Previewing New Mexico

Overview

Record: 9-3 (6-2, 4th in Mountain West)

"Second-order" Record: 7.6-4.4

SP+ Overall Rank: 65th

New Mexico has been one of 2025's most pleasant surprises. A year ago, the school prudently hired Bronco Mendenhall, a veteran coach with ample experience out west, only for him to take over conference mate Utah State after one 5-7 season. Players left. UNM entered the year ranking 117th in returning production, which seemed to foreshadow a difficult first season for Jason Eck.

Instead, Eck and his 43 incoming transfers (seven of whom came from his prior stop, Idaho) won the program's most regular season games since 1997, which was Dennis Franchione's last year in charge. The Lobos finished 4th in a four-way tie atop the Mountain West and now get to play a Big Ten team in a bowl game just 80 minutes by air from Albuquerque.

Eck signed a contract extension at the end of November, which will not keep him at UNM for long but resets the buyout other schools would owe them if he left next year. I am a longtime Eck believer. He seems like the perfect candidate to take over at his alma mater, Wisconsin, at the end of 2026, which adds some intrigue to this game. The 2017 Cotton Bowl, where P.J. Fleck coached Western Michigan for the last time against Wisconsin before taking the Minnesota job, provides an imperfect parallel.

More immediately, the Lobos are a solid team that will provide the Gophers a real game. SP+, FPI, and CFB Graphs have this matchup as a practical toss-up. Minnesota being in the sport's second-best conference and New Mexico being in likely the third-worst does not remotely make the result a given.

Offense

Jason Eck and offensive coordinator Luke Schleusner have put together an offense that is not spectacular but respectable, ranking in the middle of FBS and the Mountain West in most statistical categories. There are more efficient teams, there are more explosive teams, and there are teams with more playmakers, but what New Mexico does works enough.

The Lobos operate at a basically even run-pass split, and getting in an early hole at Michigan forced them to go pass-first. However, in their trip to UCLA, they adopted a strictly ball-control mentality and rolled. Of UNM's 63 plays, 46 were runs, gaining 298 yards. The Lobos also let almost 35 seconds run off the clock per play. Minnesota is a better team than UCLA — especially the version of the Bruins we saw in September — but we can probably bet on a similar approach in Phoenix. At a talent disadvantage, the Lobos will want to limit possessions and stick to the ground.

The Lobos' run game relies largely on zone concepts — inside, outside, split — but has plenty of diversity, with power, counter, and trap all in the playbook. A favorite design is a rarity in 2025, the G-lead or G-scheme run, where the playside guard pulls ahead with the help of a blocking back:

The above play is out of a quasi-Wildcat package featuring backup quarterback James Laubstein. First-stringer Jack Layne sometimes leaves the field for several downs at a time to give Laubstein some work, which means he does drop back a fair bit: Laubstein has thrown 14 passes this year. However, the overwhelming majority of his snaps are designed runs. He has exactly 1 more rushing yard than Layne (310 versus 309) on six fewer carries (43 to 49). Both quarterbacks take the ball on draw and read option.

Identifying Potential Transfer Priorities for the Gophers (2025-26)

A month from today, the college football transfer window officially opens. The players Minnesota adds from other programs at that point are as important as the high school and junior college signings they make this Wednesday. Under P.J. Fleck, several key players came to Minneapolis as a second (or third stop): Benjamin St-Juste, Nyles Pinckney, Matthew Trickett, Max Brosmer, John Nestor, and many more.

A year ago today, I gave my predictions of what positions the Gophers would try to improve or fill with transfers. I was mostly right, though with qualifications: The coaching staff, seeing Drake Lindsey in practice every day, was willing to start him as a redshirt freshman rather than finding another rental starter. The team added two starting offensive linemen, not just one. They brought in two defensive tackles, but both were a little undersized, and only Rushawn Lawrence got to play after Mo Omonode's injury. Two cornerbacks came in (both with multiple years of eligibility), but only one safety going out meant that seeking backup at the back was not necessary. They also loaded up on specialists, brought in a tight end, and signed one of the top tailbacks on the market instead of just depth.

