Follow Us
Subscribe
The Minnesota Golden Gophers are playing the weirdest game of hot-potato at the quarterback position ever.
First thing is first, let's get the actual news bit out of the way. Head coach P.J. Fleck announced that Demry Croft would be unavailable due to personal reasons.
“He is dealing with some personal issues that are way, way more important than football, so it’s my job as a head football coach to get him what he needs,” Fleck said according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press. “We are going to help him any way we can. I’m not going to get into that, in respect to his privacy and his personal life. …
“If you do not do the right thing academically, athletically, socially and spiritually, and you do not uphold the high, high expectations of our culture on and off the field, you will not play. And it does not matter who you are.”
On Monday, the first-year head coach announced that fifth-year senior Conor Rhoda would be the team's starting quarterback. That isn't too shocking, though he did split time with Demry Croft in the first game of the season. The (somewhat) shocking part of Fleck's announcement was that Rhoda is now the full-time starter moving forward. Meaning, basically, Croft is out of the mix.
As you can tell in the quotes, while Fleck said it was a personal issue, it sure sounds like it could be a disciplinarian reason. That being said, jumping to that conclusion would be a bit wild and taking the coach at his word should be good enough.
After all, does anyone really care what young kids are doing — right or wrong — on their own time?