The best news you'll hear all day: North Dakota lost in the Frozen Four last night to Michigan. So sorry, Sioux! The Wolverines will take on the top program in Minnesota, the UMD Bulldogs, in the final Saturday night after Duluth bounced Notre Dame 4-3.
Gopher offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover says senior guard Chris Bunders is a "dirtbag"- and that's a good thing. More interesting to me than the profile of Bunders, is this:
Minnesota will start a trio of upperclassmen in the middle of the line, with senior Ryan Orton opposite Bunders on the right side, and junior Ryan Wynn at center. Other than that, however, the Gophers have nothing but freshmen and sophomores among the other dozen linemen.
"Those three are our wily veterans, and we need their experience," Limegrover said. "There really isn't an older guy who takes over -- they all have their moments. It's kind of a three-headed monster, as far as leadership."
So just like that, it would seem your Gophers 2011 starting offensive line has been set. We wondered earlier in the week if true frosh Tommy Olson would get a shot to start, but it looks like he'll be redshirting, which really isn't a bad thing.
The race is on for the #2 receiver spot. And by "race", we mean if everyone turned around and went the wrong way. Ok, ok maybe it's not quite THAT bad, but coach Kill doesn't sound like he's been very impressed with anyone else besides Da'Jon McKnight, and freshman Marcus Jones, who will likely be the slot receiver. There's been a lot of injuries, and for the guys who have been healthy, while they've shown flashes it doesn't seem like anyone's done enough quite yet to earn that spot. And hey- Ge'Shun Harris is alive! Yes, the juco receiver hasn't faded into- as Mike Tyson would call it- "Bolivia" as we had feared. Now that we know that, hopefully he can make a strong push to start.
FBT has a practice update as well. And again- another Ge'Shun Harris sighting!!!
Jerry Kill had a visitor from his football past at practice yesterday. Kill also talked to the MN Daily about Peter Westerhaus' injury, and the recent shooting of an NIU player he coached.
Some potentially good news for Gopher hoops as Trevor Mbakwe is leaning towards returning to the U for his senior season.