Gophers' Quinn Carroll: 'The excitement is through the roof'

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The University of Minnesota football team opens the 2024 regular season Thursday night against North Carolina, and it’s the final run for Quinn Carroll.

The former Edina star went to Notre Dame out of high school, got a degree and is now in his third and final season with the Gophers. He gets one more season with his hometown team before hopefully heading to the NFL in 2025.

FOX 9 Digital Sports Reporter Jeff Wald caught up with Carroll at a Gophers’ food tasting event before the season-opener to talk about being at the State Fair, and the season ahead.

What was being at the State Fair with your teammates like?

It was great. A lot of people coming up to us, asking for pictures and just saying from afar Go Gophers. Anything like that really amps us up and gets us excited for the season.

What are your State Fair go-to foods?

I always start with the Pronto Pup, get some bacon, some corn. Deep fried Oreos, I wrap it up with Sweet Martha’s cookies of course, and some milk.

Is it hard to wrap your head around that it’s game week?

The excitement level is through the roof. It is hard to wrap my head around it, but it’s been a great offseason and we’re ready to get after it.

What do you make of the offense so far? How’s the offensive line looking?

It’s a very mature group up front and across the board as an offense. Max (Brosmer) does a great job of leading us. He’s making the calls as far as the plays or what we need to check into, check out of. He’s doing a great job of getting us all on the same page. I’m really excited for what we can showcase on Thursday.

It feels like this team is strongest in the trenches on both lines. How important is that?

It’s incredibly important. That’s where the game starts, right? That’s where the offense starts, that’s where the team starts. If the offensive line isn’t performing well, you can basically count us out. We’re excited about that challenge and we want that to be on our backs as offensive linemen. We want that pressure and to be able to go out and execute every day. 

Is it that much more special to finish your career as a Gopher, being a Minnesota kid?

Absolutely, it’s surreal talking to my family about it. This is it for me in college, and it’s been a long ride, but it’s been really fun and I couldn’t be more blessed to have this experience at Minnesota.

What was the process like of coming to home from Notre Dame?

I knew coming out of the portal if I were to have an opportunity to play in the Big Ten, to play for Minnesota, for my home team, I would take it. When I put my name in the portal, I wasn’t sure what sort of interest I would gain. Coach Fleck called me and wanted me back, and I couldn’t be more thankful for that. It’s the greatest blessing ever. I’ve loved my experience as a Gopher and I’m kind of sad that it’s ending.

What is gameday like for you? What rituals get you ready for kickoff?

I’m a very rigid person when it comes to game day. I do the same things, I wear the same clothes, I listen to the same music. The biggest thing for me is talking to my Dad before every game. He calls me, we pray together and he wishes me good luck. He tells me who is all there, who is going to be watching. It puts me in the right mind space to go out and compete and remind me what I’m doing it for.

You know the standard this program holds. What do you make of the low expectations outside your four walls?

We don’t pay much attention to it. A lot of people will count us out or think we’re going to win X amount of games, we don’t focus on that. We just take it one day at a time and we’re ready to compete every single week.