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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; After seeing limited action in 2013, Mitch Leidner (7) should start for Minnesota this fall. (Joe Robbins/Getty Images)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Nothing was working for Minnesota in the first half of last December\u2019s Texas Bowl against Syracuse. The Golden Gophers -- in search of their ninth win of the season -- entered the locker room trailing 7-3. Their offense was stagnant, an issue that had plagued the team toward the end of the year. Quarterback Philip Nelson and company hadn\u2019t scored an offensive touchdown since the second quarter of a 24-10 victory over Penn State on Nov. 9. Against the Orange, that didn\u2019t appear set to change.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Enough was enough for Jerry Kill. Minnesota\u2019s coach, who had watched games from coaches\u2019 box since October, ventured downstairs and returned to the sideline. All he wanted was a face-to-face chat with his players.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI couldn\u2019t stand any longer watching how we played,\u201D Kill said.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With Kill on the sideline, Minnesota found its footing. After Syracuse scored a touchdown on a five-yard Terrel Hunt run in the third quarter, Gophers quarterback Mitch Leidner -- inserted in place of Nelson -- tossed a pair of touchdown passes to give Minnesota its first lead. Though Hunt halted the Gophers\u2019 rally by rushing for a game-winning 12-yard score with 1:14 to play, Minnesota showed heart in closing out its unlikely campaign.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spring football primers: ACC\u00A0l\u00A0Big Ten\u00A0l\u00A0Big 12\u00A0l\u00A0Pac-12\u00A0l\u00A0SEC&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Despite the 21-17 defeat, the Gophers finished 8-5, the program\u2019s best record since 2003. That mark is even more remarkable given the health concerns facing Kill. The coach suffered an epileptic seizure on the field at halftime of Minnesota\u2019s 44-21 win over New Mexico State on Sept. 7. Almost a month later, on Oct. 5, Kill had another episode on the morning of the Gophers\u2019 game at Michigan. He remained in Minneapolis that day while defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys coached the team in a 42-13 loss.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kill\u2019s bout with epilepsy was nothing new. He first suffered an on-field seizure as the head coach at Southern Illinois in 2005. Three seasons into his tenure with the Gophers, Kill has experienced at least five seizures on game days.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In the week following the Michigan game, Minnesota announced that Kill would take an extended leave of absence to focus on his health. Claeys, a member of Kill\u2019s staff for 21 years, would serve as interim head coach.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kill kept his distance from the team for two weeks, returning to attend an Oct. 19 matchup at Northwestern as a spectator with his wife, Rebecca. His players didn\u2019t know he\u2019d be in the stadium, but he made his way to the locker room at halftime. A 7-7 score turned into a 20-17 Gophers\u2019 victory.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201COh, I remember Northwestern,\u201D Leidner said. \u201C[Kill] came down to the locker room at halftime. We were fired up, and we came out strong in the second half.\u201D&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kill remained in the coaches\u2019 box in the ensuing weeks, gradually taking on more responsibilities. The win over Penn State lifted the team\u2019s record to 8-2, but Minnesota dropped its final three contests, including the Texas Bowl. Still, the end to the season wasn\u2019t enough to spoil the Gophers\u2019 attitude heading into winter workouts. Kill said this has been one of the best offseasons he\u2019s had as a coach.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CI think any time you come off a good year -- we didn\u2019t finish exactly the way you want to -- but we had a good year and kept moving the program forward,\u201D Kill said. \u201CI think the biggest thing is the kids gained some confidence throughout the year. They were certainly disappointed, but that\u2019s a situation where we all were. We came right back, watched the film and got to work.\u201D&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A positive aura surrounds the program this spring for a number of reasons. The 2014 roster returns 14 starters, seven on both sides of the ball. That\u2019s particularly big on defense; Minnesota was one of the stingiest units in the Big Ten last year, allowing 22.2 points per game, fourth in the league.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;STAPLES: Behind the scenes at George Whitfield's quarterback camp&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Gophers\u2019 troubles came on offense: They averaged just 5.2 yards per play, 11th in the conference. Much of that blame fell on the nation\u2019s 117th-ranked aerial attack, as Minnesota relied heavily on running back David Cobb and the ground game. Cobb rushed for 1,202 yards and seven scores, but a lack of balance was evident.