Top 10 returning Big Ten players, per PFF

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PitinoFan

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BIG 10
1. QB Justin Fields, Ohio State

2. QB Tanner Morgan, Minnesota

3. WR Rashod Bateman, Minnesota

4. WR Rondale Moore, Purdue

5. LB Micah Parsons, Penn State

6. WR Chris Olave, Ohio State

7. CB Ambry Thomas, Michigan

8. S Eric Burrell, Wisconsin

9. G Wyatt Davis, Ohio State

10. CB Tiawan Mullen, Indiana

www.pff.com

Top returning players in every college football conference

PFF's Anthony Treash presents the best returning players in each and every college football conference.
www.pff.com www.pff.com
 



PitinoFan said:
BIG 10
1. QB Justin Fields, Ohio State

2. QB Tanner Morgan, Minnesota

3. WR Rashod Bateman, Minnesota

4. WR Rondale Moore, Purdue

5. LB Micah Parsons, Penn State

6. WR Chris Olave, Ohio State

7. CB Ambry Thomas, Michigan

8. S Eric Burrell, Wisconsin

9. G Wyatt Davis, Ohio State

10. CB Tiawan Mullen, Indiana

www.pff.com

Top returning players in every college football conference

PFF's Anthony Treash presents the best returning players in each and every college football conference.
www.pff.com www.pff.com
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Hard to argue with 2 and 3.
 

Their picks for the Pac-12 ... Coming soon.

Lol! They get no respect.
 



I like David Bell from Purdue. He had an outstanding freshman season.
 

I didn’t realize there’s a Big Ten specific article. Here’s what they had to say about Morgan and Bateman.

——

2. QB TANNER MORGAN, MINNESOTA
We first saw Tanner Morgan in the middle of the 2018 season when he filled in as the starter for the remainder of the season, and he was not so great in those starts. As a result, it was a bit of a shock to see Morgan play at the level he did in 2019 — he was the ninth most valuable FBS quarterback and is among the five most valuable returning in 2020. The way Morgan handled pressure was a complete 180 from the year prior, as he ranked behind only Joe Burrow in PFF passing grade on those plays. Pressure is instable year-to-year, so while we expect Morgan to regress in this facet some, we don’t expect him to completely drop-off because he showed a lot of promise on the things that are most predictive of future success — such as performance in a clean pocket. When free from pressure, Morgan produced a positively graded play rate that was second in the FBS and the best among returning signal-callers, barely edging out Justin Fields. On top of that, Morgan posted the third-lowest rate of uncatchable passes when throwing 10 or more yards downfield, whether he was pressured or not. If you have any reservations on the Golden Gopher heading into the 2020 season, you shouldn’t. He’s the real deal.

3. WR RASHOD BATEMAN, MINNESOTA
There may not be a better route runner in college football than Rashod Bateman. He was relatively average as a true freshman in 2018, but he elevated his play in 2019 to an 89.0 receiving grade that ranked top 15 overall and top five among returners. The three biggest things you want to see from a wide receiver are the ability to create separation with route running, the ability to win in contested situations and the ability to produce after the catch. Bateman is one of the few who can do all three. On targets of 10 or more yards, Bateman hauled in 10 of his 16 contested targets, produced a top-20 receiving grade and created a step or more separation on 52% of the throws that came his way. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound receiver also tied for 20th in broken tackles (17). He’s one of the most explosive receivers in the game, and with Tyler Johnson on his way to the NFL, Bateman will get even more opportunities to display his elite craft in 2020.

www.pff.com

Top 10 players returning in the Big Ten in 2020

Rondale Moore and Rashod Bateman showed off in past years, and they're poised to do so again in 2020.
www.pff.com www.pff.com
 

PitinoFan said:
2. QB TANNER MORGAN, MINNESOTA
We first saw Tanner Morgan in the middle of the 2018 season when he filled in as the starter for the remainder of the season, and he was not so great in those starts.
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I'm going to disagree strongly with this statement. In 2018 Morgan took over a team that was 3-4 and on a 4-game losing streak. In his 6 starts he went 4-2 with 9 TD and 4 INT. Anyone watching the Gophers down the stretch in 2018 would acknowledge that he played quite well.
 



