MNVCGUY
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The offensive stats from this season are not eye popping but I feel like we are on the cusp of something really special with this offense. I know as Minnesota fans we are always waiting for the other shoe to drop but the beauty of starting 8 freshman on offense is it means that the next year you bring back 8 sophomores, and the year after that 8 juniors.....
Looking at each unit:
QB - 2 returning Sophomores with game experience that both played well as freshmen. Plenty of room for growth but that should be part of their natural progression anyway. Add Seth Green to that mix as well and things lay out really well for next season and beyond. On top of that you have a highly touted kid in Clark coming in who could easily be the future.
RB - I would feel good about this position with Ibrahim being the go to guy next year based on how he played this year but just for fun we also potentially bring back 2 really high level backs in Smith and Brooks to add to the mix. Need to keep adding depth but things look good at RB for the near future for sure.
OL - Have to replace 2 good pieces but the bowl game showed that the loss of Greene might not be a massive deal. The young guys that saw a lot of playing time this year should only get better and there are some really promising options waiting in the wings to get their shot along the line. O-Line looks like it could be a strong unit for this team.
TE - Some unknown here and not a huge part of the passing game to this point but the staff is really high on Spann-Ford so will be interesting to see how he factors into things next year.
WR - Saved the best for last - With Johnson coming back this unit is stacked for next year. With and All-Big Ten option on one side of the field in TJ and an emerging star on the other side in Bateman things are looking up. And that doesn't even factor in Autman-Bell who looks like a very nice slot receiver and Douglas who has shown flashes of being a solid option also. With transfers like Grimes filling in down the line in addition to some good looking recruits at the position we have the pieces in place to force defenses to respect our passing game and keep them from crowding the line to stop the run game.
With all of this in place I could see this offense becoming one of the best in the conference as early as 2019. And given the youth we will still have across the board, the sky truly is the limit.
Long way to go until next August but it is fun to head into the off season excited about the offense as opposed to dreading it or looking at a massive list of questions that need to be answered about the unit.
So am I dreaming or do others think we may be seeing the birth of something really special around here?
Looking at each unit:
QB - 2 returning Sophomores with game experience that both played well as freshmen. Plenty of room for growth but that should be part of their natural progression anyway. Add Seth Green to that mix as well and things lay out really well for next season and beyond. On top of that you have a highly touted kid in Clark coming in who could easily be the future.
RB - I would feel good about this position with Ibrahim being the go to guy next year based on how he played this year but just for fun we also potentially bring back 2 really high level backs in Smith and Brooks to add to the mix. Need to keep adding depth but things look good at RB for the near future for sure.
OL - Have to replace 2 good pieces but the bowl game showed that the loss of Greene might not be a massive deal. The young guys that saw a lot of playing time this year should only get better and there are some really promising options waiting in the wings to get their shot along the line. O-Line looks like it could be a strong unit for this team.
TE - Some unknown here and not a huge part of the passing game to this point but the staff is really high on Spann-Ford so will be interesting to see how he factors into things next year.
WR - Saved the best for last - With Johnson coming back this unit is stacked for next year. With and All-Big Ten option on one side of the field in TJ and an emerging star on the other side in Bateman things are looking up. And that doesn't even factor in Autman-Bell who looks like a very nice slot receiver and Douglas who has shown flashes of being a solid option also. With transfers like Grimes filling in down the line in addition to some good looking recruits at the position we have the pieces in place to force defenses to respect our passing game and keep them from crowding the line to stop the run game.
With all of this in place I could see this offense becoming one of the best in the conference as early as 2019. And given the youth we will still have across the board, the sky truly is the limit.
Long way to go until next August but it is fun to head into the off season excited about the offense as opposed to dreading it or looking at a massive list of questions that need to be answered about the unit.
So am I dreaming or do others think we may be seeing the birth of something really special around here?