Jon Hoese caught his cleats on the TCF Bank Stadium turf and pulled his right hamstring against Penn State on Oct. 23. The severity of the injury was such that there was immediate speculation that the senior fullback had played his last game for the Gophers.

This would be the final blow in a sad autumn for Hoese. An interview request was made through the sports information office, and Hoese declined. He wasn't going to talk about the hamstring as a season-ending injury when he didn't believe that was the case.

As it turned out, Hoese missed the Ohio State drubbing on Oct. 30 and was back on the field Saturday for the 31-8 loss to Michigan State in East Lansing.

"They did a great job downstairs [in the training room], and he saw another therapist, and by last Friday, he was moving around some," interim coach Jeff Horton said on Tuesday. "Jon's that kind of kid; he's going to do everything possible to play.

"He wasn't great [physically] Saturday, maybe 75, 80 percent, but he got in there for 15 plays."

Hoese has been an underdog since Glen Mason's staff first took a look at him near the end of his senior season in 2006 at Glencoe-Silver Lake. He wanted to follow the Hoese family's close friend, Willie VanDeSteeg, to the university, and Mason's people said they would like to have him.

Dave Denney — Star Tribune, Star Tribune
Gophers fullback Jon Hoese (shown carrying the ball against Michigan State) ran for three touchdowns against Middle Tennessee State in the Gophers’ only victory of the season. The scores, which came with his dad in the hospital, doubled his career total. Days later, Terry Hoese died, and weeks later the coach that supported Jon Hoese and his family was fired.

"After that, the Gophers had that winning streak and made a bowl game," Hoese said. "And then they lost to Texas Tech, and Mason and the coaches I had been talking with were all fired. I didn't know where that left me.

"I had done a lot of snowmobile racing and had done well. I was wondering, 'Should I forget football and take a real shot at racing snowmobiles?' Dave Dose, my high school coach, was one important person telling me to go to Minnesota, give it a try -- that snowmobiles still would be there if it didn't work out."

Tim Brewster's staff brought in Hoese as a recruited walk-on. He didn't get a redshirt as a freshman, playing on special teams and briefly at safety. Most of his duty as a sophomore was also on special teams.

Brewster decided after a 55-0 loss to Iowa in the 2008 Big Ten finale that he wanted to add some power running for the Insight Bowl vs. Kansas. Hoese had his first four carries as a fullback in that game.

He became the definition of a modern-day fullback: powerful lead blocker, with an occasional line plunge. He has never been dropped for a loss in 52 career carries for the Gophers.

Hoese was in a batch of seniors that had sizable expectations for the 2010 season, no matter the dreary forecasts the Gophers faced in the media.

"Going to back to the spring, we saw a lot of good things with our younger guys," Hoese said. "The players that had been together four, five years ... we were excited for the fall."

One gentleman willing to talk up the Gophers to anyone that would listen was Terry Hoese, Jon's father.

"He never missed a game I played, and he loved to talk," Jon said. "My dad would talk to you about anything, and especially football and farming."

On Aug. 26, Terry suffered a stroke that left him in grave condition. A week later, the Gophers used a power-running game to pound Middle Tennessee State 24-17 in the opener. Hoese plunged for three touchdowns, doubling his career total.

Brewster reserved the game ball for Terry and Sharon Hoese, Jon's parents. And two nights later, Terry died from the stroke.

"We're doing OK; my mom's doing OK," Hoese said. "When something happens like that in a small town, the way people rally around your family is amazing."

VanDeSteeg rallied more than anyone. He went to work with Jon's brother Chad in running the farm.

"Willie was so close to Chad and our family that it was like having two older brothers," Jon said. "A few years ago, my grandmother died at 10 o'clock at night. It was football season, and Willie was playing for the Gophers. And, yet, when he heard about Grandma, he drove to Glencoe and was in our house that night."

Brewster visited the family after Terry Hoese was stricken. The family was taken by the depth of his concern. And when the Gophers fell to 1-6, Brewster was fired, causing relief or celebration for many fans, but not the Hoeses.

And then came the pulled hamstring in the next game, and the anticipation that Hoese might miss the last four. He missed one, and there he was again on Saturday, looking for Spartans to block.

"That's Jon in a nutshell," senior quarterback Adam Weber said. "He's one of the toughest guys I've ever met. It was going to take a lot more than a hamstring -- even one that's hurting -- to keep him out."

Patrick Reusse can be heard noon-4 weekdays on 1500ESPN. • preusse@startribune.com