Notable is how some of the positions of need recur each year for the Gophers. For example: Three years ago, they needed a cornerback; two years ago, they needed a cornerback; a year ago, they needed a cornerback; and headed into next year, they at least might need a cornerback after it proved perhaps the Gophers' biggest flaw.

As generally consistent as Fleck's program has been, and granting that in some places it is relatively fine to plug in a new guy every year or two, Minnesota has had roster construction difficulties in recent years. It has become harder this decade for a "developmental program," to use a Fleckism, to balance the need for immediate results with actual development. Even if you find the right transfers to succeed at the former aim, shortcomings in the latter will catch up to you at some point. We saw how this affected the 2025 season.

Regardless of the bigger picture: Current needs are current needs, and the Gophers have some. Here are nine such needs they might try to address.

In this post, players are referred to by their class (freshman, sophomore, etc.) entering the 2026 season. This practice may be slightly confusing, but since this covers the 2026 roster, it is better than the alternative.

Running Back

Potential need: depth

The Gophers like to carry at least eight running backs. Assuming Darius Taylor leaves for the NFL, they are currently set to enter next preseason with seven. They should have total belief in A.J. Turner (if healty) and Fame Ijeboi but will be looking for a third-down back who can pass protect and be a threat out of the backfield. Cam Davis had that role this season, and Bryce Williams did for many years before him. Maybe Grant Washington, Xavier Ford, or one of the current commits can fill it now. Even if one of them can, Minnesota will add another tailback or two just to fill out the roster.

Wide Receiver

Potential need: depth

Like with other positions on the roster, Minnesota's need at receiver is dependent on how much they have to replace. If the only losses are Le'Meke Brockington, Logan Loya, and Quentin Redding, the Gophers might be fine letting their young players — and it is a young group — step into bigger roles. A team could do far worse than a starting three of Malachi Coleman, Jalen Smith, and Javon Tracy. Kenric Lanier earned a role with his blocking this season and will get more snaps. If Cristian Driver and Bradley Martino are available after missing this season, that can just about round out the rotation.

As always, though, targets are hard to come by, and those who will not play much in 2026 could look for new schools. If that happens, or if the staff wants a receiver who can do a specific job in the offense, we can expect at least one new face.

Spitballing (Hopefully Unnecessary) Minnesota Head Coach Candidates

Every athletic director in the country has a list. If they love their coach, if they hate their coach, if their feelings are somewhere in between, if their coach faces a scandal, if their coach is approaching retirement age, if the coach has health problems, or if the coach just does not like this job much anymore, the athletic director always needs to have possible replacements in mind. If an AD does not have a list, they are not doing their job. Right now, Minnesota's Mark Coyle has a list.

With how many FBS head coaching jobs are open, this is an important year to have a list. Auburn or Florida will not hire P.J. Fleck, but maybe a school that loses their coach to a bigger job is willing to beat what the U of M is paying him. Maybe Fleck thinks he has done all he can at Minnesota, and he uses a potentially wild hiring cycle as his chance to move laterally. Maybe he just tried lutefisk for the first time, and it convinced him to get out of town immediately. Coyle should not be thinking of firing Fleck, and he is certainly not, but he needs to be prepared to replace him anyway.

This post covers coaches Minnesota should consider in the short term, if they need to find someone immediately, as well as those they should monitor for the future. Some are obvious fits. Some could make more sense a year from now. Some need way more on their résumé to hire any time soon. But all have arguments to succeed Fleck, whether directly or years down the line.

(In case it does not go without saying: This is not reporting. I have no sources in the coaching industry. This is meant purely as prognostication.)

First Calls

Matt Campbell, Iowa State head coach

I do not expect Matt Campbell will ever be Minnesota's head coach. He has been picky about his next job for long enough that it is fair to guess that this program does not reach whatever standard (or salary demand) he has. Penn State, who should be trying to bring him to Happy Valley right now, is likely the level of job for which he would leave.

This is not the best year to sell a fan base on Campbell, of course, but Iowa State's underwhelming record is easy to explain with injuries. The secondary the Cyclones started the year with is not the one they are fielding right now, and that is killing them. Sometimes, a program in good shape has a rotten season. If they do not achieve bowl eligibility against TCU or Kansas, they will against a woeful Oklahoma State.

