Breakout Players - 2013

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John Galt

John Galt

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Last year, it was Hageman and Wells on defense. Kirkwood and he who shall not be named on offense. What are your predictions for this season?

Offense - Nelson, Harbison
Defense - Cockran, Amaefula
 

Good call Galt.
Offense - the Big TE Maxx Williams and Roderick Williams
Defense - Jordan Hinjosa, Damien Wilson
 

Defense - I don't think Hageman exactly had a breakout year. I'd say it was more like he came on strong at the end. Consequently, I see him as a breakout player this year. Although I have my doubts, I'm hoping that one of the linebackers has a breakout year and with that here's to hoping it is Edwards.

Offense - Nelson and the other/new Edwards.
 

Defense: Edwards, Murray
Offense: Edwards, DCT
 

D
Alex Keith
D Travis
O
Maxx
Nelson
 


O- Harbison, Nelson
D-Jack Lynn, Amaefula
 



O: Harbison and R. Williams (I expect a nice season for Engel too)
D: Lynn and Manuel
 



All of the above. Seriously, all of the choices are good ones but wouldn't it be great if Andre McDonald & Brian Bobek on offense and Roland Johnson & Antonio Johnson on defense had a breakout year also? They could be potential candidates also. (Hopefully McDonald will be with the team.)
 


John Galt said:
Last year, it was Hageman and Wells on defense. Kirkwood and he who shall not be named on offense. What are your predictions for this season?

Offense - Nelson, Harbison
Defense - Cockran, Amaefula
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I think Carter was the biggest breakout player last year without a doubt, especially considering many didn't even know if he would play hardly at all before the season started.

For next year, I will say Harbison and Maxx Williams on offense, and Jack Lynn and Eric Murry on defense.
 

On offense, I'm going with Nelson and Kirkwood. He hasn't rushed for 1,000 yards in a season yet so it's safe to say he hasn't "broken out" yet.

On defense, I'm going with Cockran and Wells - as a cornerback. He broke out as a safety last year.
 



Offense: Williams, Engel, Harbison
Defense: Cockran, Travis

I'm afraid we won't have any "breakout" linebackers.
 

It's a little strange to me that a number of fan consider Derrick Wells to have been a "breakout" player last season. He had 2 picks against UNLV in the season opener and then not another INT the rest of the season. He went 5 straight games (prior to the bowl game) without a single pass defended and did not force a single fumble all season.

I think the only guy on the Gophers last season that had a breakout year was Michael Carter.

The Gophers really need Phil Nelson and one of the Wr's to breakout if their offense is going to take a significant step forward. Someone needs to make big plays down the field and Nelson needs to show the ability to consistently get that someone the ball. From a skill set perspective, the most like candidate to be that WR would be Andre McDonald.

On Defense, the Gophers have to be able to stop the run and lack a dynamic guy at LB. I think it's hard for a JUCO to a step in and really breakout in his first year on campus so the best hope is that either Aaron Hill has a monster senior year or Jack Lynn is a revelation as redshirt freshman.
 

EG#9 said:
It's a little strange to me that a number of fan consider Derrick Wells to have been a "breakout" player last season. He had 2 picks against UNLV in the season opener and then not another INT the rest of the season. He went 5 straight games (prior to the bowl game) without a single pass defended and did not force a single fumble all season.
Click to expand...

I think Wells might have another breakout year this year. He struggled making open field tackles last year. As a corner, he'll be less exposed to stopping the run.
 

EG#9 said:
It's a little strange to me that a number of fan consider Derrick Wells to have been a "breakout" player last season. He had 2 picks against UNLV in the season opener and then not another INT the rest of the season. He went 5 straight games (prior to the bowl game) without a single pass defended and did not force a single fumble all season.
.
Click to expand...

Our entire pass defense took a giant step up last season. Some of those things can't be measured by stats (especially with DBs).

In 2011, we were absolutely shredded via the pass.
Teams completed 68% of their passes against us (7.4 yards per pass) for 23 TDs and only 4 Ints.

In comparison, in 2012:
Teams completed 57 % of their passes against us (6.0 yards per pass) for 15 TDs and 13 Ints.

That's a vast improvement. Our secondary played pretty well last season and it wasn't just Michael Carter.
 

There's a ton of great candidates on defense. I'll mention Antonio Johnson, just because he hasn't been brought up yet. On offense, I think Cole Banham becomes an integral part of the offense.
 

On offense I'm going to go with K.J. Maye. As mentioned there are so many defensive candidates to choose from and I'll add two more. Martez Shabazz I feel could have a similar senior season that Carter had last year. Another guy I am looking forward to seeing is De'Vondre Campbell. By the back half of the schedule I expect him to be a big part of the defense.
 

My definition of having a breakout year is playing well enough to earn some type of BT honor, even honorable mention. We have been lacking in that department for a long time.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
My definition of having a breakout year is playing well enough to earn some type of BT honor, even honorable mention. We have been lacking in that department for a long time.
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I agree somewhat, but I would also consider it to be a player who takes a big step forward from where they were the year before. Wells went from being an unknown, last minute recruit who played special teams only as a freshman to winning national defensive player of the week against UNLV and was one of the better defensive players on the team. He still has room for improvement, but came out of nowhere to be an impact player. Same with Ra'shede, he played sparingly as a sophomore and last year became the best d-lineman on the team and is now talked about as being a first round draft pick. If both guys can improve further this year and are all-B1G, the defense will be in great shape.
 

You didn't mention special teams, but i'm looking for a big year from Santoso kicking and punting. (or maybe hoping is the better word)
 

nc2mn said:
You didn't mention special teams, but i'm looking for a big year from Santoso kicking and punting. (or maybe hoping is the better word)
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Yea, I thought about that too but it is hard to really consider a freshmen for a break out year when it is their first year. But I fine with improved kicking and punting. There should be a good chance that the Kicking will better in 2013. We have three excellent freshmen kickers enrolling this fall, i.e Ryan Santoso, Justin Juenemann, and Andrew Harte. I am sure Kill is tired of having Sid in his office talking about kicking.
 

Killjoy said:
Yea, I thought about that too but it is hard to really consider a freshmen for a break out year when it is their first year. But I fine with improved kicking and punting. There should be a good chance that the Kicking will better in 2013. We have three excellent freshmen kickers enrolling this fall, i.e Ryan Santoso, Justin Juenemann, and Andrew Harte. I am sure Kill is tired of having Sid in his office talking about kicking.
Click to expand...

+1
 


i still think hageman can have a breakout year-55 tackles, 13 tackles for loss 9 sacks
 

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