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.

8. Daniel Jackson, Wide Receiver (2020-24)

After Tyler Johnson, Rashod Bateman, and Chris Autman-Bell's emergence in 2018 and outright explosion in 2019, it looked like Minnesota was going to be a new hub for big-time receivers. Under P.J. Fleck and Matt Simon's coaching, Corey Davis had been the 5th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. If Bateman — eventually the 27th overall pick in 2021 — was going to be the Gophers' first blue-chip receiving recruit to make it big under Fleck, Daniel Jackson would be the next one.

This ended up half-right. Minnesota has not become a new "Receiver U," but Jackson was a hit. He made an immediate impact in that weird 2020 season and spent the next four seasons playing every role possible: a slot receiver, a red zone target, a deep threat, even a secondary weapon out of the backfield. With his controlled but sudden route running, size, leap, ability after the catch, and astonishing hand-eye coordination, Jackson could do it all. His college career lived up to his 4-star pedigree and then some.

7. Mariano Sori-Marin, Linebacker (2018-22)

One of the most fun things about closely following a college football team is seeing a young player develop from a part-time contributor to a regular in the lineup to a genuine asset. Mariano Sori-Marin is my favorite example of this, not because he ever became a genuine star but because he basically started as a scapegoat.

While he made a mark in Minnesota's big win over Penn State in 2019, Sori-Marin's first consistent action was in 2020. Without a real offseason, after a number of graduations, the Gophers' defense was a total mess. Sori-Marin was very literally at the center of it, playing middle linebacker. He was awful. Other defenders were, too, but his struggles were more noticeable. He was a hulking run-and-hit linebacker, a mismatch against any wideout and liable to get embarrassed by a scrambling quarterback.

In November 2020, Minnesota had too many players test positive for COVID-19 and cancelled two games. The time off seemed to settle everyone on the defense, starting with Sori-Marin. He made some plays against Nebraska and Wisconsin, and from there, he stepped up to become a rock in the middle of Fleck's best defenses. (Having Jack Gibbens alongside him in 2021 surely helped.) Fleck and defensive coordinator Joe Rossi raved about Sori-Marin's intelligence and leadership, and he is now an assistant coach at the U of M. I would not be surprised if he ends up a coordinator himself, especially if Rossi ever gets a head coaching job.

(I must also thank Sori-Marin for, via the below Big Ten Network piece, alerting me to El Cubano, an excellent restaurant in St. Paul. A photo of him hangs on the wall.)

6. Boye Mafe, Rush End (2017-21)

Minnesotans get bonus points. Hopkins' Boye Mafe was a physical freak, the model of an edge rusher, but it took some time for his skills to catch up to his tools. By the end of his time in maroon and gold, Mafe had one of the Big Ten's top pass rushers but had also earned the right to stay on the field in short-yardage situations rather than platooning, holding his own against the run. The Seahawks made Mafe the highest-picked Minnesota defensive end in 76 years (after Aaron Brown in the 1966 AFL Draft), and he has in turn become a high-level pro.

5. Mohamed Ibrahim, Running Back (2017-22)

Arguably the single greatest Gopher of the post-Murray Warmath era, Mohamed Ibrahim stood out in a program that frequently produces fantastic running backs. He brought a unique mix of talents, offsetting his limited open-field speed with patience, vision, and cutting ability to find space while using his heft and low center of gravity to plow through would-be tacklers. Ibrahim's 263 yards against Iowa in 2022 — that is, against a top-two defense in the nation — was one of the most heroic games I have ever watched from a college athlete. He finished his career as the top rusher in Minnesota history, and it was wholly earned.

4. Tyler Nubin, Safety (2019-23)

Over the last decade, no position in this program has been stronger than safety. That goes for the current and future pros to pass through the program, but also players like Damarius Travis, Duke McGhee, and Jacob Huff who provided a steady floor. Safety is even the current Gophers' deepest position, with a pair of studs in Koi Perich and Kerry Brown backed by invaluable veterans in Aidan Gousby and Darius Green. It's not close to the most important position on a football team, but having security at the back — plus a little extra — is a major boost.

If Antoine Winfield Jr. is the biggest star to come out of the Minnesota safety factory, Tyler Nubin had the best college career. Like Mariano Sori-Marin, Nubin did not immediately arrive on campus a star. He was a well-regarded recruit, for sure, but his first season as a regular was disastrous. By the end of 2021, though, it was clear the Gophers had a special player on their hands. Nubin eventually became Minnesota's all-time leader in interceptions. He was endlessly cool, directing the defense from deep and coming out of nowhere to save the day on multiple occasions. He came back to school to beat Iowa and then did just that, getting to watch his brother have the most out-of-nowhere rushing performance in the history of the program as a bonus. Minnesota has seen few better players than Nubin at any position.

