MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -The connection between wide receiver Eric Decker and quarterback Adam Weber has become the backbone of Minnesota’s rise, a throw-and-catch combination opponents have had little success stopping.
The greatest impact Decker and Weber have had on these Gophers, though, might have been their determination to fight through injuries over the past two weeks.
“Those guys are tough players. They work their butts off,” defensive end Willie VanDeSteeg said.
Decker was knocked woozy after a hit to the head in a 16-7 win over Indiana on Oct. 4, and he played the next game – a 27-20 victory at Illinois – with a sprained shoulder.
Weber suffered cartilage damage to his right knee during a sack in the first quarter of that game against the Hoosiers, needed arthroscopic surgery the next day to repair a torn meniscus, and still faced the Illini.
and play. He’s a football player. He’s really given himself up for the team. As a fellow teammate, you want to do the same. It’s respect.”
The Gophers (6-1, 2-1) used an open week on the Big Ten schedule last Saturday to rest and heal, and they were rewarded with a No. 25 place in the latest Associated Press poll – their first ranking in three years. They play at Purdue on Saturday, with a chance to guarantee coach Tim Brewster a winning season after a 1-11 debut.
Weber showed promise as a redshirt freshman running a complicated spread offense, but he has made significant strides as a sophomore under the tutelage of coordinator Mike Dunbar.
After throwing 19 interceptions last year, the coaches made sure Weber would learn from his mistakes – so they had him sit down and analyze video clips of every last one.
The studying helped, and so has an improved running game. Despite an obvious reliance on Decker, the target of 41.3 percent of his completions, Weber has been picked off only twice.
Brewster has directed most of his praise, though, at his leadership. He gave Weber the weekly “Lunch Pail Award” for the example he set with his effort to push through the stiffness and pain and play at Illinois.
“He’s got tremendous calmness under duress,” the coach said. “The kid is really unflappable in a heated situation.”
has exhibited an equal amount of grit. He wasn’t highly recruited at Rocori High School in Cold Spring, but he’s flourishing here. Decker leads the Big Ten and ranks in the top five in the nation with 59 receptions and 782 yards.
If he stays healthy, he’ll set several school records by year’s end.
“I always had the mind-set that I wanted to be great, but coming from a small school I was really unaware of what I could do and the possibilities that I had,” Decker said. “With all the resources they’ve got here and the people that you’re surrounded with, it makes it easy to be successful.”
That starts with Weber, his roommate and close friend. They met before college and have a chemistry on and off the field.
“I think it was the trust that we built in each other,” Decker said.
The trust from their teammates has increased this month.
“Everybody plays hurt,” Weber said, shrugging of all this tough-guy stuff.
The defense has its own inspiration in VanDeSteeg, who had a standout sophomore season with 10 sacks but was a nonfactor last year while playing with a broken wrist.
This fall, he’s back to full strength and has 6 1/2 sacks in seven games from his position on the end.
“It goes back to this simple question: Do you love football? Do you love football?” Brewster said. “You look someone in the eye, and you sense when they answer whether or not they truly have a burning desire to be great.”
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