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kill and his coaches are in search of that balance this spring. In January, Nelson surprised many when he announced that he would transfer. That put the spotlight squarely on Leidner, who showed glimpses of his potential in the Texas Bowl. During an offseason meeting with the team, Kill pointed to Leidner and told his players, \u201CThis is your leader.\u201D&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For his part, Leidner is taking his elevated role in stride.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CThe bowl game was huge for building confidence coming into the offseason and spring ball,\u201D he said. \u201CBut along with the bowl game, in the bowl practices I was able to get a good feel for the game plan and get real comfortable with it. I felt very confident about what we were doing for that game.\u201D&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kill said Leidner, who was a redshirt freshman in 2013, took charge during the offseason. In fact, the coach credits him for the Gophers\u2019 hard work in the weeks leading up to spring drills. \u201CIt was all set by the tone of Mitch Leidner,\u201D Kill said. \u201CHe kind of took it over. With his leadership, and what he\u2019s done, the team\u2019s really jumped in it. They\u2019re hungry, and they were disappointed. But I told them they need to be starving.\u201D&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kill\u2019s presence has only added to the positivity. Critics have questioned his priorities, as he seemingly valued football over health for much of his career. After all, people with epilepsy aren\u2019t encouraged to experience severe stress or a lack of sleep. Minnesota\u2019s administration, however, has embraced Kill. It extended the coach\u2019s contract in February through the 2018 season and boosted his annual salary from $1.2 million to $2.1 million. In a statement, school president Eric Kaler said Kill \u201Cis the right coach for the University of Minnesota.\u201D&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Kill is quick to downplay his health concerns. He is already driving when no one thought he would be, and he\u2019s paying increased attention to his sleep and dietary habits. He\u2019s been in far worse situations; his first seizure at Southern Illinois in 2005 led to the discovery of Stage 4 kidney cancer, which he soundly defeated. Still, Gophers players and assistants understand the threat that faces their coach each day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CIt\u2019s tough,\u201D Leidner said. \u201CBut at the same time, we know he\u2019s a tough guy. We just want to be as tough as he is. We look at him, and we\u2019re just thankful for every single day, and being able to play every single day. He\u2019s done so much for us, and we just want to play for him.\u201D&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If Kill has to be a role model in that regard, he isn\u2019t backing down.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CEverybody has a struggle or two,\u201D Kill said, \u201Cbut you bounce back. I still believe it determines what kind of person you are with how you handle adversity. Anybody can handle things good when everything\u2019s going good.\u201D&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;JOHNSON: Ten quarterback competitions to monitor in 2014 spring practice&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The bigger issue, at least in Kill\u2019s mind, is taking Minnesota to the next level. The Gophers may have enjoyed their best season in a decade, but a program with seven claimed national championships and 18 Big Ten titles has not won a conference crown since 1967. Kill wants that to change.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The coach said the Gophers must do things \u201Ca little bit differently than everybody else,\u201D meaning they can\u2019t land a class of top recruits in the way that Urban Meyer does at Ohio State. Instead, Kill follows the example set by Michigan State's Mark Dantonio. Building a program is a gradual process, and Kill knows it takes time. But so far, the model is working.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u201CYou look at what Michigan State\u2019s done,\u201D Kill said. \u201CI give coach [Mark] Dantonio credit. They\u2019ve kept their coaches, for the most part. They have confidence and a great president who believes in what Mark is doing. And look what they\u2019ve done. They had to do it differently than Michigan and Ohio State to get where they\u2019re at.\n\u201CI think we\u2019re the same way. We can\u2019t select, we\u2019ve got to recruit. We\u2019ve got to find those guys that fit in for what we do.\u201D&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/college-football/campus-union/2014/03/24/minnesota-gophers-jerry-kill-mitch-leidner>