If we lose even 2 OL players to injuries, we will be having a very long year. I can think of 2 OL starters that have proven to be quite prone to injury, which limited their career starts. If we lose our best receiver to any type of nagging injury our season will become very long. Even though we have developed some depth at OL, most have never seen a snap in the BIG. We are most certainly still too young and unproven to be talking about winning seasons. There are no guaranteed wins this year. The Gophs will be noncompetitive unless we get a few breaks from the football gods.
Each and every year, I read posts of improvements and we end up in either the bottom or in a mediocre standing. I have been overly optimistic in years past. This year, I would prefer to have no optimism until the team proves itself more consistent than flipping a coin. One year of recruiting Kills players is not enough to provide a superior edge to suddenly propel me to believe a victory is possible in any given game. Call this the traditional view of Gopher football. Call me Debbie Downer. I am just not following the latest prophet to come along and come to a new faith before the first game has been played. 40 years of watching these guys and I can't enjoy the optimism without mid-season proof.