2026 Gophers Position Previews: Secondary

Summer days are getting shorter. Football is coming. To make you the fan at your tailgate most informed on the top, middle, and bottom of Minnesota's depth chart, Ski-U-Blog is previewing each position group on the roster. This preseason, the U of M secondary faces both major changes and familiar questions.

Likely Starters

The biggest story in the Minnesota secondary will be who isn't there. As much as bitter fans will want to play the "we didn't need him anyway" card, and however much saving money on one player may have benefitted other areas of the roster, the bottom line is that the Gophers will miss Koi Perich.

Beyond his symbolic importance as the Esko kid who stayed home to be a star, Perich was the best, most dynamic player on the team. The same hubris that got him in trouble, overrunning the ball and adding more responsibilities than he was likely ready to handle, is what made him such a thrill. His key plays won multiple games, including last year's weird and messy game versus Purdue. In a year where the defense took a step back, Perich cleaned up loads of other players' mistakes, flying in from the secondary to stop opposing gains from becoming hemorrhages. The fact that another school will get to reap the rewards of his game-changing talent, and that he will be announced as an Oregon product at the NFL Draft instead of a Minnesota one, will hurt.

There were, however, places on the roster where Perich's departure would hurt more. The defense is well-stocked at safety, a signature strength of the Gophers under P.J. Fleck.

The most obvious example is Kerry Brown, a star in his own right.

Granted, Brown's tackling was not as superlative in his previous season, which was a problem across the board for Minnesota's safeties. He was still around the ball plenty and finished with 48.0 tackles (40 solo). And where Perich's flashy moments fell off, Brown supplied his own, making 10.0 havoc plays. He is the team's best defensive back, and he owns one of the highest ceilings on the whole roster. If he can combine the plays he made on the ball in 2025 with the brilliant tackling of 2024, he will be one of the best safeties in the country.

Aidan Gousby started at field corner in the Wisconsin and New Mexico games but, despite continued need at that position, will move back to safety this year.

Gousby had some rougher moments last season, perhaps in part because of injuries that cost him a couple of games. He also just made mistakes when he had responsibility for the outside. Here is Gousby not maintaining the E gap on an end-around clearly headed for the edge. He tries to split the two tight ends instead of taking the second one's outermost shoulder, taking far too direct a route to the ballcarrier and vacating space in his gap:

And here is Gousby at corner trying to blow up a screen by going through the blocker instead of recognizing that the receiver will get the ball before he can arrive on time, clearing the flat:

As good as a tackler as Gousby has been, he may be better at the back rather than as a box safety. The positions offer different vantage points of the line of scrimmage and have different responsibilities in the run fit. Gousby showed fewer issues in 2024, when he more often stood at the top of the defense.

However, he might be playing around the line more this season. At the Gophers' August 20 open practice, he played less boundary safety than he did dime, giving more first-team reps to Zack Harden. The staff started talking up Harden while he was a true freshman last year, and after a season mostly giving him looks on special teams, they are evidently ready for him to take starter-level snaps.

The problem with Fleck's comparisons to Tyler Nubin is that Harden has played 14 defensive snaps as a college player. Going from covering kicks straight into the starting lineup is in fact something Nubin did before becoming a program great, but initial returns for him were, frankly, disastrous. Even if we assume an easier on-ramp for Harden — he's had a regular offseason to prepare, not a pandemic, and Eastern Illinois serves an easier debut than Michigan — it is very easy to picture how things can go wrong for him at first.

In the spring game, Harden lined up deep and evidently did not let anything bad happen, but it is hard to tell how much he prevented and how much things simply did not happen. (Shockingly, all-22 footage of scrimmages is not publicly available.) His one standout moment was coming down from the secondary to assist on a tackle for loss.

As a high schooler, he played all over the defensive backfield and showed good anticipation. He was a willing but sort of sloppy tackler, which two years later could be improved.

Between Harden, Gousby, Brown, and Garrison Monroe, exact positions and roles could be very fluid to get everyone the playing time they deserve.

Monroe's composite rating was the lowest in the Gophers' 2023 recruiting class. He has slowly climbed the depth chart since then, making it onto the field as a backup nickel or in dime the last couple of seasons. He now ascends to the first string.

