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Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck chuckled as he recalled a conversation between his staff and the coaching staff at New Hampshire, an FCS program.

The subject of their discussion was quarterback Max Brosmer, who shined during 36 games over parts of four seasons at New Hampshire and will make his Golden Gophers debut on Thursday against North Carolina in Minneapolis.

Brosmer led the FCS in passing yards last season and was named a second-team FCS All-American.

Now, Brosmer was transferring to Minnesota. His old coaches were thrilled.

“They were so excited for him,” Fleck said with a smile. “That meant one of two things. One, he wasn’t as good as (we) thought, and they were glad to get rid of him — which was not the case. Or two, it was, ‘We’re really happy for this young man. This is the best opportunity for him. It’s about Max, it’s not about us.'”

Behind Brosmer, Fleck’s squad is looking to bounce back from a 6-7 campaign last season. North Carolina, meanwhile hopes to put together its third winning season in a row after posting nine victories in 2022 and eight in 2023.

The Tar Heels also will feature a new starter under center, although they are being much more open-ended than Minnesota about who that starter will be. Max Johnson and Conner Harrell competed throughout training camp to take over for departed starter Drake Maye, who was selected No. 3 overall by the New England Patriots in this year’s NFL draft.

North Carolina coach Mack Brown said Johnson and Harrell would split playing time.

“Right now, we’re planning on playing both quarterbacks, depending on how the game dictates,” Brown said. “We want to have two quarterbacks ready to play. That’s important to us. Very few people do that.

“We would like to play two quarterbacks, and we would like to do it for the season. … Conner and Max are the same in some ways, but they’re different in others, and the offensive staff has done a really good job of blending the line with what both of them do best.

“So I feel really good going into the game about the plan for both of those because they’ve tailored it to where the quarterback that’s in the game will have things that he can do best.”

The game will mark the debut of Corey Hetherman as Minnesota’s defensive coordinator. Hetherman replaced Joe Rossi, who left for the same role at Michigan State.

The Golden Gophers’ biggest challenge on defense likely will be how to stop junior running back Omarion Hampton, who rushed for 1,504 yards and 15 touchdowns for North Carolina last season. He also caught 29 passes for 222 yards and a score.

“They’ve got a stable of running backs,” Fleck said. “They always do. They’ve got really good receivers. Everybody’s talking about, well, Drake Maye is not there. But they reloaded. They didn’t rebuild; they reloaded with the guys that they have.”

Meanwhile, Minnesota running back Darius Taylor was dealing with an injury from training camp and his status was uncertain for Thursday. Taylor rushed for 799 yards and five touchdowns in six games as a freshman in 2023.

–Field Level Media