Which Minnesota departures will the Gophers miss the most in 2025?

Yesterday, Gopher Nation took a look at five Minnesota Golden Gophers who exceeded expctations in 2024. Today, we take a look at five departures from the 2024 roster that the Golden Gophers will miss the most in 2025.

While Minnesota believes they have two potential high upside starters in Georgia Tech transfer Zach Pyron and redshirt freshman Drake Lindsey, replacing the level of play that Max Brosmer provided in 2024 will be very tough. The New Hampshire tranfer commanded the Gophers offense at a high level despite dealing with an up-and-down offensive line and a wide receiver room that only consisted of two reliable pass catchers.

Brsmer's poise in the pocket, quick and smart decision-making and ability to make throws to all levels of the field allowed Minnesota's offense to reach heights in teh passing attack that it dind't come close to since 2019. His experience and veteran leadership also were crucial orr the couse of the season in helping stabalizing the Gophers offense even against higher tiered defenses.

Minnesota hit the transfer portal hard this offseason, bringing in a trio of offensive line transfers who are likely to step into starting roles immediately including a pair of tackles in Kahlee Tafai and Marcellus Marshall. That being said, while both tackles provide upside, it will be tough for either to bring the reliability and level of play that Ersery had over the past few seasons. Over the course of his career with the Gophers, Ersery played over 2,300 snaps including 1,100 pass blocking snaps butter allowed just five sacks in the process and 36 total quarterback pressures.

All in All, Ersery was a consistently reliable member of the Gophers' offensive line for the past three seasons and was an anchor for Brian Callahan's unit. That in itself beyond the strong production is hard to replace.

Few players in the P.J. Fleck era have been as highly regarded as Cody Lindenberg. The linebacker has been described by Fleck as the "heart and soul" of the program's defense. The Anoka, Minnesota native is an incredibly intelligent linebacker with strong read-and-react skills but was also by far the on the field leader of the Gophers defense the last few seasons when healthy. He earned All-Big Ten First Team linebacker honors from the coaches this past fall and second-team honors from the media before being invited to the Senior Bowl.

The Gophers still have a quality linebacker room, headlined by Maverick Baranowski, Oklahoma State Jeff Roberson, and Devon Williams but replacing Lindenberg's leadership, insticts, and production will be a tough task for everyone involved.

This could easily be the duo of Daniel Jackson and Elijah Spencer but we're going to go with just Jackson for today's article. This one is quite explanatory. Entering the 2024 season, the Gophers depth at wide receiver was already limited and now, they'll be losing the program's No. 2 wide receiver all-time in receptions, No. 4 in receiving yards and No. 6 in receiving touchdowns.

Obviously replacing that type of production will be nearly impossible but it is the smaller aspects that the Gophers will desperately miss. Jackson was a phenomenal wide receiver in clutch moments and was a reliable one that his quarterbacks could trust to make the big catch whenever it was needed, no matter if it was on third down or in the red zone. Jackson found a way to always make the big play.

Henderson, who we've discussed as a "swiss army knife" for Minnesota the last two seasons, will be a big piece of the puzzle defensively. The former Southeastern Louisiana standout played over 900 snaps the past two seasons for the Gophers and was a stable presence in the nickel role for the Gophers.

Henderson took snaps all throughout the defense for the Gophers including 124 on the line of scrimmage, 113 in the box, six at free safety, 213 in the slot and one at corner this season.

In his two seasons, Henderson totaled 103 total tackles, 14 tackles for loss, seven sacks, three interceptions, and two pass deflections. He also only allowed three total touchdowns over the course of the two seasons while only allowing 5.1 yards per reception.

How the Gophers replace Henderson will be interesting. One potential strong fit for the role would be rising sophomore Koi Perich, who thrived at safety this season. The Gophers could also look towards Jai'Onte McMillan, Aidan Gousby, Garrison Monroe, or Zahir Rainer to potentially fill the role among others.