Gopher Football
– Jared Ellerson
Going into 2003 there was a bit of a hole at wide receiver for the Gophers. Antoine Burns was gone, Jermaine Mays (though he didn’t see a lot of time at WR) was gone, and Paris Hamilton, the expected starter alongside Aaron Hosack, injured his knee late in the summer. Most Gopher fans were a little concerned about who could step it up, but Jared Ellerson came along and quickly eased those worries. Coming out his freshman year you wouldn’t have expected this, as he wasn’t highly recruited coming out of high school and his freshman year yielded just 9 catches for 113 yards. Even worse though, was Jared really got in Mason’s doghouse during his freshman year and nearly ended up quitting the team.
Despite the early hardships, Jared stuck with it and in 2003 he not only emerged to become one of the most improved players on his team; he was one of the biggest surprises in the Big Ten. For the season he ended up with 44 catches for 909 yards and 5 TD’s. (Ellerson set a Minnesota sophomore record for receiving yards) A more telling number for Jared though was his nearly 21 yards/reception. Hosack was usually more of the possession receiver, but Ellerson became the big play homerun guy that made other teams respect us through the air. His highlight game was against Northwestern, in when he had 4 catches for 189 yards and two TD’s. In that game Northwestern practically dared Minnesota to try and throw the ball, and Ellerson was the guy who made them pay. Jared doesn’t have blazing speed, but he has enough to get by defenders. He has good hands, run good routes, and really developed into a solid all around receiver last season.
This year Ellerson has the chance to establish himself as one of the best receivers in the Big Ten. Either Bryan Cupito or Adam Ernst should be a better passer than Asad Abdul-Khaliq was. This, coupled with Minnesota’s outstanding running game should really enable Ellerson (as well as the other receivers) to show their stuff. Having Paris Hamilton along side him should only help. Jared will be a junior this year and will be counted on to become a leader to the bevy of younger Minnesota receivers.
– Paris Hamilton
There has been no Gopher player who has been more anticipated over the past year and a half than Paris Hamilton. Hamilton’s commitment to the Gophers gave them their highest rated Junior College player in recent memory. JCfootball.com had him rated as the top junior college wide receiver in the country for 2002. Given Minnesota’s needs at WR, Paris was seemingly the perfect guy at the right position to step in and fill the void last year. But in preseason workouts last fall, before Paris could fulfill any of that hype, he suffered a season ending knee injury. It was unfortunate in several ways. First, it meant that Paris had to miss last year; a year that he couldn’t get back because of an NCAA redshirting technicality. More of a bummer for Paris though, was that it meant he wouldn’t have the chance to play with Asad Abdul-Klahliq, the player who was most instrumental in recruiting Paris to Minnesota. On top of that Minnesota went 10-3, and it had to just kill Paris to be sitting on the sidelines.
Which makes this year all the more sweet. The knee is 100% and Aaron Hosack’s departure leaves a spot wide open for Hamilton. Paris has one year to show what he can do, and by all indications that is a lot. Before he tore his knee up he was probably Minnesota’s fastest receiver. Whether or not he can maintain that deep speed is something we’ll probably have to wait until fall for. He has good size for a WR (6’1″ 195 lbs), as shown in the spring game he has good “jukabilty”, and when he came to Minnesota he was billed as a guy who had good all around receiver skills. Again, with a good passing QB in place this season Paris has a chance to have a big year.
– Depth
Besides running back, there is probably more depth at wide receiver for the Gophers than at any other spot on the team. There are several young players with good potential who will have a chance to show their stuff.
- Leading the way will be Ernie Wheelwright. Ernie did not academically qualify out of high school, but rather than go to a junior college he kept his commitment to Minnesota by enrolling in school last year and paying his own way. All indications at this point are that he is on track to qualify and should be joining the team this fall. Ernie is very tall guy at 6’5″, and he supposively has a skill set along the lines of Larry Fitzgerald; not a real fast guy, but a big target who has good hands and is tough for corners to defend.
- Besides the two starters, the guy with the most experience is sophomore Logan Payne. Logan played last year but on the season had only 1 catch for 7 yards. He was used more as a decoy and as a blocker on running plays.
- Looking to finally become a regular this year will be junior Jakari Wallace. Jakari redshirted as a freshman, but then tore his knee up his redshirt freshman year. His recovery was slow, but he started seeing more action as his sophomore year progressed. He will be healthy this fall and gives the Gophers a scat option at receiver.
- Another freshman looking to burst on the scene is Micah Rucker. He is similar in build to Wheelright, but he’s even taller at 6’6″. Micah had a big spring game and should see some time this year.
- A darkhorse to make an impact this season is walkon Mark Jundt. When Jared Ellerson got injured and missed the Sun Bowl, Mark is the guy who picked up most of his minutes. Jundt had a couple great catches in the spring game and at minimum will push the other receivers in practice.
Around the Big Ten . . .
Michigan will easily have the best group of WR’s in the conference, and perhaps in the country as well. The Wolverines caught a break when All-Big Ten first teamer Braylon Edwards decided to return for his senior season. Edwards had a good year last season, but yet it was still somewhat disappointing given Michigan standards. Edwards, Jason Avant, Carl Tabb, and maybe their next star Steve Breaston give the Wolverines four talented receivers, any of whom most teams would love to have. The only problem is there are so many of them their stats will not reflect how good they are. Besides Ellerson, Avant and Edwards, the other returning All-Big Ten WR is Purdue’s Taylor Stubblefield. Taylor isn’t the flashiest receiver, but he gets it done. In each of his three seasons so far he has at least 73 receptions and 789 yards. He has a good chance to break the Big Ten record for career pass receptions, needing only 26 receptions to do so. Wisconsin flashes back to 2002 when Jonathan Orr, Brandon Williams and Darrin Charles formed their group of WR’s. This group was very young when Lee Evans missed the year with injury, but now they are experienced and will be solid. A guy who turned it on late last year is Ohio State’s Santonio Holmes. He might be the fastest WR in the conference, but won’t put up great numbers until OSU can get their offense going. Justin Zwick at QB should help that along.
Last year . . .
Minnesota’s receivers did exactly what they needed to last year. They didn’t put up huge numbers, but for the most part they answered the call when they needed to. Both Aaron Hosack and Ellerson had 45-50 catches for around 850 yards. After those two there was a large decline, as Tony Patterson had only 21 catches for 257 yards (and a lot of those happened in just the Michigan State game). What’s most impressive with these two guys though is the job of downfield blocking they did on rushing plays. Both Patterson and Hosack will be missed in that regard. All and all, a group that had some questions at the beginning of the year came out and did a solid job.
Bottom Line . . .
In the past couple years with Asad at the helm, Minnesota’s passing game was mainly limited to bubble screens, slants and fly patterns. (It didn’t really matter too much though because of Minnesota’s outstanding rushing offense.) The coaching staff did do an outstanding job of utilizing Asad’s strengths and building game plans around them, as shown by the great numbers the Gopher offense has put up the past two seasons. Now this year, with a couple of stronger armed QB’s delivering the ball, there will be more of a chance for the receivers to showcase their receiving skills. By all accounts this should be an above average group, with the potential to be very good. If Paris Hamilton comes back and stays at 100%, Wheelright finds his way to the field, and Ellerson can continue the progression he started last year, there will certainly be an opportunity for Minnesota to add a new dimension to an already exciting offense.
Talk about the 2004 wide receivers on our Gopher Football message board.