Drake Lindsey WILL BE BACK with the Gophers!!!!!!!

[50PoundHead]

Interesting thread. I started following the Gophers in 1969. My admittedly imperfect memory remembered Tony Dungy being better than these stats show he was. He also had to play in a very run-oriented offense......

Dungy ran the veer and he was very good in that role. I saw enough of him live and he was a terrible passer. He didn't have a stellar set of receivers (Upchurch and Kullas excepted), but he threw an ugly ball. Of course, the veer was all about rushing. During Dungy's four-year tenure the Gophers complete 35 passes in 1973, 51 in 1974, before hitting triple figures with 127 in 1975, and falling back to 104 in 1976.

 

[USAF]

People act like being mobile is the solution to everything. It’s only valuable if the qb can also pass and most of all can make the correct decisions.

I don't see one single person "act(ing) like being mobile is the solution to everything."
I do, however, see people claiming that being mobile isn't a valuable add on for a QB.
Which is silly.

 

[Word]

Morgan is better stat wise. Morgan was on better teams though and yes Weber threw a lot more.

I would still take Weber over Morgan

AK's stats are better than Drakes and I would take Drake every time.

AKs stats are not better than Drakes. Not sure what you're looking at.

 

[WAGopher]

Interesting thread. I started following the Gophers in 1969. My admittedly imperfect memory remembered Tony Dungy being better than these stats show he was. He also had to play in a very run-oriented offense......

Even though his stats don’t measure up, Dungy was maybe the most exciting QB to watch of the bunch. No fan was ever nervous when Tony had the ball as he seemed to just get the job done. Morgan had some of that in 2019 when he always seemed to make the right play. And Brosmer had such a confident year. Too bad he was a one and done.

 

[btowngopher]

I don't see one single person "act(ing) like being mobile is the solution to everything."
I do, however, see people claiming that being mobile isn't a valuable add on for a QB.
Which is silly.

I’ve seen it many times on here that people say we need a mobile QB. It can be a valuable add on, but there’s a lot of good QBs that don’t have great mobility and there’s a lot of super mobile QBs that are terrible.

 

[gopherbadgerman]

AKs stats are not better than Drakes. Not sure what you're looking at.

The big ten qb rankings?

 

[Word]

The big ten qb rankings?

Are you comparing a senior to a freshman? I'm talking about AKs gopher stats.

 

[gopherbadgerman]

Are you comparing a senior to a freshman? I'm talking about AKs gopher stats.

Ok I was not. Yes obviously drake was way better as a first year starter.

I was making the point that stats don’t tell the story as AK had better stats than Drake this year, but I would still take Drake.

Similar to how Morgan had better stats than Weber, but I would take Weber

 

[Word]

Ok I was not. Yes obviously drake was way better as a first year starter.

I was making the point that stats don’t tell the story as AK had better stats than Drake this year, but I would still take Drake.

Similar to how Morgan had better stats than Weber, but I would take Weber

Weber for me is tough to judge. On terrible teams but got to throw a ton. A bunch of OCs. Who knows how he would have looked on a decent team.

 

[tjgopher]

Similar to how Morgan had better stats than Weber, but I would take Weber

Just raw stats, Weber was mostly better for his career in roughly the same number of games played and fewer passes attempted.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Ok I was not. Yes obviously drake was way better as a first year starter.

I was making the point that stats don’t tell the story as AK had better stats than Drake this year, but I would still take Drake.

Similar to how Morgan had better stats than Weber, but I would take Weber

Semi related:

This is what worries me about our offensive coaches. AK got worse and looked dreadful as his last year went on with us. The play calling seemed to be getting more an more adjusted to AK's perceived struggles abilities. And then he goes and ... does a hell of a lot better elsewhere.

Then this year I thought I saw our offensive coaching calling more and more "scared" kinda plays ... so is it the QB / players or something else?

This year we still finished near the bottom in offensive stats, some were stats horrendous....

 

[Word]

Semi related:

This is what worries me about our offensive coaches. AK got worse and looked dreadful as his last year went on with us. The play calling seemed to be getting more an more adjusted to AK's perceived struggles abilities. And then he goes and ... does a hell of a lot better elsewhere.

Then this year I thought I saw our offensive coaching calling more and more "scared" kinda plays ... so is it the QB / players or something else?

This year we still finished near the bottom in offensive stats, some were stats horrendous....

AK got better at Rutgers (although not that much better tbh) because he had far better receivers there. He had guys he could just chuck 50/50 balls to and make him look better. If you watched him play he was the same, awful AK.

 

[MGGopher]

Should help attracting transfers when you've got a stud QB lined up.

Edit: Really great interview. Young man is grounded. I think I gained a new appreciation for Harbaugh and what they are trying to do. Going to more of a pro set is going to help with future recruits looking to get to the next level.

This isn’t talked about enough IMO. When KC left, PJ clearly made a decision to transition the offense to a more pro-style attack that relies on less RPO, more adjustments at the line, more “West coast” type passing concepts, etc. Has it been awesome? No, unequivocally it has not. But they’ve slowly been recruiting to it and installing more concepts Harbaugh wants to run. People who think this offense is RUTM, RPO, and zone read haven’t been paying attention or don’t know much about football.

 

[Word]

This isn’t talked about enough IMO. When KC left, PJ clearly made a decision to transition the offense to a more pro-style attack that relies on less RPO, more adjustments at the line, more “West coast” type passing concepts, etc. Has it been awesome? No, unequivocally it has not. But they’ve slowly been recruiting to it and installing more concepts Harbaugh wants to run. People who think this offense is RUTM, RPO, and zone read haven’t been paying attention or don’t know much about football.

It is so hard to judge the offense the last 2 years because the o-line has been so bad. If we had a good o-line you have to assume our offense would look markedly better.

 

[gopherphil]

Aaron Philo Career Stats - NCAAF - ESPN

Complete career NCAAF stats for Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Quarterback Aaron Philo on ESPN. Includes scoring, rushing, defensive and receiving stats.

www.espn.com

This is the guy that decommitted then we went after Drake Lindsey..

Philo play in one game extensively against garnerwebb or something like that. He did have a great game.

I would not trade

 

[Gopherchase]

This isn’t talked about enough IMO. When KC left, PJ clearly made a decision to transition the offense to a more pro-style attack that relies on less RPO, more adjustments at the line, more “West coast” type passing concepts, etc. Has it been awesome? No, unequivocally it has not. But they’ve slowly been recruiting to it and installing more concepts Harbaugh wants to run. People who think this offense is RUTM, RPO, and zone read haven’t been paying attention or don’t know much about football.

I think slowly is the best word in your post above. What were we 105th and passing in 120th and rushing? A long way to go.

 

[SeaBee_Gopher]

Ok I was not. Yes obviously drake was way better as a first year starter.

I was making the point that stats don’t tell the story as AK had better stats than Drake this year, but I would still take Drake.

Similar to how Morgan had better stats than Weber, but I would take Weber

Drake is so much better in the clutch already and is more consistent! AK still seems to get nervous and sometimes falls apart. The only thing AK has over Drake right now is mobility. I agree with most on here that AK's very good receivers also made him look better although I'm sure he also has improved over time with experience.

 

[Great Plains Gopher]

Minnesota got another year of Drake Lindsey, he said he will be back next season on Mike Grimm's podcast!

This is great, but what a shame we live in an era of greed and anarchy so that any player may skip to another team for more money. That has to be stopped. The portal could be closed by the NCAA - I don't think there's a legal issue there, sit out a year as before. Now we have guys playing for three teams in three years - zero loyalty to teams, schools, coaches, academics. This won't go on forever.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Drake is so much better in the clutch already and is more consistent! AK still seems to get nervous and sometimes falls apart. The only thing AK has over Drake right now is mobility. I agree with most on here that AK's very good receivers also made him look better although I'm sure he also has improved over time with experience.

I think Drake remains cool I agree. But he misses open guys too ... Michigan St. had chances to win a several times before he finally won it.

The pattern as the season goes on with our offensive coaching staff worries me. Maybe they explode next season and are at least average ... but I'm highly skeptical.

