The $30K figure that was floated has never been and probably will never be verified, but Gopher football insider for 247Sports.com, Ryan Burns, confirmed that Kramer did accept some sort of NIL package in order to stay.

That brings us to Monday, when Kramer took to a podium at the Gophers practice facilities to meet with media and discuss their upcoming bowl game matchup vs the Bowling Green Falcons.

Related: Get to Know Cole Kramer, Minnesota’s Quick Lane Bowl QB1

Cole Kramer denies accepting NIL payment to stay for bowl game

Toward the end of his Cole’s presser, Andy Greder (Pioneer Press) asked him if he had anything in response to rumors floating around that he received ‘substantial NIL money for this opportunity’. Kramer’s response: Deny, deny, deny…

Cole Kramer denies receiving 'substantial NIL money' to stay with #Gophers through bowl game. pic.twitter.com/pA0k0sH2Tq

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) December 19, 2023

Greder: “There’s a rumor going around that you received some pretty substantial NIL money for this opportunity, what do you have to say about that?

Kramer: Yeah, you know, I saw that. I saw the post and the articles and, you know, that’s not true. It’s not accurate information. As much as I would love it to be true, it’s not. Just getting the chance to play, especially this last time and to start. You know, that’s what means a lot to me and that’s what makes it really special.”

Plausible denial by the Minnesota Gophers Quick Lane QB

Look, I wouldn’t expect Cole Kramer to use the podium as a confessional and tell us all about how he was offered and came to accept whatever NIL offer he did, in order to stick around and quarterback the Gophers through the upcoming bowl game, but that was highly unlikely to happen today.

Related: Did Drake Just Curse the Minnesota Gophers?

As could have been predicted, Kramer denied receiving any such NIL payment, meaning the random poster from GopherIllustrated.com, along with Ryan Burns’ sources, are both lying, which I doubt to be true.

It’s quite possible the $30,000 is an exaggerated figure, but I’d be shocked if he’s not getting something worthwhile out of Minnesota’s NIL fund. Then again, we’ll never really know so his truth is as good as anyone else’s.

But when their starting quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis and 3rd-string QB Drew Viotto both entered the transfer portal at the end of the season, Minnesota’s only remaining option to start the Quick Lane Bowl was redshirt senior, Cole Kramer.

Related: Get to Know Cole Kramer, Minnesota’s Quick Lane Bowl QB1

Minnesota Gophers Paying Cole Kramer NIL Funds to QB the Quick Lane Bowl

Still, PJ Fleck had a problem. Kramer wasn’t planning to stick around until the end of December, either. He had a new house ready for him in Arizona, a fiance ready to get married and a big boy life to start. So, Fleck did what any QB desperate college football coach would do in the year 2023.

He offered Cole some NIL money, possibly as much as $30,000, to stick around Dinkytown for one more month and quarterback Minnesota vs the Bowling Green Falcons at Ford Field (Detroit, MI) the day after Christmas.

This news was first reported by an anonymous poster on the GopherIllustrated.com (247Sports) message boards with the username ‘EdenPrairieGopher‘. Here’s part of his post:

Just heard from an A+ source that Cole Kramer was given $30,000.00 to play in the bowl game from our NIL Fund. He was set to leave but thought this would be a great way to pay for his February wedding.

EdenPrairieGopher – GopherIllustrated.com paid membership message boards

Related: Why Did Athan Kaliakmanis Enter the Transfer Portal?

The anonymous tipster went on to complain about how terribly PJ Fleck and the owners of Dinkytown Athletes are handling the NIL money that he and other well-off Gopher football fans are contributing to the cause. I’ll get to that part of the conversation momentarily.

“Downvote or call me a troll based on my opinion or that this was my first post, doesn’t matter to me one bit. I’ll set the record straight and be done. I’m a U of M grad ’92, I’ve been fortunate enough to make a good living and give back in ways that get me a great parking spot for all home games and have been at very intimate gatherings with both PJ and JK.“

EdenPrairieGopher – GopherIllustrated.com message boards

Anonymous report confirmed by Gopher insider

First, it’s important to credential this rumor because EdenPrairieGopher, no matter how legit he sounds, isn’t a reliable insider who we should all take at their message board word. The same is not true for Gopher football insider, Ryan Burns.

