The Gophers football program tries to embrace creative ways to reinforce macro season and weekly themes as well as micro coaching points. Head coach P.J. Fleck sets the pace and assistants are encouraged to lead their position groups.

U safety coach Danny Collins’ new idea has caught on.

Collins purchased a Louis Vuitton bag, and one Gopher safety is picked to travel with it each week. Its contents are mini footballs, representing the amount of takeaways the safeties are responsible for over the course of this season.

It’s filling up fast.

Going into the Iowa rivalry game Saturday, the fancy designer bag now has six mini balls inside, and Collins has nicknamed the group the “Duffle Bag Boyz.” If they keep up this prolific pace, Collins might need to add some matching designer luggage.

“It’s fun to have every position have something that they value,” Fleck told the Pioneer Press. “That they’re striving for, that connects a room, that you’re competing for every single week, with each other. It’s exciting.”

The safeties’ six takeaways have added up in the past two games. Four from the Rhode Island win: Jack Henderson’s fumble recovery and interception, Aidan Gousby’s interception and Koi Perich’s pick. Two more from the Nevada win: Kerry Brown’s pair of interceptions.

“I was really happy with the way we executed early in the game with some of those coverages,” defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman said. “I thought there were some tells in some of the things they were doing. I thought our guys jumped it and made some plays.”

Brown was named the Big Ten freshman of the week, and the redshirt freshman has helped bridge a transition after standout safety Tyler Nubin was drafted in the second round by the New York Giants last April.

“Danny Collins has such a really good relationship with his safeties,” Fleck said. “We have a great tradition here of big-time safeties, and safeties are a big part of our defense, and they’ve earned that.”

As a team, Minnesota’s total turnover margin of plus-seven (nine takeaways and two giveaways) is tied for fifth in the nation. Meanwhile, Iowa is plus-three (five takeaways, two giveaways) to rank tied for 17th in the country.

The Hawkeyes are favored by 2.5-points on Saturday night, so a turnover one way or the other could have a major bearing on the outcome of the Battle for Floyd of Rosedale.

Cornerback Ethan Robinson, who had is first interception against Nevada last week, said the defense has worked on “having an obsession” with takeaways. “Since spring ball, since I got here, everything with Coach Hetherman has been about the ball, the ball, the ball,” the Bucknell transfer said.

As for a possible cornerback comparison to the Duffle Bag Boyz, Robinson wasn’t revealing much, and deferred to position coach Nick Monroe.

“We have a couple of things going around, little celebrations that we do,” Robinson said. “But as corners, we keep things a little bit more in-house.”

Related Articles

Inconsistent Gophers running game has stiff test against stingy Iowa defense

Gophers football: Hall of famer Edgerrin James helped mold U safety Kerry Brown

Gophers football: Big injury concern looms going into Iowa rivalry game

Stifling Gophers’ defense helps carry 27-0 win over Nevada

With Gophers’ returner Quentin Redding out for year, Koi Perich steps in