BAD BOY MOWERS PINSTRIPE BOWL: MINNESOTA VS. SYRACUSE

December 22, 2022

Mariano Sori-Marin

Yankee Stadium

Minnesota Golden Gophers

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We have Mariano Sori-Marin. We'll take questions.

Q. Mariano, big question for you. Do you have your New York dining plans scoped out yet?

MARIANO SORI-MARIN: Yes. I've been getting that question asked a few times. I have been working on it. Some of the places only offer reservations seven days in advance. These last few days I've been having to get up a little extra early to get the window opening for the reservation.

Yeah, I think we're doing a Meals with Mariano, too, one day. That will be fun, as well.

Q. Mariano, I wanted to ask about what Jordan Howden and T-Time have shown in their perseverance, to be able to stick through the hard times, to stay at Minnesota and have success here.

MARIANO SORI-MARIN: Yeah, I mean, when you look at both those guys, they played a lot of football for us. It's been a tremendous journey for them.

To see the success that they've had this year is a strong testament to how hard they've worked and overcome adversity.

I look at T-Time, he was starting as a true freshman. When you have success like that, have certain injuries, setbacks in his career, that's tough. But he was able to put extreme work in. He's a guy that we talk about a lot, stretching every single day, doing so much for his body. That put him in a position where he could be healthy and have the success and make the plays he did this year.

You look at a guy like J-How that steps into a role as a freshman, he wasn't quite ready. He had to do a job that is tough for any freshman to jump into. When you see his growth and development as well, that's what makes them special players and leaders. They were able to impact this defense and this team in so many positive ways this year.

Q. What have you seen from Syracuse's offense on film and what your takeaways have been knowing they'll be without their bell cow, Sean Tucker, and what you take in from what you've seen from LeQuint Allen, Garrett Shrader and some of the guys?

MARIANO SORI-MARIN: They're a really explosive offense. Watching them on film, I know they'll be without their running back. They're extremely explosive. They have the ability to make plays in the run game as well as the pass game. It really starts with their quarterback. He's tremendous. He has a tremendous ability to read defenses and make the second play we talk about.

When you look at a lot of his explosive pass plays, it's because he has great pocket presence and he has the ability to step up and scramble and get yards with his feet or create the second play in the pass game with his receivers getting open.

We have to be prepared for that and be prepared to stop their freshman running back that's going to step up for them as well.

Q. You spoke about food in New York. I know pizza is all over New York City. Is there any good pizza spot in Minnesota?

MARIANO SORI-MARIN: There's a bunch. My favorite pizza spot has to be Young Joni. It's a unique style of pizza, it has an Asian flair to it. That's usually the iconic spot where a lot of people go and get different types of Korean barbecue pizza. That's the one I've got to go with (smiling).

Q. What were your first impressions when you met Mo Ibrahim? What has he meant to you as a teammate? Has he made you a better linebacker?

MARIANO SORI-MARIN: For sure. The first thing when you're coming in on campus as a freshman you notice about Mo is his energy. He hasn't done it in quite a while, but when we were younger, he would be screaming, Top of the morning, when we're at an early morning workout. And he'd just be getting in people's faces, yelling it, as a way to pump them up and motivate them for the workout that day.

That's the first thing I noticed about Mo, how much he cares and loves this team, loves playing football.

Then that shows in the way he plays. In terms of making me a better linebacker, for sure. This fall camp I wasn't able to go live against him just because we were keeping him healthy. When we were younger, we were constantly going against each other in open field tackling drills, goal line tackling drills. To have to tackle him on a daily basis is for sure going to make you better. He's winning a lot of them. There's some I won. When you're able to compete with your teammates like that, have a guy like Mo on your team that's willing to be a competitor every single rep, it's going to make you and the entire team better.

He's a positive influence on the offensive guys as well. Maybe the other running backs in the room don't have to tackle him, but they can learn from him the way he studies, prepares, the way he works in practice, just shows all those combinations lead to a really elite player. That's what he was able to do for us.

Q. I know you're focused on the bowl game, but you received an invite to the Hula Bowl. How excited are you about that opportunity?

