Gophers seniors, who have just about seen it all, get one more shot at Wisconsin

They came from Blaine and Wayzata and Owatonna, from Georgia and Florida and Indiana and from Illinois and Iowa and Kansas. On Saturday afternoon, 16 Gophers seniors will fight No. 5 Wisconsin for Paul Bunyan's Axe in their final home game, while also playing for bowl eligibility and the chance to spoil to their rival's playoff aspirations.

Also at stake for those 16 seniors is one more chance to add a lasting memory to careers that have had more unforgettable moments than any class in recent Minnesota history.

"Time does fly," said senior linebacker Jonathan Celestin, who joined the program in 2014, a year after the outgoing fifth-year seniors. "… I feel like I just came for my visit four years ago in January. It's been a long journey."

Along that journey, the Gophers saw the highs of a Citrus Bowl appearance, the lows of a losing season, the turmoil of a boycott that put a bowl game in jeopardy and the head-spinning that comes with three different head coaches in a three-year span.

"Whenever there's a coaching change, the hardest change that has to be made is by those seniors because they're so close to graduating," said first-year coach P.J. Fleck, who took over in January after the firing of Tracy Claeys. "… Those who have stayed have been absolutely amazing in terms of their buy-in to the culture, their buy-in to the change, their belief system, their leadership. It means a lot, and I'm really, really proud of the group."

That sentiment is shared by Jerry Kill, the coach who recruited most of these seniors to Minnesota. Kill retired during the 2015 season because of his battle with epilepsy, and Claeys took over first as an interim then as head coach in 2016.

"Those kids were all special and good kids, and they've given a lot to the program and won a lot of games there," Kill said this week during a quick break from his first year as offensive coordinator at Rutgers. "… They made the program better. I'm proud of those kids."

Defensive back Adekunle Ayinde, a former walk-on from Blaine, has made his senior season his best, becoming a versatile starter who moved from safety to cornerback because of injuries.

"If one guy has seen more change on our entire football team [than Ayinde], I would like to see him. Because the guy that's seen the most is probably Kunle," Fleck said.

Ayinde went through growing pains early and spent two years on the scout team. "My mind-set was really just focused on showing not only to other people but myself that I made the right decision," he said.

The payoff came when he got to tell his mother that he was playing.

"I really didn't feel it until I called my mom and she started crying, and it hit me," Ayinde said. "It made her proud, and that's something I wanted to do."

"When you start to look at when people game-plan us, watch how many times they double-team Steven Richardson," Fleck said, "it would probably be 90 percent of the time."

Said Kill, "I know all the Big Ten coaches, and there's not one of them who doesn't talk about how good he is."

If there's any senior who puts the fun in football, it's Nate Wozniak, the 6-10, 280-pound tight end from Greenwood, Ind. Though he has basketball height, he'll jokingly bristle about why he doesn't play that sport anymore, saying it wasn't physical enough. Wozniak uses that size to be an effective blocker, but he's displayed some nimble feet, too, such as his 50-yard tightrope act down the sideline against Middle Tennessee.

"The moment I think back to the most is the very first game I walked out in front of everyone, when we played UNLV in 2013," he said in his Indiana drawl. "It's not necessarily a game that sticks out the most, but just running out on the field and looking at it, 'Man, this is real. I'm playing college football.' "

Saturday will mark the second Senior Day for quarterback Conor Rhoda. The former Cretin-Derham Hall standout wasn't going to be brought back by Claeys, so last year's finale appeared to be it. But Fleck asked Rhoda to come back, and he ended up starting the first six games before giving way to Demry Croft.

No player has personified leadership and perseverance more than Celestin, the linebacker from Jonesboro, Ga. The Gophers don't have season captains but rather list captains for each game, and Celestin has been one for 10 of the 11 games. He's been a three-year starter, and ranks second on the team in tackles despite playing the last half of the season with an injured elbow. Before the Nebraska game, Fleck had each player select a teammate for whom they'd be playing, and Celestin was an overwhelming choice.

Kill remembers Celestin as a player who wasn't recruited heavily.

"But his film was unbelievable," Kill said. "I think everybody thought he was a little bit skinny and short. They sure were wrong."

When listing his favorite memory, Celestin doesn't have to look far.

"Homecoming. That's going to be the one that sticks with me," said Celestin, whose 31-yard interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter sealed the Gophers' 24-17 victory over Illinois. When Celestin scored, he pointed skyward to honor his father, Frederick, who had been struck and killed by an SUV in April.

Celestin wants to finish strong in his last home game.