Gophers star Koi Perich playing both offense and defense at spring practices

Since the end of last season, there's been buzz about Gophers star safety Koi Perich adding offensive snaps to his repertoire as a sophomore. Minnesota's spring practices have brought confirmation that he'll be playing on both sides of the ball this fall — and not just as a "gadget" player, either.

Perich was seen wearing a special two-way jersey at Tuesday's practice. Offensive players typically wear white practice jerseys and defensive players wear maroon ones. Perich's jersey has both colors, split down the middle.

Koi Perich rocking that dual jersey.

Half offense, half defense. pic.twitter.com/H8PnNebV0p
— Ryan Burns (@RyanBurnsMN) April 8, 2025

"Drake (Lindsey) and all the other quarterbacks were saying how hard it was to see me on offense when I was running over the middle of the field, so just implemented that," Perich said of the jersey. "P.J.'s idea, but he gave all the credit to Brady (Gagnon), our equipment manager."

Perich burst onto the scene as a true freshman for the Gophers last year, leading the Big Ten with five interceptions despite not having an every-down role on defense for the first month of the season. He was also the team's primary kick and punt returner, and by the of the year, head coach P.J. Fleck was experimenting with giving him a few offensive snaps.

This year, Perich could have a legitimate two-way role. He may not play every snap on offense like Colorado Heisman-winner Travis Hunter last year, but it sounds like it's going to be more than a handful of reps on that side of the ball.

"He's a versatile athlete," Fleck said after practice. "The more you can do with Koi Perich, the better off you're gonna be, simple as that. So you can take that for how you want it. You could take a picture of his jersey if you want, and then figure it out. He's too good of a football player not to be on the field, somehow, someway, throughout the entire game. Not just on one side."

As a star at Esko High School up near Duluth, MN, Perich played on offense, defense, and special teams and was always the best athlete on the field. He was both a running back and a wide receiver, and the latter appears to be the position he'll play on the Gophers' offense. While Perich's natural athleticism helped him dominate in high school, playing receiver at the Division I level comes with a lot of work. He's been working on his releases off the line of scrimmage with Minnesota's other wide receivers, honing his technique.

"It means a lot," Perich said of getting to play both ways. "But that obviously comes with more work. Every opportunity is not given, it's earned. Just gotta keep putting in more work and more work, that's what comes with it."

"I think (offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh Jr.)'s done a really good job of giving him what he can handle," Fleck said. "But whatever we give him, we want him to be really good at. This isn't just a gadget thing. We're not looking at him to be a gadget, we're looking at him to be an athlete on this football team and make plays on every side of the ball, plus the return game. He's done a really good job of handling all of it."

One thing is certain: When you watch a Gophers football game this fall, you're going to see a lot of Perich and his No. 3 jersey. In addition to offense and special teams, he's the star of their defense, led by new coordinator Danny Collins. The Gophers want to move him around a lot on that side of the ball — he can play free safety or box safety or line up at nickel — in order to maximize his abilities. Between Perich, Kerry Brown, and Aidan Gousby, Minnesota might have one of the best safety trios in the country.

"He's a special talent," Collins said. "We have a lot of talented guys in that safety room, and as much as we can continue to put all those guys on the field at the same time, we're gonna be pretty dangerous."

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