A.J. Barker is gone but not forgotten. For some teams, that might be a problem.
The danger, as veteran Gophers know, is that preparations get swallowed up by the headlines, that Twitter feeds become more enticing than the game plan. That you become so occupied with the latest gossip, you find yourself standing on the field Saturday without a real grasp of what you're supposed to be doing.
"As a team, distractions can really bring you down," linebacker Mike Rallis said Tuesday. "They happen. So you've got to train yourself -- when you're on the field, you just focus on what you're doing."
The Gophers are well-trained at that task, Rallis said. And for that, they can thank Tim Brewster, sort of.
"We've dealt with stuff like this before," the senior linebacker said. "I mean, our coach [Brewster] was fired in the middle of the season [in 2010]. I think guys will do a great job this week."
Jerry Kill hopes so. He reiterated Tuesday that "I feel bad, I really do" about his leading receiver's decision to quit the team and publicly denounce the coach, but "we're moving forward. All those seniors, they want to concentrate on playing football and concentrating on the guys who are here."
The players were mostly shocked by Barker's departure.
"I didn't see it coming, to be honest," freshman quarterback Philip Nelson, who connected with Barker on three touchdown passes.