Various drills, walkthroughs and live sessions are commonplace at Gophers football training camp, but one important practice element will make its first and only appearance soon.
Coach P.J. Fleck said after Monday's practice that the Gophers will run their one big scrimmage of the entire training camp Tuesday.
"I want them to really zone in, treat it like a game," Fleck said. "… We need to find out what a lot of our young guys can do. There's a lot of guys we know what they can do. They'll take limited reps, and then each series, there will be more and more guys pulled out.
"But everybody will start. Everybody will play. Everybody will get reps. Everybody will have game activity. And that's what we need to be able to have. Some need it more than others, and that's what we'll determine as a staff."
Fleck isn't the only one looking forward to seeing the youth perform. Graduate transfer defensive lineman Micah Dew-Treadway is also anticipating that action.
"It would be cool to see a lot of younger guys get reps because when I was younger, reps were the one thing that I needed more [of]," Dew-Treadway said. "… The fun of taking on green zone, red zone, being down there tight, offense being backed up, you don't get to enjoy it because you're the one doing it. So seeing them to be able to [be in that] situation is one thing that I'm really, really excited for."
Kicker competition
Fleck hasn't made a decision on starting kicker yet, but he does seem to have it narrowed down to two. Freshman Brock Walker sank a 47-yard field goal to end practice Monday, Fleck said, while freshman Michael Lantz kicked a 54-yarder in a two-minute drill Sunday. Walker, a redshirt last year, has been around the team for a year while Lantz is still new.
Fleck didn't specifically mention fellow new addition Michael Tarbutt, a graduate transfer with 29 games of experience at UConn.