There is zero doubting Campbell's bona fides as a program builder. Whenever he is done in Ames, he will be the school's first head coach since Earle Bruce to have a winning record for his tenure. The reason ISU has realistic expectations to be near the top of the new Big 12, the reason they have even played in big enough games to hold against their head coach for losing them, and the reason they will be able to sell candidates on the job when it next opens is Matt Campbell. He raised the floor and the ceiling on one of the historically worst programs in college football. He is the dream coach for a school like Minnesota. If Campbell is still at Iowa State when the Gophers enter the market for a new head coach, Coyle has to at least gauge his interest.

Chris Klieman, Kansas State head coach

Since a weird opening to 2025, where they went 1-4 in one-score games, Kansas State's season is more or less back on track. While the Wildcats' likely 6-6 finish would be Chris Klieman's worst full season in Manhattan, it is a sign of program health to rebound from such a difficult start.

Iowa and Wisconsin likely have Klieman on their own lists, and it is easy to see why. Three years ago, Klieman won the Big 12, and he has gone 8-5 or better in five of his seven seasons. As Ron Prince (and even Bill Snyder) showed, fielding a consistent winner at K-State is not a given. Klieman won four FCS titles in five seasons at North Dakota State, and he worked for years at his alma mater, Northern Iowa. He is a proven head coach who knows this part of the country very well. Though in years past, Minnesota would not have been a better job Kansas State, Klieman might want to move to the Big Ten for its greater television revenue and number of bids to the Playoff.

Crafting My "Dream" Two-Night Pearl Jam Setlist

Aside from watching copious amounts of sports, one of my favorite hobbies is listening to music for people at least twice my age. I sometimes get quite passionate about this.

A band like Pearl Jam gives that passion a little extra juice, not just because of their studio output (which is at points inconsistent but overall quite strong) but perhaps even moreso for their live performances. I have seen Pearl Jam two times, and it feels like I have barely dipped my toe into the pool. They vary their setlists greatly from night to night, digging up deep cuts, spanning their whole catalog, and slipping two or three covers into almost every set. The live experience is essential to one's relationship with most artists they love, but Pearl Jam does take it to a higher level.

From the beginning, fans traded bootleg tapes to spread the gems they were lucky enough to hear in exchange for something they missed. In response, starting with their tour promoting Binaural, the band has released practically every concert they have played since 2000. Your favorite Pearl Jam recording is probably out there on YouTube or Spotify or as an eBay listing, waiting for you to find it.

I think a lot about "dream" setlists for my favorite artists, whether they are young or old or dead, and Pearl Jam provides the best fodder for such an exercise. They have plenty of songs that are dear to me and have established an adventurous enough ethos that just about any fan-authored setlist would get a warm reception from the audience.

With that in mind, I have concocted a pair of Pearl Jam setlists — 26 songs each, no repeats — meant to be played over the course of two nights. I made a few concessions to convention, dropped a few favorites that have apparent reasons to never be played again (sorry, "Falling Down" and Buddy Holly's "Everyday"), dropped a few others because they didn't fit anywhere, and made it a rule to include on each night at least one song from every album the band has released. With those requirements, I still aimed for the kind of shows I would want to see.

Night 1

Set 1

1. "Release" (Ten, 1991)

Let's get one thing out of the way: Ten is the best Pearl Jam album. It is also the Pearl Jam album that least interests me. Five of the band's seven most-played songs are from Ten, and another three have been played more than 200 times each. They have to check a few of these boxes every night, which removes a lot of intrigue and takes away space that could be given to something more novel. Ten is the most "Pearl Jam"-sounding release to people who don't listen to Pearl Jam, the album whose songs you are by far most likely to hear on the radio on any given day, the album that introduced me to the band because "Even Flow" was on Guitar Hero III and the CD was buried in my Pearl Jam-ambivalent parents' cabinet. I have not heard every song on Ten in concert yet and am extremely comfortable with that.

While there will not be many songs from Ten on these setlists, there will be some, and not just because there must be. "Release," my favorite song on the album, makes the cut. What makes it — and other sad, slow-building songs in Pearl Jam's repertoire — such an excellent opener is its blend of the anguished and anthemic. In concert, it is like a hymn, with the audience finding one voice to confess their pain to the skies.

