Athan grew up a lot today

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Bayfieldgopher said:
He trusted his receivers. And KC calls finally opened things up. Maybe he felt that we would have problems running the ball and had the guys prepared.
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I am not a coach but it definitely seemed that way.

It does help though that WI is just not as good defensively as Iowa is. (they are good dont get me wrong) Iowa thrives on the D winning games so I can understand the coaches being worried with AK in that one. (they werent correct but I get it at least) They obviously knew WI was going to do what they could to stop Mo and so they called some nice easy throws early and AK got into it and so did the receivers. Fun to watch :)
 



GringaGopher said:
Among all his physical talents I like his composure for a true freshman. This was only his 4th start n he made enough plays to win. This is the most optimistic I have felt about our QB position going into next year.
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Redshirt Freshman....but yeah, he has never looked in over his head. He avoided making the killer freshman mistakes and you can see the talent is there for him to be something special.
 



short ornery norwegian said:
Next year with no Mo, I think they have to open things up. we saw glimpses today of what that could look like. And Athan has more to provide in the running game.

the biggest IF on offense will be the O-line - replacing Schmitz and both starting OG's. Maybe put Lewis at RT and slide Carroll inside to guard?
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Our guards this year aren’t that good. We will be fine.
 


short ornery norwegian said:
Next year with no Mo, I think they have to open things up. we saw glimpses today of what that could look like. And Athan has more to provide in the running game.

the biggest IF on offense will be the O-line - replacing Schmitz and both starting OG's. Maybe put Lewis at RT and slide Carroll inside to guard?
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I didn't think we would miss Fa'alele as much as we did. Agree that replacing Schmitz (who might be the first C taken in the 2023 NFL draft) will be crucial.
 





MNSpaniel said:
I think Fleck can sell this version of AK to wide receivers he is recruiting. Letting them know that the second half is what they want to do as their young QB matures.
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I think he'll be selling this version to current Gophers WRs who might've been considering the portal. Wright's name was mentioned here multiple times this year. Kid looked electric today -- like we all hoped at the start of the year.
 

I’d say that Dylan Wright grew a lot today, as well. If the coaches can utilize Wright’s skills more effectively—now, with AK8, that we should be back to a balanced offense—the combo of Jackson, Wright and Brockington look pretty decent. If CrAB gets to play another year, our WR passing game could be darn good next year. And if BSF stays at Minny for another year, we will have weapons.
 

Gophergrandpa said:
I’d say that Dylan Wright grew a lot today, as well. If the coaches can utilize Wright’s skills more effectively—now, with AK8, that we should be back to a balanced offense—the combo of Jackson, Wright and Brockington look pretty decent. If CrAB gets to play another year, our WR passing game could be darn good next year. And if BSF stays at Minny for another year, we will have weapons.
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Athan and Wright seem to have a connection that Tanner and Wright didn't have. Maybe that will be the key that finally unlocks the huge potential that Wright clearly has.
 




hello-world said:
Yes, because he still looked bad in every one of his other starts this year.
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To me he didn't look bad in his other starts....he looked really raw. There is a difference in my mind. The talent is there, you can see it, he just has to develop and tap into it. I think today we got our first real look at the kind of player he can become.
 

I thought that was one of the better games I've seen from a Gophers QB. They took away what we do, got a lot of pressure on him and he made good decisions and throws time and time again. He had us in the game at half at PSU, saved our ass in Lincoln, had us a rare Mo fumble away from beating Iowa and today. Good stuff.
 
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MNVCGUY said:
To me he didn't look bad in his other starts....he looked really raw. There is a difference in my mind. The talent is there, you can see it, he just has to develop and tap into it. I think today we got our first real look at the kind of player he can become.
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Yes, absolutely, don't disagree that he could become a great player.

He came into today with a sub-50% completion percentage and several games where he was throwing head-scratching incompletions. The way he was playing coming in to today isn't going to get it done next year.

The way he played today absolutely would.

There are a few people in here saying that the Gophers haven't been throwing the ball enough, but it's real hard to throw when your QB completes less than half of his passes.

His stat lines coming in to today (I know these aren't fair for a variety of reasons, but they still happened so here it goes...):
2-6 (33%); 0 TD; 2 INT; 6.2 QBR
9-22 (41%); 1 TD; 1 INT; 50.2 QBR
6-12 (50%); 0 TD; 0 INT; 80.2 QBR
7-13 (54%); 0 TD; 0 INT; 64.4 QBR
7-15 (47%); 0 TD; 1 INT; 77.5 QBR
^ This will not get it done next year. He will not hold on to the job playing like this. If 50% of his balls are hitting the ground, then the Gophers are going to have to keep running the ball on 70% of their snaps.

His stat line today:
19-29; 2 TD; 0 INT; 94 QBR
^ This will absolutely get it done next year.
 
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hello-world said:
Yes, absolutely, don't disagree that he could become a great player.

He came into today with a sub-50% completion percentage and several games where he was throwing head-scratching incompletions. The way he was playing coming in to today isn't going to get it done next year.

The way he played today absolutely would.

There are a few people in here saying that the Gophers haven't been throwing the ball enough, but it's real hard to throw when your QB completes less than half of his passes.
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I think we are on pretty much the same page in regards to his previous performances.

Will be interesting to see where he goes from here but said in another post I think things may have clicked for him today and the game started to slow down. Kid has a big arm, and even for a freshman seemed to make good decisions most of the time. Plenty of things to improve on but the sky really is the limit for him if he continues to work hard and develop his game.
 

