New Gophers QB Tasked With More Responsibilities at LOS
Now with the Minnesota Vikings, and already turning heads as part of the backup quarterback situation, Brosmer would love to see his replacement play at a high level. Lindsey knows there is plenty expected of him, and this schedule sets up well for P.J. Fleck's team to make noise.
Lindsey will be under center later this month against the Buffalo Bulls, and the head coach is handing him plenty of responsibility.
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Drake Lindsey trusted early by Minnesota Gophers
After transferring in from New Hampshire, Max Brosmer quickly acclimated to the Division 1 level and showed he was capable of hanging in the Big Ten. Drake Lindsey signed with Minnesota in December 2023, and has waited for his chance. It's now here and offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh Jr. told the Star Tribune he's giving Lindsey everything he can handle.
'He's doing more [adjustments] at the line of scrimmage than Max was. That's by design,' Harbaugh said of Lindsey. 'He can handle it. It's exciting because he's been able to get our offense in great situations.'
With the plan being for Lindsey to spread the ball around, Harbaugh realizes the complexities involved in not having one alpha receiver grab the bulk of the catches. Players must be on board.
'The first talk I gave this year was about being selfless,' Harbaugh said. 'We have to be able to understand that someone might come and get you out of the game. They're in there for that particular reason because they can execute that scheme. That's where we have to be.'
Star Tribune
Randy Johnson talked with Harbaugh about the plans for Minnesota's new quarterback. If Lindsey is going to succeed, or even improve upon the foundation that Brosmer laid, then this year is the launching point.
The Big Ten is a gauntlet and Lindsey has a whopping five pass attempts under his belt. The redshirt freshman is excited about leading this team, but he must lean into the direction around him.
Brosmer has continued to be an asset for P.J. Fleck, and he'll be a sounding board for Lindsey as long as the Arkansas-native wants him to be.
Minnesota has been a running back school for some time now. That's not going to change with Darius Taylor and A.J. Turner in tow. If Lindsey can establish a passing game with a couple of transfers joining Le'Meke Brockington, then this offseason could surprise plenty around the nation.
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Fleck continues to build momentum for the program. He earned yet another extension following the Duke's Mayo Bowl victory. The trajectory and limit for success this season is even higher.
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USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Former Nebraska lineman Ty Robinson records first sack with the Philadelphia Eagles
A former Nebraska defensive tackle recorded his first professional sack on Wednesday night. Philadelphia Eagles rookie Ty Robinson sacked Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Jake Browning in the second quarter of his first preseason game. Eagles drafted Ty Robinson with the ninth pick in the fourth round. The defensive tackle had an impressive 2024 for the Cornhuskers. In 13 games, he recorded 37 tackles, 13.0 for loss, and 7.0 sacks. His performance was good enough to earn Third-Team All-Big Ten honors from the coaches and media. He has tallied 130 tackles and 11 sacks in five seasons with the Huskers. Robinson also turned heads at the NFL combine, running a 4.8 340-yard dash and jumping 33.5 inches. He signed a four-year, $5.1 million deal with a $1 million signing bonus back in May. Contact/Follow us @CornhuskersWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Nebraska news, notes, and opinions.


New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Does SEC, Big Ten or Congress run college football? Examining candidates atop the chaos
For better or worse, it looked as if the chaos engine that is college football finally had a hand on the wheel. Two hands, actually: Leaders from the SEC and Big Ten met in February in New Orleans, the most powerful leagues breaking bread to decide the future format of the College Football Playoff. Super conference powers, activated. Advertisement But old habits die hard. Only weeks later, the Big Ten still wanted more automatic qualifiers for the Playoff, while the SEC suddenly leaned toward more at-large bids. Just like that, the sport's newest power couple was already on the rocks as the chaos revved on. College football has long been plagued by too many forces pulling in too many directions, with no one in command. It's a confounding existence for such a popular, lucrative sport … but it's also what makes it so fascinating. We love the mess, exhausting as it might be. Now, after two decades of realignment and defining legal battles, college sports is embarking on a new era in which schools pay players directly, with a lingering question: Who is really in charge of college football? In no particular order, these are the contenders. And they go all the way to the top. The juxtaposition between these two illustrates why it's so difficult to build any sort of consensus in the sport. They helm the two most powerful conferences, but they are also very different commissioners of very different leagues. Sankey's longevity has painted him as the villain in recent years, courtesy of disruptive realignment moves, CFP disarray and the SEC's general air of self-importance. But the vibes have shifted with this latest Playoff debate. Sankey, favoring more at-large spots, seems to have more support among fans, while Petitti, a former television executive, is sticking with a model heavy on automatic qualifiers and the made-for-TV play-in games he could pair with it. This has increasingly put the Big Ten commish on an