MN Gophers Star Running Back Returning to Dinkytown
On Friday the transfer portal opened for college football, and with the way the sport has changed in the NIL era, it was always going to impact the Minnesota Gophers. We already knew that Anthony Smith and Karter Menz would return for P.J. Fleck. Unfortunately it looks like Koi Perich’s loyalty has run out .
There are still other significant names on the Gophers roster, and among them is Darius Taylor. While injuries have robbed us of seeing him at his best , he has now unveiled that we’ll still see him in the maroon and gold next season.
Darius Taylor back for another year with the MN Gophers
Minnesota finished 8-5 following a Rate Bowl win over New Mexico. That contest was an important opportunity for P.J. Fleck to continue building towards 2026. Darius Taylor was active and turned in a strong performance . He’ll parlay that showing into another season with the Minnesota Gophers.
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Taylor capped off his season with a 116-yard performance in the Rate Bowl and added a touchdown. The junior played in 10 games for the MN Gophers this season and had 670 yards with a 4.7 yards per carry average.
He had just four rushing touchdowns and missed time with a nagging hamstring injury suffered early in the year . However, he continued to evolve as a pass-catcher and posted 245 receiving yards on 34 receptions.
Fleck and the Gophers needed to keep Taylor after young running back Fame Ijeboi announced he would be entering the transfer portal . Washington transfer Cam Davis is out of eligibility and that could have left the room pretty thin.
Expect Taylor to be the lead back next year, and a healthy A.J. Turner to supplement him. We also saw Grant Washington flash in brief moments as a freshman. The hope would be that Fleck can turn his strong recruiting class into a contender right away next season.
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