Minnesota Football Countdown to Kickoff: #90 DT Xion Chapman
Today marks just 90 days until Minnesota football returns to the field for its 2026 season on September 3 at Huntington Bank Stadium against the Eastern Illinois Panthers.
As we do every year, Gophers Nation will count down to kickoff every day with our Minnesota football countdown to kickoff series.
Each day, we will highlight a current Gopher who wears the number of days remaining till kickoff. For today, that player is redshirt junior defensive tackle Xion Chapman.
Let’s dive into today’s player profile on Xion Chapman.
Recruitment Rewind
A native of Allentown, Pennsylvania, Chapman is now in his third college program after spending time at JUCO Lackawanna College in Pennsylvania and FIU. This past offseason, he entered the transfer portal looking for a new home, and ultimately committed to Minnesota over Penn State and several other programs.
Chapman was ranked by Rivals as a top-225 player in the transfer portal and a top-25 defensive lineman.
2026 Outlook
Despite missing the spring working his way back from offseason maintenance, Chapman is projected to be one of Minnesota’s key defensive tackles in the 2026 season and will have the opportunity to earn a starting role.
Chapman will be competing to be Minnesota’s starting three-tech defensive tackle, likely to be playing alongside fellow transfer Naquan Crowder, who is the favorite to be Minnesota’s starting nose tackle this upcoming season.
The Gophers defensive tackle room this past offseason underwent quite the overhaul, with four defensive tackles graduating, and as a result, P.J. Fleck and C.J. Robbins brought in an additional three defensive tackles from the transfer portal.
Chapman is coming off a quality 2025 season for FIU and brings pass-rushing upside to the three-tech position.
In 12 games for FIU in 2025, Chapman recorded 15 tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss, and two sacks. Pro Football Focus graded Chapman out this season with a 71.0 defensive rating.
