Seniors to be honored Saturday

The Gophers football team will celebrate Senior's Day at their last game this season.


Published: 2011-11-23

Adam Richard arichard@mndaily.com


The first year of the Jerry Kill era will come to a conclusion Saturday.

The season has developed into a rebuilding project for Kill and his staff, something the seniors seemingly embraced to help the future of the program.

Minnesota will honor 24 seniors Saturday, including long-time starters Duane Bennett, Chris Bunders, Anthony Jacobs, Brandon Kirksey, Da’Jon McKnight and Kim Royston.

Bennett has accumulated 2,082 rushing yards in his Gophers career, 13th on the school’s all-time list. He will hand the reigns of the running game off next year, but he said he hopes he has left a good impression on the remaining running backs on the roster.

Bennett reflected on his time at the University of Minnesota on Tuesday.

“I have mixed emotions. Excited. Bummed the ride is coming to an end,” Bennett said. “My biggest memory isn’t even on the football field. The camaraderie of my teammates, playing Madden and Call of Duty, having wing-eating contests and meeting all the different alums and telling stories — that’s my biggest memory.”

The remaining Gophers in the backfield are Donnell Kirkwood, David Cobb and Devon Wright along with LaMonte Edwards, who switched to play linebacker this season when the Gophers needed assistance on defense.

McKnight has been the Gophers’ biggest receiving threat since Eric Decker roamed the field for Minnesota. He is seventh all-time in receiving yards for the Gophers and has spread his knowledge to the younger players on the team like Marcus Jones and Devin Crawford-Tufts.

“Most of [young wide receivers] played this year. They’re going to be fine; they’ll have the same playbook and be comfortable with the system,” McKnight said. He was fraught with emotion after practice Tuesday.

“It’s kind of sad. It’s kind of getting to me,” McKnight said with a hesitation while he reflected.

Royston received a sixth year of eligibility this season when his medical hardship waiver was granted. He led the team with 110 tackles and was fourth overall in the Big Ten. Royston said he will go into Saturday’s game as if it were the Super Bowl.

“It’s a bittersweet feeling after not knowing if I would get this opportunity last year. There was a point last year when I thought my college career was over. This whole season was an extra blessing,” Royston said.

Royston has received his degree and is working toward his masters in sports management.

Senior Troy Stoudermire missed most of the season with a broken left arm and may receive a medical redshirt, which would allow him to return for a sixth season like Royston did this year.

Some of the seniors had to endure two coaching regime changes during their careers. They were recruited by Glen Mason, then had to adapt to Tim Brewster and now to Kill.

“It makes you doubt coaches and doubt what people say and not so much trust what people say. I’ve got genuine trust for coach Kill,” Kirksey said. “Some coaches promise certain kids certain things, and then theyleave. I was real happy when they did the extension on his time here.”

Bunders assisted in the growth of an extremely young offensive line rotation. He is graduating with a civil engineering degree in the spring. He said he believes the next crop of offensive lineman is in good hands but said going through the coaching changes made him a stronger player.

“It’s nice to be able to say that you’ve done all that. You can say you’re a versatile player because you’ve played in literally five or six different offenses,” Bunders said. “The new coaching staff with coach Kill, everything they have going on here is positive.”

Each senior has different goals that span from law school to the NFL, and those dreams will be confronted after Saturday’s game.

These seniors will leave the program while the start of a new foundation is laid. Several of them expressed their wish for the future success of the program under the guidance of the Kill regime.



All content © 1900 - 2011



ARTICLE URL: http://www.mndaily.com/2011/11/23/seniors-be-honored-saturday