DarrenTheGreek said:
I'm going to disagree strongly with this statement. In 2018 Morgan took over a team that was 3-4 and on a 4-game losing streak. In his 6 starts he went 4-2 with 9 TD and 4 INT. Anyone watching the Gophers down the stretch in 2018 would acknowledge that he played quite well.
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He certainly took it to a whole new level in 2019, but his 2018 play was certainly promising. Many of us were calling for him to be named the starter outright before Annexstad got hurt
 



Part of the effectiveness of our passing game came from the number of WRs we had that could get open. With Johnson gone it does not follow that Bateman will be more effective. It is going to depend somewhat on exactly how effective Johnson's replacements are. The smoke signals are good, but, as always, we will have to wait and see.
 




Veritas said:
Part of the effectiveness of our passing game came from the number of WRs we had that could get open. With Johnson gone it does not follow that Bateman will be more effective. It is going to depend somewhat on exactly how effective Johnson's replacements are. The smoke signals are good, but, as always, we will have to wait and see.
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I think Bateman is a 1st round NFL pick after his Jr. year. Sure TJ6 on the field helped him, but he would have been and will still be explosive w/o him too.
 

Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:
I'd put Ibrahim on the list also but that's just me!
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:). Actually, that's who I thought of right away, not even thinking of Bateman and Morgan. But that's just because I just gave up Coca-Cola and my mind is all aflutter right now.
By the way, they do have the #2 and #3 right on!
 


Plato said:
A passing QB is as good as his protection. The IA and WI games showed that.
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Morgan completed 62% of his passes for 664 yards in those two games. Line gave up too many sacks but the passing game wasn't the problem. If TJ doesn't drop a ball right in his hands at the goal line we probably win the Iowa game and your beloved Badgers wouldn't have had the chance to go get smoked by Ohio State a second time or lose a heartbreaker to Oregon.

Seriously...do you really have nothing better to do with your time then to troll other teams message boards?
 

Veritas said:
Part of the effectiveness of our passing game came from the number of WRs we had that could get open. With Johnson gone it does not follow that Bateman will be more effective. It is going to depend somewhat on exactly how effective Johnson's replacements are. The smoke signals are good, but, as always, we will have to wait and see.
Click to expand...

So now you are down on our offense as well? Is it silly to think that Autman-Bell has a chance to be a really good second option based on what we have seen from him so far? And yes, it obviously benefited both Johnson and Bateman to have each other. But Bateman is viewed by many to be a potential first round NFL talent who will be entering his junior year. You see teams all the time with one stud WR who dominates.

Bateman is a great route runner and Morgan is very accurate. Both guys are now upper classmen and should be hitting their stride as college players. Go back to worrying about the defense, the offense should be just fine even with 2 departing seniors.
 

MNVCGUY said:
So now you are down on our offense as well? Is it silly to think that Autman-Bell has a chance to be a really good second option based on what we have seen from him so far? And yes, it obviously benefited both Johnson and Bateman to have each other. But Bateman is viewed by many to be a potential first round NFL talent who will be entering his junior year. You see teams all the time with one stud WR who dominates.

Bateman is a great route runner and Morgan is very accurate. Both guys are now upper classmen and should be hitting their stride as college players. Go back to worrying about the defense, the offense should be just fine even with 2 departing seniors.
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Darn, I did it again. I failed to clear my thoughts with you before posting. I deserve your usual derisive statements. Sorry.
 

Veritas said:
Darn, I did it again. I failed to clear my thoughts with you before posting. I deserve your usual derisive statements. Sorry.
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Have you not seen positive signs out of the guys that will be replacing Johnson? CAB has played really well and Douglas has also made some big grabs. Both guys look capable of taking on much bigger roles but they didn't need to because we had both Johnson and Bateman.

