Projecting Minnesota’s defensive two-deep with one week until kickoff

One week from today, the Minnesota Golden Gophers open their 2025 season against Buffalo at Huntington Bank Stadium. With kickoff fast approaching, Gophers Nation lays out its final defensive two-deep projection for next Thursday night.

Defensive Line

The only question mark that we had coming into training camp about the Gophers’ starting defensive line was who would take over for Danny Striggow at rush end. During his press conference on Monday, Gophers’ defensive coordinator Danny Collins appeared to answer that question.

When asked about the rush end position, Collins said the following;

“I’m excited about our rush position,” he said. “Jaxon Howard has taken the next step that he needed to take this training camp.”

“With the run game being number one, being able to stop the run. We’re in the Big Ten. It’s about running the ball, and it’s about stopping the run,” Collins elaborated. “And I think Jaxon Howard has taken that physicality to the next level. I’m really excited about him.”

With that, we have slotted Jaxon Howard into the starting role at rush end, beating out Lucas Finnessy. We have also moved Finnessy over to the defensive end spot to back up Anthony Smith alongside Steven Curtis, while Karter Menz will be the primary second-string rush end.

“I’m really excited about Karter Menz being able to rush the passer,” Collins said. “We have guys that have strengths in certain areas. And that’s when we’re going to be able to use those guys. Pass situations, things like that. Now we can have Karter pin his ears back, and here we go.”

Beyond the rush end spot, the nose tackle depth is concerning, as we’ve discussed numerous times. It appears unlikely that neither Mo Omonode nor Theorin Randle will be ready to go for week one and potentially beyond, leaving it to Nate Becker to be the likely second-string option. Redshirt freshman Riley Sunram could also factor into the rotation.

Linebackers

While Maverick Baranowski has had the MIKE linebacker spot locked up since the end of last season, the WILL spot was up for taking this offseason and fall camp. After bringing in Oklahoma State transfer Jeff Roberson this offseason, it appears that it will be veteran Devon Williams getting the first crack at the job this season.

Roberson is likely to still see his fair share of snaps, but it was certainly not the role that many envisioned for the former Cowboy. Also factoring in at the WILL spot will be redshirt sophomore Matt Kingsbury and true freshman Emmanuel Karmo.

Backing up Baranowski, there is no true No. 2 in our opinion that best fits the position, but Joey Gerlach could act as a Swiss army knife in that regard, as he could be the No. 2 MIKE while also using the SAM linebacker spot when the Gophers choose to use the SAM.

Secondary

The potential questions within the secondary received some clarity this week when defensive coordinator Danny Collins met with the media. With Za’Quan Bryan locked into one cornerback spot, the second spot appears likely to go to Iowa transfer John Nestor, with redshirt freshman Mike Gerald also competing for starting time.

The nickel back spot is also a question at this moment. Darius Green was having an excellent fall camp, but the last time the media had access to practice, Green was not present. It’s unclear if he’s going to be ready for the start of the season. The same thing can be said about Jai’Onte McMIlan, who missed the last two practices that the media was present at as well. If both are unable to go next Thursday, it will be interesting to see who the Gophers slide into that nickelback position.

Rhyland Kelly, Jaylen Bowden, and Naiim Parrish will all compete for playing time as part of the cornerback rotation as well.

At safety, Koi Perich and Kerry Brown have been locked in as the starters. Darius Green, Garrison Monroe, and Aidan Gousby will make up most of the rotational snaps.

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