Gray, Maresh stand out for Minnesota in Spring Game

A day after the “TCF Bank Stadium” letters were affixed to the broad brick side of the stadium, and a few hours after student tickets went on sale, the Gophers played an outdoor home game.
Not at the new stadium, which isn’t quite polished, but at a smaller St. Thomas venue for their annual spring game Saturday.
Normally held at the Metrodome, the Gophers moved the game to St. Thomas in St. Paul in anticipation of their outdoor season, and on a 50-degree afternoon packed more than 7,000 people into the Division III stadium.
Former head coach Glen Mason once held a spring game at the team’s practice facility, but didn’t allow for much viewing. St. Thomas offered a larger outdoor venue, but even there fans filled the bleachers and had to line the track outside the field to watch the intrasquad scrimmage.
“It’s a real big difference,” sophomore Troy Stoudermire, who had a big day as a receiver and kick returner, said. “Playing inside just felt a little dull. Out here it’s just open nature and you get to do whatever you want.”
The spring game is a game in some respects — with referees, 12-minute quarters and a pep band — but it’s a mostly relaxed affair. The clock is running and the scoring system is questionable, with players floating between teams, and the nine-man referee team not throwing a single flag Saturday. To hammer the point home, a score was kept on the scoreboard and ended in a 17-17 tie, but the game was later considered just offense versus defense, making the final score simply 34 for the offense.
But fans got a first look at much-hyped players like quarterback MarQueis Gray and linebacker Sam Maresh, who both played significant minutes.
Gray, who played with the team last spring but couldn’t play in the season because of academic issues, took the first snaps of the game and completed 8-of-10 passes for 141 yards and two touchdowns.
Of course, that came against one of the nation’s worst pass defenses from last season, and many were against the second-team defense, but Gray still outshined incumbent quarterback Adam Weber, who finished just 9-for-12 for 77 yards. Weber was the only player on the field wearing a red jersey, advertising that he shouldn’t be hit after undergoing offseason shoulder surgery.
Brewster said after the game that, while Weber would be the clear No. 1 quarterback, the Gophers would have a package of plays drawn up for Gray each game next season. The 6-foot-4, 224-pound Gray is also a skilled receiver and the Gophers ran a play late in the scrimmage where Weber threw to Gray in the endzone.
“With the amount of talent MarQueis has, his ceiling is so high,” Weber said. “He’s going to do a lot of special things for us, and I’m excited to be on the field with him and watch him do what he can do, because he can stress the defense because he has a lot of weapons.”
Maresh, a linebacker from Champlin, Minn. who underwent surprise open-heart surgery in June and had to sit out the season, played in front of fans for the first time Saturday.
He made six tackles and played with full consent. Brewster said Maresh, who also had a brief scare with a tumor in his leg that turned out to be nothing more than scar tissue, will carry the team flag out of the tunnel at the team’s home opener in the new stadium.