Gophers football honors 23 players for Senior Day

Saturday’s game against Penn State marked Senior Day for the Gophers football team, and 23 players participated in a pregame ceremony on the field at Huntington Bank Stadium. For 16 of the players, their eligibility will expire at the end of the season, and they were honored during the pregame walk. Seven others with eligibility remaining also were honored, though they can return for the 2025 season if they choose.

Those 16 with expiring eligibility include 12 starters: quarterback Max Brosmer; wide receivers Daniel Jackson and Elijah Spencer; offensive linemen Tyler Cooper and Quinn Carroll; tight end Nick Kallerup; defensive lineman Danny Striggow; defensive backs Ethan Robinson, Justin Walley and Jack Henderson; kicker Dragan Kesich; and punter Mark Crawford. The other four are reserves: running backs Marcus Major and Jaren Mangham, and defensive linemen Darnell Jeffries and Logan Richter.

Carroll had fun with the ceremony, wearing No. 83, the number his father, Jay, wore as a Gophers tight end in the 1980s.

Also participating in the walk were tackle Aireontae Ersery, linebacker Cody Lindenberg and defensive end Jah Joyner, who each have a year remaining but possibly will test the NFL waters. Ersery already has accepted an invitation to the Senior Bowl, a signal he will forgo his final season.

Four reserves with eligibility remaining also took part in the ceremony: linebacker Eli Mau, defensive linemen Jack Hawkinson and Luther McCoy and offensive lineman Jackson Hunter.

The Gophers were without safeties Aidan Gousby and Darius Green for Saturday’s game because of injuries. Green has been in and out of the lineup this season, while Gousby started the past five games but was injured at Rutgers on Nov. 9. Both were listed as out on the Big Ten’s availability report, as was reserve tight end Pierce Walsh.

The Gophers had no players listed as questionable.

Cooper, the left guard who had missed the previous two games, returned to the lineup.

Anthony Smith was helped off the field in the second quarter because of a leg injury but later returned to the game. Linebacker Maverick Baranowski was assisted off the field late in the second quarter.

Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle appeared on the KFXN-FM pregame show and addressed the Gophers’ bowl situation.

“Wins help,’’ he said. “If you can get a win today and a win next week at Wisconsin, that totally changes your bowl possibilities. If we split or don’t win both games, we’re looking at everything between the Music City Bowl and the Rate Bowl in Arizona.’’

For the Gophers and other Big Ten teams, the bowl destination hinges on how many conference teams make it to the College Football Playoff. Entering Saturday, No. 1 Oregon, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 4 Penn State and No. 5 Indiana appeared likely to make the field. But with Ohio State’s 38-15 rout of the Hoosiers, there’s a chance Indiana would miss out on the playoff.

After the College Football Playoff picks its field, the Big Ten will fill its bowls in order: Citrus (Dec. 31, Orlando), ReliaQuest (Dec. 31, Tampa), Duke’s Mayo (Jan. 3, Charlotte), Music City (Dec. 30, Nashville), Pinstripe (Dec. 28, New York), Rate (Dec. 26, Phoenix) and GameAbove Sports (Dec. 26, Detroit).

• Robinson’s two-point defensive conversion on the blocked PAT late in the first half was the Gophers’ first since Mario Reese’s interception return against Wisconsin in 2006.

• Brosmer and Striggow accepted an invitation to play in the Hulu Bowl on Jan. 11 in Orlando. Cooper will play in the East-West Shrine Bowl on Jan. 30 in Arlington, Texas.

• Saturday’s game was the Gophers’ first on CBS since the 2003 Sun Bowl and the first regular-season game on the network since Nov. 15, 1986, when Minnesota upset No. 2 Michigan 20-17 in Ann Arbor. The Gophers will be on CBS for two consecutive weeks because the network will televise Friday’s game at Wisconsin.

• Former Gophers quarterback Adam Weber gave the speech to the team during Saturday’s captains breakfast.