Javon Tracy sets the Minnesota program record with two punt return touchdowns against E. Illinois

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Javon Tracy set Minnesota’s single-game record with two punt return touchdowns in the season opener against Eastern Illinois, an 87-yard runback for a score in the first quarter and a 69-yarder in the third quarter on Thursday night.

Tracy had the first punt return touchdown for the Gophers in eight years when he fielded a 55-yard kick near the right sideline late in the first quarter and sprinted along a wall of blockers untouched into the end zone.

The fifth-year wide receiver, an Indianapolis native who’s in his second season at Minnesota after transferring from Miami (Ohio), then caught a 48-yard kick early in the third quarter near the right sideline. He made two stutter-step moves to evade would-be tacklers before veering left and racing down the field to give the Gophers a 42-7 lead. Starting safety Kerry Brown delivered a key block at the 36-yard line to clear the path.

“It was easy for me,” Tracy said. “Everybody else did their job.”

Tracy fielded four of the nine punts by Cade Cox and totaled 167 return yards in assuming the role held last season by safety Koi Perich, who transferred to Oregon. Tracy didn’t find out until last week that he would start as the primary punt returner, a decision by the coaching staff that proved prescient.

Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck’s hire of new special teams coordinator Daniel Da Prato also looked sharp on this night.

“It’s one game and it’s two returns, but it’s the way the players play for him, it’s the detail, it’s the schemes, it’s his energy, it’s his meetings,” Fleck said, “just how he’s brought the entire team together.”

Da Prato, who’s in his 23rd season as a coach and will turn 45 next month, received a game ball from Fleck as a representative of all of the new assistants on staff.

“He’s so passionate about the game,” Tracy said. “I’m not sure how old he is, but he acts like he’s 21.”

Tracy also caught five passes for 98 yards, all in the first half. He had a 55-yard reception in the second quarter to the 1-yard line, running a corner route for a leaping catch at the 37 before breaking four tackles. The play was called a touchdown on the field, before a replay review ruled that Tracy’s knee touched the turf before the goal line as he tried to duck-walk across the plane while the last defender dragged him down.

In tribute to his new role on special teams, Tracy racked up 60 yards after the catch.

“That’s the part of my game that I value the most, making guys miss,” Tracy said.

The last Minnesota player with a punt return touchdown was Demetrius Douglas on Nov. 24, 2018, at Wisconsin. The last Big Ten player with two punt returns for scores in the same game was Penn State’s Daequan Hardy on Oct. 14, 2023, against Massachusetts.

The Big Ten record book has three others who’ve logged two punt return touchdowns in a game: Kevonte Martin-Manley for Iowa against Western Michigan on Sept. 21, 2013; Garcia Lane for Ohio State against Purdue on Oct. 8, 1983; and Earl Girard for Wisconsin against Iowa on Nov. 8, 1947.

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