MARIANO SORI-MARIN: It's a great opportunity, just to be able to pursue my dream at the next level, showcase my talents in front of scouts, other coaches. It's going to be really exciting.

I think I'll be really prepared just coming from the University of Minnesota, being able to be coached by Coach Fleck, Coach Rossi, all of our coaches on staff. To be able to go into an environment and setting like that just really gives us University of Minnesota football players an advantage, how we prepare, how we work. We'll be able to showcase that in front of other teams and schools.

Q. You had a transfer in Ryan Selig. What have you seen from him? Any comparison compared to Jack Gibbens?

MARIANO SORI-MARIN: I know the coaching staff and the linebackers are really excited to add him to the room. I was able to talk to him before he committed on his official visit. He came and watched practice. I sat down and talked to him about kind of how we do things, the personality of the room, what it means to play linebacker here at the University of Minnesota.

When you get a guy like him, he's going to fit in really well. He reminds me a lot of Cody Lindenberg, his style of play. I was able to throw on his film from Western Michigan, see how explosive he is through the hole, how he can create plays in space. Very similar to Cody in that aspect where they have that athleticism as well as that high IQ where they can diagnose plays right at the snap. That gives them an advantage.

Yeah, no, I'm really excited for him. I think he's going to play a really big role for us next year.

Q. Has it sunk in yet that this is your last game as a Gopher? What are you most going to remember about your time here?

MARIANO SORI-MARIN: Yeah, no, I think it really has been starting to sink in. I look around my room right now, it's almost empty because I'm taking everything off the walls, I'm packing all the boxes. It's a little emotional as you're going through all your stuff, you're doing it with the guys, your roommates that you've been together for the last five years. It is emotional.

I just look back on all the times that I've had here, all the people I've met, all the relationships that I've built. You just appreciate it.

I talk about it all the time with the guys in the room, the guys on the football team, my senior speech to the team during fall camp was just smell the roses. There's going to come a day in your career, in your life, where you're going to look back on these days and wish you could put on the pads one more time. That's the mentality I've had coming into the building each and every day because you never know when it's going to be taken away from you.

Most of the time the game of football is taken away from you by somebody else. Not like basketball where you can roll the ball out there, play with your friends at 40 years old. The game of football is really unique and special, once your cleats are hung up, probably the last time you're ever going to play.

I just have that appreciation, that gratitude for every moment and opportunity that I get to play football. I thank Coach Fleck on a daily basis for giving me this opportunity because I'll look back on these moments and cherish them for the rest of my life.

As my final game approach, I'm thankful. It's going to be emotional, for sure. I'm just going to soak it all in and be thankful that I had the opportunity to do it.

Q. P.J. said you kept all the trinkets. Which ones stand out above the rest?

MARIANO SORI-MARIN: I think the Star Wars lightsaber. I have a unique story. I was actually -- the first time I told Coach Fleck and Gerrit Chernoff, our general manager, I was keeping the trinkets, they thought that was a cool story. I have all of them except one, it's the lightsaber. Our roommates had a little bit of a lightsaber fight, and I destroyed it.

Two days later, nobody said anything to me, but I opened my locker, there was a lightsaber sitting there. That's really cool.

I, of course, immediately knew it was Gerrit Chernoff. He's the type of guy, he'll hear those comments, store it in the back of his head. He'll go out of his way to make a special moment for anybody. I immediately went up to him, Hey, that meant a lot. That was the one trinket I didn't have that you were able to find an extra one and give it to me.

Yeah, that one I think is the coolest. I was able to pack those all up. My mom was actually up here last weekend with the van taking a huge load of stuff home. I was able to go through all of them, look at them. I have them in a little plastic box. I told her, Keep these safe, don't let these get mixed up with anything. She knows how much those mean to you.

Q. Were they actual full-sized lightsabers?

MARIANO SORI-MARIN: It's a little toy plastic one. Not like the full one. It's this big, lights up. There's a video I'll have to post on Twitter maybe or send it to you of us doing the lightsaber battle in the room.

Q. Was it you and Thomas Rush?

MARIANO SORI-MARIN: Yeah. Actually Josh Aune I'm pretty sure was the champion of the tournament. He's a big Star Wars geek. He was all into that, yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Mariano.