All Things Spring Football Practice Thread - Articles, Links, Tweets, Analysis & More

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Dr.Don said:
Highwayman, thanks for your report from Tuesday practice. I hope we get more of these daily reports.
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I can't take credit for it, I figured I would post the link and quote...I'm not that good of a writer.
 


highwayman said:
I can't take credit for it, I figured I would post the link and quote...I'm not that good of a writer.
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Thanks for the confession. I wasn't sure how I should break the news to Dr.Don that you didn't write that. It is the thought that counts though so thanks for the post.
 

highwayman said:
I can't take credit for it, I figured I would post the link and quote...I'm not that good of a writer.
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I saw that later, but am still thanking you for posting it here for all of us to get. I would not have bothered to look for it otherwise.
 


Joe Christensen's Blog from First Day of Spring Practice

A few notes from Spring Practice #1 on Tuesday:

* WR Jamel Harbison (ACL surgery) looked fully healthy. He had good speed and sharp cuts. He wore a green jersey (limited contact), but seemed fearless as he sprinted through the workout. Granted, the players weren’t in pads -- just helmets, jerseys and shorts -- but Harbison didn’t look the least bit tentative. Coach Jerry Kill said he was surprised to see Harbison moving that well throughout the session, knowing how tough those first practices can be for players coming off ACL surgery.

“I didn’t anticipate him going along as far in practice as he did today, so that was a good thing,” Kill said.

* Redshirt freshman Jack Lynn played middle linebacker with the first-team defense, in between outside linebackers Aaron Hill and James Manuel. Junior college transfer Damien Wilson played MLB with the second-team defense. Wilson doesn’t blow you away with his speed, but his JUCO tackling numbers are nothing to sneeze at. Let’s see how these guys do when the full pads come on Saturday.

* Derrick Wells saw extensive time at cornerback. The first-team safeties were Brock Vereen andCedric Thompson.

* RB Donnell Kirkwood said he shed about five pounds over the offseason, even though his weightlifting numbers are up. Other veteran observers who have been following this team thought he looked quicker than last season.

* I was able to confirm that North Carolina State made a run at Gophers recruiting coordinator Billy Glasscock over the offseason, but Minnesota was able to retain him. Kill first revealed that in a Q&A with ESPN.com's Brian Bennett.

* I wrote about the quarterback competition for today's paper, noting that Philip Nelson looked confident all day working with the first-team offense, connecting on most of his passes with the exception of a few overthrows. Mitch Leidner has a strong arm, but didn’t look as polished as Nelson. And as expected, Chris Streveler showed some first-day nerves.

MY FIRST IMPRESSIONS

This was my first time covering spring practice, at least since the Wacker era, and my main impression is that there's nothing leisurely about it. It's high-tempo, with very little standing around. Between drills, players hustle to their next stations. There's music pumping from the speakers -- good stuff.

Kill and his players seemed very pleased with how things went for the first day. Kirkwood, a redshirt junior, said it felt like the middle of summer practice.

Asked what excites him about this year’s team, Kirkwood said: “How far we’re along on just the first day of spring. It’s somewhat scary because I’ve never been a part of anything like this.”
As a reminder, these practices are open to the public. There were a few dozen folks on hand to watch Tuesday. Here's the schedule. The next one is Thursday at 3:30 p.m. Saturday's practice, originally scheduled for TCF Bank Stadium, has been moved back inside the Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/blogs/Gridiron_Gold.html
 



STrib: Gophers' DT Hageman 'locked in' for all that lies ahead

That includes his final season as a force on the Gophers’ defensive line and a possible career in the NFL.

“Ra’Shede is locked in right now,” Kill said Thursday. “This is the most focused I’ve seen Ra’Shede since I’ve been here.”

“The future’s going to take care of itself,” Hageman said. “I just have to take things one day at a time, and the only thing I can worry about is how I play.”

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/200544881.html

Go Gophers!!
 



BleedGopher said:
STrib: Gophers' DT Hageman 'locked in' for all that lies ahead

That includes his final season as a force on the Gophers’ defensive line and a possible career in the NFL.

“Ra’Shede is locked in right now,” Kill said Thursday. “This is the most focused I’ve seen Ra’Shede since I’ve been here.”

“The future’s going to take care of itself,” Hageman said. “I just have to take things one day at a time, and the only thing I can worry about is how I play.”

