Fresh off a victory at Nebraska that featured backup quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis leading a second-half comeback from a 10-0 deficit, Gophers coach P.J. Fleck on Monday did not have clarity as to who will start at QB for Saturday's game against Northwestern.
During his weekly news conference Monday, Fleck said he did not yet have a medical update on Tanner Morgan, the sixth-year senior who suffered what Fleck called an upper-body injury when sacked on the final play of the first half and missed the rest of the game.
Morgan suffered a concussion — originally termed an upper-body injury by Fleck — on Oct. 15 at Illinois. Morgan missed the Oct. 22 game at Penn State and went through concussion protocol before returning to start against Rutgers last week.
"No update right now," Fleck said. "He was at practice yesterday. I'll get better updates as we go through the days [leading to Saturday's game]. The doctors just felt like they were going to keep him out of the game in the second half. They make that call."
It appears the decision at quarterback this week will play out as it did during the week of the Penn State game, when Morgan's availability was a game-time decision. If Morgan suffered another concussion — and the diagnosis has not been announced — it would be his second in 21 days, and he would need to clear the protocol steps again before he could play. With only three weeks left in the regular season, the chances he returns decrease as time goes by.
While team medical staff will make the call on clearing Morgan, Fleck could opt to start Kaliakmanis after the redshirt freshman led the comeback at Nebraska.
Kaliakmanis went 6-for-12 for 137 yards and led four scoring drives against the Cornhuskers after Morgan went 6-for-8 for 38 yards with three sacks. Kaliakmanis had long completions of 45 and 38 yards and rushed three times for 27 yards, forcing the Nebraska defense to pay attention to him and opening things for running back Mohamed Ibrahim, who had 110 of his 128 rushing yards and two touchdowns after halftime.
The rally from a deficit of 10 points or more ended a 32-game skid the Gophers had when facing such situations.
"Athan's got this incredible confidence. He has 'it,' "Fleck said. "I told you before Penn State that he wouldn't be rattled. And if there's one guy who wasn't rattled at that game, it was him."
Big Ten honors Trickett
The Big Ten named Gophers kicker Matthew Trickett its special teams player of the week for his performance at Nebraska. The fifth-year senior and transfer from Kent State kicked the two longest field goals of his career, a 47-yarder into the wind that cut Nebraska's lead to 10-3 in the third quarter and a 49-yarder that put Minnesota up 13-10 early in the fourth quarter.
"Those were huge kicks," Fleck said. "… That 49-yarder with the wind at his back, he absolutely crushed it. He's kicking at a very confident level right now."
Trickett's big day was part of a solid performance by the Gophers special teams. Mark Crawford placed three of his six punts inside the Nebraska 20-yard line, and Dragan Kesich had touchbacks on all five of his kickoffs.
Striggow on mend
Defensive end Danny Striggow left Saturday's game in the first quarter because of an apparent arm injury. Fleck expressed optimism about a quick return.
"He'll be OK," he said. "We've just got to continue to do some more tests, and the initial tests are good, but he's still got a few other things he's got to be able to go through."
