Official 2011 Gopher Fall Camp Thread: Updates, Analysis, Links, etc.

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From Gray SI article:

"Weber was excelling"

IALTO
 


BleedGopher said:
Marcus Fuller blog: Frontrunner for No. 2 WR emerges after first practice

http://blogs.twincities.com/gophers...or-no-2-wr-spot-emerges-after-first-practice/

Go Gophers!!
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Nice to see a two-deep prediction:

– My best guess for the two-deep depth chart on defense after Day One looks like this:

First unit

DE — D.L. Wilhite and Matt Garin, DT — Brandon Kirksey and Anthony Jacobs, LB — Keanon Cooper, Gary Tinsley (MLB) and Mike Rallis, Safety – Shady Salamon and Kim Royston and CB – Brock Vereen and Troy Stoudermire

Second unit

DE — Kendall Gregory-McGhee and Leston Simpson, DT — Eric Jacques and Ra’Shede Hageman, LB – Dwayne Mitchell, Brendan Beal (MLB) and Aaron Hill, Safety — Christyn Lewis and Kenny Watkins/Chase Haviland, CB — Kyle Henderson and Michael Carter

– This is my guess on offense (receivers were hard to tell because they were constantly rotating):

First team

OL (left to right) — Ed Olson, Chris Bunders, Zach Mottla (replacing starting center Ryan Wynn who attended a funeral Monday), Ryan Orton, Jimmy Gjere; RB — Duane Bennett; FB — Mike Henry; TE — Eric Lair; WR — Da’Jon McKnight, Ge’Shun Harris, Marcus Jones; QB — MarQueis Gray.

Second team

OL (left to right) — Marek Lenkiewicz, Caleb Bak, Zac Epping, Josh Campion, Sean Ferguson; RB — Donnell Kirkwood; FB — Ed Cotton; TE — Colin McGarry; WR – Victor Keise, Brandon Green, Malcolm Moulton; QB — Tom Parish.
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He forgot James Manuel. He will almost certainly be starting, and if not, will be playing plenty.
 

dpodoll68 said:
He forgot James Manuel. He will almost certainly be starting, and if not, will be playing plenty.
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That was the omission that was most glaring to me. I expect Manual will be a big contributer this year.
 

Mike Grim

By the by, that was Mike Grim with the mic standing behind Kill during most of his interview. He will be doing the play-by-play this year...that's a good thing.
 

mattw1067 said:
I sure hope Shortell is redshirted... No way do I want a year of his eligibility used up just so he can be a backup.
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I think this is something we get too caught up with sometimes, preserving eligibility. Any snaps Shortell gets will be valuable down the road.

Put it this way; If he doesn't redshirt (and wins the backup spot), he'll get plenty of snaps this year and next year most likely and he'll be that much more effective when he IS the starter.

If the program is evolving as it should, by the time Shortell is a senior (or earlier), there will be a QB equally as promising, if not moreso, than Shortell waiting in the wings for HIS time.

I guess, bottome line, if he's good enough to be the primary backup this year, there's no way he should redshirt.
 



I was impressed that they had 4 qbs throwing at the same time, one would roll left, the other 3 would roll right. One would throw deep, another to the sideline and a 3rd over the middle. Meanwhile, a 5th qb was throwing to backs in the end zone. I spent some time with the tackles and Matt Limegrover was teaching the most interesting and technical things for these guys to work on. "Your left foot is for width, your right foot for depth. If he's showing you numbers, you drive him away from the qb. If he's showing you his arm,....etc." Very interesting. Everything was in motion and no wasted time. Brewster's practices were boring and slow moving. Hageman got into a fight during a scrimmage and the next play he blew his man away, knocking off his helmet. He looked like a monster and maybe the answer for a pass rush. Lamonte Edwards looked really good and quick. Duane Bennett has amazing biceps. Gray looked thin even though he added 20 lb. He was asked him where the weight was cuz he looks so trim and he said probably in his legs. Alipate threw the ball the best, I thought. The big freshman, Shortell, looked good as did the other one, Foreman. Kill seems to have appointed Rallis a leader because he had him lead the team in a yell at the end (he said something about USC).
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
I think this is something we get too caught up with sometimes, preserving eligibility. Any snaps Shortell gets will be valuable down the road.

Put it this way; If he doesn't redshirt (and wins the backup spot), he'll get plenty of snaps this year and next year most likely and he'll be that much more effective when he IS the starter.

If the program is evolving as it should, by the time Shortell is a senior (or earlier), there will be a QB equally as promising, if not moreso, than Shortell waiting in the wings for HIS time.

I guess, bottome line, if he's good enough to be the primary backup this year, there's no way he should redshirt.
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Your point is valid, but I do think it should be qualified.

I wouldn't love the idea of burning a RS if Shortell doesn't see significant playing time.

