Reasonable question nokomismod. Seems there were a few people who thought Kill should step-down for health reasons. The numbers were small and given everybody's ignorance about epilepsy, worrying about Kill's health was understandable. Questioning the Offense after the Iowa & Michigan games? How could you not? The QB decision against Iowa, the 2nd Half against Michigan? Scoring more than 13 points twice (44 & 17)in 10 B1G games? How could you not question it? The Coaching Staff questioned it. There weren't many people calling for Kill's resignation, maybe about the same number of people that were saying there was nothing wrong with the play calling and the Staff knew exactly what they were doing from the start.
Limegrover would disagree. Can't say that did anything but boost my faith in that staff, but don't blame people who questioned their decisions as much as they did themselves.
He said on Monday that the changes actually started after the Gophers lost Sept. 28 at TCF Bank Stadium to the Iowa Hawkeyes.
They got beaten that game for homecoming and scored just one touchdown. Then, the following week, Kill was unable to join the team in Michigan as the Wolverines whipped the Gophers, 42-13.
It was clear that something needed to change. And it appears that has happened, in the form of being more creative and aggressive.
"Absolutely. It's spot-on," Limegrover told 1500ESPN morning show hosts Judd Zulgad and Jeff Dubay. "We got to Iowa and really hit a snag there, hit a road block and didn't play well."
"We really took a look and said, 'OK, what do we need to do differently?' Because the formula we wanted to have, we're not quite there yet. 'What can we change? What can we do to give the kids the best chance moving forward.' We started moving towards what we're trying to do now, getting more kids involved, young kids like Donovahn Jones and Drew Wolitarsky, getting involved the young wide receivers and trying to give those kids something different other than just ground-and-pound.
"When we started doing that we started noticing the kids get a little more excited and practices were becoming more fun and more loose and we were having fun doing it. It's just kind of evolved that way.
It was a combination of starting to trust the young kids, everybody starting to feel comfortable and then also the idea that we can't just turn around and hand the ball off 45 times and win games. We've got to do some things a little bit differently," Limegrover said.
The coordinator also said he thinks players, such as quarterback Philip Nelson, have started to play more loosely, as they better understand the pressures of the game.
"I wish we would have done it earlier but sometimes you've got to admit your mistakes. We're having a heck of a lot more fun in practice. We're letting the kids - with all the motions and movements and shifts - we're letting them be creative with that stuff... All we tell them is, 'hey, get to where you need to be so we can execute the play. I think those kids are enjoying it."