 

[Tech Machine]

Here's the data...I sorted by NCAA passer rating. If you sort by completion % it goes Brosmer, Lindsey, Morgan.

	ATT	COMP	COMP-%	INT	TD	YDS	YDS/ATT	TD/ 100 ATT	INT/100 ATT	TD RUSH	NCAA Pass Rtng	Last year played
MORGAN	1063	661	62.18%	32	65	9,469	8.9	6.1	3.0	8	151.2	2022
CUPITO	918	513	55.88%	25	55	7,446	8.1	6.0	2.7	0	138.3	2006
ABDUL-KHALIQ	847	481	56.79%	26	55	6,660	7.9	6.5	3.1	16	138.1	2003
BROSMER	403	268	66.50%	6	18	2,828	7.0	4.5	1.5	5	137.2	2024
LINDSEY	366	232	63.39%	6	17	2,285	6.2	4.6	1.6	4	127.9	2025
FOGGIE	628	311	49.52%	32	34	5,162	8.2	5.4	5.1	24	126.2	1987
SAUTER	945	539	57.04%	33	40	6,834	7.2	4.2	3.5	8	124.8	1997
WEBER	1,594	909	57.03%	51	72	10,917	6.8	4.5	3.2	10	123.1	2010
ECKERS	262	147	56.11%	17	15	1884	7.2	5.7	6.5	1	122.4	1994
COCKERHAM	485	252	51.96%	24	29	3,483	7.2	6.0	4.9	12	122.1	1999
LEIDNER	1029	580	56.37%	32	36	7,287	7.1	3.5	3.1	33	121.2	2016
GRAY	295	150	50.85%	11	14	2,053	7.0	4.7	3.7	12	117.5	2012
HOHENSEE	722	392	54.29%	31	33	4,792	6.6	4.6	4.3	5	116.5	1982
SCHAFFNER	515	278	53.98%	22	21	3,472	6.7	4.1	4.3	6	115.5	1991
SCHADE	627	322	51.36%	23	22	3,986	6.4	3.5	3.7	2	109.0	1994
KALIAKMANIS	405	216	53.33%	13	17	2,236	5.5	4.2	3.2	3	107.1	2023
FLEETWOOD	876	465	53.08%	44	18	5,279	6.0	2.1	5.0	15	100.4	1992
DUNGY	586	274	46.76%	35	22	3,515	6.0	3.8	6.0	16	97.6	1976
CURRY	505	226	44.75%	24	16	3,060	6.1	3.2	4.8	14	96.6	1971
STEPHENS	297	100	33.67%	27	13	1,571	5.3	4.4	9.1	17	74.4	1961
COX	106	37	34.91%	12	7	508	4.8	6.6	11.3	NA	74.3	1957

Craig Curry was drafted by the Dolphins. Ricky Foggie was the most fun to watch. Morgan had the cats meow of recievers, I think it shows in yards per attempt.

 

[WHB Brewer]

Need just one or two transfer in for the OL, plus a proven WR

isn't that what we tried last year? rinse & repeat

 

[DRJ]

isn't that what we tried last year? rinse & repeat

Well, we got a good wide receiver in Tracy, 4 or 5 OL, of which two played a lot, but our running game was pretty bad this year, just averaged around 105 yards a game. Hopefully, they can make better selections on the OL this year.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Well, we got a good wide receiver in Tracy, 4 or 5 OL, of which two played a lot, but our running game was pretty bad this year, just averaged around 105 yards a game. Hopefully, they can make better selections on the OL this year.

I really don't see any major changes on the OL. 4 of the five starters at the end of the season are likely back. And if they developed the young guys they should be fine.

 

[upnorthkid]

I don't see one single person "act(ing) like being mobile is the solution to everything."
I do, however, see people claiming that being mobile isn't a valuable add on for a QB.
Which is silly.

this.

don't think anyone would say we wouldn't take a Stafford or Goff (ie a freakish distributor of the ball). You also can get by with a less good thrower who's a really good athlete and pocket manipulator even with scrappy throwing ability (ie Manziel, Chambliss).