These are not unknown quantities, these are seasoned players who have been playing a lot and developing under Simon. Plus, we have brought in some skilled receivers on paper and it is a position where a guy can make an immediate impact.

When it comes to the offense try looking on the positive side of things. We had a really strong offense last year and it returns 9 starters including the QB and the entire offensive line. The guy who will be the primary RB has a 1000 yard season under his belt as well. We aren't dealing with smoke signals on offense, we have proven, established, Big Ten level talent coming back on that side of the ball. I will be shocked if the offense struggles next year.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Have you not seen positive signs out of the guys that will be replacing Johnson? CAB has played really well and Douglas has also made some big grabs. Both guys look capable of taking on much bigger roles but they didn't need to because we had both Johnson and Bateman.

These are not unknown quantities, these are seasoned players who have been playing a lot and developing under Simon. Plus, we have brought in some skilled receivers on paper and it is a position where a guy can make an immediate impact.

When it comes to the offense try looking on the positive side of things. We had a really strong offense last year and it returns 9 starters including the QB and the entire offensive line. The guy who will be the primary RB has a 1000 yard season under his belt as well. We aren't dealing with smoke signals on offense, we have proven, established, Big Ten level talent coming back on that side of the ball. I will be shocked if the offense struggles next year.
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I fully agree. I'm not sold on Douglas, but I am on this coaching staff's recruitment and development of WRs. If Douglas isn't the #3 guy, I fully expect one of the young guys to be a quality #3. I think CAB will be a quality #2, and above all I'm not sure our #2 or #3 need to be stellar when you have a guy like RB13.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
I'm going to disagree strongly with this statement. In 2018 Morgan took over a team that was 3-4 and on a 4-game losing streak. In his 6 starts he went 4-2 with 9 TD and 4 INT. Anyone watching the Gophers down the stretch in 2018 would acknowledge that he played quite well.
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I disagree with that too, but to be fair to PFF, our own local media and Gopher insiders downplayed his performance too. All of that seemed weird to me, honestly. It seems like most of GH wanted him to be the starter over ZA, but we were on an island.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
I'm going to disagree strongly with this statement. In 2018 Morgan took over a team that was 3-4 and on a 4-game losing streak. In his 6 starts he went 4-2 with 9 TD and 4 INT. Anyone watching the Gophers down the stretch in 2018 would acknowledge that he played quite well.
Click to expand...

Don't forget the insertion of the big boy Fa'alele into the lineup.
 

It will be exciting and interesting who will fill in TJ's shoes. Spring practices and game will be fun to watch the battle for WR, and to see if they are going to show some wrinkles with pass catching TEs.

We'd like to see glimpses of how the offense looks under Sanford and Simon.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
I'm going to disagree strongly with this statement. In 2018 Morgan took over a team that was 3-4 and on a 4-game losing streak. In his 6 starts he went 4-2 with 9 TD and 4 INT. Anyone watching the Gophers down the stretch in 2018 would acknowledge that he played quite well.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it was clear early on Bateman had the tools to be special at receiver and similarly Morgan exhibited innate skills to be special at quarterback. The offense flipped a switch as soon as he came in at Nebraska in 2018.

He was above average on passing downs, typically low percentage third and 4th down situations in 2018 so I continue to scratch my head on what PFF looks at when they talk about performing under pressure. I recall he tossed a couple ill-considered picks but other than that he was pretty clutch vs decent to good defenses and he really turned on the clutch factor in 2019. He’s already cemented himself as a gopher record-setter and he has a good chance to end up an all-timer legend before it’s all said and done (along with PJF).
 

hungan1 said:
Don't forget the insertion of the big boy Fa'alele into the lineup.
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He came in after halftime at Iowa IIRC. So he was present at Iowa, OSU, Nebraska. The team looked different after the half at Nebraska and I don’t think it was my imagination. I didn’t have a real dog in the fight at that point. I recall mentioning something about Wally Pipp. I did pick a side after the season when people were clamoring to put the guy back on the bench.
 


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