2022 Look Ahead Thread

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Gopher Ascension

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With the bowl game over, I thought it may be fun to start looking ahead to the 2022 season. As I see it, here is what the status of the program for next season:

Strengths:

QB - Love him, hate him, sick of him, there's no arguing that Tanner Morgan is the winningest quarterback of many of our life times. Was this year not ideal? Absolutely. But I'd like to think with Kirk C coming back and calling the plays (and developing the QB's), tanner can have a bounce back year and hopefully lead us to a B1G West title.

RBs - This almost doesn't need any explanation. Bucky and Ky coming back is enough to make it a strength, but adding in Mo, and potentially Potts(?) gives us an embarrassment of riches at the position. Personally, I'd like to see Bucky used more in the passing/jet sweep game as I think he is the most jittery and best in space of the bunch.

LBs - We lose Gibbens, who was one of my favorite one year Gophers of all time, but bring back Sori-Martin, Oliver, Willis, Lindenberg and others. Gotta think this will be the strength of the defense next year.

Question Marks:

Passing Game - I said my piece on Tanner above, and CRAB coming back certainly helps, but I think we are kidding ourselves if we think this is a strength going into next year.

OL - Schmitz is coming back, but four other new starters across the line gives some pause. Time to see how Fleck and Co are developing in the trenches.

DL - Losing Big O, Mafe, Dew-Treadway and others hurts. I have high hopes for Joyner and it seems like the staff has been recruiting well at DT/DE, but we will certainly find out next year.

Other Observations:

I'm not really sure where to put the DBs on this list. Durr leaving is a massive loss, but the two transfer portal recruits should help ease the pain, and Walley has all the makings of a stud. Terrell Smith and Nubin should be back (side note - is Howden back?), and maybe Ortiz is ready to step in and live up to the 4-star potential?

I'm hoping to see a big jump from all of the WRs next year. Wright and Jackson have immense potential, in my opinion, and I'm hoping a true freshman or redshirt freshman (Hoskins, Emilien, Brockington?) can step in for Brown-Stephens. Nothing against the kid personally, and I think his 4 star brother is coming in next class, but I'm just not sure there's a whole lot more there than what we've seen.

I'd love to get everyone's thoughts on what they envision for next year!
 

EVERYTHING IS A STRENGTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously though, I just see the increase in overall talent that will lessen the losses of players. Especially on the entire defense and the O-line. There are definitely question marks, but I have a calm expectation of "don't worry about it". Unlike years past when the stars needed to align for the right group of players to all be good at the same time for a special season once in a while. Now it feels more like plug and play. The running back situation this year as an example. Lots of young guys got good time this year.

Defensive scheme and player developement have me so excited I think I'm going to pee my pants. Yes, I've been drinking.
 

It's all about the lines for me. Ruschmeyer has played so much over the past two years, he's basically like getting a starter back. Boe and Guedet have seen a decent amount of action.
DL, I'm more than a little concerned. Sure, there appears to be talent, but they're relatively inexperienced and not as deep. Hopefully there's a couple of surprises on the roster, or coming to the roster.
 

It’s all about beating all the teams we SHOULD beat

2019 - 9-0 against non top 20 teams

let’s go unbeaten against non top 20 teams and the chips will fall where they may
 

Offense - hopefully the OL will be good. QB and RBs should be solid. Remains to be seen if we can replace Kieft, that could be a bigger loss than we know in the run production. WR's I feel will be better with a healthy CrAB and Wright looked good in the Bowl game. BSF will be solid.

Defense - Feel pretty good about this group, DL is the only concern along with replacing Gibbens.

Special Teams - Should be just as good if not better, probable better. FG kicking hopefully improves a bit, punting was good. Hopefully we see increases in both PR and KR production.

Coaching - Should be just as good, probably better with Ciarrocca returning and not losing anyone (so far).
 
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matt said:
Excited to see if Rossi can replicate the defensive performance next year.
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Needs a Gibbens, a Pinckney, a Durr, a Mafe, a Harris and an Otomewo...also a Treadway, a Howard, and a McDonald...an MJ Anderson would be nice...
 


matt said:
Excited to see if Rossi can replicate the defensive performance next year.
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The thing to remember is Rossi developed a top 10 defense this year without obvious superstars. We knew Mafe and Durr were good. We got a surprise with Gibbons. Basically he had just a lot of solid guys to work with.