Burns is the lead U of M football recruiting analyst and beat writer for 247Sports and he’s been a go-to guy in town for anything Gopher football related for a decade. Oh, and his cousin and podcasting partner is Derek Burns, who co-founded and co-operates Minnesota’s NIL collective, Dinkytown Athletes.

Burnsie confirms in one of his replies to EdenPrairieGopher that Minnesota is indeed paying Cole Kramer out of their NIL fund to stick around for the upcoming bowl game. Ryan doesn’t completely shut down the amount the amount EPG reported ($30K) either, though he says,“my numbers are different from yours”.

“They did allocate some funds to Kramer, that’s true. I’d say that my numbers are different from yours on what Cole got, but I could care less about that. That’s not important.”

Ryan Burns – GopherIllustrated.com

PJ Fleck flush with NIL cash???

Now that we know EPG’s report — that Kramer is being paid from the Gophers’ NIL fund to stick around for the bowl game — is true, let’s talk about the amount. Maybe Kramer isn’t making quite $30,000… or it’s possible the numbers can be fudged around somehow, making the amount look a bit more or less, depending on how you view it.

Related: PJ Fleck, Gophers Have Turned in Multiple Rival Schools for Tampering

No matter, it’s clear Cole is making $10’s of thousands for sticking around town an extra month. If the amount were smaller and more insignificant… say $3,000, this would be interesting, but less of a story.

But it’s not. So, obvious questions and assumptions arise: if the Minnesota Gophers can pay Cole Kramer ~$30K to play in an exhibition game… then their NIL fund is either a) in better shape than we thought it was or b) EdenPrairieGopher is rightfully upset about where this program is spending the limited NIL funds it does have access to.

I’m hoping it’s the former, not the latter. If Fleck can throw $30K at Cole Kramer just to stay for the bowl game, and not hurt what they are trying to do for 2024, then we are in a better NIL position than I assumed. I’d feel pretty good about where the Gopher football program is heading in the age of NIL, if that’s the case.

Does Minnesota have a lot more NIL than they did a year ago? Yes, and you/other fans should be commended for that. Does Minnesota have a lot of NIL compared to, for example, Iowa or Nebraska? They do not.

Ryan Burns – GopherIllustrated.com

I can’t imagine a world where Fleck would give up say… 1/4 or 1/5 of next year’s NIL fund so Cole Kramer will stick around campus… right? If that’s the case, this is a huge mistake by PJ Fleck, who could have turned to Cole Kramer after the Purdue game, when he realized Kaliakmanis probably wasn’t the future.

Would Kramer have stayed for free, had PJ turned the team over to him sooner? Who knows… but he certainly would have felt more obliged to stay.

5th year senior Cole Kramer — who according to PJ Fleck is supposed to be living in Arizona right now, planning his wedding and getting on with his after-football life — will make his first career start as a college quarterback.

Related: PJ Fleck, Gophers Have Turned in Multiple Rival Schools for Tampering

Kramer has seen very little action this season. He has more rushing yards (3) and attempts (2) than he does passes (1) or passing yards (0). His only recorded throw of the season… was an interception.

INTERCEPTION TAR HEELS 🔥

🎥 @UNCFootball | ESPN

pic.twitter.com/vrpUdBS772

— ACC Football (@ACCFootball) September 16, 2023

Why is Cole Kramer starting for the Minnesota Gophers?

Until just a couple of weeks ago, the Gophers starting quarterback was redshirt sophomore Athan Kaliakmanis, who entered the transfer portal following Minnesota’s season finale loss vs Wisconsin.

According to reports, Athan started to sour on PJ Fleck’s program after the head coach chewed him out in front of “others” at Purdue. Weeks later, when the coaching staff wouldn’t promise Kaliakmanis bowl game QB1, he hopped in the portal.

Minnesota has already found their QB for 2024 and they have a young stud prospect committed for the future. But on December 26, the Gophers will trust in Cole Kramer, who’s stuck with his hometown program for a half decade, even as other 3-star quarterbacks were climbed ahead of him on the depth chart.