It's the fun of college. Drake's lack of mobility just means he's gotta be faster through his reads and distribute. Takes great pre-snap ability (which is why we need to stop being so fucking slow out of the huddle) and knowing where your outlet is. Drake was really good at this as a freshman but also made your usual freshmen mistakes. You get away with a more pure "athlete" at QB when they're younger, but I think the ceiling's higher with a guy who thinks the game more like Lindsey. We'll see if he improves enough to make it so and add just enough of a run threat to at least navigate the pocket better (this doesn't happen in HS as your WRs generally win MUCH faster, the schemes are simpler, or you can throw guys open). Sans Iowa game his numbers are really really good (those 3 picks and QBR of 6 are REAL rough and you can see why he says it was the worst game of his life). 16 TDs vs 6 Ints (#3 among Fr P4 QBs, which is pretty impressive for how slow our pace of play is)

If we can add some OL and our WRs play as good as PJ claims they can, there's no reason they can't start getting the heavy PA passing going and make life even easier on him like NFL teams do for their QBs

 

[DRJ]

I really don't see any major changes on the OL. 4 of the five starters at the end of the season are likely back. And if they developed the young guys they should be fine.

Maybe you are right, but I think they go and get one or two OL with some good experience if possible. This year, two of the portal OL did not even play. Two of them did play a lot but our OL line this year was weak running the ball.

 

[Some guy]

AK got better at Rutgers (although not that much better tbh) because he had far better receivers there. He had guys he could just chuck 50/50 balls to and make him look better. If you watched him play he was the same, awful AK.

Honestly he got better at Rutgers because he pretty much got the yips by the end of his time here

AK wasn’t great at Rutgers but recovered to the solid we all thought he would be after his performance @ Wisconsin

 

[SeaBee_Gopher]

I think Drake remains cool I agree. But he misses open guys too ... Michigan St. had chances to win a several times before he finally won it.

The pattern as the season goes on with our offensive coaching staff worries me. Maybe they explode next season and are at least average ... but I'm highly skeptical.

Drake definitely has a lot of room to grow. That's good for us! He's just starting at a higher level than AK.

Back more to the topic of this thread, it's interesting to me that so many people were worried about him leaving, but not me so much. It seems to me that QB play has gotten so much better at the college level because of the portal & NIL. Instead of good QBs being buried on someone's depth chart or at a lower level G5/FCS, almost all of them jump to the P4 for a substantial paycheck. Even in our own league this year, Gronowski left SDSU to make Iowa very respectable at QB for the first time in who knows how long! Look at Nebraska just now, Raiola gets hurt and the backup looks good. The team has to likely step up and say we're going with you kid or they'll lose him to the portal. Raiola sees this and immediately jumps into the portal making another team better.

It's not just the blue bloods who's depth is being raided, but everyone's. Maybe I have a bad memory, but I just remember QB play in the B1G being much worse overall in the recent past. Drake looks good, but I think he would have looked A LOT better vs. his peers in the recent past. There are a lot of good QBs playing college football right now. I posted recently a list published by CBS sports of the top 50 college QBs and Drake wasn't even on it. Maybe they are wrong, but they aren't wrong that there are a lot of good QBs. Of the P4 teams we played this year, I saw impressive (not perfect) QBs at Cal, Rutgers, Ohio State, Iowa, MSU, and Oregon. Preston Stone was a two year starter at SMU, but got outcompeted for the starting job in 2024 so transfers to Northwestern and beats us throwing for over 300 yards. Our D struggles vs. the pass, but the point is the guy was far from a stiff! The teams we didn't play in the B1G that were known to have good QBs include Indiana, USC, Michigan, Washington, Illinois, UCLA, Penn State and Maryland. The highest rated of all these QBs coming out of high school was Dylan Raiola and he doesn't even make my list.

 

[Panthadad2]

Drake definitely has a lot of room to grow. That's good for us! He's just starting at a higher level than AK.

