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.

Logan Loya is a one-year transfer, arriving with a degree and 47 college games under his belt from UCLA. Loya is strictly a slot receiver and poses little danger to opposing safeties, having registered just two PFF-tracked deep targets last season. But he is a very reliable version of that kind of player, tying for 21st in Bruins history in receptions and 18th in receiving touchdowns. That is hardly an eye-popping place in the record books, especially when UCLA hasn't produced a 1st-round receiver in 24 years, but it shows that Loya contributed to a power-conference passing attack long enough to leave a mark.

Loya's specialty could mean more long routes for Tracy, who can probably make a greater impact downfield. At the very least, the two of them will provide security for Drake Lindsey. With a redshirt freshman starting quarterback, is it not worth having a player who can find room for himself underneath, or settle between zones on 3rd-and-long, just beyond the sticks?

These are the kinds of additions you make to give your passing attack a decent floor. Tracy and Loya are safe options who can keep the ball moving. This leaves Le'Meke Brockington as the closest thing to a traditional vertical threat at the top of the Minnesota receiving corps. PFF had Brockington's average depth of target at 15.4 yards, the highest on the team last year. He has been targeted behind the line of scrimmage just twice in his college career. Minnesota quarterbacks have thrown Brockington's way on intermediate and deep routes because of his speed and because, despite being 6 feet flat, he has shown the concentration and strength to win contested balls.

While he does not get a lot of catch-and-run opportunities, he has that ability in his locker as well. Brockington is also an asset in the run game because he is an enthusiastic and effective blocker. If he leads all wide receivers in snaps this season, it would not be a surprise.

On the subject of surprises: I said last season that Jameson Geers would have "a dozen or so receptions." He ended up with 28. While many of those were on checkdowns by the always-cautious Max Brosmer, Geers had some genuinely impressive moments as a receiver — particularly on jump balls:

Still, he is not a star by any stretch. He only occasionally creates space for himself or picks up extra yards after the catch. He has his moments while blocking but is not a consistent difference-maker. He is a fine player and by a wide margin the best on the team at his position, but Geers needs to find another level as a senior to be considered more than that.

Key Backups

Cristian Driver's first season as a Gopher was pretty unremarkable. He scored his only touchdown against Rhode Island, caused an interception by not tracking the ball against Nevada, and finished the year with only 12 targets. What we saw of him did confirm what kind of player the Gophers see him as: a slight slot receiver that will do most of his work around the line of scrimmage.

This was not a touchdown, but for a moment, we believed it was, by golly.

Now that he is a redshirt junior, it is not unfair to expect Driver to be a little more noticeable. While Loya and Tracy's arrivals make that a bit harder, he can still make an impact as the No. 4 receiver and ascend into the starting lineup next year.

Though other transfers will play larger roles in 2025, Malachi Coleman turned the most heads when the Lincoln native and former top-70 recruit left Nebraska for Minnesota. Coleman has only made eight career catches — all as a true freshman — but still has three years to play. And is, you know, 6-foot-5 with blazing speed. People like football players who are tall and fast, even if their stars have faded slightly.

Coming out of high school, Coleman was a bit of an odd prospect. 247Sports' Gabe Brooks liked him more as an edge rusher than as a receiver, and I can kind of see why. Despite being so slender and not the most refined pass rusher, he played defense like he reveled in it. He chased receivers like prey, and he delivered hard hits. Maybe Coleman the defensive end would have ended up in the same place, looking for playing time at his second school, but I wish I could see that timeline and find out.

Coleman is still a work in progress at the position he chose. While he is dangerous once he hits his stride, he is not much of a threat over the middle or even in the red zone for now. Until he improves his footwork, his route tree is limited. The good news for Coleman is that the Gophers lack a big body among their leading wideouts, so his way onto the field is clear. His genuine efforts as a blocker will get him more chances. (He still likes to push people around.) It is just on him to seize the opportunity.

