Lots of Minnesota Gophers Players are Planning to Sit Out Bowl Game
The Minnesota Gophers have a football game tomorrow. That’s right, after sitting idle for the entire month of December (last played Nov. 24 vs Wisconsin), the Gophers will play in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Friday at 6 PM CST vs the Virginia Tech Hokies.
Well, most of the healthy Minnesota players will be playing vs the Hokies. That includes quarterback Max Brosmer, who will be playing in the final game of his collegiate career on Friday. So will sophomore running back Darius Taylor, who can push his rushing totals on the season over 1,000 yards, if he can gain 130 yards on the ground in the season finale.
Minnesota Gophers will be missing lots of talent at Duke’s Mayo Bowl
That’s the good news. The bad news is that some of the other most important Gophers players will not be participating. According to Ryan Burns (247Sports), most of the Gophers who are hoping to hear their name called during the 2025 NFL Draft will not play.
Those names include (LT) Aireontae Ersery, (LB) Cody Lindenberg, (WR) Daniel Jackson, (RB) Marcus Major, (C) Tyler Cooper and (OL) Phillip Daniels. That’s a lot of beef to be missing off of an offensive line that underperformed for much of the 2024 season.
“Minnesota is likely going to be without Marcus Major, Daniel Jackson, Aireonae Ersery, Tyler Cooper, Phillip Daniels. I mean, you’re going to be without quite a bit there.”
Ryan Burns (247Sports) – Gopher Gridiron Podcast (41:20 mark)
The Star Tribune’s Randy Johnson added a couple more guys to the list, noting that the Gophers “might be without” (DL) Jah Joyner and (CB) Justin Walley, as well. As you can see, Minnesota will be far from 100% in Charlotte.
Even with these expected absences, the Minnesota Gophers remain -9 favorites. Why? Well, PJ Fleck is 5-0 in bowl games as head coach at the U of M. Additionally, the Gophers are probably a better team than the Hokies, even with both squads at full strength. But if you think we have an opt-out problem, Virginia Tech has it much worse.
Related: Minnesota QB Max Brosmer Lands on NFL Draft Hot Board
As Burns also notes, the Virginia Tech Hokies will be without two 1st Team All-ACC defensive linemen, “essentially their entire secondary” and two starting linebackers. Good luck stopping Max Brosmer and Darius Taylor with that going on…
What are Gophers missing without Jackson, Ersery, Lindenberg, others?
Nonetheless, Minnesota’s absences will certainly hurt, too. Aireontae Ersery is expected to be a first round draft pick, come April. Daniel Jackson was by far the Gophers most prolific pass catcher, posting 75 receptions for 863 yards and 4 touchdowns. He was also the biggest All-Conference snub of the 2024 class.
Screw fox, that's a Gophers TD and I'm posting it pic.twitter.com/dQOnD9o9Fz
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) September 28, 2024
On defense, Minnesota will lose Cody Lindenberg, who easily leads the team in tackles, with 94. The 2nd highest leading tackler? Kerry Brown and Maverick Baranowski are tied at 59 each. That type of production isn’t easily replaced.
Related: CFB Expert Confidently Picks Minnesota Gophers to Win Duke’s Mayo Bowl
Good thing Virginia Tech is missing their two stud big men up front, on defense, because most of the Gophers offensive line is sitting this game out. Nonetheless, this will be a great opportunity for PJ Fleck and his coaching staff to get a look at some of the linemen who have not gotten a lot of run yet this season, then adjust their post bowl game transfer portal plans, as necessary.
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