Monroe missed nine games last season and was already a sporadic presence when healthy, so it is hard to get a good sense of how he will fare. It says something that he is the frontrunner to start at nickel when his competition is not limited to the three other names in this section. His performance in the spring game was unimpressive, but he was also playing at the back, not in the slot. Like with Harden and many other members of this secondary, we cannot easily project what Monroe brings. The one way to know what the Gophers have is to see them in action.

Whatever Is Going on at Cornerback (Again)

Cornerback has been a recurring question mark for years. Even when Justin Walley and Ethan Robinson held things down as starters in 2024, the position was extremely thin and scarcely rotated. In 2025, when Walley and Robinson left, this meant completely resetting at perhaps the position where continuity matters most.

Predictably, there were consequences.

Click to enlarge.

Both because of worse personnel and coordinator Danny Collins' aggressive blitzing style, the Gophers had to go all-in on big-play prevention on the back end. That meant allowing more completions, which went far beyond the point of being an acceptable tradeoff. Despite having one of the nation's best pressure units and capable safeties, Minnesota's pass defense became one of the power conferences' worst.

They are still looking for stability at the position. Jai'Onte' McMillan, a fine dimeback who had to play more corner than he should have, graduated. Za'Quan Bryan, who could not hold onto a starting job after a promising freshman year, transferred to South Florida. Jaylen Bowden, once an intriguing transfer up from North Carolina Central, hardly played before moving on to East Carolina. It is difficult to forecast who will play regularly on the outside.

Let's get the easy part out of the way: John Nestor will start. I was low on Nestor when he arrived from Iowa, but he proved me wrong and was the one corner who earned any trust. He was very adept at anticipating and jumping routes, coming away with interceptions and tackles for loss.

His three-takeaway, do-everything performance against Wisconsin was the biggest reason Minnesota retained Paul Bunyan's Axe. Nestor made big plays in needed moments. The Gophers' trip to Columbus last October showed Nestor can't cover Jeremiah Smith, but, well, not many can. He is a generally reliable corner and a plus against the run. That is more than enough to make him the leader of a young, decidedly unproven crop of corners.

Thankfully, there should finally be continuity going into 2027. Nestor will have a fifth year of eligibility if he wants it, and if he doesn't, all others vying for snaps at corner are currently underclassmen. While not everyone will likely stay for next season because that is just not how things work, everyone theoretically could. Whichever players see action now should form a more prepared, deeper group later.

Michigan State transfer Aydan West has seemingly taken over the competition at field corner. West had a major place in the defense as a true freshman. The only pass breakup he technically recorded was a weird one, with UCLA's Nico Iamaleava trying to avoid an intentional grounding call by throwing at the receiver blocking West. While they were grappling, the ball hit West in the side of the helmet.

Though he did not start against Minnesota, West played the majority of the game and had a decent performance. He ran with Javon Tracy and Le'Meke Brockington and ushered them into the boundary on sideline shots and, despite some clumsiness trying to chase down plays in the second level, looked like he belonged.

The four games that West did start were mostly fine. Maryland presented problems with crossing routes, as well as quick throws that took advantage of Joe Rossi's off coverage. Against the run, or when structure broke down, West's play looked a bit uncontrolled. The few times he blitzed, he was not especially impactful. But at his main job, covering receivers, West survived. That he kept his place down the stretch, even in a bad secondary, speaks well of his performance. If he can pick up where he left off in a scheme that requires more man coverage, West will be a valuable addition.

If someone other than West starts against Eastern Illinois, it will be Naiim Parrish. Parrish seemed to make a push for a starting job last training camp. The Gophers chose to preserve his redshirt instead. These facts combine to make a strange but illustrative picture of the cornerback situation last year: A player almost good enough to start was not actually ready to play much at all.

He is back in the mix this season, though, and the staff does not have to worry about redshirts anymore (for Parrish or anyone else). He is still a slight 180 pounds who is probably more of a cover corner than an asset against the run. Here's an interception he made in the spring game, which admittedly had more to do with the pass than Parrish's coverage:

The fourth cornerback will be one of two third-year players: Mike Gerald and Simon Seidl. Gerald has more snaps under his belt, but due to injuries, the glimpses we saw of him last season were few and not usually flattering. When Nestor missed the Northwestern game, Gerald saw a momentarily elevated role. He had a nightmarish day before being permanently benched in the third quarter.

