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University of Minnesota Athletics
Blog: Gophers Finish Prepping for Spring Game
4/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
The University of Minnesota football squad put the wraps on practice sessions for the spring Thursday. The Gophers practiced for a little more than two hours in 80-plus-degree temperatures at Rod Wallace Field, putting the finishing touches on their preparation for Saturday’s Spring Game.
The Spring Game is set to kick off at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at O’Shaughnessy Stadium on the campus of the University of St. Thomas. Admission is free.
Minnesota went through practice in helmets and spider pads Thursday, but still accomplished quite a bit. In fact, Gopher head coach Tim Brewster said his team has accomplished a great deal over the last five weeks, despite that time seemingly flying by.
“It’s amazing that it’s gone by this quick,” Brewster said. “It has gone fast. But we’ve installed quite a bit this spring and we’re to a good point that way.”
While they have installed a fair amount of what they’ll look to use this fall on both sides of the ball, Brewster predicted a “pretty vanilla” look at the Gopher offense and defense in the Spring Game.
“Obviously, we’re not trying to show our whole package on Saturday,” Brewster said. “We want our football team to go out and play a clean game.”
Thursday’s practice was held under warm, sunny skies with a little bit of wind keeping it from being a picture-perfect day. On the flip side, the weather forecast for Saturday’s Spring Game is calling for rain and much cooler temperatures. But Brewster sees no problems with that for his team.
“It’s going to be a beautiful Minnesota day,” Brewster said. “We’ll be outside playing football in some conditions. We’re going to have a blast. I think it will be good for our team to really get in the weather, focus and compete in conditions that are less than perfect. But I think it’s going to be a nice day. Shoot, 50 degrees is beautiful.”
The Spring Game will be four 12-minute quarters, played with a running clock. Much of the game will see the No. 1 offense take the field vs. the No. 2 defense while the No. 1 defense will face the No. 2 defense. Quarterbacks, as has been the case all spring, will be off limits to contact. The kicking game will be utilized as well, so it will look very similar to a regular college football game.
We’ll have full coverage of the Spring Game here at GopherSports.com on Saturday.
-Andy Seeley