island. Petitti can afford to be unpopular, evidenced by the Big Ten's bottom line and winning the past two national championships. The reality is similar for Sankey. Despite the current disconnect, both leagues are thriving and will dictate the future of the sport one way or another — the Playoff format in particular, which the SEC and Big Ten have final say on. Advertisement It's puzzling that the two can't seem to get on the same page, but the rest of college football should brace itself for what happens if they finally do. The new sheriff in town, Seeley was handpicked to lead the nascent CSC after a lengthy stint as head of investigations for Major League Baseball. His background endeared him to a job where he is tasked with curbing a century of rule-breaking defiance in college sports. It's an unenviable assignment, especially after a bumpy takeoff for the commission, but it's a challenge Seeley 'ran to,' in the words of Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark. One of the purported pillars of the CSC is an enforcement arm with some teeth, meant to deter bad actors and corner-cutters in ways the NCAA never did. It was installed to regulate the revenue-sharing cap that schools must adhere to and evaluate the fair-market value of name, image and likeness deals between athletes and third parties. We haven't seen it in action yet, and many remain skeptical, including the lawyers gathering outside the CSC's freshly erected gates. If Seeley can effectively snuff out and drop the hammer on rule breakers (and evade legal entanglement), it will give him and the CSC considerable influence. If not, he'll be another cook in an already crowded and dysfunctional kitchen. Many of the sport's traditional leaders are asking Congress to legislate the course for college football, with the NCAA and power conferences lobbying for federal legislation and antitrust exemptions. The goal is to set in stone the newly implemented House settlement that cleared the way for revenue sharing and allowed college athletes to remain students rather than employees — with the hope of slowing the onslaught of legal battles. Congress also holds the keys to adjusting the Sports Broadcasting Act, which could factor into the next round of television rights negotiations. But if you think it's far-fetched for the various conferences and administrators to get on the same page, good luck wrangling consensus in Congress. Those advocating for it will tell you that fixing college sports is a nonpartisan issue with coast-to-coast support, but that has yet to manifest on Capitol Hill, where numerous hearings and drafted bills have gone nowhere. The SCORE Act recently became the first bill to survive committee markups and could be put to a vote in the House of Representatives this fall, but it has little bipartisan support and plenty of outside opposition. POTUS threw his hat into the ring with a recent executive order that touts a goal of stabilizing collegiate athletics. In a more realistic sense, it simply adds another (very notable) name to this list. The order affirmed much of what college sports leaders are lobbying for on The Hill, while also stressing the value of preserving Olympic and other non-revenue sports. Advertisement An executive order can't establish law or offer antitrust exemptions — Congress has to do that — but it can influence and guide Congress, something Trump has shown a penchant for on the Republican side. The order also alluded to 'Federal funding decisions' as one way to advance its preferred policies, which is worth tracking. Trump's impact here remains to be seen, but the interest now rises to the highest office of American politics. Don't laugh. Yes, the role of NCAA president is often equivalent to sitting atop a carnival dunk tank, but Baker has quickly and quietly worked to stabilize the industry since taking the job in March 2023. He abandoned predecessor Mark Emmert's crusade to uphold the amateurism model by taking a proactive approach to the House settlement — avoiding another costly judicial defeat in the process — and has worked to get the conferences and constituencies on-message when lobbying for Congressional intervention. Baker has also been willing to cede control to the power conferences in an effort to keep the NCAA viable. The organization has far less influence under the settlement, though at least for the time being, it remains the only semblance of centralized leadership across all of college sports. And if there is any headway with Congress, the NCAA will continue to have a seat at the table. The billionaire oil magnate and Texas Tech mega booster is hoping to add another line to his CV: The man who saved college sports. He even created a non-profit dubbed Saving College Sports — the same name as the executive order Trump recently signed. It's a passion project for Campbell, a former Red Raiders football player who believes the TV popularity of college football can be leveraged in a way that boosts overall revenues, allowing all schools — not just the elite programs — to maintain their non-revenue sports while still bringing in enough to pay the athletes. 'My concern is that a lot of legislative proposals that we have are just essentially ensuring we stay on the same path, which will lead to destruction of the system,' Campbell told The Athletic. 