If Shortell wins the job, I would consider him the backup but I wouldn't burn his RS unless I had to and he would get a lot of PT. So essentially, if it is just to give Gray a breather for a little bit (quarter or two) or it is just to run when we have backups, I don't think you burn a guy's RS for that. So in those cases, I would consider Parish the backup.

If Gray was to get hurt and miss significant time, yeah, I am completely ok with Shortell burning his RS and taking over the reigns as the #1 QB (if he wins the job).

Luckily, you don't make anyone a RS until the season was over. So I hope our staff looks at Shortell (assuming he beats out Parish) as the replacement to Gray if Gray gets hurt but for the sake of a minor role a backup is used for, I would go with Parish.

You do make a valid point about those snaps helping Shortell in the long run and I would completely agree if Gray were a SR. However, Gray is a JR and those kinds of snaps would be available to Shortell next season.
 

Halsey Hall said:
I was impressed that they had 4 qbs throwing at the same time, one would roll left, the other 3 would roll right. One would throw deep, another to the sideline and a 3rd over the middle. Meanwhile, a 5th qb was throwing to backs in the end zone. I spent some time with the tackles and Matt Limegrover was teaching the most interesting and technical things for these guys to work on. "Your left foot is for width, your right foot for depth. If he's showing you numbers, you drive him away from the qb. If he's showing you his arm,....etc." Very interesting. Everything was in motion and no wasted time. Brewster's practices were boring and slow moving. Hageman got into a fight during a scrimmage and the next play he blew his man away, knocking off his helmet. He looked like a monster and maybe the answer for a pass rush. Lamonte Edwards looked really good and quick. Duane Bennett has amazing biceps. Gray looked thin even though he added 20 lb. He was asked him where the weight was cuz he looks so trim and he said probably in his legs. Alipate threw the ball the best, I thought. The big freshman, Shortell, looked good as did the other one, Foreman. Kill seems to have appointed Rallis a leader because he had him lead the team in a yell at the end (he said something about USC).
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Halsey, that's an interesting take. I'm not in town right now but a buddy of mine said similar things about Alipate. He said that he though Moses still was the best at throwing the football. It was kind of a peculiar practice because I keep hearing how well Moses threw the ball and then that he also worked at TE. It's like kind of a perdicament with this kid.

How did his weight look?
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Your point is valid, but I do think it should be qualified.

I wouldn't love the idea of burning a RS if Shortell doesn't see significant playing time.

If Shortell wins the job, I would consider him the backup but I wouldn't burn his RS unless I had to and he would get a lot of PT. So essentially, if it is just to give Gray a breather for a little bit (quarter or two) or it is just to run when we have backups, I don't think you burn a guy's RS for that. So in those cases, I would consider Parish the backup.

If Gray was to get hurt and miss significant time, yeah, I am completely ok with Shortell burning his RS and taking over the reigns as the #1 QB (if he wins the job).

Luckily, you don't make anyone a RS until the season was over. So I hope our staff looks at Shortell (assuming he beats out Parish) as the replacement to Gray if Gray gets hurt but for the sake of a minor role a backup is used for, I would go with Parish.

You do make a valid point about those snaps helping Shortell in the long run and I would completely agree if Gray were a SR. However, Gray is a JR and those kinds of snaps would be available to Shortell next season.
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There is a problem with that thinking though. Say Shortell is the 2nd best QB, but you have Parish playing in the (hopefully we have some) garbage time against non-conference teams. Then if Gray goes down early in the B1G season, you'd be throwing Shortell in there with zero experience.
 



KFAN had this reap of day one


http://www.kfan.com/pages/gophers.html?article=8945144

I especailly like this, "Taking second team reps was redshirt freshman Lamonte Edwards. The FAN's Justin Conzemius once compared Edwards to a "young Adrian Peterson." Although the comment seems far-fetched, the young RB showed some flashes of speed and power. Edwards was dinged up during spring practice and didn't see a lot of action."
 

BTN at Gophers practice today

Time to get out there and get rowdy, GopherHolers.

The alleged air date of their Gopher practice show will be 8/15. I hope to see that we're well represented both on and off the field.
 

From what we've heard from both Kill and Limegrover, the 2nd team qb will see plenty of action - and not just in mop-up situations. They don't plan on Q having to run everything, and want to protect him from the kind of wearing down that Michigan saw with Robinson. So if Shortell wins the 2nd team spot, he'll get a lot of real-time real experience.
 

FreakyDeke said:
There is a problem with that thinking though. Say Shortell is the 2nd best QB, but you have Parish playing in the (hopefully we have some) garbage time against non-conference teams. Then if Gray goes down early in the B1G season, you'd be throwing Shortell in there with zero experience.
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That's definitely a valid point but I guess that would be the cost, in my eyes, of getting another year of eligibility from Shortell.

There are certainly benefits to not red shirting a kid and giving him the clear cut #2 QB position, I just don't think they outweight the amount he could bring to our team in his 5th season.
 

