MINNEAPOLIS -- There was no certainty all those days of research, the hours of installation or the dedication of an entire spring camp would stick, but if they didn’t it clearly wouldn’t be for lack of effort.

After all, offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover wasn’t spending three days before practice opened with the Minnesota coaching staff just trying to figure out the best way to signal in plays just for fun.

If the old-school Gophers couldn’t make a smooth transition to a more up-tempo, no-huddle attack, they weren’t going to force the issue. They always could rely on a more traditional approach if they had to in the fall. But in leaving no stone unturned in learning, teaching, executing and completely committing to testing out the approach over 15 workouts in March and April, Minnesota quickly realized it hadn’t been wasting its time.

“We were really trying to find ways to take that no-huddle and tempo and fit that into what we really believe in, and that’s what has taken up most of our time,” Limegrover said. “Coach [Jerry] Kill presented it as, let’s jump in this thing. Let’s get both feet in the boat, let’s not have one on the dock and let’s really see where it takes us.

“We are having fun with it, but we had to be thorough to see if it’s something that can be a weapon for us. If we get to where we do an evaluation and say it just isn’t giving us what we thought, we know who we can be.”

Fundamentally, that identity for the Gophers isn’t going to change much. A power rushing attack is going to be the foundation of the attack, and while a play-action passing game will be a prominent feature, Minnesota won’t suddenly start throwing the football 45 times per game.

But Limegrover didn’t spend his offseason studying no-huddle teams, toying with more run-pass options or diving into the details of how to signal plays from the sideline just to operate a more efficient two-minute drill. Instead of trying to create pre-snap matchups based on personnel substitutions, a variety of formations and plenty of motion, the Gophers are intent on pressuring a defense by operating at a higher speed.

Exactly how much they’ll wind up doing it remains to be seen, but there’s not much doubt with the spring game in the rearview mirror that the up-tempo will be incorporated into the playbook in August. And perhaps more important for Limegrover, the players now have a full summer to work on it on their own before reporting for training camp.

“Almost every day we were experimenting with something new,” Limegrover said. “I give our kids a ton of credit, and what our goal was through the spring is to lay a foundation down for the no-huddle system that our kids can carry forward starting [Sunday].

“When they get together, they now have multiple ways to communicate, multiple ways to get into plays and get moved around. We’ve been trying to heap it on them every day, and it gets tough on them a little bit because we’re trying to do all this stuff. It does get ugly at times, but that’s great for teaching and you move forward.”

The education was ongoing for the instructor as well. And after studying other programs in the offseason, Limegrover kept spending hours in the film room after practice looking at the Gophers to see what was working and what wasn’t.

That may have included at least one session of revisiting the way the coaches were calling in a few plays, since the defense was able to steal some of the signals during workouts, which allowed it to audible its own calls and get stops without much trouble. But for the most part, the focus was on finding the best way to get a talented but young group of wide receivers involved in a quicker passing attack, figuring out the right blend of plays for a punishing stable of rushers in the backfield and ensuring that quarterback Mitch Leidner is comfortable with all the changes.

Some things that were scribbled on the whiteboard in Limegrover’s office had to be erased during the experimentation period. Some of what he saw on tape from practice clicked perfectly and will be included in the ongoing evolution of the Minnesota offense.

And if all else fails, the Gophers can always go back and slow down if they need to down the road.

“Coach said go for it, work your tail-end off, do as much as you can and leave it open so that we can expand in a bunch of different directions,” Limegrover said. “When push comes to shove, if we’re going to be the best football team all the way around and it takes being in a huddle, breaking a huddle, we know how to do that.

“One way or another, we’re going to be who we are. We just feel like if we can find the best of both worlds in what we do fundamentally and be able to do that at times in a no-huddle scenario, I think that’s going to be something that will be a nice new wrinkle for us moving forward.”

The Gophers are pushing ahead with it now, and they won’t be shy about moving in a hurry.