'We need to start thinking long term and more about the greater good.' Campbell's business acumen gives him a direct line to Congress and the White House. A rumored presidential commission on college sports that Campbell would have co-chaired with Nick Saban never materialized, but Campbell was recently appointed to the President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition and will be a prominent adviser. Advertisement Coaches remain the faces of college football, particularly if you include Saban as an honorary member. He's not on the sideline at Alabama anymore (or part of a presidential commission), but he has the bullhorn of ESPN and 'College GameDay.' It's a similar pulpit for the likes of Kirby Smart, Dabo Swinney, Deion Sanders, Ryan Day and others. They don't have a ton of direct power off the field — the COVID-19 pandemic showed as much — but unlike commissioners and other administrators, fans tend to listen when head coaches talk. We saw this at work when the SEC football coaches got behind the at-large Playoff format and shifted the league's position. Maybe it won't be the last example. He's the CAA superagent with a high-wattage client roster that includes almost every coach in the SEC. He's also the bane of every athletic director's existence and a stone-cold assassin at the negotiating table. 'In terms of representing coaches, he's the best that's ever done it,' said an industry source, who requested anonymity despite (or maybe because of) the flattering words. 'He's set the bar when it comes to coach contracts.' Off the field, Sexton doesn't exactly hold the fate of college football in his hands, but he is pulling the strings when it comes to the game's biggest and brightest personalities. The court system has arguably had the heaviest hand on college football over the past decade-plus, paving the way for new NIL guidelines, multiple penalty-free transfers and stamping out amateurism via the House settlement. Judge Claudia Wilken had considerable influence, ruling against the NCAA in two prominent cases and presiding over the House settlement, which resulted in roughly $750 million in fees to the plaintiff lawyers. The legal battles aren't over, either, with debates on antitrust, employment and Title IX still on the horizon. The question is whether Congress or the courts will weigh in first. It's not as simple as saying 'ESPN and Fox' equates to 'the SEC and Big Ten'… but that's definitely part of it. The sport's preeminent television networks, including CBS and NBC, are neck-and-neck with high-profile court rulings in terms of what has shaped college football the most in recent years. Conference TV deals and the effect that money has had on realignment altered the fabric of the sport — many would argue for the worse, though the networks would point to ratings for Texas-Georgia or 'Big Noon Kickoff' and argue otherwise. Amid the high interest, media personalities like Kirk Herbstreit, Pat McAfee and Joel Klatt have the platforms to shape public opinion. There's also the networks' influence on scheduling and the fingerprints of ESPN's Burke Magnus in shaping how the sport is covered. Advertisement How will these networks approach — and depict — the next round of negotiations? Do they embrace (or encourage) a potential super league consolidation, or will they prefer to maintain the status quo? Many fans forget or don't even realize that these are the real bosses. Presidents and chancellors make up the conference boards that commissioners have to answer to, including signing off on realignment and television deals. Some are more athletically inclined than others, and most are heavily influenced by the commissioners and athletic directors they govern. Their names tend to stay out of the sports pages aside from scandals or controversial remarks — Kenneth Starr, Gordon Gee, Ed Ray — but in the end, little gets decided or done without their input. How closely these leaders want college football to remain tethered to academia will be a crucial part of the sport's future. The dynamic has shifted thanks to the money that players can now earn, but the sprawling, transient nature of college athletics makes it tough for these athletes to organize. Do they want to unionize? Do they want to be considered employees? As the House settlement showed, they can often make the biggest impact in court, but that requires lawyers, judges and usually years of legal red tape. The same may ultimately be true of the employment and collective bargaining debates. But after decades and decades of having very little agency, the circumstances have changed. And just look at Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, who is playing another season because he challenged the NCAA in court. It's a rotating collection of 13 administrators, media members and former players and coaches, most of whom you couldn't name if they knocked on your front door. And yet the College Football Playoff selection committee has a vice grip on the sport each fall, serving up weekly rankings and endless frustrations. That role didn't change with the shift from a four-team field to a 12-team field, and unless Petitti gets his way, it would be the same with 16 teams, too. The nature of the current selection process means there will always be controversy, though it appears to be the preferred, 'devil you know' annoyance for many in the sport. The committee is granted a lot of power, but fans seem more resistant of the formats that would take that power away. (Top illustration: Will Tullos / The Athletic; Photos: Michael Hickey, Todd Kirkland, Ric Tapia / Getty Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle


New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Vikings roster bubble: 12 players who need to stand out in preseason opener vs. Texans
Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell has never hidden his feelings about preseason games. It's not that he thinks they don't matter. He just doesn't view them as key evaluation points for the starters. For the backups, though? It's an entirely different story. In past years, eventual members of the 53-man roster staked their claims on Saturday afternoons like this one against the Houston Texans. Advertisement Who needs to show his stuff in the 2025 preseason opener? Here are 12 Vikings players, in order of their jersey number: Moore is dynamic with the ball in his hands, and he's also shifty enough to get open. The questions lay everywhere else. Can he stay healthy for an extended period? And if he is healthy, how well has he picked up an offense more cumbersome than anything he experienced in college or during his first three NFL seasons? The Vikings' needs — receiver depth and someone to return punts — are big enough question marks to keep him in play. Saturday should present him with an opportunity to garner trust. Asamoah has carved out a nice special teams role in recent years. Last season, he played 321 snaps there. His sideline-to-sideline burst has never been a question, but he hasn't found his footing on defense since Brian Flores became the coordinator. Rookie linebacker Kobe King adds a layer of competition. Asamoah is also in the final year of his rookie contract, and the Vikings could save nearly $1.5 million on the salary cap by parting with him. J.J. McCarthy's performance Saturday will matter for optics more than anything else. Internally, the Vikings view this as a prime chance to practice the huddle operation, cadences and pre-snap checks. Howell, though, must impress. Minnesota needs to enter the season with a backup it can trust if needed in a pinch, and Howell hasn't inspired much faith through the first few weeks. The issue has not been his arm strength or layering, but rather his inefficiency operating an offense that asks the quarterbacks to go through reads. It hasn't helped that the Vikings' pass rush has been menacing, but if Howell is going to secure the backup spot, this is where he must start. 8️⃣ ➡️ 4️⃣ — Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) August 6, 2025 Flores was asked last week about McGlothern, and the coach's answer revolved around consistency. McGlothern had made a few interceptions in consecutive days. Last year, he displayed sufficient ball skills to land on the 53-man roster. The cornerback room beyond Byron Murphy Jr., Isaiah Rodgers and Jeff Okudah remains unproven. Mekhi Blackmon's involvement has increased in recent days, and undrafted rookie Zemaiah Vaughn has received ample snaps with the No. 2 unit. McGlothern may make the team by sheer numbers, but he's going to have to earn it. Advertisement Chandler's burst with the ball in his hands has never been a concern. His 23-carry, 132-yard performance in 2023 against the Cincinnati Bengals speaks for itself. For Chandler to establish himself as the No. 3 running back behind Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason, he'll have to show a mastery of everything else: pass protection, pass catching and juice in the return game. He, too, is in the final year of his rookie contract. His departure could mean another $1.1 million saved. The battle within Saturday's battle will be Chandler versus Scott. They've both taken plenty of snaps during training camp, and Scott has held his own. He doesn't have Chandler's top-end speed, but his receiving ceiling is higher. His path, in general, is fascinating. He was born in Vilseck, Germany, and attended college at UConn and Maine. The Colts scooped him up as an undrafted free agent in 2023, and he has been with the Vikings since last season. Richter being on this list is a nod to his productive training camp more than anything else. He became a key contributor on special teams last year. He'll likely continue in that role. It's more his pass-rushing explosiveness that has stood out of late. He executed a nasty spin move last week. He blazed off the line Wednesday. Flores won't reveal any of the schematic newness on Saturday, but it may not matter if Richter is impacting things the way he has on the practice field. Few positions on Saturday are worth monitoring as closely as center. Veteran Ryan Kelly is the surefire starter, but his injury history places more importance on the backup options. Correll was an undrafted addition this spring. He played 51 games in college between Notre Dame and N.C. State. He has mostly been the third-team center in training camp, meaning he'll probably get a meaningful run alongside rookie quarterback Max Brosmer. This is a massive weekend for Jurgens. The Vikings picked him in the seventh round of the 2024 draft. He struggled in the preseason last year, but another year marinating in the system should better prepare the Wake Forest product for his second go-around. If Kelly does not play Saturday, the Vikings will be relying on Jurgens for protection in front of McCarthy — a significant ask. Even if he's snapping to Howell, ensuring the pre-snap procedure runs smoothly will be critical. Advertisement Jackson is the leader in the clubhouse for one of the receiver spots alongside Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Jalen Nailor and Tai Felton. This is his third year with the team. He arrived in 2023 after an exceptional season with the XFL's DC Defenders. His smarts and route-running technique have garnered respect among teammates and coaches. Jackson will be one of the featured receivers in Saturday's game. He may also return punts, which the Vikings toyed around with on Wednesday. Last year, Jones leaked behind the Cleveland Browns defense and galloped 71 yards for a touchdown in the second preseason game. He isn't blazing fast on the perimeter, but his mold isn't too dissimilar from Jackson's. He knows the offense in his second season after the Vikings snagged him as an undrafted player from Maryland. His hands have been reliable throughout camp, and he should be targeted multiple times. Because Jefferson hasn't practiced since the first couple of days with his left hamstring injury, Thomas may have the most 'wow'-inducing catches of anyone in camp. He impressed with a toe-tapping catch in the back of the end zone last week. On Wednesday, he snatched a pass with one hand. He is like Jackson in that he's been here since 2023. Only so many preseason shots exist. (Photo of Rondale Moore: Matt Krohn / Imagn Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle