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INJURIES: Sadly, injuries may be the biggest news to come out of this spring. John Shevlin, Jay Thomas and Brandon Owens were two players who we knew were not going to participate, but a couple more along the way really hurt “¦. Linebacker Alex Daniels may have suffered the biggest blow when he broke his arm very early in the workouts. With Shevlin rehabbing after off season surgery Daniels was penciled in on the first team and was considrered a contender for a starting spot this fall. Just a sophmore, this spring was supposed to be a big one for Alex’s development, but instead he missed most of it and will have to focus the next sevreal weeks on rehab “¦. Another area of concern were the sprained ankles suffered by Amir Pinnix and Justin Valentine. The depth of the running back position was already an area of conern, but with Amir and Justin missing going down the Gophers were left with an almost bare cupboard. The good news is that backup tailback Brylee Callender probably got more than enough work, so hopefully his development will hope ease concerns about depth this fall “¦. A late injury that sprung up was that of freshman lineman Ned Tavale. As the spring wore on many reports were coming out about the big improvement being made by Ned, including some reports that he was making several reps with the first team line. Tavale however got dinged up late and did not play in the spring game.
TONY BRINKHAUS TAKES OVER AS THE STARTING CENTER: Have you ever seen so much hype about a single position on the offensive line during spring drills??? Me neither! What this means that is Greg Eslinger is already a Gopher legend, and thus the speculation about who will replace him has been an area of big concern to everyone who follows the team. What is also means is that during the last four years we’ve learned how important the position of center is, and that the Gopher coaches considered this to be one of, if not THE most important issue of the spring. After speculation about three different players battling for the job, Tony Brinkhaus was declared the winner by Coach Mason yesterday. Brinkhaus will slide over to center after starting at Right Tackle last year; a move that will allow Joe Ainslie to return as a starter for the first time since getting injured early in 2005.
A NEW ATTITUDE ON DEFENSE. The Gopher defense has found several ways to give Gopher fans headaches over the last several years, but for the first time in several years we may be seeing a significant change in the way business in conducted on the defensive side of the ball. With a new secondary coach, the Gophers cornerbacks displayed more tight coverage formations at the line of scrimmage this spring. This is a huge change from a defense that almost always would give opposing receivers 5-10 years of cushion on the line. This may also be a reason why Keith Massey was moved into a starting cornerback spot in front of Trumaine Banks, who was moved to free safety. Also of note were reports that Dominic Jones is already becoming a leader on defense. When Minnesota signed Alex Daniels, Keith Massey and Dominic Joens out of Brookhaven high school in 2005, they made a promise that they would come to Minnesota and improve the defense. Could Jones’ improving play and leadership be the first step to making that happen?
Unfinished Business:
RUNNING BACKS: Because of the injuries to Jay Thomas, Amir Pinnix, Justin Valentine, along with the academic status of Gary Russell, the uncertainty surrounding the Gopher running game was not resolved in the least during spring drills. Callender reportedly did an okay job during the spring, but he did not turn heads enough to make the coaches feel more comfortable with this situation. One would expect that Pinnix and Valentine will be fine by the fall, but Thomas and Russel will probably be up in the air for a while. This will obviously be a very big summer for the Gopher running back situation.
LINEBACKERS: Injuries also took their toll here. There wasn’t as much question about personnel at linebcker as much as there was about improvement. The departure of Moe Ankeny opened up a spot for Mark Criner as the new linebacker coach. But injries to 2 of the top 4 linebackers have put that learning and development with the new coach on hold.
KICKERS: We didn’t really expect much to happen here this spring, and nothing really did. Walkon Joel Monroe remains ahead of scholsarhip player Jason Giannini, and neither of the two were terribly impressive. This battle will move into the spotlight again this fall when incoming freshman Eric Ellestad will be given the chance to compete with both Monroe and Giannini for the job.
Final Thoughts:
Injuries aside, this spring went about as what would’ve been planned. The offensive line seems to have fallen in to place (with the possible exception of right guard), the passing offense performed well, and improvements were reportedly made in the secondary and the defensive line. There were no jaw dropping breakout performances, but none were really expected. The best that can be hoped for heading into fall is for a few key guys to get healthy, and very key running back to become elegible. See you in August!
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