3. Rashod Bateman, Wide Receiver (2018-20)

Rashod Bateman was exactly what he was supposed to be. After a monster senior season of high school made Georgia and Tennessee come calling, Bateman stuck with Minnesota because P.J. Fleck gave him his first power-conference offer. Arriving with the hype of a 4-star recruit, he stepped into the starting lineup immediately and showed flashes of his potential, scoring a game-winning touchdown against Indiana.

The next season, Bateman took off. He was electric, a well-rounded flanker with route-running chops, length, and pure speed. As just a true sophomore, Bateman became the Big Ten's receiver of the year, putting together his signature performance with 203 yards and three-touchdown against Penn State. (While the Wisconsin game that year ended poorly, his opening touchdown inspired one of the loudest roars in the short lifetime of that stadium.)

If not for the pandemic in 2020, Bateman could have become the program's all-time leading receiver and first ever Biletnikoff Award winner. Despite barely playing that fall, he became the first Minnesota wide receiver ever picked in the 1st round of the NFL Draft. Bateman is a singular talent in the history of Gopher football.

2. Tyler Johnson, Wide Receiver (2016-19)

Even more than his partner on the outside, Tyler Johnson inspired awe. He played with a majestic leaping ability, sharp route-running, complete awareness of the sideline, strength, and a huge catch radius that made him Tanner Morgan's favorite target in the red zone and a constant source of highlights. Even his spring games included some of the best catches I've ever seen. He made goal-line fades a (somewhat) viable strategy. And he perfected the slant routes that Kirk Ciarrocca called constantly off of RPOs.

The former Minneapolis North star wrote a perfect story, staying home to become the greatest receiver to ever wear the maroon and gold, and winning a Super Bowl as a rookie in the NFL. (The only thing that could make it better is a season with the Vikings.) Johnson is the Gophers' all-time leader in receiving yards, touchdowns, and 100-yard games; one of the best Minnesotan players in the history of the program; and an icon of the Gophers' current era. It was a privilege to watch his college career.

1. Rodney Smith, Running Back (2014-19)

Rodney Smith is Minnesota's all-time leader in all-purpose yards, yet it is somehow hard to explain his importance. Aside from his kickoff return touchdown against Nebraska in 2017, there is no singular moment that comes to mind to demonstrate what he meant. His highest honor was making the All-Big Ten 2nd team in his final college season. His NFL career was inconsequential, his lone touchdown coming in a meaningless blowout at the end of a bad year for his team.

More than anyone here, Smith is a guy you just had to be there to understand. For three years, his combination with Shannon Brooks was the most fun thing about the Gophers' offense, the one reliable aspect in a period of colossal and confusing change from Jerry Kill to Tracy Claeys to P.J. Fleck. Brooks was an exciting mix of explosiveness and power. Smith was the archetype that Mohamed Ibrahim and Darius Taylor would follow (with their own fluorishes), a well-rounded slasher with elite intelligence and vision. In Fleck's first season, the two of them frequently lined up on the field at the same time because the team's only other weapon was Tyler Johnson. When Brooks and Smith got hurt, the coaches praised their efforts to come back and to support their teammates from the sidelines. They each received waivers for an extra year, playing significant roles for the 2019 team that won 11 games.

If none of that sounds terribly impressive: Like I said, you had to be there. And in my case, "there" was my four years attending the U of M, plus my first year as an alumnus. Smith's first start as a Gopher, succeeding another prolific tailback in David Cobb, was my first game in the stands. Smith's college career overlaps with my formative experience of leaving home for a big city on the other side of the country, forming a new social circle, and learning how to be an adult. He left the U of M as my remaining college friends graduated and as a global pandemic drew another great line in my life.

As a fan of the Gophers, there is before Rodney Smith, and there is after Rodney Smith. Before him, I hardly knew anything about the program, growing up on the Big 12 South and only seeing occasional Eric Decker highlights. After him is the time that this team became mine. The tailgates, the time with friends, the trips to Iowa City and Madison and Boulder and Lincoln and Ann Arbor, the happiness of waking up on a Saturday in the fall and knowing there's a game today — that is the most joyous ritual of my first decade of adulthood, one I want to pass down to my children one day.

We attach ourselves to sports teams and cheer for athletes for their meaning as much as we do their actual sporting feats, and Rodney Smith represents my entry point to all of this. That is as great a meaning as any athlete can provide.