Mafe, Durr Earn HM, Gophers Add 19 On National Signing Day kmrskkok.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from kmrskkok.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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The Big Ten announced its defensive awards on Wednesday, and the Gophers did not have anyone among the first through third teams as selected by both media members and coaches, but they did have two players earn honorable mention.
Defensive lineman Boye Mafe and cornerback Coney Durr were named honorable mention by both the media and coaches. Mafe, a junior from Golden Valley, 4½ sacks in six games, good for fifth in the Big Ten, and his 0.90 sacks per game lead the conference. He also has 20 tackles, two pass breakups and two forced fumbles. Durr, a senior from Baton Rouge, La., has 25 tackles and five pass breakups this season.
December 10, 2020
Going into the 2020 season, I had my suspicions that Minnesota might struggle to match their 2019 success. It might have been the Gophers’ stumbles in their non-conference games, or the fact that they never beat anyone last season who had a returning starter. It might also have had to do with the fact that the Gophers only had four returning starters on defense.
But Minnesota throttled Nebraska and Auburn, so I pretty much had to accept “scoreboard” as a reason that boat rowing was now a very real factor in the Big Ten’s West division. But all of that started to unravel when the Big Ten’s season began in October. In game one, Michigan stomped the Gophers 49-24, giving everyone an early misread on Michigan’s strength. The next week, Minnesota missed an extra point in overtime as Maryland won 45-44. Against Illinois’ fourth-string quarterback, Minnesota looked like they had the boat afloat again in a 41-14 victory. But then the Iowa Hawkeyes cap