From the Trib:

"Freshman Royce White and senior Devron Bostick have been suspended indefinitely from the Gophers men's basketball team for a violation of team rules, coach Tubby Smith said Tuesday morning. Smith provided no additional details about the disciplinary action.

The Gophers open their exhibition season Thursday night against the University of Minnesota-Duluth at Williams Arena at 7 p.m. The season opener is Nov. 13 against Tennessee Tech (Williams Arena, 7 p.m.)."

Another story from our newspaper:

http://myprepsplus.ourvarsity.com/schools/school-article-profile.php?Article_ID=253

"At fullback, I feel like I'm home. It's really like high school was. When plays didn't go your way, you were blocking and hitting for the other guys," Hoese said.

Talked to Jon tonight on the phone - I've known him from his days at G-SL - super great kid and a really hard working. Glad to see him doing well at the U.

Is it Saturday yet?

Check out a story we did on Gophers offensive tackle Matt Stommes, who hopes to return to the starting lineup this week at Northwestern

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University of Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi said Wednesday that, when it comes to Trevor Mbakwe, the school will "do the right thing."

But Maturi isn't sure yet exactly what that means.

Mbakwe, the former St. Bernard's High School star who is a cornerstone of Gophers basketball coach Tubby Smith's incoming recruiting class, is facing a felony aggravated battery charge stemming from an April incident in Miami-Dade County in Florida. Mbakwe was going to school and playing basketball at Miami Dade College at the time.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/52031427.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUo8cyaiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

Sure, Adam Weber is coming off arm surgery and has been the starting quarterback the past two seasons for the University of Minnesota football team.

But after watching freshman MarQueis Gray dazzle the crowd in three-plus quarters with the second-team offense Saturday, one can wonder whether this summer the Gophers will have a quarterback controversy?

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From Kent Youngblood at the Star Tribune

Gophers starting safety Tramaine Brock has left school, apparently for academic reasons, and likely won't return.

Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi confirmed that Brock is no longer enrolled, but would not comment further. Gophers head coach Tim Brewster declined comment.

Brock, a native of Long Beach, Miss., came to the Gophers from Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College before last season. He started all 13 games. The hard-hitting safety finished third on the team with 73 total tackles. He also had an interception and forced three fumbles.

''As of now he's not in school,'' Maturi said.

Brock did not apply to be included in the 2009 NFL draft. The defensive back did not respond to text messages requesting an interview.

First Curtis Thomas last season and now Tramaine Brock. Boy, not good for a defensive backfield that needed to improve next year. Theret is average; Rallis is not a Big 10 safety.

GN EDIT:

Official relase from U of MN

In addition to the six aforementioned student-athletes, Brewster announced that defensive back Tramaine Brock is not enrolled at the University for the Spring semester.

 “Tramaine Brock will not be a part of our team this spring,” Brewster said. “But we fully anticipate that he will re-join the team this summer and be a part of our program in the fall.”

Of course he is expecting him to be back.  Hopefully Mr. Brock can get things taken care of before practice in August.  I'm not holding my breath but hopefully he'll get his academics straightened out.

From Marcus Fuller at the Pioneer Press:

The Gophers are finalizing a contract to play a two-year, home-and-home football series against national power Southern California. Minnesota would travel to Los Angeles to play the Trojans in 2010, and USC would face the Gophers at TCF Bank Stadium by 2016.

Boy, that is the year Justin Conzeimus said we were going to the Rose Bowl to Paul Allen. He wasn't kidding. It's just a regular season game.

Michael Carter, the 6-0 cornerback from Florida narrowed his choices to Florida, West Virginia and Minnesota, but chose the Mountaineers a few minutes ago during the third quarter of the All-American Army Game.

The 4 star recruit sounded like WVU was his choice all along. Bummer. Brewster spent a lot of time on Tyrone Carter's little (edit: cousin). Come on, look what the U did for TC!

Bryce McNeal, 4 star WR recruit from Breck, who is leaning toward Oregon, has yet to reveal his choice today.

