Minnesota linebacker Maverick Baranowski is in the mix for one of college football’s top defensive honors.
The fifth-year senior has been named one of 15 semifinalists for the Butkus Award, which goes annually to the nation’s top linebacker. Baranowski has put together a steady, disruptive season for the Gophers, and the numbers back it up.
He leads Minnesota with 52 tackles and is averaging 7.4 tackles per game, which ranks 10th in the Big Ten. He has also piled up 3.5 tackles for loss, 1.0 sacks, an interception, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and two quarterback hurries. Baranowski has also been remarkably consistent, finishing with at least six tackles in each of his last 18 games.
The Ponce Inlet, Fla., native also grades well across the board in Pro Football Focus’ metrics. Among Big Ten linebackers, he ranks sixth in rush defense at 85.4, 10th in pass rush grade at 75.7 and 13th in overall grade at 78.3.
His production stretches well beyond this season. Baranowski is seventh among all active FBS players with 273 career tackles.
Several of his biggest games have come in recent weeks. Against Iowa, he posted seven tackles, forced a fumble for the first time this season and recovered a fumble.
The week before at Purdue, he had a season-high and game-high 11 tackles, along with 0.5 tackles for loss. That was the seventh double-digit tackle game of his career.
Back on Sept. 26 at Washington, Baranowski tied for the team lead with seven tackles and added 2.0 tackles for loss, a season high. He also matched his personal best with 1.0 sacks and picked off his first career interception, a play that helped set up Minnesota’s first touchdown against the Huskies. That performance earned him Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors for the first time.
The Butkus Award has been handed out since 1985 and remains one of the sport’s most respected individual prizes. Named for Pro Football Hall of Famer Dick Butkus, it honors the game’s top linebackers at the high school, college and professional levels.
The semifinalists were chosen through a national evaluation process involving coaches, scouts and football journalists. Finalists will be announced on Nov. 20, and the 2026 Butkus Award winners will be revealed the week of Dec. 7.
In Other News...
Minnesota Faces An Indiana Test With One Huge Offensive Unknown
Indianas recent stretch has offered Minnesota a clearer look at what the Hoosiers want to be under this staff: physical, transfer-driven and built around a defense that has carried more than its share of the load. Zach Osterman, who covers Indiana, pointed to the programs preference for proven additions and to a unit that has given opponents very little room to breathe, especially up front. For the Gophers, that means the matchup is less about flash and more about whether they can avoid getting dragged into a game dictated by Indianas defense and its tempo of control.
The offensive unknown sits at quarterback, where Josh Hoovers status has been a lingering question as the week has gone on. Indiana has had reason to feel better about the position than it did earlier in the process, and it also has a backup in Grant Wilson it trusts if the situation calls for it. Even so, the bigger issue for the Hoosiers may be more basic than the name under center: their offense has to show more, particularly on the ground, if it wants to match the standard their defense is setting. [Read more 🡒]
Minnesota Faces Its Biggest Proving Ground Yet After Emotional Iowa Win
Saturday at Memorial Stadium brings a much stiffer test for Minnesota, with the Gophers heading to Bloomington to face No. 4 Indiana at 2:30 p.m. on CBS and Paramount+. The trip comes on the heels of a 13-10 win over Iowa, a result that left Minnesota with three rivalry trophies at once for the first time since 1978, a reminder that this team has already made plenty of noise before reaching the thick of the schedule.
Now comes the bigger measuring stick. Indiana has the ranking, the home stage and the national spotlight, and the matchup will draw even more attention as the Gophers try to show their emotional breakthrough can carry into a road game of this size. For Minnesota, it is the kind of afternoon that can either validate the momentum from last week or show how far there still is to go. [Read more 🡒]
P.J. Fleck Just Fueled Minnesotas Biggest Offensive Debate
The offensive frustration that has shadowed Minnesota for stretches of the last few seasons was back in plain view against Iowa, when the Gophers struggled to sustain anything consistent and the game turned into another reminder of how much the margin for error shrinks when the defense and special teams are carrying the load. Minnesotas offense has landed near the bottom nationally and in the Big Ten, and with the next stretch of games looming, the lack of rhythm is starting to feel less like a bad night and more like a lingering issue.
P.J. Flecks support for Greg Harbaugh Jr. only adds another layer to the conversation, because the head coach is clearly not looking to make this a public referendum on his offensive coordinator. But with the results continuing to lag and the unit still searching for answers, the bigger question around the program is no longer whether the offense has room to improve. It is whether there is enough time left in the season for that improvement to show up before the schedule asks Minnesota to answer for it again. [Read more 🡒]