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ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit is giving some love to a coach out of the Big Ten that rarely gets mentioned among the top assistants in college football.
Last week, the “College GameDay” analyst tweeted that Minnesota defensive coordinator Jim Rossi is “one of [the] most underrated DC’s in CFB!”
Great stuff Chip. Coach Rossi one of most underrated DC’s in CFB! https://t.co/2CirlqEpPf
— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) August 6, 2022
Rossi had the Golden Gophers’ D ranked second in the B1G last fall, while ranking in the top 10 nationally in scoring and total yards.
Speaking on that defense in an interview with 247Sports, Rossi commended his young men not only as players, but people.
I think that there was a group of guys that played really well together. They communicated well, did their job, executed their assignments, played with physicality and took coaching. I thought the staff did a good job. I think when you got a good staff with good people, in terms of the players from their character and work ethic, and then have talent and ability, then you can kind of have positive results.
Minnesota wasn’t ranked in the 2022 preseason Coaches Poll. But if Rossi continues to coach up the defense like he has, the Gophers won’t be held out of the top-25 for long.