As someone who grew up in small-town Minnesota, I'll admit this made me chuckle.

University of Minnesota Golden Gophers Football star defensive back Koi Perich grew up in the small town of Esko, Minnesota, just south of Duluth off Interstate 35. If you don't know, Esko is a town of a little more than 1,000 people.

There are smaller towns in Minnesota for sure, but Esko is certainly on the smaller end of the spectrum in the state.

Perich, a sophomore with the Gophers, was one of four players who had the opportunity to represent the team at Big 10 Media Days earlier this week in Las Vegas. That's a pretty cool honor, for sure!

KOOL 101.7 logo
Get our free mobile app

While doing an interview with the Big Ten Network during the event, the hosts decided to ask about his small-town Northern Minnesota roots to learn about him and his hometown.

One of the questions Perich was asked was, "If I find myself in Esko, and I've got a week or so there, what should I be doing?"

Koi cracked a big smile and said, "Oh, not much" before the host corrected and said, "Ok, let's say I've got a few hours".  Perich rolled right with it and said, "That's all you need", continuing, "we've got one stoplight,"  as the panel laughed about his answer.

READ MORE: Popular State Trail Between Duluth & Jay Cooke State Park Closed For The Rest Of The Year

Perich continued to offer some highlights of the small town, taking pride in his hometown school and their athletics field, before he brought up "Tequilia Town", the restaurant in town.

The guys had some fun with the name and the location of the school before pivoting to talking fishing, being that it is, of course, Northern Minnesota. If you know the area, you know that besides the nearby St. Louis River and some streams, there aren't many fishing opportunities right in Esko.

Koi quickly pointed to Lake Superior, about 15 miles away, as the spot to go if you're going to try fishing in the area.

He also got asked of he's brought any of his teammates up to Esko, and he commented that nobody seems to want to come up to visit, chuckling along the way.

The whole thing was pretty funny, making light of small-town Northern Minnesota living to a group of guys who don't know the dynamic. You can watch the exchange here:

I suppose he's not wrong about the fishing. If you're coming from out of the state to do some fishing, the "big lake" is probably the most iconic place to chase some fish, instead of places like nearby Chub Lake or heading up to Fish Lake or Island Lake.

I've had similar conversations like this even with people who grew up in Duluth or the Twin Cities who didn't grow up in a town of 1,000 or fewer people, like I did. Grasping that you might have just one restaurant, maybe a single stoplight, probably no grocery store, and not a lot of attractions to keep you busy blows some people's minds.

That said, I know a lot of people (including myself) still appreciate that lifestyle. Or at least elements of it.

Koi and the rest of the Gophers start their season against the University at Buffalo Bulls at Huntington Bank Stadium in the Twin Cities on August 28.

Minnesota Counties With One Stoplight, Or None At All

There are a surprising number of Minnesota's 87 counties that only have one stoplight - or none at all! Here they are.

Gallery Credit: Nick Cooper