Gophers QB Drake Lindsey reflects on first career start
Last Thursday, redshirt freshman quarterback Drake Lindsey made his first career start in the maroon and gold. It was an impressive performance for the Fayetteville, Arkansas native. He completed 19-of-35 passing attempts for 290-yards and two touchdowns.
Coming out of the performance, Lindsey felt good about how he played.
“Felt really good, all the coaches behind me, all the players believed in me,” Lindsey said following the 23-10 win over Buffalo. “I was really confident in the game plan, prepared really well, so it felt really good.”
But now, the Gophers’ signal caller has had time to reflect on his performance with the opportunity to watch the game tape a few times over. On Wednesday, ahead of Minnesota’s upcoming matchup against Northwestern State, Lindsey met with the media once again and offered some additional insights on his performance.
“I’ve watched the game a few times since Thursday night. I watched it two more times after we watched it with the coaches, and there are a lot of things I can get better at and help the offense move down the field,” Lindsey said about reviewing his performance last Thursday.
“But I thought overall, we did a pretty good job. We just gotta execute a little better and get the fine details. But no, it was an awesome first start, and I was very excited and fortunate to be able to lead the team.”
It wasn’t a perfect performance from Lindsey; there were throws that he would like back and additional plays that he’ll have to grow from. One of those plays was taking a sack at the end of the first half.
“Before the play (Coach) Harbaugh, he reminded me, you can’t take a sack here,” Lindsey said as he discussed the play. “Then as the play goes on, you’re attempting to put the team in the best situation and get the ball in the end zone. But it wasn’t there, and I got to do a better job and throw the ball away.”
“It’s situational football, I got to help out Brady, our kicker, and help him out with a shorter field goal in that situation,” he added. “Fleck told me that you can’t take the sack there … Harbaugh told me right before the play, right when we broke the huddle, can’t take a sack here, put the ball in the end zone.”
Luckily for Lindsey, the sack, while it eliminated the opportunity for one more shot at the endzone, didn’t knock the Gophers out of field goal range. Brady Denaburg would hit a 38-yard field goal attempt to give the Gophers’ a 10-3 lead heading into halftime.
It’s a mistake that he vows he’ll grow from.
“I can’t take a sack there and I’ll get better and that won’t happen again.”
Overall, it was a memorable first start for Lindsey.
“It was obviously a really cool experience once we ran out,” he said, recalling last Thursday. “But I always get, the only jittery I really ever get is on the bus, just leading up to the stadium. You’re about to enter, you’re entering a different mode in your mind, where it’s time to just go to war with your brothers.”
“I think that’s a mindset that you don’t really overthink, it just happens, you snap into it really quickly,” he further explained about his mindset. “Then once you get on the field, it’s just like, I mean, you’re really tunnel vision. That’s how I kinda explain it, when I threw the touchdown to Jamo (Jameson Geers), I didn’t hear anything, I didn’t hear the crowd. You’re so locked in on the moment and locked in on being really successful and winning that situation and winning that game.”
Lindsey will look to help lead the Gophers to a 2-0 start on the season on Saturday when Minnesota welcomes FCS opponent Northwestern State to Huntington Bank Stadium.
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