2. "Animal" (Vs., 1993)

Initially, I had a quieter song here, but after opening with an exorcism, the crowd will not stand for an immediate descent. Spirits are high. We need something loud and visceral. Fortunately, Vs. contains the best songs in the "loud and visceral" category of Pearl Jam's discography. "Animal" will do just fine.

3. "Wreckage" (Dark Matter, 2024)

In Pearl Jam's fourth decade together, they face a difficult philosophical question: What do we want Pearl Jam to be? Other rock artists in their "legacy act" period have faced it before, especially after losing a member. On rare occasions, you get a hard left turn before the afterlife, like David Bowie's Blackstar, and some artists find ways to reinterpret their past selves and put out something surprisingly fresh, like Rush's Clockwork Angels. And many — particularly in metal — fail to evolve, putting out milquetoast, bloated albums that fit alongside their hits but do not quite connect the same way.

Dark Matter, produced by Millennial dad-rock enthusiast Andrew Watt, does not provide a tidy answer to that question. The album presents no challenges the listener, with a few stock rockers and some instances of overt homage to what Pearl Jam was at their peak. Take "Wreckage," a song whose jangly riff draws from "Daughter" and "Falling Down" and whose chorus is pure 90s power-pop chum.

Yet from the first moment I heard it, "Wreckage" became my favorite song off Dark Matter, and it is a major reason the album is the band's best since at least Backspacer. Am I a sucker? Does it matter? I genuinely am not sure. While Pearl Jam will be a far less interesting band if future albums are so tinged with nostalgia, I cannot deny the effect it had on their most recent release.

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.

* * * * * *

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.

2025 Gophers Position Previews: Receivers and Tight Ends

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 start today with the receivers and tight ends.

Likely Starters

Minnesota's biggest incoming transfer this fall might be Javon Tracy. Tracy totaled seven touchdowns and 818 yards on 57 catches at Miami (OH) last season, earning a place on the All-MAC first team. He was a versatile, every-down player for the RedHawks, splitting his time practically 50-50 between the outside and the slot.

Over his two seasons as a regular, about a fifth of Tracy's targets were beyond 20 yards, according to Pro Football Focus. But where he did the majority of his work was over the middle, turning short throws into significant gains. Bowling Green star Harold Fannin Jr. was the only MAC player who averaged more yards after the catch than Tracy's 7.3.

He is a slippery player, the kind of receiver that can squirm his way out of trouble or shake a cornerback on a slant or quick out. While transfers coming up from the MAC are not always instant successes, Tracy is clearly talented. He comes to Minneapolis with two years of eligibility and, once he acclimates to the higher level of competition, should be an invaluable part of the Gophers' offense.

My Ten Favorite Gopher Football Players

This year marks a decade since I arrived in Minnesota. I have loved my time here dearly, making close friends, experiencing new things, and coming to the conclusion that there is no place on earth that I would rather live out my days than Minneapolis.

Coincidentally, this means I have watched 10 seasons of Golden Gopher football. Excluding 2020, I have been a season ticket holder that whole time and have missed only two home games. The last was my freshman year of college, when I was too sick to see Minnesota defeat Illinois in the brutal cold of early November. I have gone to a number of away games since first driving down to Kinnick Stadium in 2017, and I have written in varying amounts about this program over the last six seasons. The Gophers are my favorite team in my favorite sport, and spending Saturdays in the fall on campus with friends is my favorite pastime.

In the name of celebrating my 10 years with the Golden Gophers — and because it's a relatively easy piece of offseason content — I have assembled a list of my 10 favorite players to come through this program. I saw each one of them in a game at least once; though I have great admiration for the players that came before, they are before my time. Even those I just missed, like MarQueis Gray or Brock Vereen, are only marginally greater a part of my experience as a fan as the guys who were in college when I was born, like Tyrone Carter or Tutu Atwell.

