'Never settle': What Drake Lindsey learned from J.J. McCarthy and the Vikings

Drake Lindsey is getting advice from some of the best players on the Minnesota Vikings ahead of his first season as starting quarterback for the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Earlier this month, Lindsey and four Gophers wide receivers — Javon Tracy, Logan Loya, Kenric Lanier, and Jalen Smith — worked out at Woodbury High School in the eastern Twin Cities metro alongside current Vikings stars Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, T.J. Hockenson, J.J. McCarthy, Max Brosmer, Blake Cashman, C.J. Ham — and former Viking-turned-Carolina Panther wide receiver Adam Thielen.

"It was just really cool because they're on the biggest stage," Lindsey said on The Ron Johnson Show. "They've done it at the highest level, so it's a really good experience to get to do that with those guys."

Lindsey, 19, received wisdom from McCarthy, who at 22 years old already has an NCAA championship with Michigan in his bag and is entering his first season as starting quarterback for the Vikings.

"He told me to attack every single day with the mindset of never getting settled. You can get so complacent very easily with how busy you get," Lindsey said of his conversation with McCarthy. "He won the national championship and he was just talking about how he never took one day off and never settled — and just listened to his coaches and worked as hard as he could."

What was Lindsey's biggest takeaway from watching McCarthy practice?

"He's not very like, he doesn't seem the like the biggest outgoing, just talking nonstop. But he's very hard on himself, one, and then two, the guys really respect him. They're asking him what they can do better, what he needs," Lindsey said. "How he's gained the respect so fast from those Vikings players, who are obviously veterans. Even Adam Thielen was asking him questions. It's really cool to see that he's 22 years old and these veterans are coming up to him asking him questions."

The four Gophers wide receivers also gained valuable advice from Jefferson and Addison.

"They just picked their brain about little things within the routes, how to get out of breaks faster, what they're thinking verses press (coverage), what they're thinking versus off (coverage). Little details within every single play," Lindsay said. "I think that's where you take the next step, just thinking about football on a professional level and not just in college. It gets a lot different in the pros and the details are way, way more fine-tuned. I think being able to pick their brains on those things really helped."

Tracy and Loya are expected to have big roles in Minnesota's offense. Both are in their first year at the University of Minnesota, with Tracy transferring from Miami (Ohio) and Loya arriving after five years at UCLA. Lanier is in his third season at the U, having played sparingly so far, while Smith was redshirted last season as a freshman.

The Gophers open the 2025 season on Aug. 28 at home against Buffalo.