With injuries mounting, freshman LB Emmanuel Karmo steps up for Gophers
This fall, the Minnesota football program and head coach P.J. Fleck has relied on several true and redshirt freshmen to grow up fast and make an impact on the field. One of those players is one of the crown jewels of the Gophers’ 2025 recruiting class, in-state linebacker Emmanuel Karmo.
Karmo was a Rivals Industry Ranking four-star prospect and considered a top-400 player in the country including a top-40 linebacker and the No. 1 player in the state of Minnesota.
In 11 games played this season, Karmo has recorded 13 tackles, one tackle for loss, one sack, two pass deflections, and one fumble recovery.
This past Saturday against Northwestern, Karmo had three tackles, tying his career high. It was a quality performance for the former top in-state prospect as he was thrust into a bigger role with Minnesota missing starting linebacker Devon Williams as well as key rotational linebacker Joey Gerlach.
In total, he played a season-high 35 snaps in the loss.
On Monday, during his weekly press conference, Fleck was asked about the performance of Karmo this season. Here’s what he had to say.
“There were some really, really good parts about Emmanuel’s play,” Fleck said. “For a true freshman to play the way he did, he makes some outstanding plays where you see the flashes of like, wow. I mean, this kid’s going to be a player-player and that’s why he’s playing.”
That being said, while Karmo has certainly flashed his potential, mistakes are also bound to be made by young players. “But then there are some things that come along with experience,” Fleck noted. “You can’t skip the step. And it’s unfortunate, but you can’t skip the step.”
While not Karmo issues only, young linebackers can often struggle early in their careers — being too slow to diagnose a play, overpursuing the ballcarrier and taking themselves out of the play in the process, attacking the wrong gap, as well as being eye disciplined and, most importantly, communicative.
While Karmo has been on campus less than a year, Fleck has learned that the former Robbinsdale Cooper is a quick learner and remedies his mistakes.
“One thing about Emmanuel is he’s going to make it right. Like if he makes a mistake, he’s going to make it right. He is a competitive son of a gun,” Fleck explained. “That kid—like he’s got a motor. He’s really, really intelligent. He works his butt off. He’s always in the facility. So he’s going to be a really good player. He already is. He wouldn’t be playing if he wasn’t good.”
For Minnesota and Fleck, it’s all part of being a developmental program and the experience of the highs-and-lows when playing true and redshirt freshmen.
“In a developmental program, you know there’s going to be a learning curve,” he said. “As they play, not just in practice, there’s going to be some mistakes. But when we do have a mistake, if it turns out to be catastrophic, that’s where we’ve got to look at it from a coaching standpoint of how much can we give that individual right now during this time.”
Nonetheless, while Karmo may not be filling up the stat sheet just yet, Fleck is proud of the true freshman and his development so far.
“He’s been able to handle a ton. I’m really proud of him.”
