Gophers defense stays together and strong behind first-time coordinator Danny Collins

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — As Minnesota was reveling last week in a decisive victory over Nebraska, the level of dominance by the Gophers defense dawned on standout Anthony Smith as he looked around at his teammates and started doing some quick math on their pass-rushing success.

“Everybody gets a sack,” Smith said. “It was like Oprah Winfrey out there.”

The Gophers racked up a school-record nine sacks — on a Huskers team that was ranked 25th in The Associated Press poll and averaging 41 points per game — along the way to winning 24-6.

“That’s what happens in this defense,” said Smith, one of the team’s top NFL prospects who is tied for seventh in the FBS with a career-high seven sacks. “We get home.”

Home is also where Gophers coach P.J. Fleck looked first earlier this year for a new defensive coordinator, after the departure of Corey Heatherman to a higher-profile program at Miami. Danny Collins, an assistant for all nine seasons Fleck has been at Minnesota and the four at Western Michigan prior to that, got his big career break with the promotion from his previous role as safeties coach and defensive pass game coordinator.

In Heatherman’s lone season at Minnesota, arriving after predecessor Joe Rossi left for a raise at Michigan State, the Gophers were fifth in the FBS in fewest yards allowed per game and ninth in fewest points, so there was plenty of pressure on Collins to keep the operation running successfully. The Gophers had six starters to replace on defense, too, including NFL draft picks linebacker Cody Lindenberg and cornerback Justin Walley.

For Fleck, though, there wasn’t any hesitation. He’d seen Collins grow into a coach with the type of poise and confidence needed to be a coordinator, through his Thursday be-a-head-coach-for-a-day training sessions each week during the season when he picks a different assistant to run the team meeting. When Collins asked in recent years about his path to becoming a coordinator, Fleck told him he needed to improve his poise and confidence in front of the players.

“I don’t know if I’ve had a better person in front of the room as an assistant than him,” Fleck said, “and at one point that wasn’t his strength.”

Collins has called games and guided players for the Gophers (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) in a manner that has struck an effective balance between Heatherman’s blitz-fueled aggression and Rossi’s detail-oriented style. Even with the 42-3 loss at top-ranked Ohio State that spoiled so many statistics, the Gophers rank 19th in the FBS in fewest yards per game allowed and 27th in fewest points.

“Danny checks every box,” Fleck said.

Including player development, one of the vital parts of sustained success for programs in the middle of the pack in spending on the sport in the Big Ten. The Gophers, who play at rival Iowa on Saturday, under Collins have continued to have backups ready to step in and keep the train moving. That was as evident as ever against Nebraska, when linebacker Maverick Baranowski needed a break for a minor injury and Matt Kingsbury stepped in.

Kingsbury bowled over Huskers running back Emmett Johnson on a blitz late in the third quarter for one of those sacks.

“That electrified the stadium. You could truly feel it on that play,” Collins said. “That sack could easily have been Maverick’s. I look on the sideline and Maverick’s going nuts for Kings. That’s what makes that room really special. That’s what makes our defense special. We’re selfless.”

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