Mason at Gophers practice looking fratty. Croakies and boat shoes. Very nice.

368904331.jpg
 


Practice 8/9

A few tidbits and impressions from today's practice.

(Yes, I know there is a default fall camp thread, but I think by the end of practice it will be 50 pages long and impossible to read. I suggest a separate thread for each day.)

I mostly watched the quarterbacks today since I probably won't be able to attend another practice. Shortell looked very good today. He is very big, strong and threw some very accurate passes. I thought he looked like the best quarterback today. Parrish also looked good. I think Shortell and Parrish are in a dogfight for the number two position. Gray definitely looked lean and fast today. Opposing teams will definitely have to scheme against him.

One thing that impressed me was there didn't seem to be a lot of dropped passes during the passing drills. For the most part, if the quarterback got the ball within arms reach of the receiver, the receiver caught the ball.

Lamonte Edwards looked as fast as he did last spring. He was running with the second team today although, this early in camp, I'm sure it doesn't mean much. I was curious to get a look at Devon Wright. To my eye, he looked as fast as Edwards. Perhaps a bit quicker and shiftier but not as strong. I think we will have a good stable of running backs.

The entire team looked leaner and faster.

The defense looked crisper and seemed to adjust well to the formation changes that Limegrover uses. They seemed to get more pressure on the quarterbacks.

Hope springs eternal in Gopher hearts but, having said that, this team is not a bottom big 10 team. I expect them to go to a bowl game this year.
 

Thanks for the report diefirma. Wish I was in the position where I could take in a practice and do a report.

I am confident that Coach Kill and his staff are very capable of getting the best out of the current roster. They believe in their system and know how to coach it. To me, NIU was by far the better coached than Brewsters team last Fall and deserved the W. A daily dose of coaching from an experienced and highly functional and organized staff could produce a product that may surprise. Just like NIU did to the Gophers.
 

Thanks for this update. A couple questions...
Is there a place to sit and watch?
How far away from the action were you?
Where did you park?
 

Thanks for the report, can't wait to get out and check them out for myself at some point......
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Halsey, that's an interesting take. I'm not in town right now but a buddy of mine said similar things about Alipate. He said that he though Moses still was the best at throwing the football. It was kind of a peculiar practice because I keep hearing how well Moses threw the ball and then that he also worked at TE. It's like kind of a perdicament with this kid.

How did his weight look?
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He looked like he's lost maybe 20 lb. Still not sleek. But he throws a beautiful ball. Looked good catching passes as well. I think he was just doing that for some extra work. It didn't seem like coaches were directing it.
 

CP Gopher said:
Thanks for this update. A couple questions...
Is there a place to sit and watch?
How far away from the action were you?
Where did you park?
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No place to sit unfortunately - like some others I have a bad back and so practice gets a bit long for me. You have to stand about 2 or 2 and a half hours.

You stand right on the sidelines so you are close. There are 3 or 4 different areas most of the time so you can be right on the line of scrimmage for the area you are watching. There may be a person or two in front of you but in general the sight lines are good

I parked by Siebert field but I think there is some parking on the streets as well. There is a ramp on 14th, I think, that is not very far away. If you like football you would enjoy the practices.
 

diefirma said:
A few tidbits and impressions from today's practice.

(Yes, I know there is a default fall camp thread, but I think by the end of practice it will be 50 pages long and impossible to read. I suggest a separate thread for each day.)

I mostly watched the quarterbacks today since I probably won't be able to attend another practice. Shortell looked very good today. He is very big, strong and threw some very accurate passes. I thought he looked like the best quarterback today. Parrish also looked good. I think Shortell and Parrish are in a dogfight for the number two position. Gray definitely looked lean and fast today. Opposing teams will definitely have to scheme against him.

One thing that impressed me was there didn't seem to be a lot of dropped passes during the passing drills. For the most part, if the quarterback got the ball within arms reach of the receiver, the receiver caught the ball.

Lamonte Edwards looked as fast as he did last spring. He was running with the second team today although, this early in camp, I'm sure it doesn't mean much. I was curious to get a look at Devon Wright. To my eye, he looked as fast as Edwards. Perhaps a bit quicker and shiftier but not as strong. I think we will have a good stable of running backs.

The entire team looked leaner and faster.

The defense looked crisper and seemed to adjust well to the formation changes that Limegrover uses. They seemed to get more pressure on the quarterbacks.

Hope springs eternal in Gopher hearts but, having said that, this team is not a bottom big 10 team. I expect them to go to a bowl game this year.
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Thanks for the recap from Tuesday's practice - great stuff.

When new threads like this are put up with the date of the specific practice, we'll leave it up for the night and will wait to move it to the Official Camp Thread until later in the morning the following day. That will allow people to see the most current update in a separate thread, and then it will also put it all in one place later on. Please let us know if anyone has any issues with that approach.

Thanks, GopherHole Staff
 





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