Our Minnesoa spring roster reset series continues with the final piece of the Minnesota offense, the Gophers' offensive line.

The offensive line room for Minnesota this offseason saw quite a bit of player movement. While it lost five linemen who saw significant time over the past two seasons including aireontate Ersery, Quinn Carroll, and Tyler Cooper all to eligibility. It also lost rising tackle Phillip Daniels and depth piece Martes Lewis this offseason.

The Gophers also added several pieces to the room via the transfer portal; adding UCF's Marcellus Marshall, Kentucky's Dylan Ray, Washington's Kahlee Tafai, and most recently Purdue's Jaden Bell.

That's not to mention they signed four offensive lineman as a part of their 2026 recruiting class in Arizona standout Nick Spence, New Mexico talent Mark Handy, California prospect Daniel Shipp and Illinois's Kaveon Lee.

For the Gophers, the starting offensive line will look quite a bit different than it did last fall as no offensive linemen will be starting in the same spot as a year ago.

If we look back to the Gophers' regular season finale last year against Wisconsin; from left to right, they're starting five was Quinn Carroll, Tyler Cooper, Greg Johnson, Ashton Beers, and Phillip Daniels. Of those five, only two return for the 2025 season; Greg Johnson who started at center and Ashton Beers who started at right guard.

However, while they may be returning for another season, neither will be playing the position in which they took a majority of their snaps in 2024.

Johnson, after spending all of last season at center, will be moving back to left guard, the position in which he played his true freshman season in 2023.

"I think Greg is just a phenomenal guard. I think we put him at center last year because we needed a center, and he's really athletic. It helped him learn the entire offense, especially up front," Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck told the media in April .

"His natural movement skills, his pad level, his get-off, I think it's made for guard," Fleck explained. "It's really his athleticism, and he's just a better fit at left guard."

While Johnson moves to guard, Ashton Beers is expected to take over the center spot for the Golden Gophers.

"I think Ashton’s grown tremendously. Maybe the most improved lineman we've had this spring, especially in his pad level at center," Fleck said about Beers. "It's been fun to watch his growth."

As mentioned above, the Gophers infused their offensive line room this spring with a handful of transfers; Marcellus Marshall (UCF), Dylan Ray (Kentucky), Kahlee Tafai (Washington), and Jaden Bell (Purdue). Of those four transfers, Marshall, Ray, and Tafai are all expected to push for playing time this fall, if not start for the Gophers.

Tafai missed most of the spring recovering from an injury he suffered with the Huskies. Once he returns in fall camp, he'll compete against Nathan Roy at left tackle for the starting spot. He could theoretically compete at the right tackle spot for Tafai as well.

Marshall and Ray both have the versatility to play both tackle and guard and have done so in their past. Based on what we were able to see out of the offensive line in practices throughout the spring, it does seem likely that Marshall is most likely to play guard for the Gophers while Ray will likely get the nod at right tackle.

Bal, on the other hand, is not expected to have an impact in 2025 as he enters his redshirt freshman season. He did notably total 21 snaps last season for Purdue with 12 snaps against Indiana State and nine against Penn State.

Nonetheless, the Gophers' offensive line after losing a ton of experience this offseason, was able to add nearly 3,800 snaps of collegiate experience to their room with the addition of the four transfers.

Last year, the Gophers' offensive line room despite being an experienced group underperformed. The room consistently struggled against opposing run defenses, failing to open up consistent holes for Darius Taylor and company, the Gophers' as a team averaged just 115.6 yards per game and 3.7 yards per carry. In 2025, the run blocking must be better for the Gophers, especially with a younger quarterback under center, the success of the rushing attack will be paramount.

From a pass protection standpoint, the Gophers were solid, allowing 103 total pressures over the season, an average of just under eight pressures per game as well as 26 sacks. It will be interesting to see how the Gophers' pass protection holds up in 2025 with the myriad of new faces and positional changes. But each piece of the projected starting offensive line have historically been quality pass blcokers in their career which brings promise in that aspect.

If Minnesota's offensive line can be a well-rounded piece of the equation in 2025, the Gophers' offense should have the opportunity to be dynamic and versatile. The one thing for certain is that the experience to be so is there. Greg Johnson is a third year starter. Marcellus Marshall and Dylan Ray are both graduate transfers and entering their final year of eligibility. Players like Beers and Tafai are a little less experienced but still have valuable Big Ten reps under their belt.

That experience should give the Gophers a solid floor as the season progresses but how quickly will the offensive line be able to gel together? Only time will tell.

Minnesota is seto to start their 2025 season on Thursday, August 28 at Huntington Bank Stadium against the Nevada Wolfpack.

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