MN Gophers Star Running Back Returning to Dinkytown

On Friday the transfer portal opened for college football, and just like most schools across the country, the Minnesota Gophers roster has already been impacted in a major way.

While many top talents, including Anthony Smith and Karter Menz, among others, have signed to return, would others including superstar junior Koi Perich plan to leave.

There are still other significant names on the Gophers roster, and among them is Darius Taylor. While injuries have robbed us of seeing him at his best, he has now unveiled that we’ll still see him in the maroon and gold next season.

Darius Taylor back for another year with the MN Gophers

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🏈 〽️ @Dariustay1or Will Be Back in 2026 〽️🏈@cubfoods is a proud sponsor of Gopher Athletics pic.twitter.com/VGDWDLwkE5

— DinkytownAthletes (@DTAthletes) January 2, 2026

Minnesota finished 8-5 following a Rate Bowl win over New Mexico. Darius Taylor was active for that contest and turned in one of his strongest performance of the season, running for 116 yards and a touchdown.

Related: Multiple Blue Bloods Want Outgoing MN Gophers Superstar

On the season, Taylor played in 10 games for the MN Gophers, totaling 670 yards on 4.7 yards per carry, adding four rushing touchdowns while he missed multiple games with a nagging hamstring injury he suffered early in the year. The junior also grabbed 245 receiving yards on 34 receptions.

Darius Taylor said buh bye! pic.twitter.com/bk5N8yLySr

— Ted (@tlschwerz) October 18, 2025

Keeping Taylor around became that much more important when young running back Fame Ijeboi announced he would be entering the transfer portal a few weeks ago.

AJ Turner is expected to return from injury next season and youngster Grant Washington is oozing with talent for a freshman. Still, the Minnesota Gophers will undoubtedly be looking for more RB talent in the portal, to help stack some guys in that room.