5 Storylines to Watch During Minnesota's Spring Practice

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5 Storylines to Watch During Minnesota's Spring Practice​

1. The return of Kirk Ciarrocca​

After spending two seasons away from Minnesota — at Penn State in 2020 and West Virginia in 2021 — Ciarrocca returns to the Golden Gophers as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. This is notable because he held the same position for Minnesota in 2019. That year, the Gophers had one of the most productive and explosive offensives in the Big Ten, with Tanner Morgan tossing 30 touchdown passes and accumulating 3,253 passing yards — far and away his most productive season. Fleck would love to see his offensive coordinator and quarterback find that magic again, and it all starts with the chemistry they can rebuild in the spring.

2. The health of the running backs​

No team in the country suffered as many injuries at running back as Minnesota did in 2021. Mohamed Ibrahim went down in the season-opener to Ohio State with an Achilles injury after looking like the best player on the field for most of the game. The Gophers would also lose Trey Potts and Bryce Williams to season-ending injuries throughout the year. All three are back, and all three have star potential. It will be interesting to see who looks fully rehabilitated and who leads the team in carries during the spring.

3. Can Chris Autman-Bell emerge as a star?​


Autman-Bell returns for a sixth season of eligibility after leading the Gophers in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns in 2021. He'll be expected to repeat and exceed that production, and the offense should be conducive to him doing so. The targets will be there, it's just a matter of what he does with them. Minnesota needs him to emerge as one of the top wideouts in the conference if the Gophers want to get to the Big Ten Championship Game. That work starts in the spring.

4. Portal impact on the offensive line​

Getting production from the transfer portal is an absolute must in modern college football. Fleck looks to have put his best foot forward in terms of getting offensive line talent from the portal. It was sorely needed since four starters have to be replaced, including NFL Scouting Combine participants Daniel Faalele and Blaise Andries. As for the replacements, Fleck was able to lure former Michigan starter Chuck Filiaga away from Ann Arbor and also got in-state product Quinn Carroll to leave Notre Dame and come home to the Twin Cities. Both are probably front-runners for one of the many open spots up front.

5. Rebuilding the defensive line​

Fleck and the coaching staff also had to hit the portal to address the other side of the line of scrimmage with three starters, including NFL draft prospect Boye Mafe, and several other key contributors departing. Last season, defensive linemen accounted for 21.5 of the Gophers' 25 sacks. Thomas Rush was second on the team with five sacks (Mafe led with 7.0), and the only other linemen who recorded a sack returning are Trill Carter and Jah Joyner (combined for 2.0). Graduate transfers Darnell Jefferies (Clemson) and Lorenza Surgers (Vanderbilt) are new to campus, and their experience could pay off. However it comes together, there's plenty of pressure on the defense after finishing second in the Big Ten in all four major categories in 2021.

athlonsports.com

Minnesota Football: Golden Gophers' 2022 Spring Preview

A complete breakdown of the key storylines and a preview of spring practice for the 2022 Minnesota Golden Gophers.
athlonsports.com athlonsports.com

Go Gophers!!
 


In my mind #4 is #1... but that's me worrying .... I get why the other stories are more intresting.
 





SixBySix said:
I'm optimistic that Wright will emerge as the top dog, and CrAB can thrive as a deadly #2 option.
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Dylan Wright overcame a lot of personal heartaches last season. He will be stronger because of it. I expect an outstanding season out of him.

PJ went through a lot in sharing the pain of several players. They were consoling several players last season who were facing difficulties. Heather was like a den mom to several of them. She accompanied PJ to see Trey Potts at the hospital in Indiana. Dylan Wright came to the right program.

Maybe that explains PJ's transformation. He aged a lot over the last two seasons.
 








Wait! No? Can Athan or Cole unseat Tanner talk? PJ was very unhappy with our offense last year.
 



Edit: NVM just realized this is Athlon.

Odd to see no mention of Bucky, but Bryce Williams listed as having star potential.
 

Injuries can change the career and fortunes of a starter.

Zack Annexstad was unable to reclaim his starting position after he got injured. He had a second injury after coming back. You have to feel for him. It is pure hard luck.

There must be a lot of competition in both offense and defense this year. I look forward to the Fall when the roster is announced.
 

Using the transfer portal this much is a sign of poor recruitintg and is always a crap shoot compared to developing your own players.
Why would starters on the OL leave MI and ND?
 

Plato said:
Using the transfer portal this much is a sign of poor recruitintg and is always a crap shoot compared to developing your own players.
Why would starters on the OL leave MI and ND?
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The transfer portal had been kind to us so far. Didn't your Badgers try to patch holes at running back last year with a transfer? How'd that work out?
 

