College football teams with the most returning production in 2020

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Veritas said:
S-M does not have the wing span, speed or experience of Martin. Indeed, I think it more likely he will replace Barber than Martin. But, to the real point, replacing seven is a lot harder than replacing one. In the first month or so we are going to have seven guys out there who will have limited experience playing with each other. There will not be ten veterans knowing what to do with one guy working himself up to speed. Additionally, there is the question of pure talent. People are assuming the new guys will be as flat out talented as the guys they are replacing.
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MSM’s 40 time coming out of HS was 4.77, faster than Martin’s 4.82, according to ESPN. As a matter of fact, MSM had much better testing across the board, as you can see below.

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They’re both about 6’3”. I couldn’t find wingspan measurements.

Sure, Martin had the edge in experience. Fortunately, he missed a lot of games, so MSM could gain valuable experience.
 

Going into 2019, Connelly's method had the Gophers ranked 10th in the nation in returning production.

At the conclusion of the 2019 season, the Gophers rank 10th in the nation in both the AP Top 25 and in the Coaches Poll.

I don't want to draw too many conclusions from that, but I have to say... I find it pretty interesting.
 


PitinoFan said:
MSM’s 40 time coming out of HS was 4.77, faster than Martin’s 4.82, according to ESPN. As a matter of fact, MSM had much better testing across the board, as you can see below.

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They’re both about 6’3”. I couldn’t find wingspan measurements.

Sure, Martin had the edge in experience. Fortunately, he missed a lot of games, so MSM could gain valuable experience.
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I figured I’d add Oliver’s testing numbers. Better than Martin’s but not as good as MSM’s. I don’t know Barber’s numbers, but I doubt he’s faster than any of these guys.

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GopherWeatherGuy said:
We may see an improved punt game, but we also punted less than any other B1G team last season.
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I just want our special teams to do better covering ... just do that man. Great punts, awesome, let's just cover these guys ok.
 


The toughest losses will be Winfield, Renner, and Williamson. Regarding our other starters:

1. Barber regressed this year. He was adequate, but I’m excited to see what Braelen Oliver can do in his place.

2. Martin was out for two of our biggest wins (PSU and Auburn). MSM filled in admirably. He did have a rough start to the season in non-conference play, but he clearly improved as the year went on. Another year in the weight room and more coaching will only help.

3. Coughlin is a natural off-ball LB who ended up getting repurposed into a rush end. DeLat was solid, but unspectacular. The biggest loss here is of leaders, not production on the field. If our sack numbers from last year are any indication, we will only benefit from Mafe, Otemewo, and crew starting full-time.
 

The defensive is losing a lot of talent but I'm hopeful those who played behind the starters can step in and do the job. My concern is with the leadership on defense, someone will need to step up and replace Winfield, Barber, and Coughlin in that capacity. That may take time....

Winfield is a once in a generational type player, at least for the Gophers. He will be the hardest to replace on many, many levels.
 

BroncoRedux said:
The defensive is losing a lot of talent but I'm hopeful those who played behind the starters can step in and do the job. My concern is with the leadership on defense, someone will need to step up and replace Winfield, Barber, and Coughlin in that capacity. That may take time....

Winfield is a once in a generational type player, at least for the Gophers. He will be the hardest to replace on many, many levels.
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Yeah I'm worried Winfield was sort of holding a lot of things down back there even on plays he maybe wasn't in on.

And man you could almost dial him up for a big play, that blitz with Auburn was huge IIRC.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Yeah I'm worried Winfield was sort of holding a lot of things down back there even on plays he maybe wasn't in on.

And man you could almost dial him up for a big play, that blitz with Auburn was huge IIRC.
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He’s great, but the defense played well without him last season, after Robb Smith got fired.
 



Mitu said:
The toughest losses will be Winfield, Renner, and Williamson. Regarding our other starters:

1. Barber regressed this year. He was adequate, but I’m excited to see what Braelen Oliver can do in his place.

2. Martin was out for two of our biggest wins (PSU and Auburn). MSM filled in admirably. He did have a rough start to the season in non-conference play, but he clearly improved as the year went on. Another year in the weight room and more coaching will only help.

3. Coughlin is a natural off-ball LB who ended up getting repurposed into a rush end. DeLat was solid, but unspectacular. The biggest loss here is of leaders, not production on the field. If our sack numbers from last year are any indication, we will only benefit from Mafe, Otemewo, and crew starting full-time.
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I am curious, why do you think Barber regressed this year?
 

Also keep in mind that Rossi has been running his defense with Kill/Claey/Sawvel/Smith guys, not to say these guys didn't know good defensive players, but I would guess Rossi runs things a little different and looks for different player traits to fit what he likes to do. He will get to integrate more guys that he picked himself to run his defense this year.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Yeah I'm worried Winfield was sort of holding a lot of things down back there even on plays he maybe wasn't in on.

