Gophers prepare for Quick Lane Bowl amid transfer portal chaos, coaching changes

Since the Gophers football team last took the field in the regular-season finale against Wisconsin, change has been a daily theme.

• They went from 5-7, and potentially done for the season, to securing a Quick Lane Bowl bid on the strength of their academics and a 51-yard field goal made by a Hawaii kicker at nearly 1:30 a.m.

• They saw their starting quarterback, Athan Kaliakmanis, and third-stringer, Drew Viotto, enter the transfer portal, forcing coach P.J. Fleck to plead with thought-he-was-retired senior Cole Kramer to return for one last game.

• They saw the steady rudder of their defensive coaching staff, coordinator Joe Rossi, leave for the same position at Michigan State.

• And they witnessed the daily drama of prep recruits and transfer targets committing and decommitting amid the chaos that is the transfer portal and name, image and likeness (NIL) deals.

"You know, it's crazy to see all these things unfold,'' Kramer said Monday as the Gophers prepared to face Bowling Green on Dec. 26 in the Quick Lane Bowl at Detroit's Ford Field.

Added wide receiver Daniel Jackson, "That's the unnamed contract that we signed, going into college football. That's the business world where players and coaches can leave whenever they see fit. You have to be OK with that.''

That college football is a business hasn't been more apparent than it is now. Basically, every player is a potential free agent and can enter the transfer portal during the two NCAA-mandated windows, the current of which opened Dec. 4 and runs through Jan. 2.

The Gophers have had seven players from their 2023 roster enter the portal since the end of the regular season, but they've also been able to keep standouts such as Jackson, cornerback Justin Walley and running back Darius Taylor, among others, in the fold because of NIL deals with Dinkytown Athletes, a school-approved collective.

"The way college football is going, that is a piece of Minnesota now,'' Walley said of Dinkytown Athletes and its role with the program. "The more fan support, the more it will help our team.''

The wild-west aspect of NIL hit a fever pitch last week when a message board poster suggested that Kramer received $30,000 in NIL funds to stay with the team to serve as the starting quarterback in the Quick Lane Bowl. The post received a lot of attention, but Kramer refuted it on Monday.

"I saw the post and the articles, and that's not true,'' he said. "That's not accurate information, as much as I would love for that to be true.''

When the Gophers line up against Bowling Green, they'll do so without Rossi, who was the architect of Minnesota defenses that ranked in the top 10 nationally in fewest yards allowed in 2019, 2021 and 2022. It's a void that linebacker Cody Lindenberg will feel.

"Change is always hard, but you know, it's inevitable,'' he said. "I've got to respond to it. Coach Rossi meant a lot to me. He always will.''

During an appearance on KFXN-FM on Monday, Fleck said he has a plan for which staff member will serve as interim defensive coordinator for the bowl game but wouldn't reveal who it is. "Right now, we have the staff in place to do the bowl game,'' he said.

Fleck added that he has talked to prospective candidates about the defensive coordinator job, but a hire isn't imminent.

"As we go down the road, it will get more hot and heavy,'' Fleck said. "I'm not going to rush into anything.''

Walley said the onus is on the players to make the coordinator's job easier.

"No matter who is calling the defense, we've got to go out there with the mindset of executing our details at the highest level,'' he said.