Drake Lindsey diving deep into playbook as spring ball intensifies

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The quarterback is coming off a promising redshirt freshman campaign, and continues to broaden his knowledge of the offense as the Gophers navigate through spring practice.

Drake Lindsey wants to be one of the top gunslingers in the Big Ten this fall, but understands that he must polish his skills, and trust the coaches first. Greg Harbaugh’s offense is a scheme that Lindsey enjoys, and he plans on making others around him better.

Although he threw for 18 touchdowns, and earned Academic All-Big Ten honors last year, Lindsey felt that he made some costly mistakes. After all, Lindsey ranked 65th nationally in completion percentage, and 92nd in passing efficiency. The Arkansas native struggled to read defensive coverages through the first six games, especially before the snap.

Now that Lindsey has a year of starting experience in Harbaugh’s system, he’s eager to show improvement to his teammates, coaches and the fans.

“I think the number one thing for me is perfecting my fundamentals, and technique,” Lindsey said. “Just being super consistent in the process, and another big step I want to take is the run game, and being able to master every single thing.”

Lindsey had some bright moments to be proud of, like when he passed for a season-high, 324 yards and three touchdowns in the win over Rutgers. Not to mention he posted a career-high, four touchdown tosses at Northwestern. However, Lindsey suffered through some lackluster performances, including his three interceptions at Iowa.

The former three-star prospect did leave a lasting impression, after throwing for two scores in the bowl victory over New Mexico. Lindsey is trying to build off that outing, while taking command of the huddle, and earning respect in the locker room. The 6-foot-5, 230-pounder even participated in Minnesota’s Pro Day, and threw balls to his former teammates.

Spring ball is helping Lindsey build up confidence, and he’s catching Coach P.J. Fleck’s attention with his strong work ethic. Fleck just wants Lindsey to spread his wings in the scheme, and be the leader that he knows the signal-caller can be.

“He’s way bigger than he was, he’s stronger than he was, and physically mature more than he ever has,” Fleck said. “Now it’s the mental piece of the mastery component of the system, rather than just learning it, and I think that’s where he’ll take the next step this spring.”

Lindsey has a great supporting cast to help him reach those goals too. Wideouts Javon Tracy, and Jalen Smith are both back after combining for 65 receptions, 873 yards and eight touchdown catches in 2025. On top of that, Darius Taylor returns to the backfield, and has 1,656 yards on the ground, and 14 rushing scores over the past two seasons.

All of the pieces appear to be in place for the Gophers to make some noise on offense. Which is why Lindsey refuses to be a liability that holds the unit back, so everyday is a grind to get better in all aspects of the game.

“O-line combinations, my thought process pre and post-snap, obviously when I do that it makes the offense a whole lot better,” he said. “Not getting complacent within the process, because I think it’s easy to do that as you get comfortable.”

Minnesota’s spring game is still three weeks away, and in the meantime Lindsey is treating every practice like it’s his last. There’s a big jump from being a wide-eyed freshman, to a seasoned veteran, but Fleck believes Lindsey is just starting to crack the surface of his potential.

“I think he’s such a great prospect, such a great player and such a great person, who compartmentalizes life really, really well.”