Nate Griffin and Morgan Liggett have found the football operations department at the University of Minnesota to be a small world.
What are the odds of two people of the same age and from the same town working in the same college athletic department far from home?
The town is Fort Collins, and with Minnesota coming to town for Saturday’s game against Colorado State, it’s a homecoming for both men.
“Nate and I went to school together in Fort Collins from the second grade through Poudre High School,” said Liggett, a recruiting coordinator.
“This almost feels like a home game for me,” said Griffin, who assists in offensive quality control for the Gophers.
CSU knows it’s in for a big test. Minnesota took No. 2 ranked TCU to the wire before losing in its season opener and displayed a rugged defense and a physical offense.
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“It’s always big for your program anytime you get a chance to play an opponent that is in the ‘power five’ (conferences) and they’re coming here to Fort Collins,” Colorado State coach Mike Bobo said. “It brings a little more excitement to the community, to the fan base, so that’s good.”
Bobo said Minnesota’s defense is outstanding.
“The way they tackle is unreal,” he said. “There’s not many missed tackles in the open field. The long runs that are on tape, it isn’t because somebody missed the tackle, they just got a run or pass out and the guy made a big play. When they have a chance to make a tackle, they do a great job of tackling.
“I think there are nine returning starters on that defense that played well last year, that has confidence, that knows the calls and understands what they’re trying to do defensively, so they’re in the right position and right place. If we have a chance to make a play, we better make it, because we’re not going to have many opportunities against this defense.”
Liggett and Griffin are part of a program growing in respect under veteran coach Jerry Kill. Both assistants are 33, and they became reconnected two years ago when Liggett joined the Minnesota staff from Colorado Mines, where he had been from 2011-13.
Their paths separated when they left Poudre. Liggett, who didn’t play football, went on to the University of Colorado.
“I’ve always been a fan,” Liggett said. “My goal is to stay in administration and someday to become an athletic director.”
Griffin went to the University of Idaho and played football.
“My goal always has been to be a coach,” he said.
Before joining the program at Minnesota, Griffin coached a year at Poudre in 2005 and was on the coaching staff at Northern Colorado in 2006 and 2007.
His quality control work is finished for the CSU game. He’s already working on next week’s report on Kent State, the Gophers Sept. 19 opponent.
But before that, Griffin and Liggett are planning family reunions in Fort Collins.
Staff writer Terry Frei contributed to this report.
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296, imoss@denverpost.com or
