The rush of roster building over, Gophers coach P.J. Fleck rushes into bowl mode

La Velle's 3-2 Pitch: Three observations and two predictions on Sundays.

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In case you have forgotten, the Gophers face Bowling Green on Tuesday in the Quick Lane Bowl.

It's been easy to overlook while keeping up with roster upheaval across college football. Gone are the days when the annual Sid Hartman question — "How much will you benefit from the 15 extra practices?" — was part of the buildup to the Quick Lane Bowl, Pinstripe Bowl, Texas Bowl or whatever bowl the Gophers were playing in.

Now the questions are: Who's coming? Who's going? Who's staying? Who's skipping the bowl game? Who has flipped their commitment?

In addition to needing a recruiting tracker, you need a portal tracker and an NIL tracker. I must admit that college football free agency at times is more interesting than baseball free agency, but it has become a distraction that interferes with bowl season.

Gophers coach P.J. Fleck had to navigate through all of this in recent weeks — while also beginning the search to replace defensive coordinator Joe Rossi, who left to take a similar position at Michigan State.

"As crazy, busy as that sounds, that's the fun of it," Fleck said.

Now game time is near.

"It's unique, you know," Fleck said. "Some practices you are there, some practices you are not. We've talked about it being a player-led team. This team is a completely different team than at the end of the year, from the top to the bottom of the roster. We don't have a scout team."

Fleck looked sharp in a sport coat and tie on Wednesday as he talked about his latest recruiting class and looked ahead to the Quick Lane Bowl. He spoke about meeting recruits' parents, the food he ate, the to-go plates he was given and the diverse backgrounds of his new players. He indicated that the NIL situation is much better than a year ago — which must be a relief since he went public in September with pleas for donations.

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He took the time to unleash another Fleck-ism, "If you're juiceless, you're useless," while expressing excitement about what's being promoted as his best recruiting class since he arrived in 2017. Then he spoke about facing Bowling Green, a program that beat the Gophers 14-10 in Minnesota in 2021, and how tricky its offense can be to stop.

Finally, we can focus on the game.

At first, it seemed that the 5-7 Gophers didn't deserve to go to a bowl game after underachieving. But now that the portal Olympics have ended, I can't wait to watch it.

Wonnum has claimed his spot

The Vikings could have been in a pickle when free-agent edge rusher Marcus Davenport went down with a high ankle sprain on Oct. 15 that led to surgery. He was brought on as a pass-rushing complement to the elite Danielle Hunter.

Enter D.J. Wonnum into the void.

Wonnum, who had a career-high eight sacks in 2021, has matched that output with three games left to play this season. He has an outside chance of reaching double digits in sacks. Hunter has 15.5 sacks, also a career high and a half-sack behind Pittsburgh's T.J. Watt for the league lead.

There are no indications Davenport, signed to a one-year, $13 million contract during the offseason, will return to the field before the end of the regular season. And it's hard to see Davenport being brought back next season. Wonnum, however, has earned himself an extension and should be brought back, preferably with Hunter.

Rob Antony exits, time marches on

Rob Antony, one of the longest-tenured employees with the Twins, recently completed his 36th season with the organization. During that time, he worked in media relations, minor league operations, scouting and player development. He was the director of baseball operations for 12 seasons, assistant general manager for 15 seasons and served as interim general manager in 2016 when the team parted ways with Terry Ryan.

This past season, Antony served as a vice president and special assistant to baseball operations. He offered invaluable institutional knowledge of the club — until it was deemed he was no longer valuable. His contract is not being renewed for 2024 as the Twins look to allocate their resources differently. Antony, a University of Minnesota graduate, was well-liked and will be greatly missed.

To date, the Twins have parted ways with, or reassigned, Antony, announcer Dick Bremer and longtime scout Bill Milos this offseason. Change stinks.

... AND TWO PREDICTIONS ...

Bowling Green beat Georgia Tech and lost 31-6 at Michigan. The Gophers were throttled 52-10 at home by Michigan. Cole Kramer has attempted 44 passes in his career. Let's take the Falcons in this one, 23-20.

The Vikings defense will make sure Jared Goff is off on Sunday. Jaren Hall will come off the bench and lead the Purple to a 24-16 victory.