Typically an established Big Ten program does not rely on freshman contributing. Somewhat surprisingly even after a few years of Jerry Kill building a program that has more depth and balance, the Gophers still have been getting more snaps out of freshman than I would have imagined at this point of the Kill Era. Some of this is due to injury and some is just because these kids have earned the right to play.
In 2014 you saw four true freshmen who participated in at least 12 of the team's 13 games. Steven Richardson was the leader of the pack starting 12 games and making an impact with 6 tackles for loss, 2 sacks and a forced fumble.