Gophers football coach Jerry Kill says he expects freshman Max Shortell to be the starting quarterback for Saturday's game against the Purdue Boilermakers. Junior MarQueis Gray is still recovering from a toe injury, and won't get the start unless he's completely healthy.

Gophers coach Jerry Kill says he wouldn’t pull a red shirt off a freshman quarterback if he wasn’t going to play. That means Philip Nelson is your likely starter Saturday against Purdue. Kill also said Max Shortell was capable of playing against Wisconsin, but was comfortable with playing Nelson instead.

University of Minnesota quarterback MarQueis Gray missed Wednesday's practice with a toe injury and he is questionable for Saturday's Big Ten opener at Michigan. If Gray isn't able to play, true freshman Max Shortell will start in his place.

MarQueis Gray is only four games into his first full year as the starting quarterback of the Gophers, but inconsistent play has many wishing Minnesota would go with the true freshman Max Shortell as the starter.

MarQueis Gray is still recovering from turf toe but was moving around better during practice on Wednesday. Head coach Jerry Kill says Gray "has a lot better chance to play this week than last week." Freshman Max Shortell will start if Gray can't play.

Vikings backup quarterback Sage Rosenfels has some sage advice for young Christian Ponder. He tell the Star Tribune that Ponder is getting "more and more comfortable," but has to stop being such a perfectionist and "just hose it."

The Vikings passing attack has averaged 105 yards per game over the last month. Offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave didn't sugarcoat the struggles on Thursday, saying he’s "not at all pleased" and the offense needs to get back on track fast.

He’s not demanding a new stadium, but Gophers’ hockey coach Don Lucia would like some improvements over at Mariucci Arena. The changes he’d like to see include upgrading the weight room and replacing the scoreboard.