Cody Lindenberg makes his presence known pre-snap. After the opponent comes to the line of scrimmage, the Gophers linebacker can be seen hopping around, gesturing and shouting as he is diagnoses the offense's formation and clues that come come via shifts and motions to what play they might run.

Luke Kuechly used to do similar thing for Boston College and the Carolina Panthers.

This isn't a coincidence.

Lindenberg, who is represented by the Team IFA, was asked at one of the Minneapolis agency's events: "Who's your favorite player/linebacker of all-time?"

The Anoka native said Kuechly. "I grew up watching him and wanted to play my game or shape my game like him," Lindenberg recalled to the Pioneer Press. "His mentality, the way he studies film, the way he plays on the field."

Team IFA set up Lindenberg with Kuechly this summer. They chatted over Zoom and then in a roughly 25-minute phone call the next day.

"It was a lot," Lindenberg admitted. "I was pretty much just sitting there firing off questions at him. I felt bad initially, I told him, right away, I'm like, 'Look, I got a ton of questions -- if that's OK.'

"He was more than happy to answer all my questions and then just have a conversation with me as well afterwards."

This season, Lindenberg is patrolling the middle of the Gophers defense -- akin to what Kuechly did en route to winning the Bronko Nagurski Trophy for the nation's best defensive player and then as a five-time NFL All-Pro in Carolina.

After Lindenberg dealt with injuries that derailed his 2021 and 2023 season, he now leads the Gophers with 58 total tackles through all eight games this year. He has had double-digit tackles in three games, including 10 in the 48-23 blowout of Maryland last week.

Lindenberg's six-tackle, one-interception game in the win over UCLA on Oct. 12 earned him recognition from the Senior Bowl. The top showcase for the NFL draft pegged the 6-foot-3, 240-pounder as one of its defensive stock-up players that week.

"Every NFL team is looking for big 'backers who can run and Minnesota's Cody Lindenberg is one of the top size/speed combos in this year's LB class," wrote Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy.

Lindenberg asked Kuechly everything from how he took care of his body during the week to how he watched film. Kuechly was famous for his attention to detail, learning what formations would lead to certain plays. On the field, he would tell teammates what to expect and followed through. No one had more tackles (1,092) than him during his eight-year NFL career.

Former Gophers quarterback Tony Dungy once compared Kuechly to Payton Manning. "A guy who is totally prepared, that is going to know what is going to happen before it takes place because he has studied so much," Dungy, who won a Super Bowl as a player and coach, said on NFL Films. "He is one step ahead of everybody else."

That is what Lindenberg wanted to learn.

"The way he went about the film. I've always had my routine of when and how I did things, but like the way he kind of broke it down in terms ... looking at top runs, tendencies, tips, things that nature like (in the run game)," Lindenberg relayed. "The next day, looking at pass game. Then after that, whether it be third down, and then short-yardage and goal-line stuff."

Kuechly told Lindenberg to focus more on what the offense's formation reveals than what a specific player might be tipping off. If Kuechly keyed on, say, an offensive lineman's stance, it took away from what the big picture might be showing.

"I think that's helped me a little bit in understand what I could be looking at," Lindenberg said. "... What we've seen and heard, is (Kuechly) saw everything. So I think that's really a better way to put it into: not only see one thing, but like, see everything."

Gophers defensive end Danny Striggow came to the U in the same class as Lindenberg in 2020, but in a way he looks up to him.

"I don't want to say 'big brother' because that'll go to his head," Striggow joked. ""But it's nice having him back there. He completely runs the show when he's on the field. It's like a complete dominance. There's never a doubt in my mind that Cody one is going to be in the right place at the right time."

College football added in-helmet communication this season, meaning defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman can talk to one player with a walkie talkie attached inside his hat. That player is Lindenberg and the one-way is cut with 15 seconds left on the play clock.

"There are certain times where (in) situational stuff, you can make a reminder here," Lindenberg said of Hetherman. "... 'In this personnel last time, they did this. Or its be alert for this.' ... It's been able to put us in better spots. It's certainly been a big help."

The Gophers pride themselves on the phase a smarter player is a better player, and the U has a bright one in Lindenberg.