Gophers football coach Jerry Kill confirmed Mitch Leidner will be the starting quarterback Saturday against Purdue.
But Leidner, a junior who has started 14 consecutive games, and freshman backup Demry Croft received the same amount of snaps in practice this week.
"Right now, (Leidner) can read checks, he can make the reads," Kill said Thursday on KFXN-FM. "We need to protect him. We need to be able to run the ball better. We need to do a lot of things as a whole team."
Wednesday, Kill said Croft still has a lot to learn. Croft played most of the fourth quarter in relief of Leidner during last week's 27-0 loss to Northwestern.