The University of Minnesota hockey team moved up to No. 1 in the nation in this week's USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine poll released today.

The Gophers (6-0-4), who were ranked No. 2 last week, received all 34 first-place votes to reach the top spot for the first time since Jan. 22, 2007.

Minnesota is coming off a 2-2 tie and 3-0 win over Michigan Tech this past weekend. Goaltender Alex Kangas recorded his first career shutout in Sunday's win.

If you weren't there, and you wish you were (me), these four links have you covered on what you missed. Sounds like a good time was had by all in attendance.

PP version: http://www.twincities.com/ci_10750752?nclick_check=1

Star Trib version: http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/31215019.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUjc8LDyiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiU

Myron's blog has some good stuff pre tip-off: http://blogs2.startribune.com/blogs/gophersbb/

Gophersports: http://www.gophersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=38661&SPID=3302&DB_OEM_ID=8400&ATCLID=1606214

(Promoted by PJS):

HutchLeader Note: Here is my story on Gophers senior defensive end and captain Willie VanDeSteeg - he is from the Silver Lake area (five miles east of Hutchinson) - enjoy:

Wherever Willie VanDeSteeg has played football, success has followed him. Whether it was youth football or high school football at Glencoe-Silver Lake, he was a part of a winning team.

Even his first two seasons as an active member of the University of Minnesota team, the team managed winning seasons and trips to bowl games.

So when the Gophers squad went 1-11 last year, it was a different feeling for VanDeSteeg, who was in his first year as a captain.

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A little birdie from my Gopher baseball insider is that Gophers star outfielder Matt Nohelty is likely to miss all of fall/winter ball, and could possibly be displaced from the lineup for some time with a shoulder injury.

He supposedly tore his labrum in his throwing shoulder this summer, and it wasn't discovered until this past week. He is supposedly going to have surgery later this week.

My source had heard that Nohelty may be used only as a designated hitter next spring. This would be a huge blow to the outfield.

For those not familiar with Nohelty, he was selected by the Twins in the 18th round of MLB draft. However, the money was not there and he came back to the U.

From Gophersports.com:

This past season, Nohelty was named First-Team All-Big Ten. He became the first outfielder in the Big Ten since Sam Steidl (in 2003 & 04) to receive First-Team All-Big Ten honors in back-to-back seasons. Nohelty also received First-Team Academic All-American honors last week for the Golden Gophers. 

On the season, Nohelty batted .397 with 53 runs, 94 hits, four triples, 39 RBI, 24 stolen bases and a .438 on-base percentage. He finished third in the Big Ten in batting average, second in hits, tied for eighth in runs, tied for fourth in stolen bases and tied for sixth in triples. His 94 hits were the most by a Golden Gopher since 1999, and his .397 batting average was the highest by a Minnesota player since Sam Steidl batted .401 in 2001. 

From Myron Medcalf at the Trib:

6-7 Hopkins forward Mike Broghammer became the fourth Division I player on his team when he committed Sunday to Notre Dame, after a weekend visit, according to rivals.com. Dower had received an offer from the Gophers after a stellar summer on the AAU circuit.

Minnesota also lost 7-foot center Trevor Williams of Colorado, when he committed to playing for Colorado State after a weekend visit, according to rivals.com.

The guys from Gonzaga earlier confirmed a report from Rivals that Sam Dower has made his decision on the Bulldogs as well.

From the AP:

Marqueis Gray, the highly recruited quarterback from Indianapolis, won't be playing with the Gophers this season because of an eligibility problem, Coach Tim Brewster said in a statement released Monday.

The University, which has known about the potential problem, has so far refused to specify what it is.

"We look forward to having Marqueis back with the Gopher football program soon," Brewster said, adding that the plan is for Gray to enroll at the U in the spring of 2009.

I caught up with former Hutchinson star and Gopher quarterback legend Cory Sauter Monday after his practice at Southwest Minnesota State University. Sauter took over as QBs coach and passing game coordinator.

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