First, here 10 honorable mentions:

Shannon Brooks, Running Back (2015-19)

Max Brosmer, Quarterback (2024)

Carter Coughlin, Linebacker/Rush End (2016-19)

Winston DeLattiboudere, Defensive End (2015-19)

Daniel Faalele, Tackle (2018-21)

Jah Joyner, Defensive End (2020-24)

Jordan Howden, Safety (2018-22)

K.J. Maye, Wide Receiver (2012-15)

Tanner Morgan, Quarterback (2017-22)

Nyles Pinckney, Defensive Tackle (2021)

Ten names is far fewer than I wanted to have even on the list of cuts. Both the above players and several others I have watched all deserve additional comment for the mark they have made on the program and on my experience as a fan. However, I need to exercise some restraint. Time for the full list.

10. Peter Mortell, Punter (2011-15)

Peter Mortell can stand for the wave of Gopher specialists in the mid-to-late 2010s that had just the right kind of charm, running the now-dormant Gopher Specialists Twitter account, holding charity drives, and ultimately establishing Mortell's Holder of the Year Award. This cadre of dorks was endlessly positive and self-aware about their unglamorous jobs while using their platform to help others. Mortell specifically has a reputation for being as nice as they come. For those who followed the program at the time, he was a specific kind of icon.

9. Ko Kieft, Tight End (2016-21)

A lumbering Iowan with a flowing red mullet (until it was a rat tail), Ko Kieft looked the way he played. His game was never technical, and his two career college touchdowns do not undersell his receiving abilities. Kieft was just a cinderblock with legs, a battering ram who functioned essentially as an extra lineman to go along with the Gophers' frequent packages of six-, seven-, and even eight-man lines. His play was viscerally entertaining and highly effective, resulting in frequent pancakes.

YouTube's stock of blocking highlight reels for 6th-round tight ends
is a bit short, so here is a sample of Kieft's work in a GIF. He is lined up
behind the right tackle, pulling across the formation.

Digesting Norwich City's Precarious Moment

In my time following Norwich City, it has never been dull. The Premier League era's definitional yo-yo club has changed leagues seven times in the last dozen seasons, going up and down and up and down again with dizzying frequency.

Despite the joys of promotion seasons, this cycle is uniquely disillusioning in sports. I have never seen this team survive a season in the Premier League, and they have had four tries at it while I've been paying attention. As England's top flight becomes more of a cartel (run by a six-team cabal), increasing the distance between its longtime members and those hoping to re-establish themselves as even minnows in the big pond, I doubt I ever will see Norwich string together more than a couple seasons in the top division of the pyramid.

It is true, though, that the Canaries have a little more financial might than before, having recently changed hands from longtime stewards Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones to Milwaukee Brewers owner Mark Attanasio. By merit of appearing in the Premier League a few times during its global boom, the club has gained international fans like me who will pay to stream their matches, order a yellow-and-green scarf, or even fly across oceans to visit the Fine City. Whatever one's opinion on foreign investment and foreign fandom, they are necessary to compete.

What's more, the team does have some talent. Josh Sargent, for my money the Championship's best striker, led the United States' front line at the 2022 World Cup. Midfielder Marcelino Núñez will be at the next World Cup, should Chile make it out of CONMEBOL qualifying. Borja Sainz led the league's Golden Boot race for most of this season.

In his first full season in charge, sporting director Ben Knapper made the squad dramatically younger over the last two transfer windows, shipping out Championship veterans for some intriguing prospects. They genuinely might have the next James Maddison or Emilano Buendía on their hands. Maybe a couple of those young players even become the next Alex Tettey or Wes Hoolahan, beloved and essential regulars who stay for years rather than leaving for bigger clubs.

However, no one feels so optimistic at the moment. Knapper recently fired the Dane he had charged with leading this project, Johannes Hoff Thorup. Over Thorup's last 10 matches, Norwich picked up just 6 points, including losses to inferior sides such as Oxford United, Plymouth Argyle, and Portsmouth. After threatening the playoff places in February, they will finish right in the middle of the table, closer to the relegation zone than the top six despite having the league's second-highest goal total. It looks like it could be some time before Norwich go back up again.

The Films I Watched in 2024

After sports, my favorite hobby has long been watching movies. I won't try to define the reasons, or to explain why I have watched so little television by comparison, or ramble on about the beauty of film or whatever. There is no need when I provide no shortage of words over the rest of this post.