Poise. A hostile environment with momentum totally going the wrong way and AK didn't shy down. Not to mention that despite getting totally beared down on, he never lost composure. Throws and nice ball....and adds with his ability to run. Big time game today and some added excitement for the future.

So weird to see a box score with four different guys over 50 yards receiving. Wright gave us a nice glimpse of what he is capable of. I'm confused about how we couldn't get him the ball earlier in the year. He's 6'3". Throw the ball up to him. And these short passes to him right around the LOS? Why haven't we seen these before today. Wright has TE strength and just pushed through CBs trying to tackle him.
 

hello-world said:
Yes, absolutely, don't disagree that he could become a great player.

He came into today with a sub-50% completion percentage and several games where he was throwing head-scratching incompletions. The way he was playing coming in to today isn't going to get it done next year.

The way he played today absolutely would.

There are a few people in here saying that the Gophers haven't been throwing the ball enough, but it's real hard to throw when your QB completes less than half of his passes.
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C'mon. Do you watch the games? AK wasn't put in a position to succeed in several of those earlier occasions.
 


hello-world said:
Yes, absolutely, don't disagree that he could become a great player.

He came into today with a sub-50% completion percentage and several games where he was throwing head-scratching incompletions. The way he was playing coming in to today isn't going to get it done next year.

The way he played today absolutely would.

There are a few people in here saying that the Gophers haven't been throwing the ball enough, but it's real hard to throw when your QB completes less than half of his passes.

His stat lines coming in to today (I know these aren't fair for a variety of reasons, but they still happened so here it goes...):
2-6 (33%); 0 TD; 2 INT; 6.2 QBR
9-22 (41%); 1 TD; 1 INT; 50.2 QBR
6-12 (50%); 0 TD; 0 INT; 80.2 QBR
7-13 (54%); 0 TD; 0 INT; 64.4 QBR
7-15 (47%); 0 TD; 1 INT; 77.5 QBR
^ This will not get it done next year. He will not hold on to the job playing like this. If 50% of his balls are hitting the ground, then the Gophers are going to have to keep running the ball on 70% of their snaps.

His stat line today:
19-29; 2 TD; 0 INT; 94 QBR
^ This will absolutely get it done next year.
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Yes, because all freshmen qb's start their careers looking like seniors 😵‍💫.
 

Panthadad2 said:
C'mon. Do you watch the games? AK wasn't put in a position to succeed in several of those earlier occasions.
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He was sailing balls over the middle and not accurate. They can't put him in a position to succeed if he can't connect with this receivers.
 

Great game by AK, but i'd like to see him pull the hand off on those read options a little more, becky was zoning in on Mo a lot and a few times if AK pulled it he wouldn't be touched for 15-20 yards....

It's a wrinkle that can make defenses second guess themselves.
 

I actually thought the OLine was good aside from one or two bad series.
 

stocker08 said:
Poise. A hostile environment with momentum totally going the wrong way and AK didn't shy down. Not to mention that despite getting totally beared down on, he never lost composure. Throws and nice ball....and adds with his ability to run. Big time game today and some added excitement for the future.

So weird to see a box score with four different guys over 50 yards receiving. Wright gave us a nice glimpse of what he is capable of. I'm confused about how we couldn't get him the ball earlier in the year. He's 6'3". Throw the ball up to him. And these short passes to him right around the LOS? Why haven't we seen these before today. Wright has TE strength and just pushed through CBs trying to tackle him.
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Morgan just wouldn't look at Wright. AK started looking for him right from the start at Penn St. Might have saved DW's Gopher career today.
 


MGGopher said:
I think he'll be selling this version to current Gophers WRs who might've been considering the portal. Wright's name was mentioned here multiple times this year. Kid looked electric today -- like we all hoped at the start of the year.
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That is what he can do. Very talented. If fleck or whomever keep him off the field most of the time. Tell him to transfer. If it was me I would try like heck to have him on the field.
 

hello-world said:
Yes, absolutely, don't disagree that he could become a great player.

He came into today with a sub-50% completion percentage and several games where he was throwing head-scratching incompletions. The way he was playing coming in to today isn't going to get it done next year.

The way he played today absolutely would.

There are a few people in here saying that the Gophers haven't been throwing the ball enough, but it's real hard to throw when your QB completes less than half of his passes.

His stat lines coming in to today (I know these aren't fair for a variety of reasons, but they still happened so here it goes...):
2-6 (33%); 0 TD; 2 INT; 6.2 QBR
9-22 (41%); 1 TD; 1 INT; 50.2 QBR
6-12 (50%); 0 TD; 0 INT; 80.2 QBR
7-13 (54%); 0 TD; 0 INT; 64.4 QBR
7-15 (47%); 0 TD; 1 INT; 77.5 QBR
^ This will not get it done next year. He will not hold on to the job playing like this. If 50% of his balls are hitting the ground, then the Gophers are going to have to keep running the ball on 70% of their snaps.

His stat line today:
19-29; 2 TD; 0 INT; 94 QBR
^ This will absolutely get it done next year.
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Dumb.
 

Gopher028 said:
Great game by AK, but i'd like to see him pull the hand off on those read options a little more, becky was zoning in on Mo a lot and a few times if AK pulled it he wouldn't be touched for 15-20 yards....

It's a wrinkle that can make defenses second guess themselves.
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Most are not read options they are hand the ball to Mo plays.
 

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