And man you could almost dial him up for a big play, that blitz with Auburn was huge IIRC.
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Nubin definitely has big shoes to fill. But Nubin is bigger and more highly rated out of high school than Winfield, so I'm excited to see how he performs. It sounded like he was close to beating out Howden last year during the spring.
 

LakevilleBro said:
I am curious, why do you think Barber regressed this year?
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He definitely played slower and was increasingly out of position this year relative to last year. Got washed out on run plays more often by blockers (which didn’t happen as much last year), took poor angles, etc. I’ve been trying to find the actual game grades that have been put out by 247/Rivals, but cant seem to find them. It’s one of the reasons that he went from being mocked in the late rounds of the draft last year to being a clear UDFA candidate this year.
 



Mitu said:
He definitely played slower and was increasingly out of position this year relative to last year. Got washed out on run plays more often by blockers (which didn’t happen as much last year), took poor angles, etc. I’ve been trying to find the actual game grades that have been put out by 247/Rivals, but cant seem to find them. It’s one of the reasons that he went from being mocked in the late rounds of the draft last year to being a clear UDFA candidate this year.
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Stat wise Barber's best season was easily his sophomore year.
 

Connelly had Buffalo ranked 112th in returning defensive production and they finished like 7th in total defense in 2019. I didn't do a ton of digging to look at a lot of other teams, but I think it shows it's hardly a law.
 

Mitu said:
The toughest losses will be Winfield, Renner, and Williamson. Regarding our other starters:

1. Barber regressed this year. He was adequate, but I’m excited to see what Braelen Oliver can do in his place.

2. Martin was out for two of our biggest wins (PSU and Auburn). MSM filled in admirably. He did have a rough start to the season in non-conference play, but he clearly improved as the year went on. Another year in the weight room and more coaching will only help.

3. Coughlin is a natural off-ball LB who ended up getting repurposed into a rush end. DeLat was solid, but unspectacular. The biggest loss here is of leaders, not production on the field. If our sack numbers from last year are any indication, we will only benefit from Mafe, Otemewo, and crew starting full-time.
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Barber regressed? Really...
 

Pompous Elitist said:
I guess I’m confused. People are upset there are differing opinions about how good the defense will be next year? You're saying people don’t want to hear losing 7 starters might impact a defense?

There has to be some other underlying antagonism here. I suppose we can argue losing defensive production is no big deal, losing KC will be no big deal, Morgan no big deal, PJF no big deal but that’s sort of pie in the sky.

I see some talent returning and am optimistic but I don’t think I would slam someone that is a little more pessimistic because that is actually the more obvious conventional wisdom...
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There is always some push for “positive thoughts only” on this board. I believe it is called being a “real fan”.
 

I don’t know whether anyone cares about this stuff, but after looking at some of the LB’s testing out of HS, I looked up some of the others. I didn’t realize St Juste and Durr put up such elite numbers. Their 40s were average, but everything else, really impressive athleticism.

Football Recruiting - Benjamin St-Juste - Player Profiles - ESPN

Learn about Benjamin St-Juste and other recruit player profiles on RecruitingNation.com.
www.espn.com www.espn.com

Football Recruiting - Coney Durr - Player Profiles - ESPN

Learn about Coney Durr and other recruit player profiles on RecruitingNation.com.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 


btowngopher said:
Seems like a logical take to me. Certainly didn't seem to take a step up from previous years.
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He did not regress, the players around him got better and his stats were about the same as last year.
 

What are odds someone like Jah Joyner might be able to contribute as a true Freshman? I was just watching some of his highlights again. Most of us probably think Boye Mafe looks fast. His HS 40 was 4.95. Joyner’s is reportedly 4.67, and that’s what it looks like on tape too.
 

PMWinSTP said:
He did not regress, the players around him got better and his stats were about the same as last year.
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It’s actually both. If you watch the tape, you’ll notice that he was out of position more frequently and a couple of steps slower than in past years.

Normally, that would have a bigger impact on a 4-2-5 team like ours. However, we got exceptional play from our secondary, including Williamson playing in the slot and providing run support. Combine that with solid line play from Renner, MDT, etc. and voila.
 

PitinoFan said:
What are odds someone like Jah Joyner might be able to contribute as a true Freshman? I was just watching some of his highlights again. Most of us probably think Boye Mafe looks fast. His HS 40 was 4.95. Joyner’s is reportedly 4.67, and that’s what it looks like on tape too.
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Tough to know how accurate heights and weights are but if Joyner's is accurate he will probably need some time to bulk up. Hopefully we don't have to rely on any true freshman but Gage Keys might be more physically ready to contribute and he will also be here for the spring.
 

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