10 Golden Gophers make East-West Bowl Top 1000

On Monday morning, the Shriners Children’s East-West Bowl released its annual list of the top 1000 players who are currently all-star game eligible for the 2027 Shriners Children’s East-West Bowl and 2027 NFL Draft class. Of those 1,000 players, 10 Minnesota Golden Gophers made the cut for this year’s top-1000 edition. Here are each of those Gophers who made the list. QB Drake Lindsey Lindsey enters his second season as Minnesota’s starting quarterback after completing 246-of-389 passes last season for 2,382 yards and 18 touchdowns to six interceptions. The former three-star quarterback has received plenty of NFL Draft buzz this offseason, being lauded by some as a potential first-round pick. RB Darius Taylor Taylor enters his fourth season with the program after being the team’s top ballcarrier each of the last three seasons. After totaling 1,300+ yards from scrimmage in 2024, Taylor’s numbers dropped to 915 total yards in 10 games played. For his career, he has 2,455 career yards, 687 receiving yards, and 3,142 total yards from scrimmage. WR Javon Tracy The former Miami (OH) wide receiver impressed in his first year with the program. He recorded 37 receptions for 454 yards and six touchdowns, bringing his career totals to 116 receptions, 1,620 yards and 15 touchdowns in 42 games. OC Ashton Beers Beers has played 39 straight games for Minnesota, including 22 starts the past two seasons. After allowing six sacks and 15 total pressures in 2024, Beers allowed just seven pressures and no sacks last season despite seeing 70 more snaps than he did a season prior. OG Greg Johnson Johnson is coming off the best season of his career as he enters his fourth year with the program. After a 2024 season in which he struggled, allowing 17 total pressures, he allowed just seven last year, including one sack. Despite some struggles along the way, Johnson has allowed just two sacks across 1,800+ career snaps. CB John Nestor After having small roles with Iowa in 2023 and 2024, Nestor was very impressive in a starting role for the Golden Gophers last fall with 50 tackles, 6.0 tackles for loss, and six interceptions. He also had six more passes. EDGE Anthony Smith The All-American pass rusher is coming off a huge 2025 season as a redshirt junior in which he totaled 38 tackles, 17.5 tackles for loss, and 12.5 sacks. For his career, the Pennsylvania native has 81 total tackles, 31.0 tackles for loss, and 19.5 sacks. EDGE TJ Bush Bush enters his first season with the Golden Gophers after spending two seasons with Liberty (2023-24) and one with California (2025). The EDGE rusher enters this season with 130 career tackles, 27.0 tackles for loss, 13.0 sacks, and 10 pass deflections. Last season with the Golden Bears, he totaled 40 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, and 5.5 sacks. LB Maverick Baranowski The former unheralded linebacker prospect has worked his way into one of the Big Ten’s top. He’s coming off a strong 2025 season in which he totaled 103 tackles, 9.0 tackles for loss, and three sacks. He enters his final season with Minnesota with 221 total tackles, 19.0 tackles for loss, and five sacks. S Kerry Brown The fourth-year safety is coming off a solid 2025 season in which he had 56 tackles, including 4.0 tackles for loss. He also had two sacks and four pass deflections. For his career, the All-Big Ten caliber safety has 127 tackles, 7.0 TFLs, and four interceptions. Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Instagram Like our page on Facebook Subscribe to our YouTube Channel Talk about it inside Inside Gophers Nation