BYRON, MINN. – Tracy Claeys made all eight stops on the annual Gopher Road Trip this year, culminating Wednesday at Somerby Golf Club, outside Rochester.
Claeys said quarterback Mitch Leidner was cleared to go full speed as the players' began captains' practices this week. Leidner had surgery to repair ligament damage in his left foot two days after being named the MVP of the Quick Lane Bowl.
Claeys said incoming freshman Carter Coughlin has been given clearance to go full speed in the summer workouts. Coughlin, a standout linebacker from Eden Prairie, had shoulder to repair a partially torn labrum in his left shoulder in January.
And here's Claeys on the team's outlook this fall: "We really feel like we're to the point now that we have kids that every year, when you get to the end of November, those last two or three weeks of the season, that people are going to be talking about the Minnesota Gophers going to Indianapolis and having a chance to play for the Big Ten championship, and that's our goal."
