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.
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| 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. |