Graduate transfer Drew Biber (pronounced "BIBB-er") joins the team with much lower expectations. Biber was the backup tight end at Purdue, where he made only 15 career catches. Here is one of the nicer ones:

As a receiver, Biber has not shown he is more than a checkdown option. As a blocker, he is not much more spectacular. He is typically passable, but his first step can be slow and lead to whiffs. He does not drive defenders back so much as get in their way. In other words, Biber's presence on the field is a net neutral at best.

Frank Bierman recorded his first Division I reception last season, matching his total from two years at Iowa Western Community College. (He is still chasing his junior college totals in yardage (15) and touchdowns (1).) He had a smattering of backfield snaps as well and has changed his jersey number to 44, which may signal his deployment as a fullback. Minnesota has hardly used an I-formation under P.J. Fleck, though, so Bierman should still spend most of his time as an inline tight end. Even with Biber's comparatively huge receiving background, I think Bierman's incumbency and superior blocking gets him on the field more often.

What everyone wants to know is how serious the Gophers are going to be about using Koi Perich as a two-way player. The star safety had one target on two offensive snaps against Penn State in November, the ball going just beyond his fingers on a slant. In the spring, Perich wore a two-colored jersey, signifying he would take reps on each side of the ball.

We have seen glimpses of the impact Perich can have with the ball in his hands. He immediately raised the ceiling of the Gophers' special teams once he took over as returner. He gets a bit greedy in that position, returning kicks he shouldn't, but giving Perich the ball directly on a screen or end-around is a very different proposition. He is an extraordinary athlete. P.J. Fleck has promised Perich will not be a "gadget" player, deployed on a few packages, but have a significant role on all three units. What exactly that looks like, we just have to wait to find out — possibly until Week 3 against Cal, if not later.

Potential Rotation Options

As tends to happen in bowl games, Minnesota needed to fill some snaps against Virginia Tech in January and ran out some of their young receivers. Mankato's Jalen Smith, who debuted in that game, only played one snap. I thought well of Smith as a prospect a year ago but expect to see more of Kenric Lanier II and Donielle Hayes.

Hayes had the bigger impact of the two against the Hokies, making a couple of catches for 22 yards and delivering this pancake to a defender:

He also showed some speed on a drag route to start the fourth quarter, recalling some of what he did in high school.

Lanier is a little taller than Hayes and, based on revisiting his own prospect tape, might be better going deep. His catch radius and vertical speed seem suited for it, and his one catch on the year was on a 17-yard drive route late against Rhode Island. (Brosmer missed Lanier twice in 2024: once on a short crosser at the Big House and once on an end zone shot in the bowl.)

We have seen too little of them to say what exactly they are as college players, but the information we do have suggests Hayes and Lanier can start to rotate into games on the outside. If either is to play a part in next season, they will have to get that first look.

While true freshmen rarely break into Minnesota's rotation, we must give Bradley Martino some consideration. Martino is the program's highest-rated high school receiver signing since Daniel Jackson in 2020, a classic X receiver not too unlike Dylan Wright. He combines height and strength with an impressive vertical and straight-line speed. I don't see a very technical player, but he has shown some deftness in the open field. His rare tools make him a Division I player somewhere. If he develops as a route runner, Martino can flourish as a Gopher.

There are another five tight ends on the roster: Julian Johnson, Jacob Simpson, Sam Peters, Pierce Walsh, and Jack DiSano. The first four are all underclassmen with some receiving potential. They are competing for 2026 playing time than for reps in 2025. DiSano, a redshirt junior walk-on, saw some time in blowouts last year but registered no stats. At least one of these players will get a look this season, since the three tight ends ahead of them are on their last years of eligibility. I will not pretend I can pick which one it is entering fall camp. A bigger question may be who sticks around after the season, considering the impending arrival of top recruit Roman Voss.

Notables Unlikely to Contribute

I am honestly a bit surprised to see Quentin Redding still here. Perich has probably Wally Pipped him as a returner and for any chance at an offensive gadget role, but Redding has stuck around. Having just played two games last season, he could get a medical waiver for a sixth season.

Legend Lyons does not have the pedigree of the fellow true freshman Martino, but he does have one of the best names on the roster. Lyons' best fit could be as an oversized inside receiver, using his shiftiness to break free on screens and his size to win the ball over shorter defenders on slot fades.