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Minnesota finished strong last year, winning three of its final four games to round out head coach P.J. Fleck’s second season at the helm with a 7-6 record.

The Golden Gophers’ 2018 success came with one of the youngest rosters in the nation, so expectations entering this season with the majority of the starters returning on both sides of the ball are sky high.

Minnesota’s nine returning starters on offense are the most in the Big Ten West. The familiarity with each other should help whoever ends up starting under center for the Gophers. Sophomore Zack Annexstad won the quarterback job out of camp last fall but was injured after starting the first seven games of the season for the Gophers and going 3-4. Fellow sophomore Tanner Morgan took over and went 4-2 down the stretch with a higher passer rating than Annexstad had when he got hurt.

How the quarterback competition pans out in Minneapolis should be interesting. Annexstad is the better pure passer, who showed more in the offseason last year. But Morgan’s success once he stepped in speaks for itself and he is the more athletic option who can make some plays with his legs.

Whoever wins the quarterback competition for the Gophers won’t be short of viable targets. The receiving corps is led by senior — and returning All-Big Ten honoree — Tyler Johnson, who set single-season program records last fall with 1,169 receiving yards and 12 receiving touchdowns. Sophomore Rashod Bateman was a standout freshman a year ago, hauling in six touchdowns and racking up 704 yards. A duo of solid tight ends — Brevyn Spann-Ford and Jake Paulson — will also add to the offense’s passing production.

The Gophers’ backfield is setting up to be a three-headed monster. Last year, then-freshman Mohamed Ibrahim impressed after he took over for Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks, who both went down with ACL injuries during the season. Brooks and Smith have combined for more than 4,000 yards and 40 touchdowns in their careers, and both return this fall, giving Minnesota a very potent backfield.

The only two starters the Gophers must replace are on the offensive line, including left tackle spot where they must replace perhaps their best blocker from a year ago, Donnell Greene.

Minnesota fired its defensive coordinator in the middle of last season after allowing nearly 650 yards and 55 points to Illinois. This was after allowing at least 42 points and more than 400 yards to each of its three opponents prior to that. Joe Rossi took over as interim defensive coordinator and showed enough to Fleck to earn the permanent job at season’s end.

Rossi will run a variable 4-3 front and have six returning starters to work with. The Gophers must replace their two top tacklers from last year — linebacker Blake Cashman and safety Jacob Huff — but defensive end Carter Coughlin returns to lead the front seven after registering 9.5 sacks last season.

Minnesota’s defense will also welcome back safety Antoine Winfield Jr., who redshirted last year after injuring his foot in the fourth game of the season. Winfield was an All-American as a freshman in 2016 and will look to return to form and lead the back end of the Gophers’ defense.

The interior of the defensive line is where Minnesota is a bit vulnerable. The Gophers will be relying on Notre Dame graduate transfer Micah Dew-Treadway and incoming freshmen Keonte Shad and Rashad Cheney to step up in this role and solidify the defensive tackle position.

Bottom line: Given Minnesota’s amount of returning starters and its upward trajectory dating back to the end of last season, the Gophers are going to be a tough matchup for anyone they face in 2019. Maryland will travel to Minneapolis and hope to have the same success it did in its blowout of the Gophers last season, but the Terps will have to be careful not to get surprised by the same group of players that are playing much better than when these two teams met last September. Stuffing the run and shutting down Tyler Johnson should be the focus of the Terps in this matchup.

Series: 3-1, Maryland

Last Maryland win: 2018, 42-13 at Maryland

Last Minnesota win: 2016, 31-10 at Maryland