'We Kept The Axe For 4 Years': Fmr. Gophers QB Rickey Foggie Will Help Coach STA In State Championship
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Rickey Foggie was a focal point for the Gopher football team for four years, but he won't be at the game Saturday against Wisconsin because he has another game to coach.
Foggie remembers the first time he played against Wisconsin well. It was 1984, and he a freshman quarterback.
"They had actually 11 guys going to the draft that year, and we pulled of an upset, 17-14," Foggie said.
In fact, that was just the start. Did you know he played against the Badgers a record four times?
"Fortunate for me, I never lost to Wisconsin, so we kept the axe for four years," Foggie said.
And so he watches the current Gophers offense, Gopher quarterback, and he likes what he sees.
"Explosive," he said. "They look at the offense, Tanner Morgan doing a great job throwing the football. Great backs. Got two outstanding receivers."
He understands the coach part of it because he's been a head coach at two high schools. And now he's the quarterback coach at Prep Bowl-bound St. Thomas Academy High School.
"It's fun. It's been a great run for us, it's our second year in the championship game. We want our outcome to be way different than it was last year when we lost to Owatonna. But it's a great group of kids," he said.
Foggie likes his position to be coaching his position.
"I got a little bit of knowledge about that, having been a starting quarterback in four years with the Gophers, playing in the Canadian Football League, playing in the Arena Football League, and now coaching the high school, so I got a little knowledge to give back to the kids," Foggie said.
His mission Saturday is to help avenge their only loss of the season, when they were beaten by Chaska. But that also means he won't be there for the Gopher-Wisconsin game. Call it the best possible conflict.
"That's a good thing. I'd rather be playing in the state championship game than not," he said. "We'll have our phones on following the score, but yeah, it's business for us also on Saturday."
