Are we going to be good on offense? Defense? And SOF players? Any Freshman look amazing?

Hey everyone,

I hope all of you are having a great summer. Football is back in the Twin Cities and with that, we have a site announcement as well.

Starting tomorrow, @Sean_Williams will be stepping away from the site and I will be taking over the role as publisher. First, I want to thank Sean for all he’s done for me and the site of course. I’ll miss working with him.

That being said, I’m very excited to undertake the ownership of Gophers Nation and I have some major plans for the site going forward in terms of making it the best possible spot for Minnesota athletics not just football and basketball necessarily. I’ll be joined initially my Seth Berry, who knows the Midwest region well and will serve as our lead football recruiting writer.

However, while I planned on coming into this role with a blazing start, life has gotten in the way a bit, but in a great way. My wife and I are expecting, 37 weeks actually, and the little guy might be arriving as early as the next 24-48 hours (writing this as I sit in triage at our local women’s and babies hospital). But I personally expect him to be here by late next week at the latest if he doesn’t make his debut this week.

Once we figure everything out here, I plan on getting started on making my vision for the site a reality and I’m hoping you will all be along for the ride.

Also, let this serve as a suggestion box. What would you like to see out of the site going forward? I want to give you, our subscribers, the content that you want.

What I can tell you is that I’m extremely excited for this opportunity and won’t take it for granted. Some kids want to grow up being athletes and don’t get me wrong I did too, but as soon as I realized I was never going to be big enough I quickly latched onto sports journalism and particularly college football and recruiting. To get an opportunity to own and lead a Power 4 side is one that I didn’t think I’d necessarily ever get and I’m very excited about what the future holds here at Gophers Nation and Rivals.

Thanks everyone!

He is on the team now. He is from Canada and played football in Florida last year. He was going to attend a prep school this fall, however he is now signed and with the program.

Anyone go that can report on who looked good, what looked new or different? C'mon, spill. Bueller? Anyone, anyone?

There are soome special promo codes out there for Big Ten Plus and while this one is a USC based promo code, it works for fans of all schools.

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As previously mentioned, my wife and I are expecting! Well, we’re closing in on the proverbial toe meeting leather. Our little one is going to becoming tomorrow hopefully and we could not be more excited. That being said, it will impact our coverage a bit for this weekend. I hope to be able to get back to expected coverage next week. Thank you.

Something to watch closely. No offer yet but if an offer comes... it will be tough for the Gophers to hold on.

University of Minnesota running back Darius Taylor was named to the Maxwell Award watch list today, as announced by the Maxwell Football Club. The Maxwell Award is presented annually to the outstanding player in college football.

Taylor is one of 80 student-athletes on the list, and he is one of only eight sophomores to be recognized. He is one of 12 Big Ten players to be nominated and one of 28 running backs. He is one of five Big Ten running backs on the list.

Taylor played in only six games last season as a true freshman because of injuries. However, in those six games, he rushed 138 times for 799 yards (fifth most ever by a freshman in school history) and five touchdowns. He averaged 133.2 rushing yards per game, which was the third most in school history and he set a true freshman rushing record with 208 yards against Bowling Green in the Quick Lane Bowl.

Taylor led Minnesota with 891 all-purpose yards (799 rushing and 92 receiving) and averaged 148.50 all-purpose yards per game. He had three games with 200 or more all-purpose yards (219 vs. Bowling Green, 216 at Northwestern and 206 vs. Eastern Michigan) and he was third on the team in scoring with 30 points.

Taylor was the only Big Ten running back last season to average more than 100 yards rushing per game, as he averaged 133.2. The next closest was Kyle Monangai from Rutgers, who averaged 97.1. Taylor's 5.8 yards per carry was third in the conference behind Purdue's Tyrone Tracy Jr (6.3 yards per carry) and Ohio State's TreVeyon Henderson (5.9 yards per carry). Taylor's 799 rushing yards – in only six games – placed him eighth in the Big Ten. The seven players ahead of him all played in at least 10 games.

Taylor did not play in enough games to be listed in the NCAA standings last season, but if he were eligible, his 133.2 yards per game would have led the nation and would have been eight yards more than Cody Schrader from Missouri who averaged 125.2 yards per game.

Taylor and Minnesota open the season against North Carolina at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 29 at Huntington Bank Stadium. The game will be broadcast nationally by FOX and can be heard on the Gopher Radio Network.

Welcome to the first edition of Gophers Nation Insider. Hopefully once a week or once every two weeks, we'll have this forum notebook that gives everybody an inside look at the Gophers on and off the field of play.

Gophers in danger of losing OL commit?

A couple weeks ago, Gophers offensive line commitment Zac Stascausky picked up an offer from the Washington Huskies. It was immediately an offer that stood out to us here at Gophers Nation and a recruitment that both Sean and I quickly identified as a potential fip watch. After checking in with a few sources, there is a lot of smoke with Stascausky potentially flipping his commitment to the Huskies in the near future. It would be a tough loss for the Gophers as they were clearly very high on Stascausky but once the Huskies offered, it was going to be hard to keep a kid from the Pacific Northwest from being able to stay closer to home.

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Happened to run into Owen today at the Rise and Fire camp fresh off his weekend visit and commitment to the Gophers.

Enjoy!

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Lansu has visited Minnesota multiple time previously, including a multi-day visit over the weekend

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Gophers like him as a DE. Had other notable offers from Marshall and Temple

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