Back more to the topic of this thread, it's interesting to me that so many people were worried about him leaving, but not me so much. It seems to me that QB play has gotten so much better at the college level because of the portal & NIL. Instead of good QBs being buried on someone's depth chart or at a lower level G5/FCS, almost all of them jump to the P4 for a substantial paycheck. Even in our own league this year, Gronowski left SDSU to make Iowa very respectable at QB for the first time in who knows how long! Look at Nebraska just now, Raiola gets hurt and the backup looks good. The team has to likely step up and say we're going with you kid or they'll lose him to the portal. Raiola sees this and immediately jumps into the portal making another team better.

It's not just the blue bloods who's depth is being raided, but everyone's. Maybe I have a bad memory, but I just remember QB play in the B1G being much worse overall in the recent past. Drake looks good, but I think he would have looked A LOT better vs. his peers in the recent past. There are a lot of good QBs playing college football right now. I posted recently a list published by CBS sports of the top 50 college QBs and Drake wasn't even on it. Maybe they are wrong, but they aren't wrong that there are a lot of good QBs. Of the P4 teams we played this year, I saw impressive (not perfect) QBs at Cal, Rutgers, Ohio State, Iowa, MSU, and Oregon. Preston Stone was a two year starter at SMU, but got outcompeted for the starting job in 2024 so transfers to Northwestern and beats us throwing for over 300 yards. Our D struggles vs. the pass, but the point is the guy was far from a stiff! The teams we didn't play in the B1G that were known to have good QBs include Indiana, USC, Michigan, Washington, Illinois, UCLA, Penn State and Maryland. The highest rated of all these QBs coming out of high school was Dylan Raiola and he doesn't even make my list.

FWIW, PFF has Lindsey at #31 of 62 Power Four QBs that took at least 50% of snaps. Right in the middle. He's #8 of 15 that qualified in the BG10. A bunch of guys in front of Lindsey this year are probably off to the NFL or graduating.

.

 

[mngg11]

FWIW, PFF has Lindsey at #31 of 62 Power Four QBs that took at least 50% of snaps. Right in the middle. He's #9 of 15 that qualified in the BG10. A bunch of guys in front of Lindsey this year are probably off to the NFL or graduating.

View attachment 40898.

For sure. 31 of 62 with three years left to play is pretty encouraging!

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Drake definitely has a lot of room to grow. That's good for us! He's just starting at a higher level than AK.

Back more to the topic of this thread, it's interesting to me that so many people were worried about him leaving, but not me so much. It seems to me that QB play has gotten so much better at the college level because of the portal & NIL. Instead of good QBs being buried on someone's depth chart or at a lower level G5/FCS, almost all of them jump to the P4 for a substantial paycheck. Even in our own league this year, Gronowski left SDSU to make Iowa very respectable at QB for the first time in who knows how long! Look at Nebraska just now, Raiola gets hurt and the backup looks good. The team has to likely step up and say we're going with you kid or they'll lose him to the portal. Raiola sees this and immediately jumps into the portal making another team better.

It's not just the blue bloods who's depth is being raided, but everyone's. Maybe I have a bad memory, but I just remember QB play in the B1G being much worse overall in the recent past. Drake looks good, but I think he would have looked A LOT better vs. his peers in the recent past. There are a lot of good QBs playing college football right now. I posted recently a list published by CBS sports of the top 50 college QBs and Drake wasn't even on it. Maybe they are wrong, but they aren't wrong that there are a lot of good QBs. Of the P4 teams we played this year, I saw impressive (not perfect) QBs at Cal, Rutgers, Ohio State, Iowa, MSU, and Oregon. Preston Stone was a two year starter at SMU, but got outcompeted for the starting job in 2024 so transfers to Northwestern and beats us throwing for over 300 yards. Our D struggles vs. the pass, but the point is the guy was far from a stiff! The teams we didn't play in the B1G that were known to have good QBs include Indiana, USC, Michigan, Washington, Illinois, UCLA, Penn State and Maryland. The highest rated of all these QBs coming out of high school was Dylan Raiola and he doesn't even make my list.

Agreed.

I like Drake, as a good prospect, but that's it. Good prospects are a dime a dozen and most don't pan out anyway. I don't think there's THAT much demand for Drake, anyone with piles of money is bidding up more proven QBs.

I'm hopeful for Drake, but this offense also finished nearly last in offensive stats too this year ... I don't think that leads to a great deal of demand.