Through scheme play calling and coaching he crafted an elite defense. We lose some good players but the defensive coaching staff is intact which bodes well for another strong year.
 



If Fleck can continue to learn from some of his brutal in-game decision making, I am very excited about the future. Kick C back at OC is another reason.

Every team in the nation is losing talent. We are fortunate with how many of our studs are coming back.

On paper, looking at the D-Line would be most concerning to the novice fan. But some of our highest rated recruits over the past two years play there (Eastern, Anthony Smith, Bixby and Schwartz). If Fleck has concerns over this group, I believe it would be an easy sell to a potential transfer.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
It's all about the lines for me. Ruschmeyer has played so much over the past two years, he's basically like getting a starter back. Boe and Guedet have seen a decent amount of action.
DL, I'm more than a little concerned. Sure, there appears to be talent, but they're relatively inexperienced and not as deep. Hopefully there's a couple of surprises on the roster, or coming to the roster.
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Everyone forgets about Shaw when talking about next year's line. Dude was a 2 year starter in the Mountain West and has had a full year + to work alongside guys like Boe and Guedet in practice.

When he was brought in as a transfer it seemed pretty obvious that it was a 2022 move so I would fully expect him to be ready to start next year along the line. O-Line will look different next year but there is a lot of experience coming back and there are a number of guys who have been in our system for a while.

D-Line is a bit of an unknown but we have brought in some pretty highly rated guys along the D-Line and the coaches have had a lot of good things to say about a number of them. Guys we are losing along the D-Line were all solid players, but not superstars who can't be replaced. Will be interesting to see how the D-Line shakes out.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Everyone forgets about Shaw when talking about next year's line. Dude was a 2 year starter in the Mountain West and has had a full year + to work alongside guys like Boe and Guedet in practice.

When he was brought in as a transfer it seemed pretty obvious that it was a 2022 move so I would fully expect him to be ready to start next year along the line. O-Line will look different next year but there is a lot of experience coming back and there are a number of guys who have been in our system for a while.

D-Line is a bit of an unknown but we have brought in some pretty highly rated guys along the D-Line and the coaches have had a lot of good things to say about a number of them. Guys we are losing along the D-Line were all solid players, but not superstars who can't be replaced. Will be interesting to see how the D-Line shakes out.
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Good point. I had it in my head that Shaw was strictly a center for some reason.
 

No question for me - biggest issue is the OL. 4 new starters plus losing one of the best blocking TE's in the B1G.

It would not be surprising to see the OL take a few games to gel.

on Defense, the DL has to show it can at least come close to the production of the group that is leaving.

Potential is only that - a promise that may or may not be realized. The Gophers are losing on-field production on the OL and DL, and hoping to replace it with potential. That is a concern - until the new players show they can produce on the field.

That does NOT mean the Gophers have to take a step back. It DOES mean that the new players have big shoes to fill and need to show that they can do it.
 



Strengths: QB, RB, LB. TE
Questions Marks: OL, DL, DB, WR
Weaknesses: None

I know in the past we went into seasons thinking there was a glaring weakness on our team. I believe next year we have spots where there are question marks, but no glaring weakness. There is a real chance that our replacements could make our team just as good at every position outside of our lines. Yet, the replacements could be just a step below and not necessarily a weakness.
 

We rotated in linemen every game.. depth we have... These kids have seen action, they know what's coming.... OL doesn't concern me in the least.. we need the qb (whomever that is) to step up....
 

Will be interesting to see the DL for next season. Carter is a returning starter.

3tech is a critical position in modern 40 front defenses. Am hoping Eastern shows he's ready to step up and be the man, this spring.

Ends, who knows. I am assuming Big O is out, like Mafe. We have Rush coming back.

Lot of freshman and redshirt freshmen in 2021 will be looking to step up. And who knows what the portal will bring.
 

gophernut1 said:
Strengths: QB, RB, LB. TE
Questions Marks: OL, DL, DB, WR
Weaknesses: None

I know in the past we went into seasons thinking there was a glaring weakness on our team. I believe next year we have spots where there are question marks, but no glaring weakness. There is a real chance that our replacements could make our team just as good at every position outside of our lines. Yet, the replacements could be just a step below and not necessarily a weakness.
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DB is definitely not a question mark is the second best unit in the team behind RB. Nubin, Howden, Walley, Stapp, Bishop and T-time is a very good unit.
 

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