But I will say that, starting during the pandemic, I have tracked every film that I watch over the course of each year, and a couple years ago started bucketing them by how much I liked them. I will never get on Letterboxd, as I do not need another social media platform in my life. However, my brain demands that I organize trivial things. My vanity requires that I write my opinions. Hence, this post.

If you want the short version, you can find in this table all 60 films without commentary, sorted by tier.

Click to enlarge.

The long version, then, begins below. This post goes in reverse order from the table, starting with the one film I write off as worthless and ending on my ten favorite things I watched in 2024. Until the last section, the films are alphabetized within each tier.

Just Trash

Crash, dir. Paul Haggis (2004)

I added the "Just Trash" tier to my lists last year after watching Network (1976), a film that verbosely proclaims its own importance, intelligence, and righteousness at every opportunity. Crash, by comparison, is humbly earnest about its creator's faults: Paul Haggis, who is white, wrote the screenplay as a guilty reflection on his own racism a few years after being carjacked by Black men in Los Angeles.

To a degree, the thought is noble. A rich white man, however, is not the person the world needs writing parables about prejudice. "We're all a bit racist, but we're also all human" is not a profound thesis to an adult audience, or should not be. The premise is flawed from the start. The best-case scenario for this kind of movie is still at least a little overwrought and simplistic.

Yet even by sympathetic standards, Haggis' failure is spectacular. In the months since watching this film, its awfulness has haunted me to the point of costing me sleep. Crash tosses aside character growth as easily as it rushes to redeem its worst characters, fights racism with racist stereotypes and omnidirectional hate, uses ham-fisted symbolism, and in general does not seem to understand its own theses. It is utterly unsalvageable, only offering some perverse unintentional comedy to those not expecting its preposterous and incoherent turns.

Did Not Enjoy

The Raid, dir. Gareth Evans (2011)

The reason that this tier is called "Did Not Enjoy" instead of "Bad" or something similar is that sometimes a movie has some kind of merit but is just not my thing. The Raid is fairly good at what it is, which is to say an endless stream of impressively choreographed fight scenes and basically no plot or character depth. It's not my kind of action movie but can easily be someone else's.

Previewing Virginia Tech

Overview

Record: 6-6 (4-4, 8th in Atlantic Coast Conference)

"Second-order" Record: 7.1-5.9

SP+ Overall Rank: 24th

If it feels like Virginia Tech has stagnated over the last decade and change, it's because they kind of have. Since 2012, this once prominent program has won eight or more games just three times, finishing now seven regular seasons at 6-6. Head coach Brent Pry, a former Frank Beamer graduate assistant and as Appalachian a man as they come, arrested the late slide of Justin Fuente's tenure but has subsequently only spun his wheels. His program recruits like a middle-of the road ACC team and so far plays like it.

The Hokies' stats largely justify their record, showing a little bit of talent but a fair amount of averageness and some outright problems, particularly with passing and defending the pass. While it takes some bad luck to go 0-5 in one-score games, Pry is still looking for a signature win. By the Massey Composite, the best team the Hokies beat in 2024 was No. 38 Georgia Tech.

The week after the first National Signing Day, Pry fired three coaches, including defensive coordinator Chris Marve (whom he coached at Vanderbilt). A handful of starters have announced their intentions to transfer, and others still are sitting out the bowl against Minnesota to protect their NFL Draft stock or recover from injuries. These departures may tilt what most projection systems consider a coin flip the Gophers' way.

Offense

Quarterback Kyron Drones had a difficult season, missing three games because of injuries and averaging just 7.0 yards per pass attempt. Drones looks doubtful to appear in Charlotte. Redshirt freshman William "Pop" Watson III, one of two players who filled in for Drones during the year, is the presumed starter over redshirt senior Collin Schlee.

Watson made his first meaningful college appearance against Duke, relieving an injured Schlee after a quarter. After Watson had a decent couple of drives, the Blue Devils sacked him seven times. Pressure was often immediate, but he also had opportunities to throw the ball away.

Shortly after this sack, Watson threw an interception on a quick out to the opposite sideline. He finished 12-for-25 for 146 yards.