Seidl has primarily played special teams; the only time he has appeared on the stat sheet was for a punt coverage tackle against Nebraska. His only target in the spring game was 9-yard completion where Seidl got caught between two receivers entering his zone and incorrectly backed off the bigger threat. That the rest of his day lacked incident could say good things or nothing. Either way, our most informative data on Seidl will come if he plays corner in a competitive game.

Key Backups

Minnesota brought in a couple of transfer safeties as reinforcements, and each comes with an intriguing track record.

First, the local(-ish) kid: Sartell's Parker Knutson enrolled at Division II Southwest Minnesota State out of high school in 2023 and started every game as a redshirt freshman, earning the first of two All-Northern Sun first team selections. As a redshirt sophomore, Knutson earned a place on the Walter Camp All-America first team. In his career for the Mustangs, he recorded 71.0 tackles (56 solo), 32 pass breakups, and 13 interceptions. In a word, Knutson was fantastic.

In January, he transferred to Minnesota (over Iowa) and had a mostly impressive spring game: 3.0 tackles (all solo), a pass breakup, and an interception.

Knutson will not immediately start, though, and may even play less than Lehigh transfer Mekhai Smith. Smith was a first-team All-Patriot League selection on one of the top defenses in FCS, breaking up three passes and intercepting four.

He primarily played boundary safety for the Mountain Hawks and may occasionally do so for the Gophers as well, but Smith is more likely a nickel or dimeback. This may suit him better than playing deep safety at this level; he is a downhill defender who likes to make plays around the line of scrimmage, even if he sometimes charges in too quickly to decelerate and actually make those plays. He is a forceful tackler, though, and he has gotten buzz in camp.

Notables Unlikely to Contribute

Rhyland Kelly has served this program well as a special teamer, and he will spend his last year of eligibility in the same role. Redshirt sophomore Samuel Madu recorded his first college snaps against New Mexico and will probably join Kelly covering kicks. Elisha West, Adyen's older brother and fellow Michigan State transfer, also has two more years of eligibility after this and sits on the outside of a crowded cornerback competition.

In the spring game, Chance Payne gave up two touchdowns (one for 50 yards, one for 8 yards) on the only two times he was targeted. We will call that the growing pains of a player in his first semester on campus. Payne's prospect tape highlights his speed, tackling ability, and ball skills, which are good starting points for a player who will sit for a while.

Justin Hopkins, who picked Minnesota over 22 other power-conference offers (including Iowa and Wisconsin), is the highest-rated defensive back in the U of M's freshman class. He will play corner but spent his high school career at free safety, where he made a litany of interceptions and doubled as a prolific receiver and returner. If he does not stick at corner, Hopkins should be useful somewhere. He was targeted just a couple of times in the spring game but did not allow a catch and broke up a pass.

Zahir Rainer always had a tough path to the field this season with the glut of safety and nickel options. The apparent injury that kept him out of the Gophers' recent open practice, if not a short-term issue, makes things harder. The skinny Jordan Lampkins is not physically ready to play around the box, but his 11 TFLs and three forced fumbles as a high school senior indicate he has the demeanor for it. He intercepted Michael Merdinger in the spring game as well. Once he bulks up, he may be an ideal slot defender.

Safety Lamont Hamilton looked undersized even against Wisconsin high schoolers but tied for the 2nd-highest composite rating of all prospects in the state. At 5-foot-10, 170 pounds, he cannot afford to play timidly and does not, making loads of ankle tackles in addition to his plays on the ball. Similarly to Lampkins, Hamilton may be a fit at nickel, though height is not a necessity for a deep safety either.

Fleck praised Trason Richardson's enthusiasm for hitting on Signing Day, a quality that pushed the Gophers to give Richardson his only power-conference offer. He reads plays well and may have 4.5 speed that isn't as apparent on tape, which would give him the range to stick at boundary safety rather than moving down to nickel.

Just before Signing Day, Minnesota became Tavian White's only FBS offer and subsequently flipped him from North Dakota. He is a little undersized, but his speed allowed him to play multiple positions in the defensive backfield. If nothing else, there is use on special teams for a guy who can fly and who blocked five field goals as a high schooler.