No commitment to making a change yet, but Jerry Kill said this afternoon he will try Lamonte Edwards at linebacker today and tomorrow at practice.
The Gophers coach said he wants to put his “best players” on the field and his linebacker group lacks depth because of injuries. Edwards, a redshirt freshman running back, has rushed eight times for 11 yards in two games.
Edwards, 6-2, 210, played defensive back and running back at Woodbury High School. For a couple of years there’s been opinion that Edwards would be a better defensive player than offensive in college.
Gophers linebackers Brendan Beal and Aaron Hill have been injured and unable to play in the first three games. Linebacker Keanon Cooper has been playing with an injured wrist.
Kill said in the preseason that Edwards could be a “tremendous” running back for the Gophers and is certainly an admirer of the former Woodbury player’s athleticism, even using him once in the USC game as a pass rushing end.
“I don’t know if that’s going to be permanent (playing linebacker). … “He’s too good to just get 10-15 plays. We’re going to experiment on Tuesday and Wednesday with him a little bit,” Kill said.
If Edwards plays linebacker he could still see game action at running back, according to Kill. The first objective with the Edwards experiment is to add depth to a “thin” position.
“Doesn’t mean he won’t come in and play (running back) on goal line, and he’s had a lot of time on offense,” Kill said. “But again we are dealt the cards we have, and we are going to try to utilize all those cards that we can.”