Derrick Wells, Week One MVP

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stocker08

stocker08

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Gophers may not have played a very good game. Our expected offensive and defensive MVP's didn't exactly play their bests. Let's not dwell on this. 1-0 is 1-0 whether we blow a team out, or squeak by in triple OT. The team played like a team when it came down to crunch time....which we have lacked recently.

Two INT's in late game situations, as a sophmore. Derrick Wells deserves the MVP honors for this game. He was in the correct place for his INT that led to our game leading field goal, and he made a very good catch in OT which pretty much assured us the victory. This is a great time to discredit all of the people who focus too much time on star ratings and base production off of these invisible rankings.

A GREAT game, and the difference between a win and a loss. Good game sir. Very much looking forward to the development to another very good gopher athlete.
 

we were discussing in chat, did he get a concussion?
 

Wells is a sophomore. I'm very worried about a potential concussion.
 


Unregistered User said:
Wells is a sophomore. I'm very worried about a potential concussion.
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He is. That is an embarrassing mistake that I will fix. It is difficult to say whether that may have been a concussion concern or not. He got right up right after the tackle....I was wondering if he was upset with himself over not returning it all of the way to end the game. Obviously that is a little ridiculous, as he put the team in prime position to win the game.
 


stocker08 said:
He is. That is an embarrassing mistake that I will fix. It is difficult to say whether that may have been a concussion concern or not. He got right up right after the tackle....I was wondering if he was upset with himself over not returning it all of the way to end the game. Obviously that is a little ridiculous, as he put the team in prime position to win the game.
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He was a bit shaky when he got up and he had to get up with some aid.

OTher than that, I completely agree with the OP. I thought he looked dynamic prior to his INT in OT. I believe it was Stoud on the first, but Stoud had a couple really nice plays on both of his INTs.
 


Just re-ran the replay on it, and when I first saw him get hit, it looked like his arms straightened out, which is never a good sign. Watching the replay, they did not. However it was a direct helmet to helmet hit. Pretty nasty.

Also noticed on the 4th down play in O.T. where they scored, #81 from UNLV (freshman) made a total pro move by jab stepping Michael Carter and grabbed his shoulderpad and pushed him away. That's how he got so open. The backjudge was just looking into the backfield. Offensive interference.
 

We won the game. It may have been sloppy.....but while we may have expected a better showing, it is better to highlight the positives than the negatives. Wells made two HUGE plays that swung the game in our favor. Was he our only good showing? Of course not. I just think he made a couple of the biggest plays of the game.
 



Gophers had 3 interceptions tonight. They only had 4 all of last year.
 

I believe Wells was also the player who made the nice tackle on a potential td run at about the two yard line.
 


Unregistered User said:
Just re-ran the replay on it, and when I first saw him get hit, it looked like his arms straightened out, which is never a good sign. Watching the replay, they did not. However it was a direct helmet to helmet hit. Pretty nasty.

Also noticed on the 4th down play in O.T. where they scored, #81 from UNLV (freshman) made a total pro move by jab stepping Michael Carter and grabbed his shoulderpad and pushed him away. That's how he got so open. The backjudge was just looking into the backfield. Offensive interference.
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He was speared. I was in the unlv section, happened right in front of me and the tackler easily led with his head. Almost got into a fight with a Rebel fan over the definition of using the helmet as a weapon. Moronic Rebel fan was arguing that Wells wasn't "defenseless". Idiot
 



at very least leading with helmet thought the same thing.
 


I just tweeted Nate Sandell asking about Wells and here is his response:

Nate Sandell ‏@NSandell

Talked to him after the game. He said he was fine, just sore. RT @MCregret: what about Wells?
 

Wells definately looked very good out there last night. There was a goal line play where he stayed home and didn't over pursue (unlike some linebackers all night) and tacked the UNLV back for no gain. Let's hope the secondary play (which was a strength last night) was a trend instead of a mirage. Stoudemire was like a 4th line backer coming off his corner spot to make a bunch of tackles as well. Granted every team from here on out will be watching for that. I did just look up Wells, a big 2 stars on Rivals and Scout. Sure looks like he could be a good one.
 

Sparlimb said:
Wells definately looked very good out there last night. There was a goal line play where he stayed home and didn't over pursue (unlike some linebackers all night) and tacked the UNLV back for no gain. Let's hope the secondary play (which was a strength last night) was a trend instead of a mirage. Stoudemire was like a 4th line backer coming off his corner spot to make a bunch of tackles as well. Granted every team from here on out will be watching for that. I did just look up Wells, a big 2 stars on Rivals and Scout. Sure looks like he could be a good one.
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That was a big play by Wells when he made that tackle at the line of scrimmage. The defensive end lost contain (from the looks of it, he didn't even attempt to get contain) and Wells made up for that glaring mistake with a huge play.
 

Kudos to Derrick Wells! He had a great game and I'm glad to hear that it sounds like he is OK after that hit. As soon as it happened I though "Oh no...that's a concussion".
 

afurry91 said:
That was a big play by Wells when he made that tackle at the line of scrimmage. The defensive end lost contain (from the looks of it, he didn't even attempt to get contain) and Wells made up for that glaring mistake with a huge play.
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We started to lose outside contain more and more toward the end. Hopefully our newly injected speed will as Coach Kill says it "help us outrun our mistakes."
 

Curseislifted33 said:
AJ Barker also is the discussion, he had a very good game...
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He did have a very good game. Always nice to see a 100 yard receiving game but I wouldn't give him MVP not only because I still think Wells had the best game all around, but also because it was the defense who kept us in this game. It was good to see though, especially since Barker probably wasn't who any of us thought would be the first this year to accomplish it.
 


I think a close second would be Kirkwoodland. His running looked much better last night than his usual just put the head down and plow forward approach. I also thought he was much better at turning the corner and getting upfield than he has been in the past. What I really liked about his game last night was his blocking. I haven't seen anybody mention it yet but his block on Tutuleilei(sp?) that took of the linebackers helmet was pure beast mode. Of course the announcers thought it was an awesome play by the linebacker and didn't even acknowledge the fact that he was completely lit up by the running back who didn't have more than 2 steps to get into it. Homer announcers are homers. He had another really good block earlier (maybe on the same guy) too. If he can stay away from the nagging injury bug I think he will be a very good back for the Gophers.
 

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