After Minnesota’s historic win over Michigan to claim the Little Brown Jug, Drake Lindsey turned the page quickly and put the focus on Purdue.
The Gopher quarterback met with the media on Monday and spent plenty of time on the Boilermakers’ defense, which he described as a group that “do a great job of flying around. They play really fast, really physical.
Coach Kevin Kane, he was here last year. Great guy to be around.
Was always in the building working hard, he has their defense doing really good things, we just have to execute.”
Lindsey also said the film session coming out of the Michigan win centered on the same theme Minnesota has been hammering all season: keep sharpening the edges. Asked what Coach Harbaugh emphasized after Sunday’s film review, Lindsey pointed to the details.
“Fine tuning little details, continuing to get better. Continuing to be a great leader.
Getting everybody on the same page and aligned. And just continuing to be the best version of myself and finding things to get better at every single day as an offense, as a team, everyone.”
A big part of that offensive growth, in Lindsey’s view, has been the wide receiver group. When asked about Noah Jennings specifically, he praised both the production and the personal development.
“I think all of the wideouts have done a really good job of improving. I think Noah has really developed as a person, as a leader, and bringing it every single day at practice.
I think is a challenging thing, bringing the juice every single day to practice. And he has fine tuned that and is really hard on himself.”
Lindsey also revisited Jennings’ recruiting story, saying the process moved fast. “It was really quick.
It was like a 48 hour deal. Coach Harbaugh called me and he was here and committed really quick.
I talked to him but I didn't have to do much convincing, he was excited to be a Gopher and when people are like that they are ready to come play.”
That versatility is part of what Lindsey likes most about Minnesota’s offense. He said the group is built so that different pieces can pop on any given week.
“I think that is what is so great about our offense and our wideouts. Running back room, tight end room, everybody.
I think anybody can have a really big game and that is a credit to Coach Harbaugh, Coach Fleck, and that's them getting everybody involved. We have an understanding that we have a lot of really good players and you can plug in anybody to a different spot and they are going to make a play, and that is what is really great about our offense.”
He was also asked where Michigan’s front and scheme ranked among the defenses he has seen through 18 starts. Lindsey didn’t hesitate.
“They were really really good. Definitely one of the best and I have learned from that.
I just have to focus on going one and zero against Purdue.”
Another part of Lindsey’s role has been getting Minnesota into the right looks at the line, and he said that work starts long before game day. He explained that it comes from offseason preparation with Coach Harbaugh and understanding the scheme, the blocking responsibilities, and the best run to check into against a defense’s look.
Lindsey said he talked with Greg Johnson about it and takes pride in getting the offense into the right run because that is where he can have an impact even if he is not carrying out the block himself. He added that Coach Harbaugh has told him since he was a freshmen, is wining the line of scrimmage, whether it comes in the pass game or the run game.
Lindsey closed by describing how quickly he connected with Jennings once the receiver arrived in the winter. “It was pretty quick.
We got aligned pretty quick once he got here in the winter. He worked his butt off: natural athlete, good ball skills, loose hips, can adjust to any type of football.
So when you see that you know you want to go after that and push him to be the best version of himself on and off the field. He accepts the challenges and he will tell me when he thinks I am wrong.
We will go back and forth until we get settled on something. He is a competitor, a great teammate and a great guy to be around.”
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From Minnesotas side, the encouraging part is that this sets up a game where the front seven can make its presence felt if it handles the line of scrimmage. Williams laid out the keys Purdue needs to pull off an upset and still projected a 35-24 Minnesota win, which leaves the Gophers with a chance to turn their edge up front into the kind of control that usually decides Big Ten games. [Read more 🡒]