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/200544881.html

Go Gophers!!
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This is a very good omen! Hageman is going draw double teams all season and this will allow other defensive players to look good making plays including sacks. If they don't double team him, he'll wreak havoc in the opponent's backfield. Either way, a win/win situation.

Go Gophers!
 

Sounds like Hageman is embracing this last year to make his mark in draft position.
 


Joe Christensen's Blog from Second Day of Spring Practice

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/blogs/Gridiron_Gold.html

Derrick Wells played cornerback in high school in Lehigh, Fla., so even after thriving at safety last year for the Gophers, he’s having little trouble with the transition back to cornerback this spring.
“He can start at safety or corner,” Coach Jerry Kill said Thursday after the team’s second spring practice. “He could probably come over and play wide receiver and start. So he’s a good player.”
The Gophers need to replace two starting cornerbacks from last season, in Michael Carter and Troy Stoudermire. They’ve turned to Wells, knowing they still have Brock Vereen, Cedric Thompson and Antonio Johnson at safety.

Wells, a junior who missed some time last season because of complications with a lacerated knee, had no problem making the switch.

“I think I want to do what’s best for the team,” Wells said. “But moving to corner, it’ll take some pressure off my knee without all the contact in the middle, so I think that’ll help me out a lot too.”

MIDDLE LINEBACKER UPDATE

The Gophers also need to replace outgoing senior Mike Rallis at middle-linebacker, but for now, they are content keeping Aaron Hill at outside linebacker. The candidates for the MLB spot are junior college transfer Damien Wilson, redshirt freshman Jack Lynn and redshirt sophomore Jephte Matilus.

“I think [Hill’s] more suited to be outside, and I think we’ve got a lot of comfort recruiting Damien,” Kill said. “He’s picked things up very quickly. We’ve got Jephte, who was in there, and Jack, so we feel pretty good about that, and then we’ve got four other young men coming [as incoming recruits this summer].

“I mean, it’s kind of like the secondary was a year ago. I think we’ve really built a good secondary, even losing two outstanding players. And I feel like this recruiting class at linebacker is critical, and Damien certainly has fulfilled a need. He’s done very good the first two days, and Jack and Jephte are learning.”

Note: DT Ra'Shede Hageman looks like he's on a mission this spring, with the NFL looming as a real possibility for him next year. Here's my story on Hageman from today's paper. ... Spring Practice #3 will be Saturday at 10 a.m., at the Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex. Again, all these sessions are open to the public.
 




STrib: Gophers football feels ahead of pace

The Gophers have 10 starters returning on offense, including sophomore quarterback Philip Nelson.

“We’re definitely ahead of where we were last spring, and where we were in summer camp,” he said. “This kind of feels like the middle of summer camp almost, with how we’re running things. And I like it. The team has improved.”

“We didn’t have to start from scratch, so to speak,” Kill said. “I mean we’ve got plenty of work to do, we know that, but we didn’t have anybody standing around.”

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/200746041.html

Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
STrib: Gophers football feels ahead of pace

The Gophers have 10 starters returning on offense, including sophomore quarterback Philip Nelson.

“We’re definitely ahead of where we were last spring, and where we were in summer camp,” he said. “This kind of feels like the middle of summer camp almost, with how we’re running things. And I like it. The team has improved.”

“We didn’t have to start from scratch, so to speak,” Kill said. “I mean we’ve got plenty of work to do, we know that, but we didn’t have anybody standing around.”

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/200746041.html

Go Gophers!!
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really like where this team is at and where its going.
 


Joe Christensen's Blog on Brian Bobek

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/blogs/Gridiron_Gold.html

A key question for the Gophers heading into spring practice was whether Brian Bobek, a transfer from Ohio State, would play himself into the starting center job.

Jon Christenson worked with the first-team offense at center last week and showed no signs of relinquishing that spot. Offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover, who doubles as the team’s offensive line coach, reiterated Saturday that all five jobs on the line are up for grabs this year, with 15 legitimate candidates.

“Any one of those guys could be a starter when we hit UNLV [on Aug. 29], including Brian, so that carrot’s right at the tip of his nose," Limegrover said. "All he needs to do is reach out and grab that thing.

