Fifteen new transfer players join the Gophers football team for the 2025 season, all of whom are becoming familiar with the Minnesota way.
A few months after finishing eighth in the Big Ten, the Gophers football team started their spring practice on March 20. Five days later, head coach PJ Fleck pulled out the pads for his players.
Even though the spring season started roughly a week ago, Fleck said he is loving the work he is seeing from the team so far.
“What I love is, in three days, the amount of install that these guys have been able to handle and process at a high level, whether it is the transfers or the young high school players or the veterans,” Fleck said.
Over the past three seasons, the Gophers have been more involved in the transfer portal every year. In 2023, the Gophers brought in four transfers, and 13 in 2024.
Some of the players joining the Gophers this year have been with other schools for the majority of their careers. For example, wide receiver Logan Loya joined UCLA and linebacker Jeff Roberson joined Oklahoma State in 2020 before transferring to the Gophers this past offseason.
Despite his many years under a different coaching staff, Fleck said that with the help of the players and the coaches, Loya has really grown.
“What’s incredible about the portal is you can either hold them back from growing and go at a slow rate, or you can excel them,” Fleck said.
Fleck added he feels young people want to be challenged at a high level, and he feels the program is doing so.
Coaches are not the only ones who work with the new transfers, the players do as well. This season there is a good mix of both defensive and offensive transfers at the University of Minnesota.
In wide receiver Le’Meke Brockington’s five seasons with the Gophers, he met many different players who came from the portal.
Brockington thinks this season’s transfers will fit right in.
“It is almost like they have been here all year since like last season,” Brockington said. “You got Logan out there, he is one of the smartest guys I know.”
Some of the players joining the “Row the Boat” mentality played against the Gophers last year. However, that does not seem to matter now.
“It is awesome to see each other on the same team instead of opposing teams where we can help each other and grow with each other and make the team the best we can,” Brockington said.
The leadership and community of a team can help players adjust to a new environment. Linebacker Derik LeCaptain is going into his final year with the Gophers.
One of the things he said he has learned from these spring practices and meeting the new transfers is that they can bounce new ideas off of each other.
“You get teammates who have been in so many different places,” LeCaptain said. “So, we are able to talk and bounce ideas off of what we have seen on the field.”
Going into his final season, LeCaptain wants to make sure that he continues to spread the leadership of the team.
“I owe so much to the guys who took care of me when I first got here,” LeCaptain said. “The time that those guys put in with me, it helped me gain so much confidence being my first time away from home, first time in a big city.”
LeCaptain said he wants to be the same type of leader he was led by when he first arrived on campus and being a Gophers football player is a first-class experience.
