Gophers O-Line Showered With All Big Ten Honors

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Photo: Kelly Hagenson - Gopher Sports

The NCAA Football regular season is over and that has led to a flurry of offseason news, leading up to Conference Championship Weekend. There have been shocking coaching changes and recruits entering the transfer portal like stampeding wildebeests a narrow valley. The Minnesota Gophers have not been spared from the latter.

Also, All-Conference honors are being handed out across the country, the Big Ten included. Defensive honors were announced yesterday and Boye Mafe was the only player to be named to any of the six all-conference teams. On Wednesday, however, the offensive winners sheet has the Minnesota offensive line is all it.

Four, Faalele, Andries, Michael-Schmitz and Olson, were named to at least one of the All Big Ten teams. Both Sam Schlueter and Ko Keift were also named honorable mentions.

PFF.com/CFB

Numbers and the Future

The Minnesota Gophers offensive line deserves all of the accolades it gets. They helped five different running backs go off for the most yards (2,575) since 2014 (2,801). The 25 rushing touchdowns were the most by any Gophers team since 2016, when they went for 34. 

(WR) Chris Autman-Bell was also named an Honorable Mention by the media. CRAB made 35 catches for 490 yards and six touchdowns in 10 games.

We know at least a few of these guys will not be back for next year. Daniel Faalele accepted an invite to the Senior Bowl and Schlueter, Olson and Kieft are all out of eligibility. Others’ plans, like Bell and Andries, still remain unknown.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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