“What I’ve gotta get him to do -- he’s such a laid-back, such a nice kid -- is I’ve gotta get him to bite a little bit. I’ve gotta get a sense of urgency with him, that hey, ‘You go out there and you take care of business, and I’ll figure out what to do with the other four spots.' And he picked it up a little bit [Saturday].”

Limegrover said if the 6-2 Bobek establishes himself at center, the 6-4 Christenson could move to guard.

“Jon Christenson is a little bit taller and has played some guard for us; there’s some more versatility,” Limegrover said. “But until Brian comes out and consistently beats Jon -- and Jon’s done a great job these first three days. I don’t think Jon’s going to be relinquishing a starting spot anytime soon because he takes it to heart when I say, 'Every day when you get up, there’s somebody who’s breathing down your neck.'

“He knows nothing’s taken for granted, nothing’s given, and he comes out and just works his tail off. That’s what I’m trying to instill in every one of them.”
 


@nsandell: Gophers are planning to hold an alumni game prior to their April 27 spring game. Plans are to have Rickey Foggie at QB for one of the teams

Go Gophers!!
 


STrib: After sampling positions, U's Maye focuses on slot receiver, returner

“I was kind of nervous last year, trying to get the feel of playing receiver,” Maye said after Tuesday’s practice. “Now I’ve got the feel of it, and it’s all right. It’s running pretty smooth.”

Sophomore quarterback Philip Nelson continues to connect with Maye on short passes against Minnesota’s first-team defense.

“He runs great routes,” Nelson said. “He can catch the ball. He just has a little wiggle to him, that Wes Welker-type move. We like getting him out there in the slot and letting him kind of decipher the defense for himself. Once he gets the ball, he can run with it and break tackles. He’s a playmaker.”

http://www.startribune.com/sports/g...utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&refer=y

Go Gophers!!
 


Man, KJ Maye sure did look like a prime time player yesterday. Very excited to watch him this year!
 

STrib: Gophers have no plans to move Streveler to wide receiver -- for now

“Chris needs to work on being a quarterback,” offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover said. “We don’t have any plans [to move him to receiver] right now. That’s one of those things when you get into the season, if we could use a guy because we have a void.

"At the end of the day, [quarterback] is the much harder position. So it’s easier to go from quarterback to receiver than receiver to quarterback. So let’s get him the reps there. Then as the season progresses, if we need to, we’ll make those adjustments.”

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/201258701.html

Go Gophers!!
 

SPCPrice21 said:
Man, KJ Maye sure did look like a prime time player yesterday. Very excited to watch him this year!
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I heard similar things. I became friends with an old timer who has sat pretty close to me since the beginning of TCF and he sends me an email about every spring ball he goes to. He keeps talking about Wells, Hageman and Maye.
 

Killjoy said:
http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/blogs/Gridiron_Gold.html

A key question for the Gophers heading into spring practice was whether Brian Bobek, a transfer from Ohio State, would play himself into the starting center job.

Jon Christenson worked with the first-team offense at center last week and showed no signs of relinquishing that spot. Offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover, who doubles as the team’s offensive line coach, reiterated Saturday that all five jobs on the line are up for grabs this year, with 15 legitimate candidates.

“Any one of those guys could be a starter when we hit UNLV [on Aug. 29], including Brian, so that carrot’s right at the tip of his nose," Limegrover said. "All he needs to do is reach out and grab that thing.

“What I’ve gotta get him to do -- he’s such a laid-back, such a nice kid -- is I’ve gotta get him to bite a little bit. I’ve gotta get a sense of urgency with him, that hey, ‘You go out there and you take care of business, and I’ll figure out what to do with the other four spots.' And he picked it up a little bit [Saturday].”

Limegrover said if the 6-2 Bobek establishes himself at center, the 6-4 Christenson could move to guard.

“Jon Christenson is a little bit taller and has played some guard for us; there’s some more versatility,” Limegrover said. “But until Brian comes out and consistently beats Jon -- and Jon’s done a great job these first three days. I don’t think Jon’s going to be relinquishing a starting spot anytime soon because he takes it to heart when I say, 'Every day when you get up, there’s somebody who’s breathing down your neck.'

“He knows nothing’s taken for granted, nothing’s given, and he comes out and just works his tail off. That’s what I’m trying to instill in every one of them.”
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Make him hang out with Epping.
 


^^^Cool pics! I've always wanted to be in the weight room to watch those guys toss weight around!
 


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