What does it take to transport a college football team’s gear across the nation?

Mike Erickson, in the driver’s seat of the maroon-and-gold 18-wheeler emblazoned with Gophers football branding, put the big rig in reverse and turned the wheel hard to the left.

Navigating the narrow stretch between the Larson Football Performance Center and the Gophers indoor practice facility, Erickson patiently maneuvered the trailer down the loading dock approach, being careful to gently nudge, not run over, the shrubbery with the cab as he guided the semi to a stop.

Awaiting Erickson and co-pilot Faheem Zabar were a staff of assistants and student managers under the tutelage of Brady Gagnon, director of football equipment operations for the Gophers.

Over 40 minutes on this Thursday before Minnesota’s game at Iowa on Oct. 25, the staff would load the trailer with a variety of wheeled trunks of uniforms, helmets and footballs, plus exercise bikes, pallets of hydration products, communications equipment and everything else needed to take this football show on the road.

“The team and that truck,” Gophers coach P.J. Fleck said, “those are the two things that have to be there for the game to take place.”

For Gagnon, a Maple Plain native, it’s a labor of love.

The latest Gophers football trip started this past Sunday afternoon when the semi left Athletes Village ahead of Friday night’s game at No. 8 Oregon.

“In theory, anyone could do this job,” Gagnon said. “It’s not like I have super-tough skills that no one else has. It’s more of, ‘How much can you compartmentalize or know what every player wants?’ As the years go on, it’s nice where you just learn what each guy kind of prefers. You know what you’re looking for in cleats and things like that. It’s the level of care that you put into it.”

Like the tip of an iceberg, the loading of the semi is the visible one-third of the work. The other two-thirds happen earlier out of sight, when those trunks are filled with the items essential for the trip.

It’s not only the loading of the semi that’s in play.

Gagnon and his staff, which includes assistant equipment managers Paul Anderson and Zach Nichols, are tasked to keep the Gophers’ ever-frenetic practices running smoothly. The student managers constantly sprint from station to station, managing tackling dummies, footballs, pylons and other items.

“The bulk of the work is done by those 15 to 20 individuals,” Gagnon said of the student managers. “They’re the meat and potatoes of the whole system.”

Gagnon’s crew packs up whatever won’t be needed for the second half and prepares it to be loaded onto the semi for transport back to the Larson complex.

“When the game ends, it’s usually about an hour, hour-and-a-half of just cleaning up at the stadium,” Gagnon said. “The way we’re set up at the stadium, every week’s a road game to us because we use the truck every single game.”

A couple of student managers will start washing the uniforms Saturday night, a process that runs into Sunday. A 10-hour day awaits with the bulk of the work on “Sunday projects,” which includes the inspection of pads and helmets for needed repairs.

After the staff takes care of any potential loose ends Tuesday and Wednesday for a Saturday game, the semi is loaded.

Gagnon detailed highlights of the weekly big move:

Because of the Gophers’ bye week, the workers prepared the trunks for load onto the semi for a Sunday afternoon departure. The trek covering more than 1,800 miles requires four days because of federal hours restrictions on over-the-road truckers.

Erickson has driven the Gophers semi for five years, taking over from 30-year veteran Paul Luxem.

Driving a truck with the Gophers football branding all over it draws a variety of responses on the road. He will often get a thumbs-up, while others might communicate with a different digit.

He complimented Nebraska fans for their hospitality but also told the story of how some Iowa fans reacted to the invalid fair catch signal in 2023 that wiped out Cooper DeJean’s late punt return for a touchdown in Minnesota’s 12-10 win.

“A lot of teams will put you right outside the stadium, but they’ll fence you off [in a secured area]. Not Iowa,” Erickson said of the semi’s parking arrangement. “I even asked for some security out there the last time. I was afraid they’d rip my mirrors off or something. They were mad at the refs, and they’re screaming, ‘Do you have the refs in that truck, too?’ And I said, ‘No, we sent the limo for them guys.’”

Problem was, repeated post-COVID-19 delays in production and distribution left the Gophers without the uniforms on the Sunday before the game.

“Nike more or less said: ‘We don’t think you’re getting them anytime soon. You might want to have a backup plan,’” Gagnon said. “… We were in one of those situations where, from a public standpoint, from a team standpoint, the expectation was we were wearing these uniforms this game, and how do we make that happen?"

Gagnon worked with FedEx and Nike to get the uniforms released from U.S. Customs in Miami.

The uniforms arrived in Minnesota a day before the game. Gagnon picked them up in Roseville and drove them to Pine City, Minn., for alterations. He returned to practice in Minneapolis, then drove back up to Pine City to retrieve the uniforms.

“By Friday evening, they were on the shoulder pads, ready for Saturday,” Gagnon said.