All eyes on the Gophers at open practice for Family Day

The start of the college football season is almost here and Friday, Gopher fans got to see the team prepare for the new season.

Crowds of fans came out for the Gophers’ Family Day to watch practice at TCF Bank Stadium.

All eyes were on the quarterback position, where two freshmen will be vying for the starting spot. It’s between Tanner Morgan and Zack Annexstad.

There’s a lot of young talent on the team on both sides of the ball and Head Coach P.J. Fleck says the open practice was a good opportunity for the players to get a feel of playing inside the stadium in front of plenty of eye balls.

“I wanted to make sure we got a chance to see we had fans, wanted to see how many fans there were, if nobody showed up there was going to be no pressure,” said Fleck. “People showed up, so it put a little pressure on the young guys. We’ve got a lot to learn from – did some really good, did some really bad – just like every day.”

“We just got to practice, whether every body’s watching or nobody is watching, we’ve got to practice the same,” said Jared Weyler, Gophers offensive lineman. “We’re super excited about all the support in the community and super excited about where this program is going, so it’s going to be a really fun year, we’ve got to keep getting better every day. It’s going to be a fun year, especially with all the support that we have.”

The Gophers will have another open practice on Aug. 16 at 3:30 p.m. at the outdoor fields at Athletes Village.