Buffalo graduate senior Mitchell Gonser found a cool way to become a viral sensation on the last Thursday night of August.
The linebacker from Medfield, Mass., had to have extreme focus to pull it off, and when he did, it provided for one of the first of what will surely be many crazy plays in college football this fall. With Minnesota leading 7-0 early in the second quarter of Thursday night’s season-opener, the visiting Bulls needed a spark.
That’s where the 6-foot, 230-pound Gonser came in and took center stage, if for just that moment. With Minnesota driving and looking to add to its lead, quarterback Drake Lindsey dropped back to pass and fired what seemed to be a short, innocent pass to the left side. That’s when chaos ensued.
Gonser appeared to push down Golden Gophers senior tight end Jameson Geers, who fell to the turf and got his left foot in the way. That’s right — he got his foot in the way. Geers, who caught 4 passes for 38 yards in the first half, including a 9-yard touchdown pass from Lindsey on Minnesota’s previous possession, accidentally deflected the ball with his left foot, and Gonser was in the right place at the right time after just having pushed Geers down.
The ball deflected off Geers’ foot right into the waiting hands of Gonser, who streaked down the field, almost getting the pick-6 before being tackled inside the Minnesota 25-yard line.
Here is the crazy play, authored by Gonser, whose 54-yard return was an afterthought when considering the unlikeliness of the interception itself:
Buffalo turned the ridiculous play into its only points of the first half, a 36-yard field goal by Jack Howes that got it within 7-3.
Minnesota led 10-3 at halftime, with still another half of football left for maybe another zany play or 2 to happen.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