Plato said:
Using the transfer portal this much is a sign of poor recruitintg and is always a crap shoot compared to developing your own players.
Why would starters on the OL leave MI and ND?
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WR Keontez Lewis; CB Jay Shaw; CB Cedrick Dort; CB Justin Clark; K Vito Calvaruso
 

Plato said:
Using the transfer portal this much is a sign of poor recruitintg and is always a crap shoot compared to developing your own players.
Why would starters on the OL leave MI and ND?
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No doubt, our transfers have sucked to this point....not sure why we wasted time bringing in Gibbens, Pinckney, Trickett, Wright, St. Juste, MDT, Williamson....

Transfers are not a crap shoot, in fact they are far less of a crap shoot than high school players because they have actually taken college snaps and shown what they can do against better competition.

Just because the Gophers are better than your beloved Badgers at using the portal doesn't make it a bad thing or a sign of poor recruiting. Just means they see a way to improve the team by bringing in quality/proven players and they are doing what many teams across the country are doing.
 
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Mellusi was an average to good RB until he was injured and then a Freshman recruit burst on the scene as a very good RB to take his place.
Relying on the portal is a sign of poor recruiting no matter how well or poorly the transfers turn out.
 

Plato said:
Mellusi was an average to good RB until he was injured and then a Freshman recruit burst on the scene as a very good RB to take his place.
Relying on the portal is a sign of poor recruiting no matter how well or poorly the transfers turn out.
Click to expand...
WR Keontez Lewis; CB Jay Shaw; CB Cedrick Dort; CB Justin Clark; K Vito Calvaruso
 

Plato said:
Mellusi was an average to good RB until he was injured and then a Freshman recruit burst on the scene as a very good RB to take his place.
Relying on the portal is a sign of poor recruiting no matter how well or poorly the transfers turn out.
Click to expand...
You don't follow college football.
 

For me, a huge portion of this season comes down to which Tanner Morgan we are getting. I realize Sanford was a problem but for as bad as Sanford was, Tanner still missed a number of easy throws (and often missed wide open receivers). I get that a lot of this is tied to the OL, OC, and our WR, but at the end of the day it will all come down to Tanner Morgan.
 

Plato said:
Relying on the portal is a sign of poor recruiting no matter how well or poorly the transfers turn out.
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If you truly believe that you aren't paying attention to the actual college football landscape and are living in the past.
 

Plato said:
Mellusi was an average to good RB until he was injured and then a Freshman recruit burst on the scene as a very good RB to take his place.
Relying on the portal is a sign of poor recruiting no matter how well or poorly the transfers turn out.
Click to expand...
Seems like the Badgers are relying too heavily on the portal.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
For me, a huge portion of this season comes down to which Tanner Morgan we are getting. I realize Sanford was a problem but for as bad as Sanford was, Tanner still missed a number of easy throws (and often missed wide open receivers). I get that a lot of this is tied to the OL, OC, and our WR, but at the end of the day it will all come down to Tanner Morgan.
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I'm still holding out hope that it will be the tall, Greek version.
 

Word said:
Seems like the Badgers are relying too heavily on the portal.
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Well clearly they feel they failed at QB recruiting since they went after Williams so hard. Because after all as Plato will tell us, using the portal is a sign of poor recruiting.
 

Plato said:
Mellusi was an average to good RB until he was injured and then a Freshman recruit burst on the scene as a very good RB to take his place.
Relying on the portal is a sign of poor recruiting no matter how well or poorly the transfers turn out.
Click to expand...
Do you enjoy still using your fax machine? How is the manual turn knob on your tv working out? How long does it take you to crank your car windows down? Can I borrow your tape player?
 

Plato said:
Relying on the portal is a sign of poor recruiting no matter how well or poorly the transfers turn out.
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I know you're largely trolling here but might as well at least clarify this dumb comment of yours.

There's a galactic difference between "using" the portal and "relying on" the portal. Relying on the portal would be fielding a roster with 10 or 12 or more of your starting 22 with portal additions. Utilizing the portal to acquire a few key pieces to improve your roster is another thing altogether.

But good luck with the trolling, maybe you can get a few more bites
 

Ogee Oglethorpe said:
I know you're largely trolling here but might as well at least clarify this dumb comment of yours.

There's a galactic difference between "using" the portal and "relying on" the portal. Relying on the portal would be fielding a roster with 10 or 12 or more of your starting 22 with portal additions. Utilizing the portal to acquire a few key pieces to improve your roster is another thing altogether.

But good luck with the trolling, maybe you can get a few more bites
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Plato doesn't troll.....he is a fan of both the Badgers and Gophers....because yeah that is a thing....

I mean sure he defends Wisconsin at every turn and takes shots at the Gophers....but again, there are tons of cases of people who love both the Badgers and Gophers. It is just like all those people that are fans of both Ohio State and Michigan. Not sure why some of us choose to be so short sighted and not understand that :)
 

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