Defensive Tackles

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noamfromm

noamfromm

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Junior defensive tackle Scott Ekpe and sophomore defensive tackle Yoshoub Timms both suffered knee injuries in the first half. Per Marcus

Ekpe went out under his own power while a staff member walked with crutches beside him.

That leaves Bottecelli, Richardson, Peppers, Ndondo-Lay, Moore, Legania? The staff has also talked about using Stelter at DT
 

This is why you recruit tackles as a priority every year.
 

Ekpe's likely out as it's rumored he tore an ACL. Timms & Keith both walked off under their own power so fingers crossed. Stelter played some DT last night so expect to see more of him. This also probably means Peppers is going to play a lot whether he's ready or not & I'd expect Gary Moore's red shirt is half way off this morning.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
Ekpe's likely out as it's rumored he tore an ACL. Timms & Keith both walked off under their own power so fingers crossed. Stelter played some DT last night so expect to see more of him. This also probably means Peppers is going to play a lot whether he's ready or not & I'd expect Gary Moore's red shirt is half way off this morning.
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Agree on Moore. When asked last night how to deal with those injuries Kill said, "remove redshirts". He didn't sound happy about it.
 

Ekpe has a red shirt so he'll be able to use that with a medical waiver. Hopefully Timms and Keith are just sprains and will be back in a week or two.
 


not much you can do about all the injuries. hoefully this doesnt turn into one of "those" seasons where we drop like flies
 

Ryan Burns is hearing Timms might have torn something in his knee as well. Says he's hearing Keith may have sprained a knee.
 





afurry91 said:
How certain are we that Ekpe for an ACL?
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Ryan Burns ‏@RyanBurnsGI 13m

Tough night for the #Gophers injury wise. Sounds more and more like starting DT Scott Ekpe could be gone for the year with an ACL injury.
 

gopherguy05 said:
Ryan Burns ‏@RyanBurnsGI 13m

Tough night for the #Gophers injury wise. Sounds more and more like starting DT Scott Ekpe could be gone for the year with an ACL injury.
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Awesome. We're thin at DL before the real season even starts.
 

gopherguy05 said:
Ryan Burns ‏@RyanBurnsGI 13m

Tough night for the #Gophers injury wise. Sounds more and more like starting DT Scott Ekpe could be gone for the year with an ACL injury.
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Horrible news!
 

On a strictly football basis. How bad is this for the position? I know he was the starter, but how does our depth look behind him. I'm not really all that familiar with the defensive line besides the 4 starters.
 



I suspect that Legania's move to the OL will be short lived.
 

Thankfully we have beast LBs and DBs

Richardson was also very impressive last night
 

Any "D-linemen in waiting" that may surprise?
 

afurry91 said:
On a strictly football basis. How bad is this for the position? I know he was the starter, but how does our depth look behind him. I'm not really all that familiar with the defensive line besides the 4 starters.
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We were already thin at DT. The first unit was Botticelli/Ekpe, the second unit was Timms/Richardson. We lost 2 of the 4. Now we're left with Botticelli/Richardson (True Freshman) & Stelter (True Freshman)/Peppers (R-Freshman). Behind them we have the grossly under-sized Ndondo Lay. We could move Legania back to DT, but he's not bringing much to the party. Or we take the red-shirt off of Gary Moore & bring a 3rd true Freshman into the DT rotation? I'm not looking forward to trying to stop Wisconsin/Iowa/Nebraska ground games with that rotation.
 

mkAz said:
I suspect that Legania's move to the OL will be short lived.
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Yeah, and maybe some of the other back ups like the Mcavoys...losing two DTs for the season, with all the spread teams we play, will be a serious issue.
 

This is the biggest concern with the team by far right now. Richardson played really well last night but it's hard to say if that will continue when the competition level and size of opposing offensive lineman increases. Stelter and Nondo-Lay are not big enough to play DT right now. They'll have to, but I'm not exactly looking forward to that. Moore and Peppers will be two guys who will no doubt start to see the field next week. Time for the young guys to grow up real quick.
 

GopherinPhilly said:
Ekpe has a red shirt so he'll be able to use that with a medical waiver. Hopefully Timms and Keith are just sprains and will be back in a week or two.
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A redshirt and medical waiver are different. After Ekpe has used up his eligibility, the compliance department will be able to get the waiver through the B1G. There should be no reason to go to NCAA to get approval.
 

Last night Timms was te 2nd team DT and after he went down it was Stetler and Nondo-Lay as the 2nd team. Peppers got a few snaps but not many. Both Stetler and NL are under 270 which isn't good for a B1G DT playing more than a handful of snaps. Peppers and Moore are te only 2 healthy DTs with B1G size right now but are clearly behind the other 2 on the depth chart. Legania has the size too if he gets moved
 

IDFM said:
A redshirt and medical waiver are different. After Ekpe has used up his eligibility, the compliance department will be able to get the waiver through the B1G. There should be no reason to go to NCAA to get approval.
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Oh for the love of god...can we just once not have to have some jackwagon recite ncaa rules anytim this comes up...you knew what I meant...everyone knew what I meant....we always know what everyone means...yet each and every times someone has to make some corrective post like its their fwucking job.
 

GopherinPhilly said:
Oh for the love of god...can we just once not have to have some jackwagon recite ncaa rules anytim this comes up...you knew what I meant...everyone knew what I meant....we always know what everyone means...yet each and every times someone has to make some corrective post like its their fwucking job.
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Having a bad hair day, huh?
 

I guess I don't understand all the negative talk about Nondo-Lay. The couple spring practices I attended he was all over the field and made great plays. Really made our so called "experienced" offensive linemen look like a bunch of freshmen... I'm not saying I expect him to be the next Hageman but I wouldn't just assume he can't play.
 

The Gophers very quickly became thin at DT with these unexpected injuries.

They lost the most experience guys all in one night. How quirky and unfortunate is that?

They better be aggressively going after quality DTs in 2015. Who they have available? Are Rivals MN offers Drayton Carlberg, Jamal Milan, or Mario Patton within the Gopher's reach?

Are they going to find diamonds in the rough at DT?
 

Losing Ekpe if true likely causes us to lose a B1G game we would otherwise win. Botticelli staying healthy is now extremely important. The frosh look great but it's a lot to ask of Stelter and Richardson to hang in there against the big boys. Great DL recruiting class last year.
 

Indi1006 said:
Losing Ekpe if true likely causes us to lose a B1G game we would otherwise win. Botticelli staying healthy is now extremely important. The frosh look great but it's a lot to ask of Stelter and Richardson to hang in there against the big boys. Great DL recruiting class last year.
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The young guys held up well in a tough situation in game one with the guys going down in front of them but it will be very interesting to see how they hold up as the competition gets better. It is one thing to look good against and FCS team and another all together to look good against the likes of TCU or someone from the Big Ten.

Tuesdays injury report will tell us a lot assuming they don't come out prior to that and say how long they think each of the guys that were hurt are going to be out. Unless I have missed it I have not seen anything official saying that Ekpe is done for the year but all signs certainly indicate that he is.
 

Perhaps the smart move would've been to keep Jordan Hinojosa.....eh?
 


Gopher028 said:
Perhaps the smart move would've been to keep Jordan Hinojosa.....eh?
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Impossible to predict which position you will have a lot of injuries. And as already mentioned, who knows the whole story about Hinojosa.
 

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