Gophers kickoff football season, Vikings get ready for their first game

NINA MOINI: It's Minnesota Now. I'm Nina Moini in for Cathy Wurzer. Lots of exciting stuff going on. High school and college football fans are ringing in a new season today. There are about 100 high school games scheduled for this afternoon and evening. The Gophers played their first game at Huntington Bank Stadium at 7:00 PM. And for the Vikings, the regular season is just around the corner. Joining me now with a football preview and other Minnesota sports are Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson. Hi, guys.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Hey, Nina, how are you today?

ERIC NELSON: How's it going, Nina?

NINA MOINI: I'm doing great. I'm hoping it doesn't rain on folks later. But before we talk about the Gophers game, I saw the team's former kicker was raising money to help him fight cancer for the eighth time. Have you all been following Casey O'Brien's story? Wally?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah, it really is gut-wrenching--

NINA MOINI: Yeah.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: --to see what this poor guy has had to go through. He's already beat cancer five times during his high school career alone. He actually was a holder on the University of Minnesota football team. He got his one chance to actually be on the field and hold for an extra point in a game against Rutgers in 2019. Probably the highlight of his Gopher career. But, unfortunately, he is not done fighting the disease. It's for the eighth time now he's going through this.

And, unfortunately, his health insurance does not cover what needs to be done now. And they figure-- he figured he needed about a quarter million dollars to cover these next procedures and so on. And he's never done this before. I talked to Darrell Thompson, the Gopher-- former Gopher great who's very close to the program, whose son played with Casey. And he said that this is not his MO, but he has gone and started a GoFundMe page. And he raised over $300,000 in 24 hours. It's been amazing to see. People have jumping on board. Donations anywhere from 25 bucks to well over $1,000. So we wish him well. Hopefully, he'll be able to bounce out of this as well. And he keeps doing it.

NINA MOINI: Yeah.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: He went to Creighton, ended up at the U of M. And it's a tough story. But as Darrell told me, he said, if there's somebody you want to admire in this situation, it's this kid, Casey O'Brien.

NINA MOINI: Absolutely. And I'm happy that he has so much hometown support. And definitely wishing him well. Eric, how are the Gophers looking, though, going into this opening game against North Carolina?

ERIC NELSON: Yeah, it's going to be interesting, Nina, because the Gophers last year, I think most of their fans would agree, underdelivered. And they're hoping for a rebound season, but it's not going to be easy. North Carolina is a quality opponent. They opened up the season a year ago in Chapel Hill. Minnesota lost 31-13. But the caveat there is North Carolina's quarterback was Drake Maye. And he was outstanding. And he was taking third overall in round one of the NFL draft by New England.

So they don't have to face Drake Maye. It looks like the Gophers' primary challenge is going to be containing Tar Heels' running back, Omarion Hampton. He was second team AP All-American last year, so he's very good. North Carolina may try to ground and pound against Minnesota tonight at Huntington Bank Stadium. Now the Gophers have a brand new quarterback in Max Brosmer, a sixth year transfer from new Hampshire.

The Gophers are confident that he can elevate their offense. And Minnesota's going to have to open it up more, Nina. They've been a very conservative pound the rock type of team on the ground, but they're going to have to throw more. They do have a very good running back in Darius Taylor, but it'll be interesting to see what kind of offensive approach PJ Fleck has for Minnesota tonight. And the other thing, if you're a college football fan, it's almost dizzying to think about what the college football map looks like now.

North Carolina plays in the Atlantic Coast conference, which now has 17 teams, including Stanford and Cal, which the last time I checked, they're closer to the Pacific Ocean than the Atlantic Ocean. And as far as the Big 10, it's the bloated Big 10. There's 18 teams now in the Big 10, including Oregon, Washington, USC, and UCLA. The Gophers have a difficult schedule this season. They need to win this game tonight to build some confidence.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, and the opening game always seems to be a big scene-setter for the season. Wally, what are you watching for as high school seasons get underway?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, actually, I am doing a game tonight, Champlin Park in Anoka, which is a great little cross river rivalry, as I call it. A couple of schools in the Anoka-Hennepin district. And both teams-- Anoka had one of their best seasons in a long time this past year. They returned a lot of players from last year's team. It should be a good football game tonight at Champlin Park. And ironically, Eric's son plays for Champlin Park. So I'm guessing that he'll be at the-- he'll be at the ball game tonight.

But other games of interest, defending state champion Centennial, who beat Edina by one point in the Prep Bowl last year, they are at Coon Rapids. They play tomorrow, several games. I think one of the headlines, to be honest with you, is some of the games are being pushed into Friday now because of the impending thunderstorms that are headed our way later on this evening. So that's one of the games that will be played on Friday. They play at 10:00 AM at Coon Rapids tomorrow. Centennial does. They are the defending state champions.

And one of the premiere games on the list for tonight, scheduled for tonight anyway, has Lakeville North playing host to Stillwater, a couple of top teams in the state. So lots of good things happening. But the high school football season kicking off tonight and tomorrow in Earnest.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, and we'll be keeping an eye, of course, on the weather here at NPR News and keeping folks informed for anyone who is going to be at an outdoor game. Eric, let's talk about the Vikings. They have just over a week before their first game against the New York Giants. And they made some final cuts, it looks like, to their roster earlier this week. So what does a successful season, you think, look like for the Vikings?

ERIC NELSON: Well, a lot's going to have to bounce their way, Nina. And they made a move today. They let go of quarterback Jaren Hall, who was drafted last season out of BYU, mid round pick. And he played well against Philadelphia in the final preseason game the other day, but he doesn't make the team. They signed Brett Rypien. To replace him as QB3 on that depth chart. Rypien. Played at Boise State, most recently with Chicago, but he's bounced all over the NFL map.

That's a curious decision in my opinion, especially because they invested a draft choice into Jaren Hall. Earlier this week, they let go of Lewis Cine, who was their top pick in 2022, a safety. He's now with Buffalo. So they got nothing out of Lewis Cine. They have injury problems to wideout Jordan Addison, tight end TJ Hawkinson. Those guys won't be ready to go when they play the New York football giants a week from Sunday in New Jersey.

The big question, though, is how is Sam Darnold going to do at quarterback? Then you have a backup of Nick Mullens and, as I said, Brett Rypien. So it's incumbent on Darnold to perform well. And he's returning to New Jersey. He originally was with the New York Jets. They play in the same stadium as the Giants-- MetLife Stadium. So it's kind of going back to the roots of his NFL career as far as the venue goes. But I don't think there's a lot of optimism surrounding the Vikings, but I will say this. It's the NFL. Strange things happen and you never know. And they're going to need their defense to step up as well. We did sign Stephon Gilmore at cornerback last week, who's very good.

NINA MOINI: All right, well, so maybe a so-so outlook there. How about let's touch on the Twins here really quick that are hosting the Toronto Blue Jays this weekend, Wally? How do they match up?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, the Blue Jays currently in last place in the American League East, although that's not the worst thing in the world because that could arguably be called the best division in baseball. And this, of course, is a rematch from last year's playoffs when the Twins beat the Blue Jays at Target Field in the first round of the postseason and got their first postseason wins since 2002 or whatever it was.

NINA MOINI: All right.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: But the Twins are in desperate need of some wins this weekend. There's no question, especially after getting swept by Atlanta this past week, including last night.

NINA MOINI: Thank you, Wally and Eric. Appreciate your time, as always. That's it for us on Minnesota Now this week. Thanks for listening. See you at the fair tomorrow for NPR Day.