Cole Kramer at Eden Prairie High School

Kramer Enrolled at the University of Minnesota in January 2019, after completing his senior year at Eden Prairie High School early. Earlier that fall, Kramer threw for 1,700 yards and 14 touchdowns, earning 2018 Star Tribune All-Metro Second Team and KARE 11 All-Metro team honors.

It was great to catch up with Eden Prairie and future #Gophers QB Cole Kramer (2019 Class) and head coach Mike Grant. This is year No. 40 coaching for Mike. We'll have more on the first official day of Minnesota high school football practice on @KSTP at 6:50 and 10:20. pic.twitter.com/3wADB1onfW

— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) August 13, 2018

Related: Minnesota Gophers Football Transfer Portal Tracker 2023

After leading Eden Prairie to a Minnesota class 6A state championship as a junior the year before, Kramer and the Eagles fell one win short of a repeat in 2018, losing to Lakeville North in the state title game.

In his high school career at Eden Prairie, Kramer started three years, where he totaled around 4,000 yards, 50 touchdowns and an unknown number of interceptions. For whatever reason, Kramer’s 2018 stats are a bit elusive to find.

We know he went his entire sophomore and junior seasons without throwing an INT. But that streak quickly ended when he threw his first career high school pick in week one of his senior season vs Eastview.

Kramer turns into a Wildcat Gopher

Coming out of high school, Kramer was a three-star recruit and the no. 27 ranked 2019 dual-threat quarterback by 247Sports composite. He ranked as the No. 3 2019 football recruit in Minnesota, according to Rivals and ESPN.

As a Gopher, Kramer has mostly been limited to Wildcat QB duties, a position that got him on the field for 8 games in 2021 (63 snaps), 8 games in 2022 (39 snaps) and just 2 games (6 snaps) in 2023. His most memorable pass came in 2021 @ Iowa when the perfect Wildcat play call happened at the perfect time (4th and 2).

Big Man Ko Kieft rumbling stumbling bumbling for a touchdown. What a play pic.twitter.com/v3bEugmQaS

— Big Cat (@BarstoolBigCat) November 13, 2021

I’d expect a very heavy Darius Taylor + Cole Kramer read option offense later this month vs Bowling Green. It’s the offense he operated in high school and, as a Wildcat QB, an extremely run-heavy play-call sheet with mostly read-option and play-action passing plays available.

Can Kramer help and lead the Gophers to a 7th straight bowl win and help PJ Fleck stay undefeated in Gopher bowl games? We’ll soon find out…

Read all of our Gopher football blogs

Not that long ago, Zack Annexstad was the Gophers’ QB1 but those days feel far far away now that he too has announced his intention to leave.

Thank you, @GopherFootball pic.twitter.com/kKTVuMZCuA

— Zack Annexstad (@ZackAnnexstad) November 29, 2021

In 2018, Zack played in 7 games and threw 187 passes (97 completions, 1,269 yards, 9 TD, 7 INT) but an injury before the 2019 season left the job for Morgan. Even after Annexstad regained his health for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. At some point, Annexstad should’ve gotten a chance to lead the Gophers but that clearly wasn’t going to happen and he knew it.

2022 QB1: Tanner Morgan

If there’s one thing to take away from the Jacob Clark and Zack Annexstad transfer portal entries over the last 24 hours, it’s that Tanner Morgan’s status as Minnesota’s QB1 was never in jeopardy once he decided to return. Both Clark and Annexstad wanted a fair shot to start in 2022 but clearly didn’t feel they were going to get that under PJ Fleck and behind Tanner Morgan.

In all reality, Annexstad was the only challenger for Morgan, entering the 2021-2022 offseason. Now that he and Clark are entering the portal, wildcat QB Cole Kramer and the QB of the future, Athan Kaliakmanis, remain to backup Tanner. I expect Kaliakmanis era to begin in 2023.

Given the two-straight days of QB transfer portal announcements we’ve seen, it looks like everyone else sees that path too. Sure, it’s possible (and legal) for Fleck to dig Morgan’s immediate QB competition out of the transfer portal but that’s highly unlikely. Fleck hand picked and raised both Zack Annexstad and Jacob Clark for five and three years, respectively.

If he isn’t willing to open the starting quarterback job to them, I doubt he’d trust a transfer portal acquisition. If you’re a Minnesota Gophers football fan, you should prep yourself for another season of Tanner Morgan.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan