New coach Jerry Kill and his staff open spring practice tomorrow, but don’t expect to be dazzled by the Gophers personnel at the April 23 spring game or during the 12 game schedule starting in September.
Multiple football sources have told Sports Headliners the Gophers team that lost to Kill’s Northern Illinois group last September had inferior talent to the Huskies. Former Gophers’ head coach Tim Brewster hyped his recruiting classes but reality is he didn’t leave Kill with the type of talent Minnesota will need against many opponents including Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Michigan, Michigan State, USC and Wisconsin.
Northern Illinois, a non-BCS school from the Mid-American Conference, beat the Gophers, 34-23, last September at TCF Bank Stadium. The low profile Huskies ended their season 11-3, including a bowl win. The Gophers pulled off two late season surprise wins against Illinois and Iowa (programs with superior players) and finished the season at 3-9.
The Gophers will have most of their starters back on defense and about half on offense. Northern Illinois is expected to have similar numbers of returnees on offense and defense, but a major difference is not just better overall talent. The Huskies have an outstanding returning senior quarterback in Chandler Harnish, while the Gophers are trying to figure out how to replace four-year starter Adam Weber.
Minnesota won’t have to contend with Kill’s former team but the schedule includes more bullies than softies. Minnesota opens at national power USC, then plays three winnable nonconference games at home against New Mexico State, Miami (Ohio) and North Dakota State. Big Ten road games follow at Michigan and Purdue before playing at home against Nebraska and Iowa. The remaining league schedule is at Michigan State, home against Wisconsin, away for Northwestern, and then a final game in Minneapolis versus Illinois.
Expectations for fans should include improving last season’s 3-9 record while watching a more fundamentally superior team than anything seen here in awhile. Kill and staff will need time not only to instill their systems and work ethic, but also to attract talent.