Fleck says Lindsey has grown most on the team ahead of opener
P.J. Fleck spent camp talking up Drake Lindsey's development, and an open-practice flash of arm talent backed it up before Minnesota's opener against Eastern Illinois.
Fleck says Lindsey has grown more than anybody on the team
P.J. Fleck spent the last stretch of camp talking about his quarterback, not the depth chart around him. "Drake has grown maybe the most of anybody on this football team," Fleck said, via the Star Tribune, adding that Lindsey "understands the transparency of what he has to do to grow and get better." The Star Tribune also has Fleck singling out one rep as his favorite of the whole camp, saying Lindsey "looked like a pro going through his progressions" on it — and the eye test backed it up at an open practice at Athletes Village, where Lindsey hit Hayden Moore for a 55-yard touchdown and connected with Jalen Smith on a one-handed, 40-yard grab, per the Star Tribune.
On3 reports Lindsey is simply locked in as the starter for 2026 — no quarterback competition to speak of at the top of the depth chart — after going 8-5 as a redshirt freshman a year ago, and that Fleck is 6-3 on opening night at Minnesota, with his only three opening losses coming against North Carolina, Ohio State and Michigan. Lindsey isn't walking into this alone, either. The Star Tribune has Fleck bringing back Anthony Smith, the Big Ten's preseason Defensive Player of the Year after a 2025 season with a league-leading 12.5 sacks, along with leading rusher Darius Taylor, receivers Jalen Smith and Javon Tracy, and left guard Greg Johnson.
Behind Lindsey, the QB2 job is still unsettled — 247Sports has incumbent Max Shikenjanski, Liberty transfer Max Merdinger and freshman Brady Palmer all in the mix for snaps two and three, even with the starting job long since decided. That's a real camp battle running underneath the Lindsey story, not a formality.
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How last season actually ended
Minnesota closed last season by winning three of its final five, and the shape of that stretch is worth remembering going into a fresh opener. The Gophers beat Michigan State 23-20 on November 1, then dropped two lopsided road games — 13-42 at Oregon and 35-38 at Northwestern — before turning it around at home.
They beat Wisconsin 17-7 on November 29 to close the rivalry series on a high note, then finished last season with that 20-17 bowl win over New Mexico on December 26. It's a season that ended better than its middle suggested, and it's the only form on the board until Thursday.
Minnesota just signed the guy who tried to beat them in the bowl game
On3's Pete Nakos reported on August 21 that New Mexico kicker Luke Drzewiecki has signed with Minnesota, calling him an all-conference selection out of the Mountain West. The wrinkle is obvious to anyone who watched the bowl game: Drzewiecki spent last season lined up against the Gophers, not for them, in a game Minnesota won 20-17 on December 26.
There's no record here of what went wrong at kicker in Minneapolis last fall, but the fact that the staff went and got the leg off the team they just squeaked past says something about how thin that margin felt in the building. It also lands in a room that was still open — the Star Tribune has Fleck saying the kicking job remained up for grabs into the final scrimmage of camp, so Drzewiecki isn't a depth signing behind a settled starter. Drzewiecki now walks into a Big Ten program with an all-conference resume, a genuine shot at the job, and a very specific memory of the last time these two teams shared a scoreboard.
Eastern Illinois already has a win, and a healthy line to prove it
Minnesota opens 143rd season of Golden Gopher football tonight vs. Eastern Illinois at Huntington Bank Stadium, and the visitors aren't walking in cold — Eastern Illinois beat Murray State 28-14 on the road in its own opener, leaning on the run and a pair of second-half interceptions under fifth-year coach Chris Wilkerson. The market has taken note of the gap in resources rather than the result: Minnesota opened as a 43.5-point favorite, with the total set at a middling 51.5, which is what a Big Ten program hosting an FCS opponent looks like on a board no matter how that opponent's own opener went.
Covers' injury table has three Gophers worth watching, though none of them read as locks to sit. Wide receiver B. Stevens is questionable with an illness reported August 22, tight end P. Walsh is questionable with a wrist injury from the same report, and running back A. Turner is questionable with a knee injury that has been on the list since early August — all three hedges, not rulings, per Covers. With Darius Taylor still the headline back and Lindsey the story of the week, Minnesota gets a chance to open its season the way Fleck has framed camp all along: with the quarterback out front and the roster around him intact.