Gopher Football’s Christmas Wishlist

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The 2022 regular season is in the books. After an 8-4 finish, many Gopher fans still feel there is more to be desired. Here’s my wish list for Gopher Football this offseason.

Wide Receiver

Former Wisconsin Badger (now Badger again) and 4-star WR Markus Allen briefly committed to Minnesota, but now the Gophers are once again short on pass catchers. Plenty of options in the transfer portal and I like to dream big. The Gophers recently received a transfer commitment from Western Michigan Wide Receiver Corey Crooms, BUT I WANT MORE!!

Safety

Tyler Nubin deciding to return to Minnesota for another season is huge for this group, but the Gophers are still departed by Jordan Howden, leaving a void in the secondary. A strong secondary will be necessary for the Gophers in 2023 with the high-powered Buckeyes on the schedule. Big changes are coming at Iowa and Wisconsin as well on the offensive side of the ball.

A New Special Teams Coordinator

Gophers special teams are a weekly disaster. Rob Wenger, it’s time to go. Six seasons with very little success is too long of a leash. We did have that one long kick return against Illinois, so there’s that. I don’t have anymore nice things to say so we’ll leave it here. At least allow Coach Mike Hawk to direct the onside kicks.

Punter

We’ve all heard that football is a game of inches and those inches are often found on the punt units.

A Win vs Iowa

EIGHT STRAIGHT SEASONS. It’s too many. I need that damn pig back in Minnesota by this time next year.

Be NICE!

I’d like to finish by saying Gopher fans shouldn’t take this stretch for granted. Eight and nine wins seasons can turn to three, four or five wins seasons if you get too trigger happy (just ask Nebraska). Of course it could be better, but this program has a higher floor than it has in over 60 years.