BleedGopher
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per TommieNews.com:
The Gophers
St. Thomas football players Jacques Perra, Josh Parks and Blake Weber were all Minnesota Golden Gophers before they became Tommies.
Perra and Parks first met during their official visit to the University of Minnesota campus, where they would later become freshman roommates. Perra committed to Jerry Kill’s Gopher team in January of 2014 and Parks followed a few weeks later.
“I was intrigued with going Division I, I’ll be honest,” Parks said. “And I wanted to compete at that level.”
Both went on to sport the maroon and gold their first year, while Weber spent the year at Rochester Community and Technical College, playing junior college football and focusing on academics so he could play in the Big Ten Conference.
“It wasn’t the best experience, but I got my grades up,” Weber said.
Before Weber could transfer to join Perra and Parks as Gophers, Parks up-and-left to attend Saint John’s, where he lasted as a Johnnie for just a few weeks before returning to the University of Minnesota. This time, as a student. Not a student-athlete.
During the start of their second year, Perra and Weber multitasked football and school, while Parks focused on his studies. That is until Kill resigned as head football coach at the University of Minnesota, leaving players like Perra in a dilemma. When Minnesota announced Tracy Claeys would be taking over as head coach, it became clear to Perra that he should look elsewhere.
“I wasn’t the biggest fan of him,” Perra said.
Perra’s desire to stay local found him in deep talks with Glenn Caruso, which led to him making the decision to transfer to St. Thomas following that fall semester.
Parks again followed Perra.
“When Jacques came here, he convinced me to talk to coach Caruso,” Parks said. “About a month or two after that, I committed to St. Thomas.”
While Perra and Parks took on roles that helped the Tommies to a 12-1 record and national quarterfinal appearance in 2016, Weber found himself unhappy playing at Minnesota. So, following that school year, he joined Perra and Parks as Tommies.
“I don’t regret at all making the decision I made going (to the University of Minnesota). It was a great time,” Weber said. “But I’d rather actually be on the field competing than putting in all that work and sitting on the sideline.”
The three would lead the Tommies to a quarterfinal matchup against the defending national champion Mary Hardin-Baylor this past season. They fought hard, but fell 24-10.
Perra started in all 13 games as quarterback, throwing for 2,944 yards and 24 touchdowns during that span.
Parks was a part of a three-headed monster running back tandem, rushing for 698 yards and nine touchdowns himself.
Weber took over Adam Kraft’s spot at the outside linebacker position, where he mustered up 45 total tackles and six sacks for the dominant Tommie defense.
These Gophers-turned-Tommies admit that their journeys put things in perspective.
“At the (University of Minnesota), everyone dreams about going to a Division I school and playing for a Division I program, but even when you get there it’s not all that,” Perra said. “It kind of makes you realize that there’s more to college and there’s a lot more that matters after college than those four years of playing Division I football.”
Parks went further.
“From the outside looking in, a lot of things look much better than they may be,” he said. “But when you actually are in that experience, you’re able to realistically pull out things that you enjoy and things that you dislike.”
None of them regret being Golden Gophers; nor do they regret becoming Tommies.
“It’s really all about the journey,” Parks said. “We probably would have all had regrets if we never played at the U of M knowing that we had the potential to do so.”
https://www.tommiemedia.com/featured-news/becoming-a-tommie-the-d-i-to-d-iii-journey/
Go Gophers!!
The Gophers
St. Thomas football players Jacques Perra, Josh Parks and Blake Weber were all Minnesota Golden Gophers before they became Tommies.
Perra and Parks first met during their official visit to the University of Minnesota campus, where they would later become freshman roommates. Perra committed to Jerry Kill’s Gopher team in January of 2014 and Parks followed a few weeks later.
“I was intrigued with going Division I, I’ll be honest,” Parks said. “And I wanted to compete at that level.”
Both went on to sport the maroon and gold their first year, while Weber spent the year at Rochester Community and Technical College, playing junior college football and focusing on academics so he could play in the Big Ten Conference.
“It wasn’t the best experience, but I got my grades up,” Weber said.
Before Weber could transfer to join Perra and Parks as Gophers, Parks up-and-left to attend Saint John’s, where he lasted as a Johnnie for just a few weeks before returning to the University of Minnesota. This time, as a student. Not a student-athlete.
During the start of their second year, Perra and Weber multitasked football and school, while Parks focused on his studies. That is until Kill resigned as head football coach at the University of Minnesota, leaving players like Perra in a dilemma. When Minnesota announced Tracy Claeys would be taking over as head coach, it became clear to Perra that he should look elsewhere.
“I wasn’t the biggest fan of him,” Perra said.
Perra’s desire to stay local found him in deep talks with Glenn Caruso, which led to him making the decision to transfer to St. Thomas following that fall semester.
Parks again followed Perra.
“When Jacques came here, he convinced me to talk to coach Caruso,” Parks said. “About a month or two after that, I committed to St. Thomas.”
While Perra and Parks took on roles that helped the Tommies to a 12-1 record and national quarterfinal appearance in 2016, Weber found himself unhappy playing at Minnesota. So, following that school year, he joined Perra and Parks as Tommies.
“I don’t regret at all making the decision I made going (to the University of Minnesota). It was a great time,” Weber said. “But I’d rather actually be on the field competing than putting in all that work and sitting on the sideline.”
The three would lead the Tommies to a quarterfinal matchup against the defending national champion Mary Hardin-Baylor this past season. They fought hard, but fell 24-10.
Perra started in all 13 games as quarterback, throwing for 2,944 yards and 24 touchdowns during that span.
Parks was a part of a three-headed monster running back tandem, rushing for 698 yards and nine touchdowns himself.
Weber took over Adam Kraft’s spot at the outside linebacker position, where he mustered up 45 total tackles and six sacks for the dominant Tommie defense.
These Gophers-turned-Tommies admit that their journeys put things in perspective.
“At the (University of Minnesota), everyone dreams about going to a Division I school and playing for a Division I program, but even when you get there it’s not all that,” Perra said. “It kind of makes you realize that there’s more to college and there’s a lot more that matters after college than those four years of playing Division I football.”
Parks went further.
“From the outside looking in, a lot of things look much better than they may be,” he said. “But when you actually are in that experience, you’re able to realistically pull out things that you enjoy and things that you dislike.”
None of them regret being Golden Gophers; nor do they regret becoming Tommies.
“It’s really all about the journey,” Parks said. “We probably would have all had regrets if we never played at the U of M knowing that we had the potential to do so.”
https://www.tommiemedia.com/featured-news/becoming-a-tommie-the-d-i-to-d-iii-journey/
Go Gophers!!
