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University of Minnesota Athletics
2018 Spring Preview: Receivers
4/2/2018 12:00:00 AM | Football
Season Tickets // Roster // Schedule
The Gophers will be young in 2018, but they will be really young at receiver.
Minnesota has 12 receivers on its spring roster and should open fall camp with 15 on the squad. However, only three of those players will be an upperclassmen and only one of those three - Tyler Johnson - has caught a pass for the Maroon and Gold.
Johnson, who is from Minneapolis, started the first 10 games of the season before missing the final two with an injury. Despite missing the final two games, he led Minnesota with 35 receptions for 677 yards and seven touchdowns. His 677 receiving yards were the fifth most ever by a Minnesota sophomore, while his seven receiving touchdowns were the second most ever by a Minnesota sophomore.
Tyler Johnson met with the media after this evening's spring practice. He was talking being a leader on the wide receiver group and how is is developing his game. #Gophers #SkiUMah #RTB pic.twitter.com/Cf6DaS5oYP
-- Minnesota Football (@GopherFootball) April 3, 2018
The other upperclassmen on the roster are Matt Morse and Paul Gossage, who will both be redshirt juniors in the fall. Morse has played in 14 career games, which included 12 games last season. The Apple Valley, Minn., native has not caught a pass in his career, but has seen extensive playing time on special teams.
Gossage sat out the 2017 season in compliance with NCAA rules after transferring from Eastern Illinois. He played in 20 games at Eastern Illinois and made 10 starts in two seasons. Gossage caught 29 career passes for 454 yards and two touchdowns with the Panthers.
Minnesota has five receivers who will be redshirt sophomores in the fall in Phillip Howard, Mark Williams, Clay Geary, Yale Van Dyne and True Thompson.
Howard, who is from Minneapolis, started seven of the 11 games he played in last season and finished the year with 11 catches (tied with Demetrius Douglas for third most on the team) for 132 yards.
Williams, who like Howard was named Academic All-Big Ten, started two of the nine games he competed in and caught two passes for 43 yards.
Geary, who was another Academic All-Big Ten honoree, made his Minnesota and collegiate debut against Wisconsin in the final game of the season last year.
Yale Van Dyne is the older brother of freshman receiver Harry Van Dyne and sat out last season after transferring from Iowa. He was a walk-on at Iowa in the spring of 2017 after competing in professional hockey for three years. Yale prepped at Bishop Miege High School and helped the team reach state playoffs as a junior and the state championship game as a senior. He recorded 35 receptions for 478 yards and two touchdowns as a senior.
Thompson, who is the son of Gopher legend Darrell Thompson, joins the Gophers after spending two seasons at Iowa Western Community College. He redshirted his first season, but then made four catches for 65 yards in 10 games during his second.
Douglas played in the first three games of the 2017 season before missing the rest of the year with an injury. The son of Gopher great Omar Douglas caught 11 passes (tied with Phillip Howard for third most on the team) for 83 yards last season.
Chris Autman-Bell, Brock Annexstad and Harry Van Dyne all redshirted last season and will look to impress the coaching staff this spring.
Autman-Bell attended Bishop McNamara High School in Kankakee, Ill., where he was limited to only two games as a senior with a broken hand. He caught 34 passes for 881 yards and 15 touchdowns as a junior as his team won the Class 3A state championship.
Annexstad, who is the older brother of freshman quarterback Zack Annexstad and son of former Gopher Scott Annexstad, enrolled at Minnesota after he attended IMG Academy. He made 10 catches for 111 yards and two scores at IMG.
Harry Van Dyne attended Blue Valley High School in Stilwell, Kan., and recorded 67 receptions for 1,096 yards and 12 touchdowns as a senior.
The Gophers will welcome three freshmen in the fall in Rashod Bateman, Erik Gibson and Jornell Manns.
Bateman is a four-star recruit and attends Tift County High School in Tifton, Ga. As a senior, he broke single-season school receiving records with 83 catches for 1,539 yards and 21 touchdowns and was named First Team All-State. He finished his career with 139 catches for 2,364 receiving yards and 26 touchdowns.
Gibson attends Martin Luther King High School in Detroit, Mich. He missed much of his senior season with an injury, but still helped lead his team to a division championship and an 11-2 record.
Manns attends Mansfield Senior High School in Mansfield, Ohio. He played wide receiver, running back and cornerback in high school and scored 37 touchdowns (second most in Mansfield history) and rushed for nearly 2,000 yards as a senior.
