Friday Nugz - 08.16.13 - Derrick Wells till Gopher Football

13 days till 2013 Gopher Football!  Less than 2 weeks my friends and we'll be under the TCF Bank Stadium lights running over the Running Rebels with Golden-I!

Derrick Wells will be one of our key defensive players and you may recall that he had a pretty good game at UNLV last year earning national Defensive Player of the Week honors for his 2 picks.

Let's get to some short Nugz...

Gopher Football

• Nate Sandell has plenty of notes from yesterday's practice.  Jalen Myrick is a true freshman getting more buzz and may be called upon to play in the secondary this year.
• Fuller has a ton of notes where he also highlights Jalen Myrick.
• Joe Christensen also has notes to share following the Gopher's 2nd scrimmage (that was not open to the press/public).  He highlights Nelson who has separated himself at QB1.
• After yesterday's scrimmage the offense is ahead of the defense.
• Philip Nelson has finally settled into the lead QB again after his lightbulb moment.
• Joe Christensen features Jon Christenson who is taking over the C spot and has given up social mediafor the season.
• Don't forget about Long Snapper Jake Filkins.
• Gophers are feeling good about their progress heading into 2013.
• And the 12 greatest days of the year.  Hopefully 13.
• Land-Grant Holy Land looks at overrated and underrated teams/stories heading into football.  Nothing about the Gophers here but a good read.
• 12 Questions for the B1G.
• ICYMI, Gopher football has joined the iPad revolution.

On to Hoops

• Rashad Vaughn's master plan?  Prep school in 2013-14, college in 2014-15, NBA in 2015-16.  Vaughn continues to say that Minnesota has a chance.
• Reid Travis is dropping football and other recruiting notes from Amelia.
• This is a cool story with only a minimal Gopher relation.  Rick Pitino hired Mike Balado who nearly came to Minnesota with Richard.  But things sort of fell apart and he went from a small D1 assistant, to unemployed, to a D2 assistant making less than $20,000, to getting hired at Louisville for 10 times that.  Cool story and you should read it.

The Rest

• Gopher Volleyball is ranked #6 in the country heading into their season.
• Goldy gets recognized by SI.com as the 25th best mascot.  Idiots don't know a good thing then they set it.  Did you know Goldy has a profile on gophersport.com?

Gopher Footbal Brick by Brick!

More from The Daily Gopher:

• Projected Golden Gopher Football 2-Deep
• Gopher Football Preview: Tight Ends Upgrade or Downgrade
• Gopher Football: Meme Madness - THE FINALS ARE HERE!
• Minnesota Gopher Football: A look at Saturday's scrimmage through very Maroon colored glasses
• Gopher Football: I'm Proud Of Coach Kill For Opening Up About His Epilepsy
• Gopher Football, Can Jerry Kill Get a Signature Win in 2013?