats. For his imperfections, the Gophers are better with Henderson in the lineup.

The real mystery on Minnesota's defense is what their safety pairing will be. I expect to see multiple combinations before the season is over.

Darius Green started last year and like many other members of this defense had some difficult moments taking on the most playing time of his college career. Green can be ferocious, but sometimes he is more of a hitter than a tackler. Worse, he will misread plays and arrive a moment too late to do his job. As the last line of defense, covering more real estate on the field side, that is a problem.

Green enters his redshirt junior season with a lot to prove, considering the number of young safeties vying for snaps. He is probably secure at field safety but could fall on the depth chart if he has not made meaningful progress.

Position Battles

Boundary safety is harder to call in the wake of Tyler Nubin's departure. Coleman Bryson appears to have pole position. In moments — most notably the Pinstripe Bowl two years ago — he shows why he was an intriguing prospect. If nothing else, he is unafraid to crash the box and make a play.

Bryson is still clearly not a finished product. He needs to take better angles and break down to make a tackle more often, and more than anything, he must be smarter in coverage. He is easily caught out by fakes and will lose his man.

Young players are inconsistent as a rule, so this does not mean Bryson cannot get better. His leash may be short, however, with the amount of competition he faces.

For example: Koi Perich, a blue-chip recruit from a tiny high school in the Iron Range that doesn't even have a Wikipedia page. Perich received a late offer from Ohio State and made his official visit to Columbus just before Signing Day but stuck to his Minnesota commitment. In doing so, he became the Gophers' second-highest rated signee in the internet era.

At Esko, Perich was many things: a deep safety, a slot corner, an outside corner, an outside linebacker, an edge rusher, a tailback, a blocking back, an outside wide receiver, a punt returner. With or without the ball in his hands, he was a blur — on a coach's crappy camcorder, sometimes literally — and he was violent. His reported 40-yard dash time (4.54) and overall profile fit safety best, but you get the sense watching Perich that he could be a legitimate Division I player at several different positions.

How much will Perich feature as a true freshman? Surely more than "not at all," maybe even "a lot" by Thanksgiving, and probably somewhere between the two for most of the season. On a worse team, he might have started right away, but the Gophers should be able to let Perich settle in before throwing him into the starting lineup. He will get there at some point.

Redshirt freshman Kerry Brown was a special teamer last season but then stepped in to start at boundary safety in the Gophers' bowl game. Brown often manned center field, 15 to 20 yards off the ball and off-camera, so he did not have many opportunities to make plays or mistakes. He misread a small handful of plays, effecting varying degrees of damage. In one instance, Brown failed to take a pulling blocker's outside shoulder and helped allow a big run up the sideline.

But Bryson, covering the field side and playing closer to the line of scrimmage, was the one who visibly erred most often. When Brown could not show much in his largest sample of college snaps, it is hard to rule on his readiness. Being in the mix this fall camp, however, indicates that either his own talents or the shortcomings of others put him in position to see plenty of the field.

The last player with a say in this competition is Aidan Gousby, who played opposite Nubin for a chunk of last season and was not up to the task. Only a second-year player, he took improper angles, let the opposing offense put him in conflict, and had catastrophic moments of confusion.

As covered above, such miscues were definitely not unique to Gousby. It was a young group and remains that way. Minnesota will probably see more of those problems at the back. How far they have come since last year will go a long way in determining the direction of the season.

Key Backups

Transfer Jai'Onte "Bingo" McMillan played cornerback at TCU but will move inside to challenge Henderson in the slot. The problem with trying to scout him is that the Horned Frogs hardly deployed McMillan over his two years in the mix; per PFF, he only played around 10 snaps per game on a busy day. McMillan was TCU's fourth corner by a distance. Opposing quarterbacks hardly threw at him because he hardly had routes to cover.

What I can report is that McMillan has long arms and enough speed to stay in phase with most receivers, though he might be vulnerable to the deep ball. He did not have many chances to play physically in the games I watched, recording only 4.5 tackles all of last season. McMillan looks more like a platoon player for passing downs rather than an every-down nickelback, but I fully admit that my evaluation is incomplete.

The NCAA took until midway through the season to declare Craig McDonald eligible after his transfer Auburn. Then, after a prominent role in the Little Brown Jug game, McDonald barely played. Without any public indication of an injury, we can guess that performance likely kept him off the field.

Regardless, he is still a part of the team and should get more playing time, probably as a situational slot corner. I would be surprised if he plays a deep position, but he has plenty of experience in that role. Wherever he plays and however much, with so many greenhorns on the back end, someone like McDonald will come in handy.

The Gophers' experience at cornerback falls off immediately. With Walley and Robinson headed out the door after 2024, it becomes paramount that they rotate the position and get the backups into blowouts as soon as possible.

Za'Quan Bryan debuted as a true freshman in the Axe game last season and then rotated into the bowl game, where he allowed one catch on four targets. Bryan is a bit on the short side but brings speed and tenacity.

Redshirt sophomore Rhyland Kelly has played some special teams over the last couple of years but recorded just one defensive snap. P.J. Fleck cited Kelly's physicality and length when the Manitoban signed with the Gophers, and you can see how handsy he could be as a high schooler.

In both Bryan and Kelly's cases, we need to see more of them to know how their talents play at the college level.

Potential Rotation Options

New Yorker Samuel Madu's offer list featured the likes of Missouri, Michigan State, and Penn State before he signed with Minnesota last December. The worst-case scenario for Madu might be as an invaluable special teamer, as evidenced by the amount of highlights he provided on Hudl of him covering kicks and blocking on punt returns. His physicality, effort, and 6-foot-1-inch frame will make him an asset somehow.

Notables Unlikely to Contribute

With all the other safeties on the roster, Garrison Monroe and Zahir Rainer will stay on the Minnesota bench. The same goes for the Gophers' reserve corners.

Simon Seidl is a little short but brings to the table his own talent: lots and lots of speed. He actually does not have much video at corner, but he dazzled as a receiver and even scored eight goals in his last season for the Hill-Murray hockey team. That Wyoming was Seidl's only other FBS offer suggests something about his potential, but he could settle in as a nickelback and returner in time.

Mike Gerald is a similar story. A quarterback, kick returner, and receiver at Morton Ranch High School (Texas), Gerald has wheels but little tape actually playing defense. As legit as his tools are, he may take some time to settle as a college cornerback.