Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck offers update on running back Darius Taylor's health
While Minnesota dominated Northwestern State from start to finish Saturday at Huntington Bank Stadium the biggest storyline coming out of the blowout win wasn’t the score, it was the health of star running back Darius Taylor.
The junior tailback and the heartbeat of the Gophers’ offense left Saturday’s game against Northwestern State in the first quarter with a leg injury. At the end of a 17-yard run, Taylor pulled up on the sidelines, and grabbed the back of his leg in the hamstring area.
He would later walk off the field gingerly, head into the medical tent and wouldn’t return to the game. After leaving the tent, cameras did catch Fleck having a conversation with his star running back on the sidelines.
During his post game press conference, Gophers’ head coach P.J. Fleck was asked about that conversation and Taylor’s injury.
“It was a great conversation,” Fleck said.
“I really love my players, and you hurt for the kid, and anybody who gets hurt,” he continued. “It’s not about, what are we gonna do as a team? Beacuse we have really good tailbacks and you immediately feel for the person, because you know everything that that young person has been through, and what they invest in themselves, and how hard they work, and the time they spend in the training room, and to prevent those things.”
“My whole conversation more was just about, hey, now you gotta lead those young guys for right now,” Fleck explained about the conversation. “It doesn’t seem too bad, which is really good. So we got a really good positive diagnosis on that. So we’ll see how the week goes as he goes through it. But we weren’t gonna put him back in the game, that’s for sure.”
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