Minnesota 2024 Spring Position Preview: Defensive End
As Minnesota's 2024 spring game continues to draw closer and closer, we continue on to preview Minnesota's individual position groups, moving on to the defensive end room for the Golden Gophers.
Last season, under first year defensive line coach Winston DeLattiboudere the Gophers defensive line as a whole took a step up but especially on the edge where both Jah Joyner and Danny Striggow put together very good 203 campaigns.
This offseason, the Gophers said goodbye to just one regular on the edge as Chris Collins exhausted his eligibility last fall. The former North Carolina Tar Heel recorded 18 tackles and one interception in his lone season with the program.
Besides the departure of Collins, the Gophers returned each defensive end who saw the field in 2023. Here's who to expect as the program's starters at defensive end this fall and who could be key rotational pieces as well.
STARTERS
The Gophers most likely starters at defensive end this season, assuming fully healthy will be Jah Joyner and Danny Striggow.
Joyner last year emerged as one of the Big Ten's best edge rushers with 7.5 sacks on the season which ranked top five within the conference. Gophers defensive line coach Winston DeLattiboudere also believes that his 2023 season was the Danbury, Connecticut native just 'tipping the iceberg' of his potential.
This spring, DeLattiboudere and Joyner have been working very closely on the small details of his game, hoping it will allow him to take another step this fall.
With a strong season this fall, the 2024 season could be Joyner's last year with the Gophers as the former three-star prospect certainly has the abilities and potential that it would take to be an NFL Draft pick next spring.
Starting on the opposite side will be Danny Striggow.
Striggow last season had the best year of his collegiate career, playing in all 13 games, recording 51 tackles including seven tackles for loss and six sacks. He also had one forced fumble. He was also solid last year against the run but improvement certainly could be made.
ROTATION
When it comes to the Gophers rotation, the Gophers will heavily rely on experienced talent in Jalen Logan-Redding, Lucas Finnessy, and Anthony Smith. Both Logan-Redding and Finnessy are in their fifth years with the program while Anthony Smith enters year three.
Last season, Logan-Redding played in all 13 games, recording 29 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. For his career, Logan-Redding has gained plenty of experience over the last two seasons with nearly 900 snaps played. In his career, Logan-Redding has played in 32 games including each of the last 26 games for the Gophers, recording 47 career tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks.
Finnessy returned from injury in 2023 after missing the final two games of the 2022 season and played in three games. He'll now have the opportunity to make a much bigger impact in his fifth year on campus. He'll enter this fall with 30 career games played and five career tackles.
Anthony Smith, a third-year player out of Pennsylvania saw the field in his second season with the program last fall. He'll now have a chance to carve himself out a consistent role within the Gophers defensive end rotation this fall.
Last season, Smith played in all 13 games for the Gophers and showed flashes as a rotational piece with 15 tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack, and two forced fumble. There is still plenty of promise left in the three-star prospect and the Gophers remain very high on the 6-foot-6 defensive end and believe he will develop into a key defensive end for the program.
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